Defining Characteristic Relationships 

Use

You define characteristic relationships in order to be able to use validations, default values, and derivations when generating transaction data for characteristic value combinations.  For more information, see Characteristic Relationships.

Procedure

...

       1.      In the planning environment, select a planning area by double-clicking on it and choose Planning ® Planning Area ® Change. (Alternatively, choose Change Area from the context menu for the desired planning area.)

       2.      Choose the tab page Characteristic Relationships.

Each numbered row of the table corresponds to a characteristic relationship. You can create up to 99 relationships in a planning area and a characteristic can be used in several relationships.

       3.      To create a new relationship, select the input help in the Type column in a free row in the table and determine the type of relationship. Available options are Attribute, Exit, Reference Data, or Hierarchy.

       4.      In the Detail column, choose  Detail View.

The system shows the detailed settings for the relationship. The settings that are possible here comply with the type of relationship you selected.

       5.      Decide whether the system should just perform a Combination Check and Proposal on the relationship or whether a Derivation of characteristic values should also take place.

       6.      Specify the first characteristic of the relationship (with attributes and hierarchy relationships this is the basic characteristic).

       7.      If you are defining a relationship of the type hierarchy, specify a hierarchy which is defined on the basic characteristic.

       8.      Specify a target characteristic (or several target characteristics) for the relationship.

Depending on the type of relationship, you can choose the following objects as target characteristics:

·         Attribute: One of the characteristics that are assigned to the basic characteristic as an attribute.  This attribute characteristic must be contained in the planning area.

·         Exit: Any characteristic in the planning area.

·         Hierarchy: One of the characteristics that are contained in the hierarchy you selected on the basic characteristic.

·         Reference data: Using a selection, choose data from the planning area that you want to use as a reference (for example, you could specify a version with actual data)

Only those characteristics that are not involved in the characteristic relationship are available for the selection of reference data. For technical reasons you must also specify a key figure for the selection of reference data. Transaction data must be contained in the planning area for this key figure.

       9.      Choose  Char. Relationships to exit the detail view of relationships.

Result

The characteristic relationship is effective in the entire basic planning area and in the multi-planning areas that contain this basic planning area. When you write newly entered or changed data records in which the basic characteristic of the relationship occurs the system performs combination checks and derivations corresponding to the relationship you defined.

If you create a planning layout of manual planning in which basic and target characteristics are contained in the lead column or in the header area and select the option “All Possible Characteristic Combinations”, the layout is opened with those characteristic value combinations that result from the characteristic relationship.

Additional functions on the characteristic relationships tab page

To delete the characteristic relationship, select the corresponding row and choose  Delete Relationship.

You can display the where-used list for the characteristic relationship using  Step (Using a Step) and  All Steps (Using All Steps). For more information, see Where-Used List for Characteristic Relationships.