Maintaining the SAPBWKEY Column 
Prerequisites
You have completed the following steps:
Created a local copy of the Shapefile Downloaded BW master data into a dBase fileIntegration
The SAPBWKEY is maintained in the dBase file with the suffix .dbf. This file contains the attribute table.
Procedure

ESRI delivers an ESRI BW map data CD. This CD contains the SAPBWKEY (corresponding to the SAP country key) for the characteristic 0D_COUNTRY. This is why the SAPBWKEY column in the cntry200.dbf file is already filled with the correct values.
You have to copy the SAPBWKEY manually to the attributes table in the shapefile:

If you are working with compounded characteristics, copy the complete SAPBWKEY, for example, for region 01 compounded with country DE copy the complete value DE/01.
Do not under any circumstances change the sequence of the entries in the attributes table (for example, by sorting or deleting rows). If you were to change the sequence of the entries, the attribute table would no longer agree with the index and the geometric files.