IN THIS SECTION


If you report by category you can use Category Groups to merge and map your category options. Category Groups allow you to group Xero Tracking Categories and QuickBooks Online Classes/Locations from your source entities for reporting.


NOTE: Reporting by Category and Category Group is currently available on the Profit & Loss Report and not available for KPIs or Non-Financial Data. We will be making it available across all data and reports soon.



NOTE: Xero recommends a maximum of 100 options per tracking category and does not recommend using tracking for projects. If you have more than 100 options then Xero are not able to guarantee the performance of their API and this in turn could cause issues with the Joiin data sync. 




PRO: Category Grouping is available in our PRO and MAX packages.


Getting Started


You can view all your existing categories and create and manage groups through the Categories page. Click on the Settings menu at the top right and select Categories.


When you first visit the Categories page you see two tabs at the top: Categories and Category Groups.


Categories Tab

shows a list of all the consolidated categories (Xero Tracking Categories and QuickBooks Online Classes and Locations) and options from all your connected entities.


Category Groups Tab

shows a list of any Category Groups you have created.


Viewing Consolidated Categories

The Categories tab shows a list of all the consolidated categories (Xero Tracking Categories and QuickBooks Online Classes and Locations) and options from all your connected entities. When you connect entities Categories will be consolidated together, just like accounts on your Chart of Accounts. So, for example, if you have multiple Xero entities, all with a Region Category, you will see only one Region Category in the list, representing the Consolidated Region category.


Category Options


Each Category shows the list of Options for that category - if there are more than a few you can click on the + button to expand the list.


Company Categories


The number of companies that the Category exists on is also shown to the right. You can expand the Category by clicking on the down arrow - this will then show a list of all the Companies with that category and the underlying options for each one.




Category Groups


The Category Groups tab shows a list of all Category Groups. You can combine Categories into Category Groups for display on reports.


Creating Category Groups

To create a Category Group, click on the Add Category Group button.


Enter a name for your Category Group - this will be the name that is selected from the Category dropdown when you run reports.


Adding Options


Each Category Group will be made up of Options - for example if your Category Group is Sales Team your options might be Direct Sales, Partners, Marketplace etc. You can create and name as many options as you like. Each option will contain the underlying Category Options from the Consolidated Categories (from your connected entities).


To add an option 


  • click on the Add Group Option button
  • enter a name for the option
  • click on the Add Group Option button


The option will be displayed with an empty Mappings section. Mappings are the options from your Consolidated Categories that you wish to map to your Category Group Option. For example, if you had a Consolidated Category of Salesperson, you might add individual Salespersons to your Direct Sales group option.


Click on the Add Mappings button to add a mapping. You will see a popup where you can view a list of all category options - you can Filter by Category or Search for particular text to find the option you want. Only options that haven't already been mapped in this Category Group will be shown, which helps to ensure you do not map options twice. Click on the option to add it as a mapping in your Group Option - you will see it appear in the mappings section. Click on Done when you have finished adding mappings.


To remove a mapping, click on the X icon to the right of the option name.


Repeat the process to add additional Group Options and mappings. You can edit the name of a Group Option by clicking on the Edit icon to the right of the name. You can delete a Group Option by clicking on the Delete icon to the right of the name.


Once done click on the Save Category Group button to save the group. You will see it appear in the list. You can expand the item to see all the defined mappings.


Unmapped Options

To help you when creating Category Groups there is an Unmapped Options section at the bottom. This shows any options from the categories used in your group that aren't mapped to a Group Option yet. Anything left unmapped will appear in the Unassigned column when you run a report, so this lets you check you've covered everything.


For example you may want to create a Category Group which groups Country options by region. You must ensure you include all the Country options and this section helps to show you that you have.


This section also shows when an option is mapped in another Category Group. Options mapped in another group are still unmapped in this one, so they'll appear in Unassigned.


NOTE: The Unassigned column includes two things: transactions with no category set in your accounting system, and any category options not mapped in your Category Group. Unassigned can't currently be mapped to a Group Option, so this column will always appear if either applies. Use the Unmapped Options section when editing your group to make sure all options are mapped.




NOTE: A Category Group can include options from more than one Category, but each transaction is counted once for every Category it's tagged with. If a transaction is tagged with options from two Categories in the same group (for example, Class = Blue and Country Code = AU), it will appear in both Group Options, and your totals will be overstated. For accurate totals, map options from a single Category in each group.




Editing Category Groups


To edit a category group click on the Edit icon on the three-dot menu to the right of the group.


Deleting Category Groups


To delete a category group click on the Delete icon on the three-dot menu to the right of the group.


Cloning Category Groups


You can copy a Category Group into a new group by clicking on the Clone icon on the three-dot menu to the right of the group.



Running Reports with Category Groups


Once you have set up your Category Groups you can run reports By Category as you did before. Your Category Groups will appear in the Categories dropdown for selection. Once selected, each Category Group Option will be displayed as a column in the report output. You can choose to include or exclude options when you run reports and save those reports in Report Packs as usual.