Creating InfoObjects Characteristics

Now we are ready to create characteristics.

Work Instructions

Step 1. Right-click InfoObject Catalog demo: characteristics, and then select Create InfoObject….

 

 

SCREEN 2.8

Step 2. Enter a name and a description, and then click to continue.

 

 

SCREEN 2.9

Step 3. Select CHAR as the DataType, enter 15 for the field Length, and then click the tab Attributes.

 

 

SCREEN 2.10

Step 4. Enter an attribute name IO_MATNM, and then click to create the attribute.

 

 

Note

Notice that IO_MATNM is underlined. In BW, the underline works like a hyperlink. After IO_MATNM is created, when you click IO_MATNM, the hyperlink will lead you to IO_MATNM's detail definition window.

SCREEN 2.11

Step 5. Select the option Create attribute as characteristic, and then click to continue.

 

 

Note

Section 11.3, "Creating a Characteristic in BW," discusses an example of the key figure attribute.

SCREEN 2.12

Step 6. Select CHAR as the DataType, and then enter 30 for the field Length. Notice that the option Exclusively attribute is selected by default. Click to continue.

 

 

Note

If Exclusively attribute is selected, the attribute IO_MATNM can be used only as a display attribute, not as a navigational attribute. Section 7.2, "InfoCube Design Alternative I – Time-Dependent Navigational Attributes," discusses an example of the navigation attributes.

Selecting Exclusively attribute allows you to select Lowercase letters. If the option Lowercase letters is selected, the attribute can accept lowercase letters in data to be loaded.

SCREEN 2.13

If the option Lowercase letters is selected, no master data tables, text tables, or another level of attributes underneath are allowed. Section 7.1, "BW Star Schema," describes master data tables and text tables, and explains how they relate to a characteristic.

Step 7. Click to check the characteristic. If it is valid, click to activate the characteristic.

 

 

SCREEN 2.14

Step 8. A window is displayed asking whether you want to activate dependent InfoObjects. In our example, the dependent InfoObject is IO_MATNM.

Click to activate IO_MAT and IO_MATNM.

 

 

SCREEN 2.15

Result

You have now created the characteristic IO_MAT and its attribute IO_MATNM. A status message All InfoObject(s) activated will appear at the bottom of Screen 2.14.

Note

Saving an InfoObject means saving its properties, or meta-data. You have not yet created its physical database objects, such as tables.

Activating an InfoObject will create the relevant database objects. After activating IO_MAT, the names of the newly created master data table and text table are displayed under the Master data/texts tab (Screen 2.16). The name of the master data table is /BIC/PIO_MAT, and the name of the text table is /BIC/TIO_MAT.

Notice the prefix /BIC/ in the database object names. BW prefixes /BI0/ to the names of database objects of Business Content objects, and it prefixes /BIC/ to the names of database objects of customer-created BW objects.

SCREEN 2.16

Repeat the preceding steps to create the other characteristics listed in Table 2.1.

Table 2.1. CHARACTERISTICS
Characteristics Name and Description Assigned to DataType Length Exclusively Attribute? Lowercase Letters?

IO_MAT

Material number

   CHAR 15 No No

IO_MATNM

Material name

 IO_MAT CHAR 30 Yes No

IO_CUST

Customer ID

   CHAR 15 No No

IO_CUSTNM

Customer name

 IO_CUST CHAR 40 Yes Yes

IO_CUSTAD

Customer addresss

 IO_CUST CHAR 60 Yes Yes

IO_SREP

Sales representative ID

   CHAR 15 No No

IO_SREPNM

Sales representative name

 IO_SREP CHAR 40 Yes Yes

IO_SOFF

Sales office

   CHAR 30 No No

IO_SREG

Sales region

   CHAR 30 No No

The column "Assigned to" specifies the characteristic to which an attribute is assigned. For example, IO_MATNM is an attribute of IO_MAT.

The Material Description in Table 1.1 will be treated as IO_MAT's text, as shown in Table 3.2 in Section 3.4, "Creating InfoPackages to Load Characteristic Data." We do not need to create a characteristic for it.

IO_SREG and IO_SOFF are created as independent characteristics, instead of IO_SREP's attributes. Section 3.6, "Entering the Master Data, Text, and Hierarchy Manually," explains how to link IO_SOFF and IO_SREG to IO_SREP via a sales organization hierarchy. Section 7.2, "InfoCube Design Alternative I – Time-Dependent Navigational Attributes," discusses a new InfoCube design in which IO_SOFF and IO_SREG are IO_SREP's attributes.

BW provides characteristics for units of measure and time. We do not need to create them.

From Administrator Workbench, we can verify that the characteristics in Table 2.1 have been created (Screen 2.17) by clicking InfoArea demo, and then clicking InfoObject Catalog demo: characteristics.

SCREEN 2.17

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