Skip to main content

Categories

Categories are the classification labels used throughout the platform to tag and organize records. Creating a well-structured category system before you start using Vivin operationally makes filtering, reporting, and delegation much more effective.

The Categories tab is organized into four sections, each managing labels for a different area of the platform.

Property / Listings Categories​

Tags that can be applied to properties and units. These appear in the Tags tab when editing a property or unit.

Purpose: Filter the Listings view, generate targeted reports, and quickly identify properties with specific characteristics.

Examples:

  • Location-based: Alameda, Baixa, City Center, Suburbs
  • Type-based: Studio, Room, Full Apartment, Two Single Beds
  • Feature-based: Pet Friendly, Furnished, Elevator, Parking
  • Tenant-type: Student Housing, Professional, Short-term

Bookings Categories​

Tags and categories that can be applied to bookings to classify the type of reservation or associated charges.

Purpose: Segment booking data for reporting, and provide context for custom charges added to a booking.

Examples:

  • Extra Tenant (booking has more tenants than the base capacity)
  • Room Change (tenant moved from one unit to another)
  • Renewal (existing tenant extended their stay)
  • Corporate (booking made by a company rather than an individual)

Tickets Categories​

Categories for maintenance and operational tasks. Every ticket must have a category, so creating a comprehensive list here is important before your team starts using the Operations module.

Purpose: Route tickets to the right team, generate workload reports by category, and standardize how tasks are described.

Examples:

  • Cleaning - Check-in
  • Cleaning - Check-out
  • Cleaning - Common Areas
  • Plumbing
  • Electrical
  • Appliance Repair
  • Key Handover
  • Tenant Request
  • Inspection

Others Items Categories​

Categories for miscellaneous financial items — charges that don't fit neatly into the standard booking payment types (rent, deposit, admin fee).

Purpose: Classify one-off or non-standard charges added to a booking (via "Add Charge") and track operational cash flow expenses in the Operations > Cash Flows tab.

Examples:

  • Damages
  • Guest Fee (extra charge for an additional occupant)
  • Parking
  • Storage
  • Penalty Fee
  • Contractor Invoice
  • Supplies

Best Practices for Category Design​

Keep Categories Specific but Not Overly Granular​

Categories should be specific enough to be useful for filtering and reporting, but not so granular that your team has to choose between dozens of similar options.

  • Too broad: Maintenance (does not help route tickets or generate useful reports)
  • Too granular: Plumbing - Kitchen Sink, Plumbing - Bathroom Sink, Plumbing - Toilet, Plumbing - Shower (forces difficult decisions on every ticket)
  • Just right: Plumbing, Electrical, Appliance Repair (clear, distinct, and useful for routing)

Use Consistent Naming Conventions​

Decide on a naming pattern and apply it consistently:

  • Use sentence case — Cleaning - Check-in rather than cleaning - check-in or CLEANING - CHECK-IN
  • Use hyphens or dashes for subcategories — Cleaning - Check-in, Cleaning - Check-out rather than Cleaning (Check-in) or Cleaning/Check-in
  • Avoid abbreviations — Electrical rather than Elec. to ensure clarity for all team members

Plan Before You Start​

Set up your full category taxonomy before your team begins creating tickets, bookings, and cash flows. Retroactively recategorizing records is tedious and error-prone. A good approach:

  1. List all the types of tasks, charges, and property features your team handles
  2. Group similar items and decide on a manageable number of categories (aim for 8–15 per section)
  3. Review with your team to ensure the categories match how they think about their work
  4. Create the categories in Vivin
  5. Review and refine after 1–2 months of use — add missing categories, merge rarely-used ones

When to Create a New Category vs. Reuse an Existing One​

Create a new category when:

  • The existing options do not accurately describe the item
  • You need to filter or report on this type of item separately
  • Different team members or processes handle this type of item

Reuse an existing category when:

  • The difference is minor and would not affect routing, reporting, or filtering
  • The new category would be used very rarely (fewer than once a month)
tip

Review your category usage quarterly. If a category has never been used, consider removing it to keep the dropdown menus clean. If team members are frequently choosing "Other" or misusing a category, a new category may be needed.

Key Rules​

Summary

  1. Categories cannot be deleted once in use. If a category has been applied to any record (ticket, booking, property, or cash flow), it remains in the system for historical accuracy. You can rename it, but not remove it.

  2. Ticket categories are mandatory. Every ticket must have a category. Ensure your ticket category list is comprehensive enough before your operations team starts creating tickets.

  3. Property tags propagate to units. Tags added to a property are automatically inherited by all units within that property. Unit-specific tags can be added independently.

  4. Others Items Categories serve double duty. These categories are used both for extra charges on bookings (via "Add Charge") and for cash flow entries in Operations. Design them to work for both contexts.