Introduction

Welcome to Katana! Getting started with new software can usually be a daunting experience, but we hope this guide can help you quickly become acquainted with the key features of Katana.

This guide will focus on adding products, managing materials, and streamlining your production process efficiently. Let's embark on this journey to optimize your manufacturing workflow with Katana.

A couple of key terms

Products: Items that your business manufactures and/or sells.
Materials: Raw materials or components used in the manufacturing process.
BOM (Bill of Materials): A list detailing the raw materials, assemblies, and components needed to manufacture a product.
Integration: A software platform connected to Katana (e.g., Shopify, WooCommerce) to streamline processes.

To get an idea of how Katana will work for your business, we recommend playing around with the demo data initially on your account, before adding your own:

Play around with the demo data
Go ahead and edit products, recipes/BOMs, production operations, etc. Try creating or editing sales orders and see how make-to-order or make-to-stock flows work straight from the Sell screen.

We recommend following the onboarding tour to get up and running even quicker.
Add your own data to Katana to decide how to map out your business
Add things like products, materials, product recipes, production operations, a sales order, and a manufacturing order. Follow the guided tour, which will walk you through adding products and running different workflows.

Tip: To remove demo data, click the Demo data button in the navigation bar.

Import or upload your real data
We have integrations for Shopify and WooCommerce, so if you're running a webshop through either, you can integrate and bring your products and stock levels into Katana. If you store data somewhere else, we have spreadsheet templates you can use to upload all of your products, materials, and BOMs/Product Recipes.

Tutorial videos

Take a look at the large collection of videos that cover several aspects of the Katana experience. Videos usually range from short 5-minute walkthroughs to longer, all-encompassing demos.

Take a look at a complete Katana Demo

Full video library

The other videos in the library cover things like our Shopify integration, WooCommerce integration, QuickBooks Online integration, Xero integration, Product Recipes, default suppliers, and more.

Getting Started

Below are a few of the things we recommend completing (or looking into) to ensure your experience is the best. Keep in mind that Katana is built to handle several types of inventory management and manufacturing setups. You may want to skip or adjust steps to what best fits your needs and process.

Regardless of your setup, a good starting point is your settings so that your account is set up for your needs.

Set initial settings

Click on your name in the top right to access the Settings screen

You can set up all those little aspects of your business that affect everything else by heading to Settings and choosing your base currency, units of measure, or custom print templates.

Invite your team

Did you know you can have an unlimited amount of users on your account? It's true!

Go ahead and make sure your whole team is synced by inviting team members, setting their permissions, and keeping a single reference point for what’s happening in your business.

Here’s a guide on how to add team members.

Add products

The Stock screen is where you can add inventory, batches, and track your stock (adjustment, transfers, stocktakes)

To kickstart your Katana setup, begin by adding your products. Katana offers three methods for product addition:

Manually: Ideal for businesses with a limited product range or no pre-existing product list.
Spreadsheet Import: Efficient for adding multiple products simultaneously. Head to Settings > Data import to find a downloadable template you'll use to upload products.
Integration: Connect Katana with your ecommerce platform for automatic product syncing. If you have a Shopify, HubSpot, or WooCommerce account, head to the Integration Marketplace to connect them to your account. We also have third-party integrations with Etsy, Squarespace, or Wix, which you can use to add products.

Outcome: Your product list is now in Katana, ready for inventory management and sales tracking.

Manage materials

The Materials table of the Inventory table shows you all of your materials

Next, input the materials required for your products. This step is crucial for inventory control and production planning.

Tip: If you plan to sell any of the materials, add those as products.

Manually: Best for a small number of materials.
Spreadsheet Import: Use when you have a comprehensive list of materials to add in bulk. Go to Settings > Data import to find templates to import your materials and their stock levels

Outcome: Materials are cataloged in Katana, setting the stage for precise production scheduling and cost calculation.

Set up BOMs / Recipes

This is where you can find a product's recipe/BOM. On the product card

TIP: If you're a reseller, you'll probably want to skip this step.

The Bill of Materials (BOM) is your blueprint for product assembly and cost calculation.

With BOMs, you can also run subassemblies. Subassemblies are when a manufactured product is also used as an ingredient for making another product.
Read more here.

There are 3 main ways to add BOMs:

Manually: When creating manually, you can quick-add new materials to save yourself from later adding materials separately
Spreadsheet import: Go to Settings > Data import and find a template for importing
Copy from another product: If you have products that use similar materials, copy the recipe and make any edits you need later

Outcome: Establishes a clear manufacturing and costing framework for each product.

Production operations

TIP: If you're a reseller, you'll probably want to skip this step.

Production Operations (aka routing) are the operations required to make a product (cutting, assembly, quality control, packaging, etc.).

By defining your production operations, you'll have:

Additional control of manufacturing process tracking
Operational task lists for employees
Estimates for production completion dates
The operational costs of products

There are three ways to go about adding production operations:

Manually: Inside Settings or individually on a Product card
Spreadsheet import: Go to Settings > Data import > Add new product operations to the template
Copy from another product: If you have products that use similar operations, copy the process and then make any edits you need later

Use our Shop Floor App to automate the information flow on the production floor and digitize your process.

Tip: Once you’ve finished, have a look at your Products table inside the Items screen. Here you’ll see all the product variants, default sales prices, cost, profit, production times, and more of your products. Try filtering and sorting to optimize the view.

Selling, making, and buying

Here is the most critical step. It's time to start selling products, creating production plans, distributing tasks, managing raw material requirements, and running purchasing.

Your workflows in Katana may differ depending on whether your products are made-to-order, made-to-stock, or both.

Learn more about each workflow:

Connect accounting software

If you manage accounting through either Xero or QuickBooks Online, you’re in luck, as we’ve created integrations for both.

Take a look at the integrations for QuickBooks Online and Xero.

Enter initial stock levels

If you already have an operating business, you'll likely have existing product and material stock in the workshop or warehouse. Add your stock levels to ensure a smooth transition into implementing Katana.

You can enter your initial stock levels to Katana through three methods:

Create a Stock adjustment: if you entered your products and materials to Katana manually, create a stock adjustment to record your stock levels
Spreadsheet import: our import template for products and materials also lets you import initial stock levels in bulk. You can import your stock levels with your product and material items (see steps 1 and 2 above)
Import from Shopify or WooCommerce - if you connect Shopify or WooCommerce to Katana, you can choose to import all your product stock levels into Katana. Materials are typically not tracked in Shopify or WooCommerce, so you'll need to enter material stock using one of the other two options

Ready to go

Your account is now set up, and you are ready to start running a smart inventory process.

If you need additional help, just click on the tooltips inside Katana or browse the Knowledge Base by clicking the question-mark icon in the header menu and choosing Knowledge base or by going directly to the Knowledge Base.

Helpful dropdown menu inside katana containing useful links

Our support staff is also here if you need any assistance. The fastest way to reach them is via the chat widget at the bottom right-hand corner of the screen.

Familiarizing yourself with Katana: A getting started guide