Overview
Your Inventory catalogue is built from Products — the items you stock — organized into Categories. Categories nest into a tree so your catalogue can mirror how your operation actually groups things (by type, by area, by supplier). This article covers creating and organizing both.
🚀 Early Access: Inventory is an early-access feature and may not be enabled for your account. Contact Mobaro Support to request access.
Why this matters: A clean catalogue is what makes stock usable — clear Product names and a sensible Category tree mean the right people can find and request the right part in seconds, instead of guessing at codes.
Products
A Product represents one stocked item. It carries:
Field | What it's for |
Name | What the Product is called — the primary label your teams search and read. |
Code | A short identifier or part number for quick reference and matching. Must be unique for a given Manufacturer — see below. |
Description | Extra detail — specs, notes, or anything that helps identify the right item. |
Manufacturer | Who makes it — useful when several similar parts come from different suppliers, and part of what makes a Code unique. |
Image | A picture of the Product, so it's recognizable at a glance. |
Category | The Category the Product belongs to (see below). |
Create a Product
In the Mobaro Backend, open Inventory, go to Products, and add a new Product. Fill in the name and any of the details above, choose its Category, and save.
Best practice: Use a consistent naming and code convention from the start — e.g. a recognizable prefix per Category. Consistency makes search predictable and keeps requisition pickers easy to scan.
How Product Codes stay unique
A Product's Code is unique per Manufacturer, not across your whole catalogue. In practice:
Two Products from different Manufacturers can share the same Code — handy when two suppliers happen to use the same part number.
Two Products from the same Manufacturer can't share a Code — that combination has to be unique.
Note: If a Code is rejected as already in use, check the Manufacturer on both Products. The clash is only ever with another Product from the same Manufacturer.
Best practice: Fill in the Manufacturer whenever you know it. It's what keeps manufacturer part numbers usable as Codes without collisions between suppliers.
Categories
A Category groups related Products. Each Category can have a parent Category, so you can build a tree — for example Ride Parts > Restraints > Seatbelts — that matches how your catalogue is organized.
Create a Category
In Inventory, go to Categories and add a new Category. Give it a name and, if it sits under another Category, choose its parent. Save, then assign Products to it.
Note: Keep the tree only as deep as it needs to be. A few clear levels are far easier to navigate than a deeply nested structure where Products are hard to find.
Frequently asked questions
Q: Can two Products have the same Code?
A: Yes — as long as they have different Manufacturers. Codes are unique per Manufacturer, so the same part number from two different suppliers is fine.
Q: Can a Product belong to more than one Category?
A: A Product sits in one Category. Use the Category tree (parent Categories) to express broader groupings above it.
Q: Do I have to fill in every Product field?
A: No — only the name is essential. Code, description, manufacturer, and image are optional but make Products easier to find and identify.
Q: I have hundreds of Products in a spreadsheet — do I add them one by one?
A: No. Your CSM can import an existing catalogue for you. See Importing your Inventory data.
Q: Where do stock levels come in?
A: Products are the catalogue; stock is the quantity of each Product held in each Warehouse. See Warehouses and stock levels.