Attributes 

In a taxonomy, every category has its own defining characteristics (in addition to those of every category above it in the hierarchy). For example, in the taxonomy of animals, primates have specific characteristics as well as those of mammals and vertebrates.

 

In an MDM repository, these characteristics are called attributes, and correspond to fields of information that apply only to some rather than all of the main table records in the MDM repository. For example, voltage might be an attribute that applies to motors but not to gears.

Every taxonomy table has a pool of attributes associated with it. From this pool you can link attributes to one or more individual categories on a category-by-category basis. MDM allows you to manage the pool of attributes associated with a taxonomy table in Taxonomy mode.

In MDM, attributes are associated with – linked to – categories. Attributes then become associated with main table records by assigning records to categories. When you assign a record to a category, it acquires the attributes linked to that category as well as the attributes linked to the parent category and all of the other ancestors of that category through inheritance. Thus a main table record consists of common fields, inherited attributes, and category-specific attributes. You can modify the attributes themselves as well as the set of attributes linked to any specific category in MDM using Taxonomy mode.

In MDM, an attribute is like a field, but one that applies only to a subset of the records in the main table. By contrast, a field is part of every record in the main table. If a particular attribute can be applied to every main table record, then it should be set up as a field in the main table. For example, every record in an MDM repository of products probably has an item number; therefore Item Numbershould be defined in the database as a field, and not as an attribute.

Attributes are displayed in lists in priority rather than alphabetical order, and can also be hidden entirely based on their priority.

For more Information about attributes and attribute priorities, see Attribute Types, Attribute Priorities, and Changing Attribute Priority.