Differentiation Category

A characteristic that can have a condition category and that enables an additional differentiation of the condition that is based on the condition category.

You use differentiation categories to control how a condition is applied based on certain factors in the contract. During differentiation, the system derives a particular condition from the characteristics of a predefined value.

The differentiation category fulfils several purposes:

It enables the differentiated use of a condition in the contract since the characteristics of the differentiation are inherited by the condition through the condition category.
Additional fields are ready for input on the condition editing screens depending on the differentiation category and value. You can thus define conditions more specifically without needing additional time.
The system determines conditions during the term based on the defined differentiation.

Condition differentiation can be triggered by, for example, a particular event such as an account closure, a transaction type or by the existence of a contract characteristic such as the term of a time deposit. When the system determines conditions, it derives the corresponding conditions directly from characteristics in the contract.

In addition to the differentiation categories that we deliver, you can define additional differentiation categories in Customizing and assign these to condition categories. You can define as many differentiation values as you require for a differentiation category. You can, however, assign only one differentiation value to a condition for each differentiation category.

Structure

A condition differentiation always comprises the values of the differentiation category and the differentiation value that represents the characteristic of the differentiation category. Differentiation values are grouped by differentiation value categories, which facilitates plausibility checks.

Reference to Table
If you choose this differentiation category, you need to enter the table and field name in the Table and Field Name 1 fields from which the system is to read the differentiation values. The table contains the differentiation values.

Note
When you define your own differentiation values in a table, you need to ensure that the table key is no longer than 10 characters.
End of the note.
Time of Day
You use this differentiation value category to map intraday interest. Note that you should use this value in exceptional cases only because it has limited functions.
Day of the Week
You use this differentiation value category to map different charges according to the day of the week, for example.
Value Transfer by BAdI
The system determines the differentiation values during runtime if you have implemented BAdI FICO_DEFINE_DIFF.

Integration

The following graphic shows how multiple differentiation categories can be assigned to one condition category and that one differentiation category can be used by multiple condition categories.

This graphic is explained in the accompanying text.

Example

The credit interest conditions can be scaled for time deposit contracts based on the term of the time deposit. You want to offer the customer a condition with 4% for a time deposit with a two-year term and a condition with 5% for a time deposit with a three-year term. You use the differentiation category "Term" to do this.

The debit interest for a loan can differ depending on which period of its term the loan currently falls in. You want to debit the customer 4% in the first twelve months and 5% in the following twelve months. You use the differentiation category "Term Period" to do this.

The debit interest for a loan can also be scaled according to calendar date. You want to debit the customer 3% in the current month and 4% in the following month. You use the differentiation category "Calendar Period" to do this.