I want to import a list of products in odoo V8. The products need some extra information in the system for internal reference. So each product has to be assigned a range of extra numbers next to the internal reference (about six extra, e.g. tariff numbers). Some of these also have to appear on reports.

In the developer mode I already created some fields (Sales > Products > Products > Manage Views (product.template) > Create New Field)

1. Is there a more practical and leaner way to assign extra data to the products (e.g. tags)?

2. I heard that when updating I will lose the fields. So unless I have a workaround through an individually programmed module, I will have to create the fields new again after every update. Why is that?