Parent attributes are a way of extending your database for parts and general inventory items. This allows you to virtually flag, tag, and categorize your inventory. Usually, these parent attributes are overarching categories that your inventory falls into. Originally, this section was designed for creating hierarchy and advanced ecommerce searching options. More recently, we have been using it internally, within the system to create that same hierarchy and advanced search options.

If you are looking for information on sub inventory attributes and templates, please see this help file. Parent attributes are on a much higher level and are able to cross over part/item categories.

Use the buttons at the top of the page to add new parent attribute categories. Then once on that next page, that is where you get to setup the actual parent attributes. These parent attributes work like a mini database of your own design. You can virtually setup almost anything.

Some people have a hard time figuring out what a parent attribute could be used for. Here is a small example to help. Say we owned a small retail store that sold outdoor gear. The normal parts and items would be that outdoor gear. Inside of the system, you get fields like vendor, part number, cost, price, description, tax category, etc. What if you wanted to flag or tag certain gear for certain activities, say climbing, camping, rescue, etc. Those fields don't exist. That is where you would create a new parent attribute category called "Usage" or "Activities". You would then create your own set of attributes to hold the details that you want.

Another example is on the vendor. Say you get your outdoor items from multiple distributors and wholesalers. You may want to create a generic item that may be used by all of those distributors and wholesalers (a non-vendor specific item). However, you may want to create a high-level category or tag for the brand - who really makes it. Not just where you get it from. In this example: Say you had a helmet and it was made by a company called Black Diamond. You get it from such and such a vendor but your customers want it to be listed under the brand of Black Diamond. Once again, you would create a parent attribute called "Brand" or "Manufacture". You could then tag all of the generic items with that brand to help with searching.

We have also seen tons of usage of these pieces in really controlled and monitored industries. Things like allow for delivery, certain requirements, testing results, specific compounding, and other things that a customer may want to use to look things up. More options may be tiered pricing, price ranges, grades, quality levels, and other key values.

More info about parent attributes may be found on this help file.

Tip: If you want to change the name from parent attributes or parent attribute categories to something else (global naming), you may do so in the corp-wide settings. You do have to be an administrator to get to that page, but once on that page, search for the keyword "parent" and it will take you to the setting where you can change the general naming of what to call these attributes or categories.

Nav Help - To go to this actual page inside the system, click this prompt link item parent attributes. You can also use this same prompt or keyword in the AI quick search to get there as well.

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