Characteristic 
A data field without a value that is used in drilldown reporting.
You can display characteristic values when you have cube of three characteristics, each side of which represents one of those characteristics.
A combination of characteristics is called an object .
In drilldown reporting, you can use characteristics as a means of structuring the data.
The following is a sampling of possible characteristics in SAP Consolidation:
Consolidation unit: United States
Financial statement item: Sales
Posting level: Reported financial data
Custom characteristics (for example, country, controlling area, company, profit center, business area)
Drilldown reporting uses characteristics system-wide.
For more information about characteristics, see Choosing Characteristics .