Processing Characteristic Values 

Use

You use this function to enter characteristic values for a characteristic. At characteristic value level, there are up to ten customer-specific fields that you can use for customer-specific data. The system does not save the characteristic values with the characteristic but rather in a separate characteristic value table. This allows you to monitor characteristics with a large number of characteristic values.

Integration

·        If you want to use separate value storage to define characteristic values for a characteristic, you must enter a characteristic type for the characteristic. The system checks whether these characteristics already exist for the characteristic type and displays existing characteristics of the same type. You may not store characteristics from the same category on the same path of a merchandise category hierarchy. If you do and variants arise when characteristic value data is updated to the relevant fields in the article master, the system cannot assign the values properly and cannot define a unique color or size characteristic for color or size-oriented applications. In the article master, exactly one field exists for each characteristic type.

·        In processing for characteristic values, you can use Groupings to switch from characteristic value processing to Maintenance of Characteristic Value Groupings.

For more information, see Grouping Characteristic Values.

Prerequisites

·        In characteristics management, you have created the characteristics to which you want to assign characteristic values.

For more information, see Creating, Changing, and Displaying Characteristics.

·        For the value check, you have assigned function module WRF_CHECK_CHAR_VAL to the characteristics for which you want to use separate characteristic value storage.

For more information, see Entering a Function Module.

·        In Customizing for characteristic value storage for the characteristic type, you have defined headers for the customer-specific fields that you want to use for the characteristic values.

For more information, see Customizing for Logistics - General under Article Master ® Retail-Specific Settings ® Settings for New Characteristic Value Storage ® Edit Headers for Each Characteristic Type.

Features

·        You can assign a characteristic type to a characteristic. Defined characteristic types are color and size characteristics (main size and secondary size). The system uses characteristic types to simplify processing in color and size-related processes, for example, in markdown planning.

When you have generic articles that have two size dimensions (for example, waist and leg measurements), having two size characteristics allows you to assign different characteristic types to each characteristic. This means that you can use both sizes in planning or reporting.

If you do not want to enter characteristics under color or size but you do want to use separate characteristic value storage, you can use the characteristic type Not Typed.

·        You can assign a check option to a characteristic to define whether the system is to perform checks when assigning characteristic values in the article master maintenance.

You can use Business Add-Ins (BAdIs) to adapt checks in a customer-specific manner.

For more information, see the Implementation Guide (IMG) for Logistics - General under Article Master ® Retail-Specific Settings ® Settings for New Characteristic Value Storage ® Enhancements Using Business Add-Ins.

·        You can enter characteristic values and descriptions for the characteristic. To enter up to ten different language descriptions for the characteristic value, choose  with the quick info text for language descriptions.

·        The sequence in which you order the characteristic values in the table determines how the characteristic values are sorted, for example, in the matrix display of the generic article. The Sort Position field displays the sort position of the characteristic value for information purposes. However, you cannot process it.

·        Depending on your settings in Customizing for characteristic value storage, you can enter additional information for characteristic values in customer-specific fields.

You can, for example, use the customer-specific fields to map different size ranges for different countries.

Example of Customer-Specific Field Usage

Characteristic value	Description	US	IT	FR
36	36s	S	40	38N
38	38s	S	42	40N
40	40s	L	44	42N

You can use this data in your processes to convert size values.

Using a BAdI also allows you to control the customer-specific fields.

For more information, see Customizing for Logistics - General under Article Master ® Retail-Specific Settings ® Settings for New Characteristic Value Storage ® Enhancements Using Business Add-Ins ® BAdI: Control of Additional Customer Fields.

Activities

On the SAP Easy Access screen, choose Logistics ® Retailing ® Master Data ® Merchandise Category Data ® Characteristics ® New Characteristic Value Storage ® Processing Characteristic Values.