Tracking categories
Monitors cost centres and controls budgets that sit outside the standard chart of accounts
Language tip
Parameters used to track types of spend in various parts of an organization can be called dimensions, projects, classes, or locations in different accounting platforms. In Codat, we refer to these as tracking categories.
Explore the Tracking Categories endpoints in Swagger.
View the coverage for tracking categories in the Data Coverage Explorer.
Overview
Tracking categories are used to monitor cost centres and control budgets that sit outside the standard chart of accounts. Customers may use tracking categories to group together and track the income and costs of specific departments, projects, locations or customers.
From their accounting system, customers can:
- Create and maintain tracking categories and tracking category types.
- View all tracking categories that are available for use.
- View the relationships between the categories.
- Assign invoices, bills, credit notes, or bill credit notes to one or more categories.
- View the categories that a transaction belongs to.
- View all transactions in a tracking category.
From the TrackingCategories endpoints, you can retrieve:
- A list of the latest tracking categories for a company.
- The details of a specific tracking category.
Example use case
Monitor the budget for your annual conference using a tracking category called 'AnnualConference2020' with the type set to Costing.
Data model
Tracking category model
The tracking categories of a company. If a tracking category has a parent category, the ID of that parent category is displayed. There is also a hasChildren field that shows whether there are child subcategories nested beneath. See below for an example tracking category.
Field | Type | Description |
---|---|---|
id | string | Unique identifier for the tracking category in the accounting platform. |
parentId | string | Identifier of 'parent' or main category that the tracking category belongs to. |
modifiedDate | string | Date when the record was last updated in the Codat system. |
sourceModifiedDate | string | Date when the record was last updated in the accounting platform. |
name | string | Name of the tracking category in the accounting platform. |
hasChildren | boolean | Indicates whether there are other tracking categories beneath this one in the hierarchy. |
status | string | Current state of the tracking category, either:
|
Tracking category tree model
The full structure of a specific tracking category including any child or sub categories.
Field | Type | Description |
---|---|---|
trackingCategoryTree | TrackingCategory | All fields from the tracking category in a tree structure. |
subCategories | Array of TrackingCategoryTree | A collection of subcategories that are nested beneath this category. |
Tracking category reference model
Data types that reference a tracking category – for example, the line items of a bill – use a trackingCategoryRef that includes the ID and name of the linked category.
Field | Type | Description |
---|---|---|
id | string | Unique identifier for the tracking category in the accounting platform. |
name | string | Name of the tracking category in the accounting platform. |
Example data
Tracking category
{
"results": [
{
"id": "C0",
"modifiedDate": "2020-02-12T16:29:47Z",
"sourceModifiedDate": "2016-08-11T11:28:08Z",
"name": "Marketing Department",
"hasChildren": false,
"status": "Active"
},
{
"id": "C1",
"modifiedDate": "2020-02-12T16:29:47Z",
"sourceModifiedDate": "2016-08-11T11:28:08Z",
"name": "Engineering Department",
"hasChildren": true,
"status": "Active"
},
{
"id": "C2",
"modifiedDate": "2020-02-12T16:29:47Z",
"sourceModifiedDate": "2016-08-11T11:28:08Z",
"name": "Sales Department",
"hasChildren": false,
"status": "Active"
},
{
"id": "C3",
"modifiedDate": "2020-02-12T16:29:47Z",
"sourceModifiedDate": "2016-08-11T11:28:08Z",
"name": "UK",
"hasChildren": false,
"status": "Active"
},
{
"id": "C7",
"parentId": "C1",
"modifiedDate": "2020-02-12T16:29:47Z",
"sourceModifiedDate": "2016-08-11T11:28:08Z",
"name": "Team 1",
"hasChildren": false,
"status": "Active"
},
{
"id": "T1",
"modifiedDate": "2020-02-12T16:29:47Z",
"sourceModifiedDate": "2016-08-11T11:28:08Z",
"name": "UK",
"hasChildren": true,
"status": "Active"
},
{
"id": "T10",
"parentId": "T1",
"modifiedDate": "2020-02-12T16:29:47Z",
"sourceModifiedDate": "2016-08-11T11:28:12Z",
"name": "London Office",
"hasChildren": false,
"status": "Active"
},
{
"id": "T12",
"parentId": "T1",
"modifiedDate": "2020-02-12T16:29:47Z",
"sourceModifiedDate": "2016-08-11T11:28:12Z",
"name": "Manchester Office",
"hasChildren": false,
"status": "Active"
},
{
"id": "T13",
"parentId": "T2",
"modifiedDate": "2020-02-12T16:29:47Z",
"sourceModifiedDate": "2016-08-11T11:28:12Z",
"name": "NYC Offices",
"hasChildren": true,
"status": "Active"
},
{
"id": "T2",
"modifiedDate": "2020-02-12T16:29:47Z",
"sourceModifiedDate": "2016-08-11T11:28:08Z",
"name": "US",
"hasChildren": true,
"status": "Active"
},
{
"id": "T8",
"parentId": "T2",
"modifiedDate": "2020-02-12T16:29:47Z",
"sourceModifiedDate": "2016-08-11T11:28:12Z",
"name": "San Francisco Office",
"hasChildren": false,
"status": "Active"
},
{
"id": "T9",
"parentId": "T13",
"modifiedDate": "2020-02-12T16:29:47Z",
"sourceModifiedDate": "2016-08-11T11:28:12Z",
"name": "Brooklyn",
"hasChildren": false,
"status": "Active"
}
],
"pageNumber": 1,
"pageSize": 100,
"totalResults": 12,
"_links": {
"current": {
"href": "/companies/f8f3ca24-679e-414d-8945-26a8eead7180/data/trackingCategories?page=1"
},
"self": {
"href": "/companies/f8f3ca24-679e-414d-8945-26a8eead7180/data/trackingCategories"
}
}
}
Tracking category tree
{
"id": "T2",
"modifiedDate": "2020-02-12T16:29:47",
"sourceModifiedDate": "2016-08-11T11:28:08",
"name": "UK",
"hasChildren": true,
"status": "Active",
"subCategories": [
{
"id": "T13",
"parentId": "T2",
"modifiedDate": "2020-02-12T16:29:47",
"sourceModifiedDate": "2016-08-11T11:28:12",
"name": "London",
"hasChildren": true,
"status": "Active",
"subCategories": [
{
"id": "T9",
"parentId": "T13",
"modifiedDate": "2020-02-12T16:29:47",
"sourceModifiedDate": "2016-08-11T11:28:12",
"name": "Clerkenwell Office",
"hasChildren": false,
"status": "Active",
"subCategories": []
}
]
},
{
"id": "T8",
"parentId": "T2",
"modifiedDate": "2020-02-12T16:29:47",
"sourceModifiedDate": "2016-08-11T11:28:12",
"name": "US",
"hasChildren": false,
"status": "Active",
"subCategories": []
}
]
}
Tracking category reference
{
"id": "T2",
"name": "UK"
}
Updated 2 months ago