Subdepartment Master

Setting up subdepartments correctly before entering items is the single most effective way to reduce setup time and ensure consistency. Here's what happens when you create a new item and assign it to a subdepartment:

Example: You set up a "Vitamins" subdepartment with Sell Tax = HST, COGS = 5100, Income = 4200, Asset = 1300, Target Margin = 40%, Default Sizes = [EA, BX]. Every new vitamin item you create is instantly configured with all of these values — you only need to add the description, vendor cost, and selling price.

This is the most powerful feature of the subdepartment.

When you change any subdepartment default and save, Quasar detects the change and asks if you want to update all linked items. This means you can change a tax code, margin target, or GL account for an entire product category — potentially hundreds or thousands of items — in a single operation.

There are four independent triggers, each with its own update prompt:

All updates show a progress bar with an Abort button. If you abort mid-update, a warning confirms that only some items were updated and the operation cannot be resumed.

Real-World Scenario: The government changes the tax rate on a product category. You update the Sell Tax on the subdepartment, choose "Update matching", and every item that still uses the old tax code is instantly updated. Items where you manually set a different tax (like a zero-rated exemption) are left untouched.

Name

Subdepartment name (up to 30 characters). E.g., "Dairy", "Frozen Foods", "Vitamins & Supplements", "Power Tools".

Number

Unique subdepartment number (up to 5 characters). Used for reporting hierarchy and sorting.

Department

The parent department. Changing the department triggers an update prompt for all linked items (see above).

These flags define the behavior of all items in this subdepartment. New items automatically inherit these flags:

Purchased?

Items can be purchased from vendors. Controls whether purchase costs and vendor invoice lines are accepted. When unchecked, the COGS Account is hidden.

Sold?

Items can be sold to customers. When unchecked, the Income Account is hidden.

Inventoried?

Items track on-hand quantities and inventory value. When unchecked, the Asset Account is hidden. When checked together with Sold, the Expense Account label changes to "COGS Account".

Discountable?

Items are eligible for discounts at POS. Uncheck for controlled-price items (e.g., lottery, stamps, regulated products).

Allow consignment (in)

Enables consignment receiving for items. Only available when Purchased, Sold, and Inventoried are all checked. Visible only when the Consignment business feature is enabled.

Allow consignment (out)

Enables consignment sending for items. Only available when Purchased, Sold, and Inventoried are all checked. Visible only when the Consignment business feature is enabled.

COGS Account

The default cost-of-goods-sold or expense account. New items inherit this account. The label changes dynamically: "COGS Account" when both Inventoried and Sold, "Expense Account" otherwise.

Income Account

Default revenue account for sales. Only active when Sold is checked.

Asset Account

Default inventory asset account. Only active when Inventoried is checked.

Loyalty Rate

Points earned per dollar for loyalty program items. Changing this triggers an update prompt for all linked items. Visible only when the Loyalty business feature is enabled.

International product classification for e-invoicing compliance. Visible only for markets requiring UNSPSC product codes (Mexico, Belize, Philippines).

Segment

Top-level UNSPSC hierarchy. Select a Segment to filter the Family dropdown.

Family

Second-level UNSPSC hierarchy. Select a Family to filter the Intl. Product Class dropdown.

Intl. Product Class

Third-level UNSPSC classification. Changing the Product Class triggers an update prompt for all linked items.

Intl. Product Code

The specific government product code for electronic invoices. Filtered by the selected Class to narrow down options.

The Main tab contains per-zone defaults — the core tax and pricing rules that flow down to every item. You can define different defaults for different Price Zones (e.g., different tax rules for stores in different provinces).

These columns auto-populate on new items assigned to this subdepartment:

Price Zone

The pricing zone this row of defaults applies to. Add one row per zone where your stores operate.

Purch Tax

Default purchase tax code for vendor invoices (e.g., "GST" for 5% federal tax only, "HST" for harmonized).

Sell Tax

Default selling tax code applied at point of sale (e.g., "HST", "VAT", "GST+PST").

Target

Target gross margin percentage. Quasar uses this on the Item Master to warn when a price doesn't achieve the target. E.g., 35% means you aim for 35 cents profit on every dollar of revenue.

Variance

Allowed deviation from the target margin before a warning appears. E.g., Target 35% with Variance 5% means margins between 30% and 40% are accepted without warning.

Price Inc Tax?

When checked, the selling price entered includes tax (tax-inclusive pricing). Common in markets like the Philippines and some European countries.

Price Inc Dep?

When checked, the selling price includes deposit (e.g., bottle deposits). The system backs out the deposit when calculating margins.

Cost Inc Tax?

When checked, the vendor cost entered includes tax. The system backs out the tax when calculating the net cost.

Cost Inc Dep?

When checked, the vendor cost includes deposit. The system separates the deposit from cost for proper GL posting.

Force use of listed sizes?

When checked, items in this subdepartment must use one of the sizes defined below. Prevents free-form size entry and ensures consistency across the category (e.g., a "Canned Goods" subdepartment only allows "EA" and "CS").

Default Size

Each row defines a standard size name (e.g., "EA", "CS", "BX", "LB", "KG"). When a new item is created in this subdepartment, these sizes are automatically added to the item's size list on the Item Master. Sizes are also central to Matrix Items — each size/color combination generates a separate item record. See the Quasar Guide — Chapter 9: Matrix Items for more on working with sizes in matrices.