Individual Objects 

Definition

An individual object is a globally unique tangible or intangible object that a company sells and/or provides services for. It is often a specific single unit derived from a product. Unlike a product, an individual object can be uniquely identified. This means that the object differs from similar objects in at least one attribute (usually the ID). For example, a car is identified by its license plate number, which is assigned once only.

Use

Individual objects are unique units and are used as a central reference for business processes between a company and a business partner. They can be objects that a company sells or provides services for. For example, an electricity provider can describe the location for which the service is to be provided using the individual objects “Building” and “Apartment”.

Individual objects are integrated in the product master and provide the tools for maintaining the required data using the objects you use in your business processes and also for tracking the usage of the objects in these processes. The product master is a central source for calling object-specific data.

The object data includes the information required for specific business processes and other basic data that describes and categorizes the individual object. Examples:

·        Data that is descriptive in character

·        Data that has a controlling function

This information is stored in the individual product master records. The integration of the data in a single database object prevents redundant data storage.

Structure

Product Types

The product type describes the basic characteristics of an individual object. It also determines to which category an object can be assigned and thus its character and possible uses.

Object Family

Each individual object belongs to an object family. An object family is a combination of similar objects based on the object characteristics. When you create an individual object you must assign it to an object family.

Attributes and Set Types

Attributes are used to describe individual objects and are grouped into set types. By using set types you can model an individual object in detail in your system. For more information, see Set Types and Attributes.

Categories and Hierarchies

Categories and hierarchies are used for structuring purposes; they allow you to group individual objects according to different criteria. Categories determine which set types and relationship types are permitted for an individual object. By assigning categories you can thus structure the necessary information about your objects. For more information, see Categories and Hierarchies.

Relationships

Relationships can be created between individual objects and products or objects to show certain object information. This could be business partners, components, numerators, warranties or qualification requirements.

Reference Products

Technical and business data can be referenced from products.

Alternative IDs

You can define alternative ID types in the product master and used them in the business processes instead of the ID of the individual object. This allows you to use IDs that are more common in industry, such as the vehicle identification number (VIN), the serial number and the ISBN number.

For more information, see Alternative Product IDs in the IMG under Cross-Application Components ® SAP Product.