Materials Catalog — Overview
Browse your organisation's material library — 555 items across 13 CSI MasterFormat divisions plus a general-consumables group — and see how an item reaches the approval picker.
The Materials Catalog is the library every approval is drawn from. Your organisation is set up with it — 555 items across 13 CSI MasterFormat divisions plus a general-consumables group — so there's nothing to build before you can approve your first material.
Open it from Admin → Materials Catalog. It's a reference screen: browse, search, filter, read. Approving is done next door, in Admin → Approved Materials.
What You See
| Column | What It Shows |
|---|---|
| Code | The catalogue code, e.g. 03.30.002 |
| Material | The item's name |
| Spec | The specification — grade, size, class |
| Division | The division code and name, e.g. 03 — Concrete |
| Subcategory | The grouping inside the division, e.g. Ready Mix |
| Unit | The unit this material is measured in |
| Scope | Which library the item belongs to — items seeded for your organisation read Organization |
| Updated | When the item last changed |
Narrowing the List
The whole catalogue loads once, and everything below narrows what is already on screen:
- Search — matches the item's name, code, specification, subcategory and category.
- Filter — pick one or more Divisions (listed as
code — name), Subcategories or Scopes. Filters stack, and clearing them brings the full library back. - Group — the list opens grouped by division; group by subcategory or scope instead.
An empty result reads "No materials match this search or filter." Because the catalogue is always populated, that message means the filters are too tight, never that something is missing.
The Divisions
Thirteen of the groups are CSI MasterFormat divisions. The fourteenth, 00 General & Consumables, is not a MasterFormat division — it holds cement, safety and PPE items, and fuels and gases.
| Division | Items |
|---|---|
| 03 Concrete | 37 |
| 04 Masonry | 25 |
| 05 Metals | 54 |
| 06 Wood, Plastics & Composites | 37 |
| 07 Thermal & Moisture Protection | 42 |
| 08 Openings | 38 |
| 09 Finishes | 48 |
| 22 Plumbing | 56 |
| 23 HVAC | 20 |
| 26 Electrical | 76 |
| 31 Earthwork | 24 |
| 32 Exterior Improvements | 20 |
| 33 Utilities | 38 |
| 00 General & Consumables | 40 |
Units across the catalogue are m³, ton, bags, kg, nos, m², linear_m and litres. The default unit follows the item into inventory once it's approved, so stock on a project is always counted the way the catalogue counts it.
How an Item Reaches the Approval Picker
Every catalogue item is already available to approve. The Add Approved Material dialog in Admin → Approved Materials reads the same library — its quick search and its Division/Subcategory/Material browser are the catalogue in a smaller frame.
So the catalogue is organisation-wide and the approval is project-specific. The same Ready Mix Concrete M30 can be approved on two projects with two different manufacturers, and each project's register shows only its own.
The catalogue is read-only
There's no add, edit or remove control on this screen. Approving an item is where your organisation's own detail goes in — the manufacturer, brand, suppliers and remarks all live on the approval, not on the catalogue entry.
Related
- Approving a material — turning a catalogue item into a project approval
- The Approved Materials register — what the project sees afterwards
- Getting Started with Materials — the full round trip