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Use

Under postable and non-postable nodes you can position an interval instead of a quantity of leaves. An interval includes a quantity of characteristic values for the hierarchy basic characteristic and is defined by its lower limit (the From-<Characteristic Value>) and its upper limit (the To-<Characteristic Value>). Since an interval corresponds to a quantity of leaves, you cannot position other objects under an interval. (You can find additional information about the individual hierarchy nodes underHierarchy Nodes.)

Features

In the InfoObject maintenance, you define whether intervals in hierarchies are permitted for the hierarchy basic characteristic (seeTab Page: Hierarchy).

In the hierarchy maintenance, you model the hierarchy with intervals, if necessary.

If you add an interval to a hierarchy in the hierarchy maintenance, the system creates a node to the hierarchy basic characteristic. This node represents the interval. The limits of the interval are entered in the fields LEAFFROM and LEAFTO of the /BI*/J<IOBJNM> hierarchy table. The description of the interval is comprised of the description for the characteristic values selected for these fields.

You can also create intervals for characteristic values that no master data has been posted for yet. If you post new data for the corresponding characteristic values, the system automatically arranges it. This means that you do not have to expand the hierarchy when accessing master data again.

In reporting, an interval is not displayed as a node, but as triggered: All leaves which are in the interval and that data is posted for in the InfoProvider are displayed.

Example

Example 1 - Cost Element Hierarchy

In a hierarchy for the Cost Element (0COSTELMNT) InfoObject, you want to add cost elements 100 to 1000 as an interval under the Material Costs node. Previously, your BW system only posted the characteristic values 100 to 500 in the InfoProvider for the hierarchy basic characteristic.

  1. Create the Material Costs text node.
  2. You can create the interval directly under the Material Costs node. In this case, the leaves for the individual cost elements are likewise displayed directly under the Material Costs node in the query.
    Note

    However, if you also want to see a node in the query that summarizes the cost elements included in the interval, you can then create a Cost Element 100 to 1000 text node under the node.

    This way of modeling intermediate nodes is also suitable for a customer hierarchy for example where rather than seeing all customers at the same time you want to display groups, such as Customers A-C and Customers D-F.

  3. Under the Material Costs (or Cost Element 100 to 1000) parent node, create an interval for Cost Element InfoObject.
  4. Specify the interval limits in the Create Interval dialog box. Since the Controlling Area (0CO_AREA) InfoObject is compounded to the Cost Element (0COSTELMNT) InfoObject, specifying the required controlling area you want is also necessary. Example:

    From-ContArea 1000

    From-CostElmnt 100

    To-ContArea 1000

    To-CostElmnt 1000

    Long Description10000000000100 - 10000000001000

    The Node Level corresponds to the place where you add the interval.

    Note

    If the interval nodes (or a part of the values) in the hierarchy already exists, you receive a Warning: Duplicate Nodes. Usually, the user does not want values to occur more than once in a hierarchy. You can decide though whether the system will transfer the duplicate node. (This is the default setting.)

In the query, the leaves with values 100 to 500 are displayed in the cost element hierarchy under the node Material Costs (or Cost Element 100 to 1000). If cost elements are added to the material costs, and you create the master data for the values from 501, the new cost elements are automatically displayed in the query as soon as the transaction data has been loaded.

The following graphic shows both types of modeling cost element hierarchies:

Example 2 - Time Hierarchy

Another typical example of how intervals can be used is the time hierarchy (seeHierarchy Nodes, example 1).

See also:

Hierarchy Properties