Characteristics are the new alternative to attributes. They allow to store additional data on products, variants and items without the need to adjust the repository and without the restriction to have the information on each and every product, variant and item. Characteristics are similar to attributes in that you can configure them to have a specific data type and define if they are mandatory or multi value. They are also dynamic in nature and can be changed during runtime. In contrast to attributes, they allow a hierarchy of values and dependencies between them. This allows for a value to only be maintained dependent on the selected value for the parent characteristic.

In following characteristics are described only for items to make the documentation more readable. Please note, that the same feature is also provided in the standard Product 360 for products and variants as well.

Defining the characteristic model

First of all you have to model the characteristic. This is analog to the field configuration in the repository. Here you define the data type, if there can be multiple values, how many instances can be created and so on. You also define dependencies and hierarchies in this step. This will be described in more detail in the following chapters.

When you're done modelling the characteristic(s) you can use the activation of them and their category as a two-step release mechanism. An active characteristic in an active category is ready to be used.

Most likely the value you created doesn't make sense for all your items. The way items and characteristics are connected is similar to the attributes in that it works through the structure group. The value is only visible when the item has an assignment to the structure group and the category of the characteristic has an assignment to the structure group.

Characteristics themselves are not reusable but since they are modeled as own objects and not parts of the structure group, they can be "reused" by assigning their category to multiple structure groups of the same or different structures.

It is possible to change the model later but with some restrictions. The assignment of categories to structure groups can be changed and characteristics and categories can be de- and re-activated. Some changes could lead to invalid data when changed after characteristic values have been created for any items. These kind of changes are prohibited. For example the data type can not be changed, because most text values can't be converted in decimal values and changing of data type from text to decimal will result in many invalid data in the system.

Maintain characteristic values

After the model has been released (activated) and the categories are assigned to structure groups and are activated as well, values can be maintained.

At first you see all root characteristics of all categories that are assigned to structure groups, the item is assigned to. Dependent characteristics as well as characteristics of a lower level in the hierarchy will become visible once a record has been created for the root or a parent characteristic.

Characteristic values can be created, updated and deleted as well as copied between items.

Troubleshooting

If you can't see a characteristic on an item but you think you should be able to see it, check the following points:

Is the characteristic active?
Is the category active?
Is the category assigned to a structure group?
Is the item assigned to the same structure group?
Does the user have the record access right for this characteristic?
Is the characteristic enabled for the entity?
For child characteristics: Are conditional values set?