An organized inventory list is essential to any dispensary. Flowhub Maui now gives you control over your inventory categories to keep up with the dynamic cannabis industry and control which fields are available on your Products and Inventory.
With Custom Categories, you can:
Adjust whether a field is required at the time of creating a Product or bringing that Product into Inventory (such as %THC)
Rename an existing Category (by Cloning & Editing it)
Create new Categories, using our existing Categories as a baseline for required fields (such as creating a new "Pre-Roll" category using the "Flower" baseline)
Hide or Archive Categories for products you don't use/sell
Enabling Custom Categories
To access these settings, the User must have all "Client Categories" permissions enabled on their Role.
Once enabled, you will then see a "Categories" tab next to "Transfers" in the Inventory view:
Modifying Existing Default Categories in Maui
Use the navigation menu on the left side to navigate to Inventory, then select "Categories" from the purple bar at the top of the screen.
If you operate stores in multiple states, be sure to select the State for the category you'd like to edit from the filter dropdown. Any changes made to a Category will be reflected at any Stores you operate in that State.
The default categories for your state will be listed, designated with the green Flowhub logo icon.
Select the default category you would like to edit, then select "Clone & Edit" from the details menu on the right.
5. Under "Basics", you will have the option to rename the category.
Please note that E-commerce integrators do not currently reference custom category names on online menus. They will continue to use the "Base Category" name. If you would like the Custom Category to be visible on your online menus, please reach out to your e-commerce provider to request this.
6. If you would like your new category to replace the default, (which is recommended to ensure that there are no competing duplicate categories in your environment), keep "Hide base category" checked.
This will also ensure that your existing Products and Taxes associated with the default category in Maui are automatically updated to your customized version of that category.
7. If you deselect "Hide base category," the Default category will stay in your environment, and your Custom category will be added to your Categories list.
"Update products and taxes on save" - You will have the option to choose whether Products and Taxes currently assigned to the Default category should be automatically updated to the new Custom category. You will not be able to revert this choice once saved, so please consider it carefully.
If you do NOT select "Update products and taxes on save", you will need to be sure that you manually add the new Category to any Taxes that should be applied to products on this category, and manually update any Products to the new Category.
When you Save the category, you will see a helpful warning before you confirm:
8. Under "Select Fields," you will be able to set up which fields should be added, removed, or made required for the category.
Please note: There will be certain fields that are forced to be Required by Flowhub based on what is necessary for purchase limit calculation, sales reporting or other compliance purposes. You will not be able to remove these fields or mark them as Not Required, but you can change when they are Required: either when the Product is first built or when a batch is brought into Inventory.
Available on product, overridable on inventory: when selected, the field will appear on the Product page, but the values in the field can be overwritten when bringing a batch of that Product into Inventory.
Available on inventory only: when selected, this field will not appear on the Product page, but will appear when creating New Inventory of this Product.
Required: when selected, this will make the field required for users to complete before they save, either at the Product level or at the Inventory level, depending on where you've chosen the field to appear.
When you mark a field as Required, you must select whether it is Required at the Product level or the Inventory level.
9. You are able to Remove any fields that are not Required if you would prefer to not have them appear on the Product or Inventory level by selecting "Remove". The field will no longer appear in your Product or Inventory views.
If fields on existing Products that previously held data are removed from a Custom Category, you'll still be able to see those fields on the inventory and/or product until you remove the data. This ensures there is no data loss when you are editing Categories.
10. If you would like to Reset the category to the defaults, select "Reset" at the top of the "Select Fields" selection. This will reverse any changes you have made back to the default settings.
11. Use the arrows next to each section to expand or collapse all the fields available as you're making changes:
12. If you have a field you would like to Add to a Category but you do not see it in the "Select Fields" list, it is not a field that is available for your state. Contact Product Support if you need it added, along with any supporting compliance documentation you are able to provide.
13. Once you are satisfied with your customizations, select "Save" to save your changes.
Creating a New Category in Maui
From the Categories page, select "New Category" in the upper right corner.
Under "Basics", enter the Category Name and select which Base Category should be referenced for compliance.
If you are creating an Unregulated non-cannabis category, you will see the following warning:
If you operate stores in multiple states, make sure you are selecting the appropriate State when choosing the base category regulation. See below the following example where a store operating in Colorado, Maine, Massachusetts, Michigan, and Oregon all offer unique Categories for Tinctures:
3. You can choose to "Hide base category" and/or "Update Products & Taxes" for your new Category.
4. Select the fields you'd like to Edit.
5. Select Save to save your new Category.
6. If you have not opted to "Update Products & Taxes," then make sure that you add this new Category to any relevant Taxes that may apply to Products in this category.
Archiving and Restoring Custom Categories
You can hide a Custom Category from your system by Archiving it. Default Base Categories that are replaced by Custom Categories will also appear in the "Archived or Hidden" column in the Categories view. You will be able to access Archived categories and restore them at any time if needed.
Archiving
In the Categories view, select the custom Category you would like to Archive.
You will not be able to Archive Default Categories unless you have created an alternate Custom Category and selected "Hide base category."
Select "Archive" on the right side Details pane.
A dialog box will appear asking you to confirm. Select "Archive."
The Custom Category will move to the "Archived or Hidden" column.
When you archive a custom category, any existing products and inventory associated with that Archived category will be untouched.
This means you will be able to still create Inventory from Products built on Archived Categories, but you won't be able to create any new products using an archived category.
Restoring
In the Categories view, filter the "Status" from "All" to "Archived" to view your Archived Categories.
2. Select the custom Category you would like to Unarchive.
3. Select "Restore" on the Category.
4. A dialog box will appear for you to confirm. Select "Restore."
5. The Category will be available again for you to use when creating Products.
Best Practice Recommendations for Custom Categories
For common "subcategories" under broader Categories - we do not recommend creating unique Category levels. Instead, use the "Type" field on the Product to keep your Product Catalog manageable and your e-commerce menus as clear as possible.
Common examples where you should use the Type field on the Product instead of creating a Custom Category:
Edibles - Type of "Gummies," "Chocolate," etc.
Cartridges - Type of "Disposable," "510," "AiroPro", etc.
Concentrates - Type of "Badder", "Budder," "Shatter," "Diamonds & Sauce," etc.
We recommend Cloning and Editing existing Categories to tweak fields over creating new Categories. It will be easier to ensure that you've included all the necessary fields for compliance and reporting if you are cloning & editing a Default category versus starting fresh.
Flower / Pre-Roll Categories:
If your dispensary uses our "Pack Bulk" feature to convert bulk Flower grams into prepacked units or pre-rolls, continue to use one Flower category rather than creating a separate Pre-Roll category. This will ensure you are still able to use the Pack Bulk feature, as you'll need packed units to be built as variants on the same product and in the same category for the conversion.
Marking fields Required:
It can be tempting to force all fields available to be Required, but Flowhub's best recommendation is to only Require the fields that are absolutely necessary for compliance. This prevents messy or fake data from being entered into required fields purely for the sake of being allowed to save a new Product.
Custom Categories and E-Commerce Integrations:
As mentioned above, please note that E-commerce integrators do not currently reference custom category names on online menus. They will continue to use the "Base Category" name. If you would like the Custom Category to be visible on your online menus, please reach out to your e-commerce provider to request this.
If your e-commerce platform is Dispense, you can set up category mapping for Custom Categories on your menu in Settings > POS > POS Mapping. AIQ E-commerce/Dispense uses the TYPE from Flowhub for custom mapping, NOT the Custom Categories.