Expert Categories

Purpose

Expert Categories is a management workspace for reviewing and maintaining the Actualog category taxonomy. Use it to find categories by name or search index, inspect their hierarchy, filter by category type, level, workflow state, pending changes, community, and facets, and export the exact set of categories you have selected or filtered.

Open Expert Categories.

This page is designed for taxonomy experts, Category Stewards, Application Administrators, and support teams who need a broad category view beyond a single community page.

What you can do here

  • Search for categories by name or indexed category text.
  • Filter categories by type: all types, universal categories, or concrete categories.
  • Filter by level: root categories, family categories, product-level categories, or any combination of these levels.
  • Filter by workflow: not published, waiting for approval, published, or deleted categories when your role allows deleted records.
  • Filter by pending changes to find categories that have user-submitted changes waiting for expert or administrator action.
  • Select one community and then use that community's facet tree to narrow the category list.
  • Sort the list by name, attributes, companies, products, or experts.
  • Open category hierarchy menus, counters, category details, edit actions, favorites, and related item links from each row.
  • Select rows for export or export all categories that match the applied filters, when export is available to your role.

How filters work

The filter panel has draft and applied states. Changing a field does not immediately reload the list. Click Apply filters to update the list and make the current filters available for export.

Use Reset filters to clear search, category type, community, level, workflow, pending changes, facets, sort, and order back to the default list.

If you change filters after applying them, the page shows a warning before all-matching export because the visible list and export target set must use the same applied filter state.

Level filter

The Level menu controls where a category sits in the taxonomy.

  • Root shows top-level non-product categories.
  • Family shows non-root, non-product categories.
  • Product shows product-level categories where products can be created or classified.

You can select more than one level. If no level is selected, all levels are included.

Workflow filter

The Workflow menu controls review and publication state.

  • Not Published shows draft/new categories.
  • Waiting for Approval shows categories submitted for review.
  • Published shows approved categories.
  • Deleted shows deleted categories only when your role is allowed to see them.

You can select more than one workflow state. If no workflow state is selected, the list shows active, non-deleted categories.

Pending changes filter

Use Pending changes when you need the work queue of categories with user changes that still need expert or Application Administrator action. Pending changes are separate from publication state: a published category can still have pending user edits.

Template sync filter

Use Template sync when you need to find categories whose product-facing model or product synchronization work needs attention.

  • Needs template update shows Product-level categories where the active Effective Template is missing or no longer matches the current category, inherited category, Universal Category, attribute, unit, identity, or name-template sources. Open the category and choose Review changes to compare the active template with the pending template, then use Update Effective Template when the change is accepted.
  • Needs product sync shows Product-level categories whose current active Effective Template already has unfinished Product Synchronization work. This includes queued or running synchronization, failed or conflict targets, and technical product template stamps that are stale for the current active template.

The template badge and the product badge are independent.

If a row shows Effective template needs update and Products actualized, the products are actualized for the current active template. They have not been actualized for the pending template yet, because that pending template has not been activated.

If a row shows Product actualization not required, there is no Product Synchronization operation to run or repair for the current active template. This is common when the category has no products, when only non-product-affecting metadata changed, or when the template has not yet been activated.

If a row shows Products actualized, Actualog has durable operation evidence that Product Synchronization completed for the active template version.

Community and facet filters

Use Community when you want to inspect categories within one community context. Only one community can be selected at a time.

After you select a community and click Apply filters, the page enables the facet filter panel. The panel opens on the right and shows that community's facet tree. Choose facets to narrow the category list, then click Apply filters in the panel.

Facet changes are draft changes until you apply them. If you switch to another community, selected facets are cleared because facets belong to a specific community tree.

Category rows

Each category row keeps the standard Actualog category list behavior:

  • the category image and name open the category context;
  • the hierarchy navigator shows where the category sits in the taxonomy;
  • icon menus in the hierarchy open category previews and navigation actions;
  • colored counters open related products, attributes, companies, experts, documents, history, or pending work where available;
  • row action icons open view, edit, favorite, copy, create, or other category actions according to your permissions.

Exporting categories

When export is available, click Select items to enter selection mode.

  • Select visible selects categories currently shown on the page.
  • Select all matching filters selects all categories that match the last applied filters.
  • Clear individual checkboxes to exclude rows from an all-matching selection.
  • Use Export to queue JSON or CSV export.

Apply any changed filters before using all-matching export. Export uses the applied filter state, not unsaved draft controls.

When the export is ready, use Download export in the notification or open Expert -> Exports. Expert Categories export results are not stored under the selected company workspace.

Common mistakes

Do not expect facet filters to appear before a community is applied. Facets belong to a selected community.

Do not change filters and immediately export all matching categories without applying the changes first. The export must match the list's applied filters.

Do not use Deleted as a normal review state. Deleted categories are hidden by default and only visible to roles that can inspect deleted records.

Do not read Products actualized beside Effective template needs update as "products are ready for the future template." It only means product synchronization is complete for the current active Effective Template. First update the Effective Template; then check whether Product Synchronization was queued or completed for the new active version.