Screens for Characteristics Management
When optimizing, managing, and performing mass changes on a characteristic, you'll work with the Texts and Document tabs.
On the Texts tab, you can use long text strings to describe a class. Possible text types are defined in Customizing for the class types. A long text string can be saved for each text type.
On the Document tab, you can link a document from SAP document management (a drawing, for example) to a class. You can also use object links to link to several documents.
Documents
You can link a document to a characteristic, a characteristic value, or a class. In order to do so, the document must have a document info record in Document Management.
User Settings
In the user settings, you can define which characteristics are available for value assignment and how they are shown.
You can specify:
- Which characteristics are displayed: optional, reference, or inherited characteristics?
- How characteristics and values are displayed: with/without values, or with object dependency info:
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.
On the value assignment screen, you can define how default values in the characteristic are interpreted. The following video explains your options..
Characteristic Grouping
For classes with many characteristics, grouping them can simplify your work. The image below shows an example.
To group characteristics, select the characteristics on the value assignment screen and choose Assigned values → Characteristic grouping → Create.
This setting applies to the class in the entire client. You can define it separately on the value assignment screens for classification and finding objects.
Characteristic groups are displayed on tab pages, push buttons, or in compressed form displayed in the same way as a user-defined data type.
Splitting and Merging Classes
If you discover that a class contains too many objects, you can split it.
Likewise,if you discover two classes logically should be one class, you can merge them.
The following image illustrates the processes of class splitting and merging.
The following video shows the processes of class splitting and merging.
Making Mass Changes
If you have created many classifications for hundreds of objects, you can use mass processing to update multiple objects at once. .
For example, when revising master data, you can transfer the valuation of one material to others.
The following video demonstrates this process.
You can also set and change multiple values at once. The following video explains how.
Finally, you can use a matrix to assign multiple values. The following video explains how.
For information on restrictions and on how to process classification status, see the SAP Library.
Best Practices for Assigning Values
Try to avoid using:
The same characteristics in several classes
Long lists of values, multiple value characteristics, intervals
Large numbers of characteristics in one class
Large numbers of assignments in one class
Nearly identical assigned values that a user might confuse
It helps if you:
Enter as many search criteria as possible
Create value statistics
Save assigned values to generated tables
How Value Statistics Improve System Performance
The image below illustrates how value statistics (CLSELSTATISTICS2) optimize data access strategies for finding objects, which enhances search performance. These statistics sort characteristics based on their selectivity. A characteristic is considered selective if it has many distinct values assigned to classified objects, as this helps narrow down search results.
All values assigned to characteristics in all class types are saved to table AUSP.
You can also save assigned values to generated tables. This lets you find objects more quickly.
To up tables for "search only":
- Open Customizing and set the check box for "multiple objects allowed". Then execute report: RCCLUKA2
- Inside customizing set the check box for "generated tables".
- Maintain a class with the index characteristic.
- Execute transaction CLGT to setup tables for search.
Modeling Best Practices
Avoid large lists of:allowed values for the same classifications. Instead, use check tables or, better yet, function modules to catalog characteristics.
Depending on the settings in the characteristic, you can conduct value checks:
If you use multiple classification , each class may have its own settings for maintenance authorization. Avoid doing so, especially if the same characteristic is assigned to several classes.
Reference characteristics are not usually ready for input. However, this indicator is ignored if you use the reference characteristic 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,
optional: ECM for classification (Customizing class type)
Engineering Change Management
Engineering Change Management (ECM) is a central logistical feature you can use to change master data and documents. Due to the validity — the date of the change takes place, and the requests take effect at a defined time, so you can plan for them.
With the help of ECM, characteristics, classes, classification, and other SAP objects can be changed multiple times to secure them at all relevant change levels. The changes automatically affect all areas of the logistical process chain--customer orders, scheduling and production control--at the defined time..
You can also use ECM to summarize changes to multiple SAP objects, with or without history.
You can also use ECM to summarize changes to multiple SAP objects, with or without history. The following video shows how.