Customizing Includes

A customizing include is a structure that satisfies a special naming convention. The name of a customizing include begins with 'CI_' and the include is in the customer namespace.

If enhancements are already planned in the standard system using customer-specific fields, such customizing includes are included in the corresponding standard table or standard structure. In most cases, the customizing include (that is, the definition of the structure itself) is first created in the customer system and filled with fields by special Customizing transactions.

Customers can enhance tables and structures of the standard system without having to modify the table and structure definitions. This means that these enhancements cannot be lost when upgrading. If a table or structure of the standard system is enhanced with customer fields using a customizing include, these customer fields are automatically inserted in the new delivered table or structure definition during an upgrade.

If you create a customizing include for a table or structure, only those enhancements are allowed that are consistent with the enhancement category of the enhanced table or structure. For more information, see Structure Enhancements .

Customers can - but do not need to - create a customizing include and fill it with fields. If there is no customizing include, there is no error message when the table or structure including it is activated.

A customizing include can be contained in several tables or structures, so that they remain consistent when the include is modified.