Tables and structures containing special customizing includes can be supplied in the R/3 standard. If the standard already contains possible extensions with customer-dependent fields, the customizing includes are created in the standard table or standard structure.
A customizing include can be included in several tables or structures under certain circumstances, so that they remain constant if there are changes. The customer can include new fields in the include if this is necessary, but does not have to. An empty customer include does not cause an error.
The names of the customizing includes begin with CI_ and lie in the customer name range. SAP does not supply customiing includes. Instead, they are only created in the customer system with special customizing customizing transactions. Only tables and structures which refer to customizing includes are supplied.
This enables extensions to tables without modifications to the tables themselves. In this way there is no danger that the modifications will be overwritten in a release upgrade. A change to the standards can automatically be extended with customer extensions if there is a release upgrade.
Note: The order of the fields in the ABAP/4 Dictionary can differ from the order of the fields on the database. Therefore inserting fields in a customizing include for transparent tables containing this include does not result in data conversion.
For further details about customizing includes, please consult the ABAP/4 Dictionary Handbuch.