Design Guidelines (SAP Library - BC

Design Guidelines

Using Familiar Terms

Use words which are part of the user's working vocabulary.

The German suffix "-nummer" can be dropped, except in the word "Personalnummer" (use "Lieferant" and not "Lieferantennummer".
Suffixes such as "-schlüssel" and "-kennzeichen" should only be used if they are necessary to make the field intelligible.

Uppercase

Always capitalize the first letter of a field name.

Good:	Initial value	12,6
		Further value	13,7
Bad:	initial value	12,6
		further value	13,7

Word Order

If a field name consists of two or more words, the part containing the important information should appear at the beginning.

Good:	Create customer	Arthur Miller
Bad:	Customer creation	Arthur Miller

Length

A field name should be no longer than 10 to 15 characters. If the field has been used very often, you can abbreviate the field name.

Exception: First, define an appropriate name for a given field, without paying attention to the length. Then, try to observe the recommended length by using abbreviations (see Abbreviations). If a field can not be abbreviated, use the original formulation.

Number of Abbreviations

Do not use more than two or three " abbreviations " in a field name.

Spacing Between Field Name and I/O Field

Leave at least two blanks between the field name and the I/O field. There are no leading characters between field name and input field.

Good:	Customer name Johnson
Bad:	Customer name Johnson