Screens for Characteristics Management
When optimizing, maintaining, or performing mass changes on a characteristic, you work primarily with the Texts and Documents tabs.
On the Texts tab, you can maintain long texts to describe a class in more detail. The available text types are defined in Customizing for the corresponding class types. A separate long text can be maintained for each text type.
On the Documents tab, you can link documents from SAP Document Management—such as drawings—to a class. You can also use object links to associate multiple documents with the class.
Documents
You can link a document to a characteristic, a characteristic value, or an entire class. To do so, the document must first exist in SAP Document Management as a Document Info Record.
User Settings
In the user settings, you can define which characteristics are available for value assignment and how they are displayed.
You can specify, for example:
- Which characteristics are visible during value assignment, such as optional, reference, or inherited characteristics
- How characteristics and their values are displayed, for example with or without values, or together with object dependency information
Default Values
When you create a characteristic and its characteristic values, you can decide whether the values are proposed as default values within the valuation.
When creating a characteristic and its characteristic values, you can define whether these values are proposed as default values during classification.
Characteristic Grouping
For classes with many characteristics, grouping them can simplify your work. The image below shows an example.
To group characteristics, select the required characteristics on the value assignment screen and choose Assigned values→Characteristic grouping→Create.
This setting applies to the class across the entire client. You can define characteristic groupings separately for the value assignment screens used in classification and in object search.
Characteristic groups can be displayed in different ways, such as on separate tab pages, as push buttons, or in a compact format similar to a user-defined data type.
Splitting and Merging Classes
If you determine that a class contains too many objects, you can split the class.
Likewise, if you identify two classes that logically belong together, you can merge them into a single class.
The following video shows the processes of class splitting and merging.
Making Mass Changes
When classifications have been created for a large number of objects, mass processing can be used to update multiple objects at once.
Mass Change: Copy Values Assigned to Object
For example, when revising master data, you can transfer the valuation of one material to others.
The following video demonstrates this process.
Mass Change: Set and Change Values
You can also set and update multiple values at the same time. The following video explains how.
Mass Change: Assign Values in Matrix
The following video explains this scenario.
Best Practices for Assigning Characteristic Values
To keep classification efficient and maintainable, try to avoid the following:
Using the same characteristics in multiple classes
Creating long lists of allowed values, extensive multiple-value characteristics, or wide value intervals
Defining a large number of characteristics within a single class
Assigning a very high number of objects to one class
Creating nearly identical assigned values that may confuse users
Classification works best if you:
Enter as many search-relevant criteria as possible
Use value statistics to optimize searches
Store assigned characteristic values in generated database tables
How Value Statistics Improve System Performance
The figure below illustrates how value statistics (report CLSELSTATISTICS2) optimize data access strategies when searching for objects. Value statistics sort characteristics based on their selectivity.
A characteristic is considered highly selective if it has many distinct values assigned across classified objects. Highly selective characteristics significantly reduce the number of search results and improve overall search performance.
All characteristic values assigned across all class types are stored in database table AUSP.
You can also store assigned characteristic values in generated database tables. This significantly improves the performance of object searches.
To set up generated tables for search purposes, proceed as follows:
- In Customizing, select the option Multiple Objects Allowed and execute report RCCLUKA2.
- In Customizing, activate the Generated Tables option.
- Maintain a class that includes the index characteristic.
- Execute transaction CLGT to generate and activate the database tables used for searching
Modeling Best Practices
Avoid creating large lists of allowed values for the same classification. Instead, use check tables or—preferably—function modules to manage and validate characteristic values more efficiently.
Depending on how a characteristic is configured, you can perform different types of value checks.
If you use multiple classification, note that each class can have its own authorization settings for maintenance. Avoid this where possible, especially if the same characteristic is used in multiple classes.
Reference characteristics are generally not ready for manual input. However, this restriction is ignored when reference characteristics are used to classify objects of external object types.
Evaluations
You can use the following evaluations:
List evaluations
- Characteristics list
Class list
Class hierarchy
Object list
Where-used lists
For a class
A characteristic
A characteristic value
Documentation of change
Change docs for characteristics
Change docs for classes
optional: Change docs for classification (Customizing class type)
Engineering Change Management
for characteristics,
for classes,
for classification if activated in class type customizing
Engineering Change Management
Engineering Change Management (ECM) is a central logistics function that enables you to manage changes to master data and documents in a controlled and time-dependent manner. Changes become effective on a defined validity date, allowing you to plan and implement them at the appropriate point in time.
Using ECM, characteristics, classes, classifications, and other SAP objects can be changed multiple times and secured across all relevant change levels. These changes automatically take effect throughout the entire logistics process chain—such as customer orders, production planning, and production control—at the specified validity date.
ECM also allows you to group and manage changes to multiple SAP objects, either with or without change history.
The following video demonstrates how ECM can be used to manage and document changes with and without history.