Catalog-Category
Home FAQ page SmartBilling 5.0
Categories are a means of classifying Catalog Items. SmartBilling supports 2 levels of categorization, Parent & Child. Products, Charges, Usage Rates and Services can all be added within Parent and/or Child Categories.
Take note, however, that Services defined at the Parent Category level can only include Products and Charges from within the Parent Category. Services defined at the Child Category inherit the objects defined within the Parent Category, and can therefore see the Products and Charges from both Categories. SmartBilling allows you to create categories of catalog objects freely, to meet your requirements. The screen shot below presents some examples of typical categories in the Telecom Industry. You can create your categories by clicking add category in the Actions box to create a new category, click on the X at the right to delete it or click on the Category Name to edit the category.
The List view shows the counts of Product, Charges. Contract Types and Services (2) within each category, as well as the count of Subscriptions (3) belonging to each Category.
It is strongly recommended that care be taken when deciding how to structure categories within the catalog. You may require more than one attempt before finding the best way to structure categories to meet your needs. For this reason, it is suggested that you build your Products, Charges, Sub-charges, and Services in a spreadsheet and import them, so that Categories can be re-arranged easily if you decide to change them around. Smartbox support staff have the experience to help guide you through the Catalog design process.
