Passing on Metadata
Use
There is a passing on logic in the fileplan hierarchy for attribute values of the individual element types. In the standard system, it is predefined that an element always takes the attribute values and characteristics of the element above it.
In Customizing there is a range of options for adjusting the passing on logic to your requirements. You can define that
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Higher level nodes pass on attribute values to lower-level nodes
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Lower-level nodes inherit attribute values from higher-level nodes
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When higher-level nodes are reassigned, attribute values are updated.
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Attribute values are copied dynamically from higher-level nodes (dynamic attributes)
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Attribute values are excluded from inheritance
The following graphic shows three examples of passing on attribute values in the fileplan.
Example 1: The passing on and inheriting of authorization level between the class and the folder is no longer in force because the authorization level was changed manually to level 2 in the folder.
Example 2: The settings for passing on and inheritance the authorization level between folders and parts is activated. Authorization level 2 that was changed manually in the folder is passed on to the part.
Example 3: The dynamic passing on and inheritance of the authorization level between part and document is activated. In the document, level 2 is determined dynamically from the part (dynamic attributes improve system performance).
Figure: Passing on Metadata
Features
You define the settings of the passing on logic for each element type in the fileplan. You define the settings for the passing on and inheritance of attribute values for each element type. The settings should correspond to the higher and lower-level element types (see example above).
Passing on content model objects attributes
You define the inheritance settings for the elements class, part, documents, and incoming post items in the Document Modeling Workbench (IMG activity Edit Attributes for a Content Model) in the model object for the attributes. In this workbench, you can define the following settings using additional characteristics:
Additional attribute characteristics for the content model
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RMPS_INHERITED |
X: Value of higher-level node is inherited and then updated. C: Value of higher-level node is inherited once when the element is created D : Value is dynamically copied from higher-level nodes < blank value> : Inheritance from higher-level nodes is not supported |
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RMPS_PASS_TO_SUBORD |
X: Value is passed on to all lower-level nodes < blank value> : Inheritance from lower-level nodes is not supported |
Passing on folder attributes
For the element folder (Basis object case), you define the inheritance settings in the attribute profile for the attributes in the IMG activity Enhance Attribute Profile. In this activity you can set the indicators Inherit and Pass on for each attribute.
Changing inherited attribute values and the attribute history
You can manually change the attribute values created for an element or inherited from a higher-level element. Attributes that were changed manually have a plus sign beside the value (example +confidential). Values that were changed manually can be passed on to lower-level nodes if you define this is your settings.
In the dialog box Display Attributes, you can call up the attribute history for an attribute using 
( Display History). In addition, all attribute changes are entered in the log which you can call for each element in the fileplan using ( Display Log).
Resetting values that were changed manually
You can reset the values that were defined manually for all objects. This reactivates the inheritance of attributes. You execute the function Reset Overwritten Attributes in the dropdown menu of the application toolbar using 
Additional Functions.
Change log
If it is not possible to pass values onto lower-level node, for example if you reassign an element in the fileplan you receive information on the changes made/changes not made in the dialog box Log Display. Values are not passed on if an inherited value was previously overwritten manually.
Inheritance of user-defined attributes
The passing on logic of your user-defined attributes is supported in the same way as the standard SAP attributes. However, you must ensure that the technical name of your IO attribute in the content model matches the corresponding case attributes in the attribute profile of the folder. If the attribute names are different, the passing on of classes to folder and from folders to parts is not supported.