You can define special characteristic groups for the information system. These groups determine what combination of characteristics is available when you define a report (see Creating Profitability Reports).

When you define a report, the system offers all the characteristics of the operating concern for selection. However, if you enter a characteristic group, you only receive the characteristics in that group to choose from.

A typical way to use this function might be to group together all the customer-related characteristics which members of your sales department might use when they call up a report. For regional directors, you might define a second characteristic group that contains characteristics relevant to the region, perhaps including some customer-related characteristics.

You can define a specific characteristic group in the user master record using parameter ID MKG. This lets you limit the choice of characteristics for individual users.

You define the characteristic groups in Customizing.