Reducing Data Entry For Requisitions

Using 9.1, moving to 9.2 by November.

We currently don't track anything about items in requisitions other than item categories and a textual description. This means that users have to manually enter accounting information (e.g., is this a capital asset, what account/item category is this thing).

I think the solution for this would be to import vendor item catalogs, organize that data, and have users pick from that. Is that correct? Is there a different way to do things? How else can you reduce accounting-level data entry at this point?