A data field without a value that is used in drilldown reporting.

You can display characteristic values when you have cube of three characteristics, each side of which represents one of those characteristics.

A combination of characteristics is called an object.

In drilldown reporting, you can use characteristics as a means of structuring the data.

The following is a sampling of possible characteristics in SAP Consolidation:

• Consolidation unit: United States
• Financial statement item: Sales
• Posting level: Reported financial data
• Custom characteristics (for example, country, controlling area, company, profit center, business area)

Drilldown reporting uses characteristics system-wide.