Class Types for Finding Objects
Finding objects is the main purpose of classification and most class types. Objects are classified for searches in class types such as:
- 001 Materials
- 002 Equipment
- 010 Vendors
- 011 Customers
- 038 Activities
The following video introduces class types as they apply to materials.
In Customizing for Classification, SAP delivers predefined objects for classification. You can specify additional objects if necessary.
Objects can be classified either:
- At client level, so you only enter the object key when you classify an object. Most objects are classified at client level.
- In a specific organizational unit, so you enter the object key and the organizational unit when you classify the object. The classification of these objects only applies to the organizational unit you enter.
Plant-specific classifications include.
- Class type 005 for Inspection characteristics.
- Class type 006 for Inspection methods
- Class type 019 for Work Center
The key of some objects has more than one part.
Examples:
- Documents, which may have many versions and/ or parts. You can classify the different versions and parts separately.
- 017 Document / Type / Part / Version
- Class type 018 includes different types of task lists, such as inspection plans, routings, and general maintenance task lists.
- 018 Type / Group / Group counter
Class Types for Finding Documents
A document key contains four fields that identify the document title, its type, its part, and version information. Classification can be automated, and is plant-independent.
The following image shows an example class type for documents.
Class Types for Finding Materials
Classification of materials is similar to that of documents. The following table compares the two.
| Documents | Materials | |
|---|---|---|
| Material key | Four parts | One part |
| Classification levels | Client-level or plant level. Plant-level is non-standard. | |
| Is automatic classification available? | Yes: part of customizing a document type, such as DRW. | Yes: part of customizing a material type, such as PLM. |
| Is classification of material as standard field possible? | Yes | Yes: part of customizing the screen sequence |
In the Customizing settings for material types, you can enable automatic classification for a material. In the image below, class type 001, class CL91 is designated for automatic classification.
As a result, when you create a material master using transaction MM01 and select the material type "PLM" (which stands for "PLM Minimal Material Type"), the material master will be automatically classified with class type 001, class CL91.
The following image shows what this material master looks like. The three screen shots on the right side show the three tabs used to configure the master. More useful, from an engineering perspective, is the screen on the left side, which shows, on a single tab, the classification and all related documents.
