Library: vendors, locations, categories, cost centers

The Library is the set of reference catalogs that feed the dropdowns and groupings used everywhere else: the Vendor, Location, Category, and Cost center pickers on the hardware form, and the rollups on the Finance dashboard. Each catalog is a flat list you edit in place: a small add form on the right, a list on the left, with inline Edit and Delete on every row.

Before you begin

• You need an admin, IT admin, or super admin role. The Library lives in the admin console under Library in the sidebar.
• The sidebar entry opens on Vendors. A tab strip switches between the five catalogs: Vendors, Locations, Location types, Categories, Cost centers.
• Every catalog blocks deletion of a row that's still referenced by an asset (or a location, for location types). Reassign or remove the dependents first.

The five catalogs

Catalog	Tab	Feeds	Identified by
Vendors	Vendors	Vendor picker on hardware and software	Name (unique)
Locations	Locations	Location picker on hardware	Name
Location types	Location types	The Type dropdown on the location form	Slug (unique, fixed once set)
Hardware categories	Categories	Category picker on hardware; tailors the Specifications fields and carbon rollup	Name
Cost centers	Cost centers	Cost-center picker on hardware; Finance chargeback rollups	Code (unique)

Each tab follows the same pattern: fill the add form, select the add button, and the new row appears in the list with a success banner. To change a row, select Edit to swap it for an inline form, then save. To remove one, select Delete and confirm.

Vendors

Suppliers and partners you buy hardware or software from. The list shows hardware and software license counts per vendor and is sorted by name; some columns are hidden by default and toggled with the column picker.

Vendor fields

Field	Required	Default	Notes
Name	Yes	None	Must be unique across vendors; max 191 characters.
Type	Yes	Hardware	One of: Hardware, Software, Both, Service.
Website	No	None	Must be a valid URL; max 255 characters.
Support email	No	None	Must be a valid email; max 191 characters.
Support phone	No	None	Free text; max 32 characters.
Account manager	No	None	Free text; max 191 characters.
Account manager email	No	None	Must be a valid email; max 191 characters.
Notes	No	None	Free text; editable inline.

Vendor list columns

Column	Sortable	Notes
Name	Yes	Shows the website beneath the name when set.
Type	Yes	Shown as a pill.
Website	No	Hidden by default; toggle with the column picker.
Hardware	Yes	Count of linked hardware assets.
Software	Yes	Count of linked software licenses.
Support email, Support phone, Account manager	No	Hidden by default; toggle with the column picker.

note

A vendor with any linked hardware or software license can't be deleted. The action returns Cannot delete: vendor is linked to assets. Reassign or remove those assets first.

Locations

Offices, warehouses, and remote sites where assets live. The list shows a hardware count per location and is sorted by name; Code, City, Country, and Timezone are hidden by default behind the column picker.

Location fields

Field	Required	Default	Notes
Name	Yes	None	Max 191 characters.
Code	No	None	Short site code, e.g. VLN-HQ; max 32 characters.
Type	Yes	None	Picked from your Location types. Only active types are offered.
Address	No	None	Street; max 255 characters.
City	No	None	Max 128 characters.
Country	No	None	Free text, e.g. Lithuania; max 64 characters.
Timezone	No	None	Max 64 characters; editable inline only.

note

The Type dropdown is populated from the Location types tab; there's no free-text type. If the list is short or missing the type you need, add it under Location types first. A location that already points at a type later deactivated keeps showing that type.

A location with hardware assigned to it can't be deleted. The action returns Cannot delete: hardware is assigned to this location.

Location types

The choices for the location form's Type dropdown, for example Office, Warehouse, Retail store, Lab. Add a type here to categorize new sites without a code change. The list shows how many locations use each type.

Location type fields

Field	Required	Default	Notes
Name	Yes	None	Display label, e.g. Branch office; max 128 characters.
Slug	No	Derived from name	Lowercase letters, digits, and underscores only (^[a-z0-9_]+$); must be unique; max 64 characters. Left blank, it's generated from the name. Fixed once created, not editable.
Description	No	None	Max 500 characters.
Active	No	On	Inactive types stay assigned to existing locations but aren't offered for new ones. Cleared via the edit form.

warning

The slug is the join key between a type and its locations, so it's edit-locked after creation; changing it would orphan every location pointing at the old value. To rename a type, edit its Name; the slug stays stable. To retire one, clear Active rather than deleting it.

