Configuration: Custom Product Sub-Categories - Product Advisory
May 2023
New Feature: Custom Product Sub-Category Workspace
With this release, we added the ability for Power users and System Admin users to create Custom Product Sub-Categories within the user interface, thus avoiding the need to submit a Support ticket.
Overview
LeaseAccelerator now has a new workspace within Configuration Settings where our customers can configure their own Custom Product Sub-Categories, which can be used throughout the application to generate Lease versus Buy’s and enter new schedules.
By creating Custom Product Sub-Categories, customers can vary some critical configuration settings for those categories, such as economic life and depreciation methods, along with default end-of-term treatment and lease component treatment.
Workspace Requirements
Access Level Assignment
Visibility of the new Custom Product Sub-Category workspace is restricted to Power Users and System Admin Users. Custom access levels may be granted visibility by submitting a Support case.
Out of the Box Product Categories
LeaseAccelerator has a standard set of Product Categories that are included for all customers. These represent the industry standard asset types and are critical for our PureLease Marketplace and cannot be altered in any way. You will not be able to delete or edit these standard product categories. In addition to the parent-level categories, some standard categories already have sub-categories that are also considered out of the box. These cannot be edited or deleted either, but they may have a Custom Sub-Category added to them.
Out of the Box Product Categories
Agriculture and Forestry |
Electronics |
Mobile Shop Equipment (Soft Costs) |
Stadium Suite |
Aircraft and Related |
Emergency Vehicles |
Modular Building |
Recreation |
Automobiles |
Energy Systems |
Mold Tools |
Restaurant Fixtures |
Broadcast/Audiovisual |
Food Processing |
Office Equipment |
Retail Fixtures |
Building Improvement/Equipment |
Furniture and Fixtures |
Office Equipment (Soft Costs) |
Semiconductor |
Building Improvement/Equipment (Soft Costs) |
Furniture and Fixtures (Soft Costs) |
Oil and Gas |
Software |
Building/HVAC |
Gaming |
Other |
Telecommunications |
Buses |
Laboratory Equipment |
Packaging/Bottling |
Telecommunications (Soft Costs) |
Computers/Peripherals |
Machine/Shop Equipment |
Point of Sale |
Telephone Systems |
Networking |
Power Tools |
Power and Pipeline |
Telephone Systems (Soft Costs) |
Servers |
Manufacturing/Fabricating |
Power and Pipeline (Soft Costs) |
Test and Measurement |
Storage |
Manufacturing/Fabricating (Soft Costs) |
Printing/Publishing |
Trailers |
Supercomputer |
Marine |
Rail |
Trucks |
Supercomputer (Soft Costs) |
Material Handling |
Real Estate |
Trucks (Soft Costs) |
Computers/Peripherals (Soft Costs) |
Material Handling (Soft Costs) |
Billboards |
Waste Remediation/Recycling |
Construction |
Medical |
Building |
|
Containers |
Mining |
Data Center |
|
Durable Tooling |
Mobile Shop Equipment |
Land |
Additional Requirements
You may only create a new sub-category and cannot add a parent-level product category.
If there is an out of the box sub-category, you can select that as the parent product category.
Each sub-category must have a unique name.
Special characters are not allowed in sub-category names.
Each unique sub-category name cannot exceed 64 characters.
Steps to create a new Custom Product Sub-Category
Step |
Action |
|---|---|
1 |
Navigate to Configuration Settings from the Left NavBar and select the Custom Product Sub-Categories tile. |
2 |
To add a new sub-category, scroll to the bottom of the workspace and click the plus sign. |
3 |
In the pop-up, select an existing out of the box Parent Product Category. |
4 |
Next, input the Custom Product Sub-Category Name. Remember, it must be unique with no special characters and cannot exceed 64 characters. |
5 |
Now click Add. |
6 |
You will see your new sub-category listed at the bottom of the workspace with dashes in front of the name, indicating it is a child or sub-category. When you are finished adding new sub-categories, click Save to save all your changes. |
7 |
Your new sub-categories should now be listed in alphabetical order underneath the appropriate Parent Product Category. |
Downstream Functionality
Configuration Settings – Asset Types & Policy Thresholds
Once saved, any new Custom Product Sub-Categories will be available to configure in Asset Types and Policy Thresholds within the Configuration Settings workspace. This is a critical step to ensure that new leases may use these new sub-categories.
Currently the Product Category list within Asset Types is listed purely in alphabetical order and does not delineate between parent categories and sub-categories.
For more information on configuring your Asset Types and Policy Thresholds, please see the User Guide to Configuration or check out the associated videos available in Ask Alex’s menu.
Asset Details
Once you’ve configured your new Custom Product Sub-Categories, you can choose them from the drop-downs available on the Details tile in the Lease vs. Buy, Enter Schedule, and Modify Deal workspaces.
Asset Request Forms
After configuration, any new Custom Product Sub-Categories will be visible in the Product Category drop-down of the system-generated Asset Request Form (ARF) available within the Reporting workspace on the Origination tile.
Import Templates
New Custom Product Sub-Categories may be added to our bulk import templates once configured. This will be the responsibility of each customer whenever a new version of any of the bulk import templates is released. To add the sub-categories, go to the Data tab of the import file and find the column with the header Product Category. You may insert a cell underneath the parent product category and then enter the name of your sub-category exactly as it was configured. If desired, the template allows you to indent using two spaces before the name to delineate between parent and sub-category.
Note: If you add a cell within the list, the validation should update, and your new sub-category should be visible in the drop-down on the appropriate tab of the import template. If you add at the bottom of the list, the validation may need to be updated to include the new sub-category.
Relevant Bulk Import Templates
Customer Information Workbook (CIW)
Portfolio Intake Workbook (PIW)
Modify Deal Import Workbook (MDIW)
Lessee Rates Import
Asset Management
Once a new lease has been booked using a new Custom Product Sub-Category and the asset is available within the Asset Management workspace, when the assets are grouped by Product Category, the assets with the new Custom Product Sub-Category will be grouped together.
Request for Proposal (RFP)
Since our PureLease Marketplace relies on the industry standard set of out of the box Product Categories, new Custom Product Sub-Categories will not be included in available choices when generating an RFP. If you have followed our workflow from Lease vs. Buy to RFP, you will see warning messages in the user interface informing the user that Custom Product Sub-Categories will be changed to their parent product category for the RFP.
If the RFP continues through the workflow and is papered within LeaseAccelerator, the product category will be reverted back to the Custom Product Sub-Category originally used.
Real Estate Manager (REM)
With this release, any deals originating in our Real Estate Manager (REM) will not be subject to the use of any new Custom Product Sub-Categories configured within our core accounting application. REM users will continue to use the standard out of the box Real Estate product categories. Updating for Custom Product Sub-Categories will be addressed in a future release.
Note: As with all new features, LeaseAccelerator encourages you to take advantage of the Preview period to explore their functionality.