INFO OBJECT (CHARACTERISTICS)

- Yasmin Banu A

INTRODUCTION:

WHAT IS AN INFO OBJECT & IT’S TYPES? Business evaluation objects are known in BW

as Info Objects Basic information providers of BW They structure the information needed to

create Info cubes / DSO objects They can also store information They are divided into

a) Characteristics (Eg., Customers, Material, Vendor)

b) Key Figures (Eg., Revenue, Quantity, Price)c) Unit (Eg., Currency, Unit of measure)d) Time Characteristics (Eg., Calendar day, Fiscal

Period)e) Technical Characteristics (Eg., Request Number)

CHARACTERISTIC INFO OBJECT:

INTRODUCTION: Characteristics Info Objects are the business

reference objects used to analyze the facts While creating such characteristics in BW,

the following tab pages are available in the maintenance menua. Generalb. Business Explorerc. Master data/textsd. Attributese. Hierarchyf. Compounding

STEPS TO CREATE CHARACTERISTIC INFO OBJECT:

STEPS TO CREATE CHARACTERISTICS INFO OBJECT: Step 1 : Right click on the Characteristic

InfoObject Catalog and choose the option ‘Create InfoObject’ as shown below

STEPS TO CREATE CHARACTERISTICS INFO OBJECT: Step 2 : Give a technical name & meaningful

description for the Info Object Reference Characteristic (Optional) : It is to be

mentioned if the new characteristic (CUST) to be created has the same technical properties of some other already existing characteristic

Template (Optional) :It is to be specified if the new characteristic to be created has the same structure properties of an already existing characteristic

Click Continue

STEPS TO CREATE CHARACTERISTICS INFO OBJECT: Step 3 : On completion of the above step, it

takes us to the ‘Edit’ screen of the Info Object. Let us now see each an every tab individually

GENERAL TAB:In this tab, enter the followingTechnical name of Info ObjectEnter the long and Short descriptionEnter the data typeEnter the lengthAll other settings in this tab and other tabs are optional.

STEPS TO CREATE CHARACTERISTICS INFO OBJECT:

If this indicator is set, the system differentiates between lowercase letters and capital letters when you use a screen template to input values. If this indicator is not set, the system converts all the letters into capital letters when you use a screen template to input values

STEPS TO CREATE CHARACTERISTICS INFO OBJECT: Data types & its lengthDATA TYPE LENGTHChar Number & Letters Character length 1 - 60Numc Numbers only Character length 1 - 60Dats Date Character length 8Tims Time Character length 6

STEPS TO CREATE CHARACTERISTICS INFO OBJECT: BUSINESS EXPLORER TAB:

Each and every setting in the Business Explorer tab page is to set default values in the Business Explorer

The Display: ‘Text’ setting on this page decides whether the value of the characteristic is displayed as a textual description or as a key in the Business Explorer

STEPS TO CREATE CHARACTERISTICS INFO OBJECT: MASTER DATA / TEXTS TAB:

The Check box “With Master Data checkbox” and/or “With Texts” has to be selected for Master Data bearing Infoobject. By selecting any of these checkboxes, the characteristic is designed to bear master data and it has its own master data tables

STEPS TO CREATE CHARACTERISTICS INFO OBJECT: HIERARCHY TAB:

A hierarchy indicates a parent-child relationship which consists of several nodes and leaves

On the Hierarchy tab page, we determine whether or not the characteristic can have hierarchies and, if so, what properties these hierarchies are allowed to have

If the ‘with hierarchies’ checkbox is checked, hierarchies can be created for this characteristic. In the below screen shot, the check box is unchecked, hence no hierarchy is created for this info object

STEPS TO CREATE CHARACTERISTICS INFO OBJECT: ATTRIBUTES TAB:

Attributes are nothing but the fields or properties of master data

There are different types of Attributes:a. Display Attributesb. Navigational Attributesc. Executive Attributesd. Compound Attributes

The attributes are assigned to the characteristic on the Attributes tab page

Several characteristics can be added as attributes of the master data characteristics in the Attribute tab page

Attributes can be marked as navigational or display attribute by clicking on “navigational attribute on/off” button

Display and navigation attributes can be marked as time-dependent if a validity period is required for each attribute value.

STEPS TO CREATE CHARACTERISTICS INFO OBJECT:

STEPS TO CREATE CHARACTERISTICS INFO OBJECT: COMPOUNDING TAB:

On this tab page, you determine whether or not the characteristic is to be compounded to other InfoObjects

If the info-object is defined as an attributes, it cannot be included as compounding object.

Sometimes, the meaning of master data depends on the source of the data. In these cases, we need to compound the characteristic with the source

Say, for example, cost center 1000 stands for sales and distribution in controlling area 10, and it also stands for sales in controlling area 20. In this case, you would define a cost center to controlling area characteristic Compounding

STEPS TO CREATE CHARACTERISTICS INFO OBJECT:

STEPS TO CREATE CHARACTERISTICS INFO OBJECT: Step 4 : Check & Activate the Info Object

THANK YOU