A type still referenced by one or more locations can't be deleted. The action returns Cannot delete: N location(s) use this type. Reassign or disable it instead. Reassign those locations, or clear Active to hide it from new selections.

Hardware categories

Groups for your assets: laptops, monitors, phones, cables, accessories. The category you pick on the hardware form tailors which Specifications fields appear and supplies the per-category carbon factors used by the Finance carbon rollup. Categories render as cards showing the icon, name, and asset count.

Category fields

Field	Required	Default	Notes
Name	Yes	None	Max 128 characters.
Icon	No	Laptop (pre-selected)	Picked from a fixed set (Laptop, Desktop, Monitor, Phone, Tablet, Headset, Keyboard, Mouse, Dock / Cable, Webcam, Printer, Server, Network, Storage, Other). Categories saved without an icon (for example, imported ones) fall back to a keyword match on the name. Max 64 characters.
Color	No	#324d76	Hex colour used as the icon tile background; max 32 characters.
Default lifespan (months)	No	48	Integer 1 to 360.
Embodied kg CO₂e (one-off)	No	None	Manufacturing footprint per asset; number 0 to 99999.99. Rolls up on Finance → Carbon only when set.
Annual kg CO₂e (use-phase / year)	No	None	Yearly running footprint per asset; number 0 to 99999.99.
Specification fields	No	Category defaults	Tick the spec fields to show on this category's hardware form. Leave all unticked to use the defaults for the category's slug.
Description	No	None	Max 1,000 characters.

tip

Leave the carbon factors blank unless you have published figures (for example a Dell PCF, Apple PER, or ADEME dataset). A category with no factor is skipped in the carbon rollup, so it never silently reports zero where data is just missing.

A category that still contains hardware can't be deleted. The action returns Cannot delete: hardware exists in this category.

Cost centers

Chargeback codes for finance reporting. Users carry a free-text cost_center value synced from Google Workspace; this catalog normalizes those values into a canonical list with stable labels and owner emails, so Finance rollups stay clean without editing every user row. The list shows per-code user count, hardware count, and book value.

Cost center fields

Field	Required	Default	Notes
Code	Yes	None	Must be unique; max 32 characters. Match the code Google Workspace syncs onto users, e.g. RND-01.
Name	Yes	None	Display label, e.g. R&D, Simulation; max 191 characters.
Department	No	None	Max 191 characters.
Owner email	No	None	Must be a valid email; max 191 characters. The center's finance contact. Set when you add the center.
Notes	No	None	Free text. Set when you add the center.

Inline Edit on a cost-center row covers Code, Name, and Department.

Cost center list columns

Column	Notes
Code	The catalog code.
Name	Display label.
Department	Owning department, or n/a.
Users	Users whose synced cost_center matches this code (case-insensitive).
Hardware	Assets charged to this cost center.
Book value	Sum of purchase price across this center's assets, when set.

note

The page also surfaces an unmatched list: free-text cost_center values on users that have no catalog entry, ranked by user count. Add a matching code here to fold those users into a canonical center.

A cost center with hardware still charged to it can't be deleted. The action returns Cannot delete: hardware is still charged to this cost center.

Troubleshooting

Symptom	What to do
Add form reloads with a field highlighted	A required field is missing or invalid. Vendors and locations require a Name and a Type; cost centers require Code and Name; categories and location types require a Name. Fix the flagged field and save again.
Save rejected because the name, code, or slug is taken	Vendor Name, cost center Code, and location type Slug must be unique. Enter a different value, or for a location type clear the slug to auto-generate one.
Delete returns "Cannot delete…"	The row is still referenced: by hardware or software (vendor), hardware (location, category, cost center), or locations (location type). Reassign or remove the dependents first, or for a location type clear Active instead.
A type you added isn't in the location Type dropdown	The dropdown lists only active location types. Open the type and confirm Active is on.
Can't change a location type's slug	The slug is fixed after creation by design. Edit the Name instead; the slug stays as the join key.
Specifications on the hardware form look empty or generic	The category's Specification fields are unset, so it falls back to the slug defaults. Open the category and tick the fields you want, or set the Category on the asset.
A cost center shows zero Users	No user's synced cost_center matches the Code (the match is case-insensitive). Confirm the code matches what Google Workspace writes onto users, and check the unmatched list.

Related

Add a hardware assetWhere the vendor, location, category, and cost-center pickers are used.Read →Software catalogThe master library of approved software products.Read →Spend dashboardCost-center and book-value rollups across your assets.Read →Users and teamsWhere the synced cost_center value lives on each person.Read →