Defining Characteristics

Objective

After completing this lesson, you will be able to define Characteristics.

Master Data-Bearing Characteristics

Scenario

Let's first have a look at Characteristics and learn how they can be used to store master data (master data-bearing Characteristic).

Master Data-Bearing Characteristics

Diagram: Examples of Characteristics contrasts No Master Data (Phone Number, Expiration Date, Delivery Completed Flag) with Master Data-Bearing (Gender, Product); includes texts, attributes, hierarchies.

Characteristics are business reference objects that are used to analyze Key Figures.

Before we examine the maintenance tabs of a Characteristic, we must describe the concept of master data-bearing Characteristics. Master data-bearing Characteristics specify tables of texts, attributes or hierarchies that are linked to them to provide additional information. It depends on your business process and the Characteristics involved to decide whether or not to enable these master data tables. They provide a significant source of information for your reporting needs in many situations.

In modeling, you can design if a Characteristic will be master data-bearing or does not store master data at all. This depends on the business needs. As an example, you could expect a Characteristic like product to be defined as a master data-bearing Characteristic, which would probably not be the case for a Characteristic like phone number. Showing only keys of product values (product numbers) in reports offers very limited information. At least, a description of the product values is needed to offer meaningful information to the business user. However, only showing the phone numbers (just the key, without a description or attributes) may be sufficient.

You enable master data-bearing Characteristics by selecting the appropriate checkboxes for text, master data (attributes) or hierarchies in the tabs of the definition of a Characteristic. If any of these options are checked, the Characteristic is considered to be a master data-bearing Characteristic.

Demo: How To Explore Settings Of A Master Data-Bearing Characteristic

Watch the following demo to learn the tab pages and settings in the definition of a master data-bearing characteristic.

DemoStart Demo

Hierarchies of a Characteristic

Hierarchies are used in analysis to describe alternative views of the data. They serve a grouping function just as they do in other SAP products, for example, SAP S/4HANA. A hierarchy consists of several nodes and leaves, forming a parent-child relationship.

Diagram of hierarchical version trees with roots and nodes A, B, C; features time-dependent structure and intervals 11–16.

In SAP BW/4HANA, external hierarchies are presentation hierarchies, stored in hierarchy tables as a structure for master data-bearing Characteristics. A Characteristic can have more than one hierarchy.

Multiple hierarchy versions can be defined for a Characteristic. For example, you can create different hierarchy versions (e.g.plan, actual) for a company structure in order to execute a plan-actual comparison in a Query.

You can define that the entire hierarchy can be time-dependent. The system automatically chooses the desired validity based on settings in the Query. You can also determine that the hierarchy structure (a hierarchy node) is to be time-dependent. The hierarchy is then constructed for the current key date or for the key date specified in the Query.

It is possible to position values of a Characteristic in the form of intervals under a hierarchy node. You can also create intervals for values of a Characteristic for which no master data currently exists. As a result, you do not need to extend the hierarchy for new master data (because new values of a Characteristic are allocated automatically). One limitation of the interval option in many areas is that the technical key of the values of a Characteristic must be meaningful. Most companies do not have smart numbering for their part numbers or customers. The interval option can, however, in many cases, be used in financial-related objects, such as general ledger account numbers.

Excel screen showing a cost center hierarchy; an 'Expand to Level' dropdown lists Levels 01–07 beside a detailed value table

Hierarchies can be used to obtain a better structuring of data if you have thousands of values of a Characteristic to report. Hierarchy nodes are also used to restrict data in Queries.

Scenario

For our scenario, we want to store master data for cost centers. Instead of using 0COSTCENTER (10 digits), we'll create a new one (U##_COSTC). This new InfoObject has 13 digits, in order to harmonize data from all involved sources (as SAP HANA and the flat files use cost center with 13 digits), and will of course be set up as a master data-bearing Characteristic.

Diagram shows SAP BW/4HANA InfoObject U##_COSTC feeding SAP S/4HANA KOSTL, Flat Files /BIC/U00_COSTC, and SAP HANA COSTCENTERNE.

Later in the learning journey we will load data to InfoObject U##_COSTC. When we use SAP S/4HANA as a source system, we need a transformation regarding the field in SAP S/4HANA (KOSTL, 10 digits) and our InfoObject U##_COSTC (13 digits). The difference in digits only applies to SAP S/4HANA, as the flat files and the SAP HANA tables have cost center values with 13 digits.

SAP screen showing Characteristic U08_COSTC and highlighted Transfer Routine Maintenance to open the Maintain Transfer Routines editor with sample code.

Instead of maintaining transformation rules with the same logic many times (we will load cost center attributes, cost center texts and cost center transactional data from SAP S/4HANA), we can also maintain this once on InfoObject level. So we create a global transfer routine on InfoObject level using ABAP, which represents a rule to fill the 3 digits in front of the 10 digits with the source system. In the rule it should of course indicate that it only applies when data is loaded from SAP S/4HANA.

So, for our scenario a Characteristic U##_COSTC, including a global transfer routine, will be created in SAP BW/4HANA.

Diagram of SAP BW/4HANA architecture showing Flat File, SAP S/4HANA, and SAP HANA panes, with transactional data, attributes, and texts; a 'Characteristic' button appears.

Demo: How To Create a Characteristic

Watch the following demo to learn how to create a characteristic.

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