A symptom in the Solution Database (SDB) contains information to describe a problem.

The symptom design allows you to define a symptom using various information sources. Its structure is displayed on a navigation tree when you create,change, or display the symptom. The structure of a symptom is displayed when you create, change, or display a solution that is linked to it.

You can use the following information to describe a symptom:

• Detail information: basic data and classification of a symptom

• Free-text description: description in your own (free-text) format

• Problem analysis: structured description of the problem based on pre-defined code groups and codes including problem locations, problem damages, and problem causes

• Business object: link to an entity accessible through business objects, such as products and others. Symptoms and solutions are also business objects.

• Linked solutions: description of solutions linked to a symptom