What Are Business Items?
Business items allow you to predefine the goods and services that you provide to customers. They serve as reusable templates that streamline document creation, making it faster and more consistent to build estimates, change orders, and invoices.
Key Concept: Business items are records of the types of goods and services you offer—not an inventory of available stock. Think of them as your service catalog or product list.
Are Business Items Required?
No, business items are not strictly required. You can always create line items on financial documents in a "one-off" fashion when needed.
However, business items provide significant benefits:
- Speed: Quickly add items to estimates and invoices
- Consistency: Maintain standard pricing and descriptions
- Efficiency: Reduce repetitive data entry
- Tax Management: Pre-configure which items are taxable
How Business Items Work
In Financial Documents
When creating estimates, change orders, or invoices, business items make data entry faster:
Dropdown Selection:
- Start typing in the line item name field
- Get a filtered dropdown list of matching business items
- Select an item to automatically populate name, description, rate, and tax settings
Agent Quick Entry:
- Use natural language with the estimate agent
- Example: "add 5 hours of labor"
- If a business item called "Labor" exists, the agent will add it with the correct rate
- Quantities and descriptions are applied intelligently
- The agent uses flexible matching—you don't need exact names
- "lawn service" will find "Lawn Mowing"
- "web design" will find "Website Design"
Default Values:
- Pre-set prices are automatically populated
- Tax inclusion is applied based on business item configuration
- Descriptions are filled in automatically
Creating Business Items
From the UI:
- Navigate to Business section in the app
- Go to Business Items
- Click to create a new item
- Provide:
- Name (required) - e.g., "Website Design", "Lawn Mowing", "Materials"
- Description (optional) - Details about what the item includes
- Rate (required) - Price per unit in dollars
From the Agent:
- Use natural language: "Create website design service for $2500"
- Provide name and rate (minimum requirements)
- Description is optional—if not provided, the agent will create one for you
- Example: "Add consultation $150 per hour"
How the Agent Handles Creation:
-
Name Extraction: The agent extracts the business item name from your message
- Example: "lawn mowing" becomes a business item named "Lawn Mowing"
- Short phrases are treated as the name, not the description
-
Automatic Description Generation: If you don't provide a description, the agent creates a simple one
- "Website Design" → "Website design"
- "Consultation" → "Consultation services"
- "Lawn Mowing" → "Lawn mowing"
- The agent capitalizes and may add generic suffixes
-
Immediate Creation: Once you confirm, the item is created immediately—no preview is shown
-
Default Quantity: All items default to quantity of 1 unit
Applying Taxes
Important: Taxes are not set during business item creation. They are applied afterward in the detail view.
To Configure Taxes:
- Create the business item first (name, description, rate)
- Open the business item detail view
- Assign tax items to make the business item taxable
- The business item will now include those taxes when added to documents
This two-step process keeps creation simple while providing full tax flexibility.
Managing Business Items
Viewing Business Items
Location: Business section → Business Items
Here you can:
- View all your business items
- See names, rates, and tax status
- Search and filter your catalog
- Access detail views for editing
Modifying Business Items
Business items can be updated in two ways:
From the UI:
- Open Business Items list
- Select the item to edit
- Modify name, description, or rate
- Manage tax assignments in the detail view
- Save changes
From the Agent:
- Use natural language: "Change lawn mowing rate to $60"
- Update descriptions: "Update website design description"
- Modify names: "Rename consultation to advisory"
Deleting Business Items
From the UI:
- Open the business item detail view
- Select delete option
- Confirm deletion
From the Agent:
- Request deletion: "Delete website design service"
- The agent will confirm before removing
Important: Deleting a business item does not affect historical documents. Line items that were previously created using this business item remain unchanged in past estimates and invoices.
Best Practices
When to Use Business Items
✅ Good Use Cases:
- Services you provide regularly (lawn mowing, consulting, repairs)
- Standard products you sell frequently (materials, supplies)
- Items with consistent pricing
- Services with tax requirements
❌ When One-Off Items Are Better:
- Unique, non-repeating services
- Custom quotes with variable pricing
- Special circumstances that won't recur
Naming Conventions
Clear and Specific:
- ✅ "Lawn Mowing - Standard Yard"
- ✅ "Website Design - Basic Package"
- ✅ "Labor - Hourly Rate"
- ❌ "Service" (too vague)
- ❌ "Item 1" (not descriptive)
Use Categories When Needed:
- "Labor - Skilled"
- "Labor - General"
- "Materials - Paint"
- "Materials - Hardware"
Rate Management
Keep rates current:
- Review business item rates periodically
- Update prices as your costs change
- Historical documents retain their original pricing
Consider creating separate items for:
- Different tiers (Basic, Standard, Premium)
- Different regions with different pricing
- Seasonal pricing variations
Units and Quantities
Business items use a self-defining structure for units:
How It Works:
- The rate you set implicitly defines the unit
- Create separate business items for different unit types
- Examples:
- "Labor - Hourly" at $75/hour
- "Labor - Daily" at $600/day
- "Lawn Mowing - Standard Yard" at $50/yard
- "Lawn Mowing - Large Yard" at $100/yard
Default Behavior:
- All business items default to quantity of 1
- When added to documents, you can adjust the quantity as needed
- The unit is inferred from the business item name and context
Common Questions
Q: What happens to estimates if I change a business item's rate? A: Existing estimates keep their original pricing. Only new estimates will use the updated rate.
Q: Can I have multiple business items with the same name? A: While technically possible, it's not recommended. Use descriptive unique names to avoid confusion.
Q: How do I make a business item taxable? A: Create the item first, then open its detail view and assign the appropriate tax items.
Q: Can I delete a business item that's been used in estimates? A: Yes. Deleting a business item doesn't affect historical documents—those line items remain intact.
Q: Do I need to create business items for every service? A: No. Only create business items for goods and services you provide repeatedly. One-off items can be entered directly into documents.
Q: How do I handle different units (hourly vs daily rates)? A: Create separate business items for each unit type. For example, "Labor - Hourly" at $75/hour and "Labor - Daily" at $600/day as two distinct business items.
Q: Can I see which estimates/invoices use a specific business item? A: This feature is planned for a future release (see a future update for usage tracking).
Q: Can I save a line item from an estimate as a business item? A: This feature is planned for a future release (coming soon).
Q: Can I organize business items into categories? A: Business item categories are planned for a future release (coming soon). For now, use naming conventions like "Labor - Skilled" or "Materials - Paint".
Q: Can I activate/deactivate business items? A: Activation/deactivation is planned for a future release (coming soon). Currently, you can delete items you no longer use.
Summary
Business items are your reusable catalog of goods and services that:
- Speed up document creation
- Maintain consistency in pricing and descriptions
- Enable smart features like agent quick-entry
- Support tax management through tax item assignments
They're optional but highly recommended for any services or products you provide regularly.