A simPRO Catalogue is a list of items that can be quoted and/or sold. A catalogue item will contain information such as part number, description, trade and cost prices.

simPRO Catalogue is vital as it:

•  Functions as a price file that forms the basis for developing stock inventory
• Provides Estimated costs in the job breakdown
• Represent Actual costs once they have been receipted to the job from a purchase order or allocated from stock

 You can organize and maintain your catalogue structure in simPRO by manually creating groups (up to three levels of subgroups) and items, or alternatively, importing generic or supplier-specific catalogues.

 Before importing pricelists / catalogues from your suppliers, it’s imperative to understand some key tips in and tricks with regards to simPRO catalogue items and structures.

Why does the catalogue continue to get messy? 

• You import the entire wholesaler catalogue
  • We strongly advise against importing the entire wholesaler catalogue unless you quote an enormous variety of products. We recommend importing your top items (Ex. top 1000 or top 5000) or alternatively you can often request a catalogue based on your 12-month purchase history)
• The catalogue has been grouped by Supplier rather than Product Type
  • When purchasing the same products from multiple suppliers, supplier grouping makes it extremely difficult to compare products. simPRO is designed to have multiple suppliers against one catalogue item to ensure ease of quoting and ordering dependent on cost. Supplier grouping restricts this functionality and often results in parts missing from certain suppliers as they have been grouped under one supplier.
• The manufacturer part number has been excluded from import when it differs from the supplier part number
  • As noted above, to utilise the full functionality of the simPRO Catalogue, same products from multiple suppliers should be illustrated in simPRO as 1 catalogue item.

Our Advice:

– Import your top items / last 12-month purchase history rather than the entire wholesaler catalogue

– Group your catalogue by part type, rather than supplier

– Import the manufacturer part number as the main part number

– When setting up Auto Catalogue Syncing, ensure you select ‘Update Only’ to prevent the entire wholesaler catalogue being imported.

Things you need to look in simPRO catalogue item and why it is important:

1. NAME – you can change the name of catalogue in item details without having impact in future imports or updates
2. Attributes > Favorites – if this is a common product, ticking Favourite will allow you to limit the list into smaller number
3. Attributes > Inventory – Most of the time what goes into your catalogue, you also want it recorded in INVENTORY. Inventory means any item that you want to have PHYSICALLY in stock
   • If you do have catalogue items that cannot be physically kept in stock (i.e. Travel Costs), simply untick Inventory
4. PART NO. – is the MANUFACTURER NO. Note the individual supplier may have a different part no.
5. Unit of Measurement – this must first be created in System Setup to be available for selection in the Catalogue. This helps to identify how the product is sold.
6. Trade Price – Generally the price the general public is paying for the product.
7. Group and Subgroup – You can manipulate depending on your preference. As noted above this would ideally be grouped by Product Type
8. SEARCH TERM – Search Terms can be used by administration or technicians to search for a part with a name or number that is different to the description or part number. This is extremely helpful when the wholesaler and the technician has a different name for a product (i.e. GPO / Powerpoint). This is also a helpful place to store the barcode number.
9. PRICING – set up in material pricing tier, you have the ability to set the pricing to fixed mark up, default mark up or fixed sell price
10. ADD NEW PRICE – this gives you the ability to manipulate the sell price based on the quantity the customer is ordering (i.e. the more they order, the cheaper the per unit price)
11. SUPPLIER’S PAGE – you can add multiple suppliers under the 1 catalogue item along with differing discounts. Tick default against your predominant supplier
12. STOCK – this is a quick link to see if any are currently sitting in stock. Further, minimum stock level gives the ability to restock a storage device when the minimum level has been reached. 

If you are after help with your simPRO catalogue, get in contact with our team of specialists at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..