Before creating your first project or document in Triark, you need to configure the foundational structure of your workspace: categories and statuses. These are part of the Standard module and determine how you classify and track documents, projects, and CRM, workflows and product entities.

Setting these up properly from the beginning ensures your entire team speaks the same language and reduces confusion down the road.

🧩 What Are Categories and Statuses?

Categories define the type or purpose of something.
E.g., a revision might be a Drawing, Checklist, or Inspection Report.

Statuses define the current state of that item.
E.g., a revision can be Draft, In Review, or Approved.

You can define categories and statuses for:

• Projects
• Documents
• Revisions
• CRM (Companies & Contacts)
• Products
• Workflows

✅ Why This Matters

Triark uses your categories and statuses in:

• Filters and search
• Grouping
• Metadata exports
• Visibility for all team members

Without clear structure, your workspace can become inconsistent or difficult to navigate.

🔧 How to Set Up Categories and Statuses

1. Navigate to the “Standard” module in the left-hand menu.
2. Choose which type to manage:
   • Project -> Category and Statuses
   • Document -> Category and Statuses
   • CRM -> Category and Statuses
   • Workflow -> Category and Statuses
   • Product -> Category and Statuses
3. Click “+ Category” or “+ Status” to create a new entry. Make sure Write Mode is enabled — you’ll find the toggle in the top-right corner of your screen, or simply press F2 on your keyboard.
4. Give it a clear and descriptive name.
5. Optionally assign a color on the status for quick visual recognition.

🤝How Categories and Statuses Work Together

In Triark, categories and statuses are linked to give you full control over how your documentation is organized and tracked across projects.

Each category can be connected to a set of statuses. This means you can define which statuses are available for documents within a given category — helping you avoid messy or irrelevant status options. For example, a category for "Drawings" may use statuses like Draft, In Progress, and Approved, while a category for "Test Reports" might include Passed or Failed.

This smart mapping makes the interface cleaner for your users, and ensures consistent data entry across projects.

🗂️Tree Structure: Organize with Subcategories

Triark also supports a tree structure for categories, making it easy to group similar document types. You can create subcategories under a parent category to reflect your internal structure — like grouping “Mechanical Drawings” and “Electrical Drawings” under a main “Drawings” category.

To create a subcategory:

1. Click on an existing category row.
2. Click “+ Category”.
3. Fill out the form — your new category will automatically be nested under the selected one.

This makes it simple to scale your structure as your organization grows or changes, without losing clarity.

💡 What Categories Should You Create?

Your categories should reflect how your business already talks about your data.

Some common examples:

📁 Document Categories

Use categories to group documents by type, function, or department. Each category has its own set of statuses, making document tracking precise and context-aware.

• Engineering
  Statuses: Draft, In Progress, Approved
  Examples: Drawings, Calculations, Checklists
• QA / Compliance
  Statuses: Draft, Under Review, Approved, Rejected
  Examples: Procedures, Inspection Reports, Deviations
• Operations
  Statuses: Draft, Approved, Archived
  Examples: Manuals, Datasheets, Reports

🧱 Project Categories

Categorize projects to reflect their purpose or type. Each project category can be linked to its own statuses, helping teams track progress and completion.

• Categories: Internal Project, Client Project, Development, Maintenance
• Example statuses: Not Started, In Progress, Done, Paused

🏢 CRM Categories

Organize companies and contacts based on their relationship to your business. CRM statuses help you track onboarding, activity, or communication stages.

• Categories: Supplier, Customer, Internal Partner
• Example statuses: Active, Prospect, Inactive

🔄 Can I Change These Later?

Yes — you can add, remove, or rename categories and statuses at any time as your organization grows or your needs change. However, it’s smart to define a basic structure early to avoid inconsistent data or the need to retroactively update existing records.

🛑 Keep in mind:
Changes to standards do not apply retroactively. If a category or status is changed after it has been used, existing documents, projects, or CRM entries will still retain the old values.

That means it’s important to get the core setup right from the start — especially for anything that will be widely used across the system.

📝 Tips for Setup

• Involve team leads from each department to agree on standard naming.
• Keep the list simple to start — you can expand later.
• Use short, consistent names (avoid overly technical terms unless needed).

‍