Managing Categories, Subcategories, and Product Types

Categories in SAP CPQ (Configure, Price, Quote) are classifications used to organize products, making it easier for users to navigate and find what they need. They are essentially a method of arranging and managing the diversity of products on the platform.

Categories are usually organized in a hierarchical structure, allowing more specific subdivisions to exist under broader groupings. For example, if a company sells computers, they might have a "Computers" category. Under this category, they might have subcategories like "Laptops", "Desktops", "Workstations", and so on.

This hierarchical structure improves user experience by allowing easy navigation through the product catalog. Additionally, it also helps in assigning product attributes, rules, and permission sets at various levels, thereby controlling the visibility, pricing and other parameters at a granular level.

Each product must have at least one parent category or subcategory.

Once categories are created, subcategories can be added as a child of the category. Products can then be tied to either the categories or subcategories.

The product catalog features categories and subcategories accompanied by product images and descriptions.

Let's look at our business scenario Supertech, which sells computers and related components. Supertech would like to group its products into the following main categories:

• Computer Systems
• Hardware
• Software
• Services

These categories can be further broken down into subcategories to further organize products in the catalog. For example, the hardware category will include subcategories for peripherals, such as printers and networking devices.

SAP CPQ allows the assigning of visibility permissions to control who can see and access certain product categories in the system.

Visibility permissions for categories and subcategories are configured to restrict access based on:

• User Types
• Companies
• Markets
• Brands
• Custom Permission Groups

Additionally, visibility permissions set for a category can be applied to products and/or subcategories belonging to the category.

Each product is also assigned a product type. Product types track order information in quotes, display subtotals by type, and set discounts by type.

Supertech would like to use product types to mirror some of the categories, such as hardware, software, and services.

Subcategories will be used to further organize products in the catalog. For example, the hardware category includes subcategories for peripherals, such as printers and networking devices.

Next, let's take a closer look at categories and subcategories in the following exercise!