Product Information Management
Category structure that carries its own rules.
Maintain navigation, procurement and reporting trees side by side. Each category defines what its products require, and every move shows its impact before it happens.
How it works
Select a category, read its inherited rules, then move it
Switch between the navigation and procurement trees, select a category to see where each requirement comes from, then choose a new parent and review the impact before approving the move.
The same products sit in both trees. Each tree carries its own requirements.
All products / Pipe, valves & fittings / Valves / Ball valves
Ball valves
REQUIRED ATTRIBUTES FOR PRODUCTS HERE
- BrandFrom All products
- Primary imageFrom All products
- MaterialFrom Pipe, valves & fittings
- Connection typeFrom Pipe, valves & fittings
- Pressure ratingFrom Valves
- Port sizeSet here
- Port typeSet here
CONTROLLED REASSIGNMENT
Problems it solves
Where this work usually breaks down
One tree trying to serve every team
Merchandising, procurement and reporting compromise on a single structure that suits none of them.
Requirements tracked outside the taxonomy
Category-specific attributes live in spreadsheets, so new products are placed without the data their category needs.
Category moves without impact analysis
Restructuring a branch silently changes which attributes are required for thousands of products.
Orphaned and misplaced products
Products end up in parent categories or nowhere, and disappear from navigation and reports.
The capability
More than a navigation menu
Industrial distributors classify the same products in several ways. The web store needs a navigation tree buyers understand, purchasing needs categories aligned with suppliers and buyers, and finance needs reporting groups. Autonera maintains these as separate hierarchies over one product master, so a ball valve can live under Valves for buyers and under MRO stock for procurement without duplication.
Categories carry requirements. Attributes required at a parent category are inherited by every category beneath it, and each level adds its own. When a product is placed in a category, its completeness is evaluated against the full inherited set, so a pressure switch must have a voltage rating because it sits under Electrical and a setpoint range because it is a pressure switch.
Hierarchy changes are governed. Moving or merging categories shows how many products are affected and which requirements are added or removed, and the change can be routed through approval before it is applied.
Functional capabilities
What Product Hierarchies & Taxonomy includes
- Multiple hierarchies
- Maintain navigation, procurement, reporting and customer-specific trees over the same products.
- Inherited category requirements
- Required attributes cascade from parent to child categories and combine with each level's own rules.
- Controlled moves and merges
- Preview affected products and requirement changes before restructuring, with optional approval.
- Cycle and integrity checks
- Prevent a category from being moved beneath its own descendants and detect empty or orphaned branches.
- Leaf-level assignment rules
- Require products to be assigned to leaf categories so classification is specific enough to be useful.
- Standards alignment
- Map internal categories to industrial classification standards for exchange with partners.
Related capabilities
Works alongside
Industrial Classification & Standards Mapping
Crosswalk local classes and features to ETIM, ECLASS and UNSPSC.
Feature guideProduct Data Modeling
Configurable entities, typed attributes, groups and calculated values for technical products.
Feature guideMulti-Catalog & Assortment Management
Brand, customer and regional catalogs built from one governed product master.
Feature guideProduct Families & Variants
Family templates, variant axes and inherited values with SKU-level exceptions.
Capability areaProduct Information Management
See where Product Hierarchies & Taxonomy fits in the wider Product Information Management capability.
In industrial operations
A fluid-power distributor restructures its catalog
A distributor merging two acquired businesses needs one navigation tree and a procurement structure aligned with its buyers.
- Both legacy trees are loaded as separate hierarchies over the consolidated product master.
- Category requirements are defined once at the right level and inherited downward.
- Before each proposed move, the impact preview shows how many products gain new requirements.
- Moves are approved by the category owner and incomplete products are routed for enrichment.
Result: The new structure goes live with known completeness gaps instead of unexpected publishing failures.
Autonomous operations
How autonomous execution changes product hierarchies & taxonomy
Agents classify new products into the right leaf categories, detect misplaced items and prepare restructuring plans, while category owners approve structural change.
Agents carry out
- Suggest leaf categories for new products with supporting evidence
- Detect products whose attributes do not fit their category
- Prepare move plans with impact counts
- Backfill newly inherited requirements
People decide
- Own each hierarchy and its requirements
- Approve moves, merges and new categories
- Resolve ambiguous classifications
Evidence recorded
- Hierarchy change history
- Products affected by each structural change
- Classification decisions and their evidence
Buyer FAQs
Questions evaluators ask
Can a product belong to more than one hierarchy?
Yes. Each hierarchy is independent, so a product can sit in a navigation tree, a procurement tree and a reporting tree at the same time.
How are category requirements inherited?
Requirements defined on a category apply to every category beneath it. Each child can add its own, and products are evaluated against the full combined set.
What happens when we move a category?
Autonera previews the products affected and the requirements gained or lost. After approval, those products are re-evaluated and gaps are routed for completion.
Does this replace ETIM or ECLASS?
No. Internal hierarchies are designed for your business. They can be mapped to industrial standards through Industrial Classification & Standards Mapping.
Can customers have their own category trees?
Yes. Customer- or channel-specific trees can be maintained alongside internal hierarchies and used for catalogs and syndication.
Your next step
See Product Hierarchies & Taxonomy on data like yours.
Bring a real file, catalog or record set. We will walk through how Autonera would handle it and where your team keeps the final say.
Book a Demo