Certain fields within product hierarchies are inherited by lower-level categories. This means that this data does not have to be maintained for each category within the hierarchy.
The following fields are inherited by lower-level categories:
Product Type
Authorization Group
Object Family
Partner Determination Procedure
Alternative ID Type
Assigned set types and templates, including Referenced
indicator
Assigned relationship types
Inherited fields cannot be changed for lower-level categories. Note however the following exceptions:
Inheritance can be interrupted for templates. The mechanism by which inheritance is interrupted is shown in the example below.
A set type can be assigned to a higher-level category (Referenced
indicator
not set), and the Referenced
indicator then
set for lower-level categories. The Referenced
indicator
cannot however be deselected for lower-level categories.
The value X is maintained for the highest-level category H1 and inherited by lower-level categories.
The value is changed for category H1211 to Y. This new value is inherited by the categories H12111 and H12112.
The value X is now changed to Z for category H1. This new value is inherited by H11, H12, and H121, but not by H12111 and the categories below it. This is the point at which inheritance is interrupted.
Inheritance can be restored by changing the value of category H12111 to the same value as the higher-level categories (from Y to Z).
Another change to the value of category H1 (new value W) is inherited throughout the hierarchy.