Overview
Housing.Cloud organizes your inventory from buildings down to individual pieces of furniture. This article teaches you how the system organizes your inventory and how this structure supports accurate occupancy tracking and assignments.
What you'll learn: How Housing.Cloud organizes inventory (buildings, suites, rooms, beds, furniture) and why this structure matters for your work.
Time to complete: 15-20 minutes
The Five Inventory Levels
Housing.Cloud organizes your housing inventory in a hierarchical structure, starting broad and getting more specific:
Building → Suite → Room → Bed → Furniture
Think of it like giving someone directions to a specific bed:
- Building: "Go to East Hall" (the residence hall name)
- Suite: "Find Suite 201" (a group of rooms that share common space)
- Room: "Enter Room 201A" (the specific room)
- Bed: "Look for Bed 1" (which bed space in the room)
- Furniture: "Check the desk" (the specific piece of furniture)
Suite-less buildings: Not all buildings use suites. If your housing doesn't have suites, your structure will be: Building → Room → Bed → Furniture. The system adapts to your actual inventory structure.
Visual Map of the Hierarchy
Here's how one building is organized in Housing.Cloud:
East Hall (Building)
│
├── Suite 201
│ ├── Room 201A
│ │ ├── Bed 1
│ │ │ ├── Mattress #45827
│ │ │ ├── Desk #12345
│ │ │ └── Chair #67890
│ │ └── Bed 2
│ │ └── Mattress #45828
│ └── Room 201B
│ ├── Bed 1
│ └── Bed 2
│
└── Suite 202
├── Room 202A
└── Room 202B
Why the Hierarchy Matters
This hierarchical structure ensures accurate occupancy tracking and assignment management. Every bed has a specific location in the hierarchy, which means:
- You can track occupancy at any level (building-wide, suite-level, room-level, or individual beds)
- Room assignments are always precise and unambiguous
- You can manage furniture and keys at the appropriate level
- Condition reports tie directly to specific rooms and their components
- Reporting and analytics can aggregate data at any level
How to Navigate the Hierarchy
Method 1: Drill Down from the Top
Navigate from the top level down by clicking through each level:
Navigate to Inventory > Buildings → Click "East Hall" → Click the Suites tab → Click "Suite 201" → Click the Rooms tab → Click "Room 201A"
At each level, the breadcrumb trail shows your path. Learn more about using breadcrumbs in PLS-1E: The List-to-Detail Pattern.
Method 2: Jump Directly to What You Need
If you know what you're looking for, jump straight there:
- Looking for a specific bed? Go to Inventory → Beds, then search for it
- Need to find a room? Go to Inventory → Rooms, then search for the room number
- Want to check furniture? Go to Inventory → Furniture, then filter by location
Skip straight to what you need: You don't always have to start at the building level. If you know exactly what you're looking for, jump directly to that inventory level and search. This saves significant time.
Best of both worlds: Use drilling for exploration and context (when you want to see everything in a building). Use direct jumps for speed (when you know exactly what you need). Both approaches get you to the same information.
Real-World Scenarios
A Student Calls About Their Room Assignment
Student John Smith asks "What room am I in?"
Solution: Click Residents → Type "John Smith" → Click his name → You see: East Hall > Suite 201 > Room 201A > Bed 1
The hierarchy makes the answer instantly clear—you know the building, suite, room, and specific bed without any ambiguity.
You Need a Furniture Inventory for East Hall
Your director asks for a list of all furniture in East Hall for the annual audit.
Solution: Click Inventory → Buildings → Click "East Hall" → Click the Furniture tab → Click Export
Because furniture is tracked hierarchically, you can get inventory for any level—system-wide, one building, one suite, or one room.
A Student Reports a Broken Desk
A student in Room 201A reports their desk is wobbly.
Solution: Click Inventory → Rooms → Type "201A" → Click "Room 201A" → Click the Furniture tab → Click the desk → You see the desk's entire history including past damage reports
Finding an Open Bed for a Late Applicant
A student needs housing in East Hall ASAP.
Solution: Click Inventory → Beds → Filter by Building: "East Hall" and Status: "In Service" → You see all open beds in East Hall
Checking Suite Occupancy Before Room Selection
You want to see which suites in East Hall are completely empty for incoming student groups.
Solution: Click Inventory → Buildings → Click "East Hall" → Click the Suites tab → Sort by occupancy to see empty suites → Click into empty suites to see room configurations
Understanding Inventory vs. Residents
Two different starting points for related information:
- Inventory = Your physical spaces and items. Use this when thinking: "What rooms do I have?" or "What furniture is in East Hall?"
- Residents = The people currently living in housing. Use this when thinking: "Where does John Smith live?" or "Who lives in Room 201A?"
They're connected—when you view a resident, you see their room assignment. When you view a room, you see who's assigned to it. Two different angles into the same information.
Choose your starting point strategically: Start with Inventory when managing spaces (checking availability, planning assignments). Start with Residents when working with people (checking assignments, processing requests). Both paths lead to the same data, but the right starting point saves time.
How Hierarchy Affects Assignments
When you assign a student to housing, you're always assigning them to a specific bed in the hierarchy. This precision means:
- No ambiguity about where a student lives
- Automatic tracking of suite-mates and roommates
- Accurate occupancy calculations at every level
- Clear furniture and key assignment trails
- Proper billing based on room type and location
Troubleshooting
"I'm lost in the hierarchy"
Solution: Look at the breadcrumbs at the top and click any level to jump back. Or click "Inventory" in the sidebar to return to the top level.
"I can't find a specific bed or room"
Solution: Instead of drilling down through buildings, use Inventory → Beds or Inventory → Rooms and search directly by name or number.
"The hierarchy looks different than I expected"
Solution: If your building doesn't use suites, the hierarchy goes Building → Room → Bed → Furniture. This is normal—the system adapts to your inventory structure.
What's Next
Continue your Product Learning Session 1 journey:
- Complete PLS-1: Product Learning Session 1: System Navigation & Core Concepts
- PLS-1 Self-Guided Practice: Practice navigating the inventory hierarchy
- PLS-2: Managing Your Housing Data—Learn how to work with profiles, applications, residents, and tags