Planning characteristics¶
Planning characteristics add business classifications without changing the core material or location record. They support selections, filters, aggregations, and different planning treatments for groups with different behavior.
Examples include product family, brand, channel, region, customer profile, store format, strategic segment, and shelf-life class.
Edition availability
Dynamic characteristics are maintained in the Enterprise edition. The Community edition shares presentation contracts where required, but does not maintain these dynamic catalogs or their values.
Paths in the platform¶
- Material characteristics:
Data > Data Operations > Master Data > Materials / Locations > Materials > Material Characteristics - Location characteristics:
Data > Data Operations > Master Data > Materials / Locations > Locations > Location Characteristics - Material/location characteristics:
Data > Data Operations > Configuration > Material / Location > Parameters and Attributes > Material/Location Characteristics
Catalogs, granularity, and keys¶
| Data set | Granularity | Key |
|---|---|---|
| Material characteristics | One row per characteristic definition | materialCharacteristicId |
| Location characteristics | One row per characteristic definition | locationCharacteristicId |
| Material/location characteristics | One row per characteristic definition | materialLocationCharacteristicId |
Characteristic identifiers are governed across all three catalogs. Do not use the same identifier for characteristics with different owners or meanings.
Required catalog fields¶
All fields below are required.
| Field | Required? | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
materialCharacteristicId, locationCharacteristicId, or materialLocationCharacteristicId |
Yes | Unique identifier of the characteristic in the corresponding catalog |
description |
Yes | Business-readable name |
characteristicType |
Yes | Characteristic Type that determines which values are accepted |
The processed-file column for a material/location characteristic is
Characteristic Id; the selected path identifies which catalog receives it.
Values by material¶
The value table associates one material with one material characteristic.
- Granularity: one row per material and characteristic.
- Composite key:
materialId+materialCharacteristicId.
| Field | Required? | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
materialId |
Yes | Existing material |
materialCharacteristicId |
Yes | Existing material characteristic |
characteristicValue |
Yes | Classification value, valid for the configured type |
Values by location¶
The value table associates one location with one location characteristic.
- Granularity: one row per location and characteristic.
- Composite key:
locationId+locationCharacteristicId.
| Field | Required? | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
locationId |
Yes | Existing location |
locationCharacteristicId |
Yes | Existing location characteristic |
characteristicValue |
Yes | Classification value, valid for the configured type |
Material/location values¶
Material/location characteristics describe attributes that vary for the same material across locations. The current data-loading scope publishes the catalog definition, but does not yet publish a general value load for each material/location combination.
Values for this owner remain in edition-specific material/location setup. Therefore, do not treat the catalog definition as evidence that a material/location value file is available.
Value rules by type¶
| Type | Accepted value | Example |
|---|---|---|
BINARY |
0 or 1; true or false |
Eligible for a promotion |
NUMERICAL |
A valid number | Shelf life of 90 days |
CATEGORICAL |
Non-blank text | Premium, Indirect, or Southeast |
Binary values are normalized to true or false. Numerical values must be
readable as numbers. Categorical values preserve the governed business label
after surrounding spaces are removed.
Why characteristics matter in Demand Planning¶
A characteristic does not select a statistical model by itself. It provides the governed classification used by a forecast cluster. Clusters can then give distinct forecast levels, AutoFit settings, and collaboration policies to series with materially different behavior.
For example, a new-item family, a mature high-volume family, and intermittent spare parts should not be forced through the same statistical treatment merely because they share a material table.
Dependencies¶
- Materials, for material characteristic values.
- Locations, for location characteristic values.
- Characteristic Type.
Used by¶
- Forecast clusters;
- forecast levels and aggregation;
- cluster-level AutoFit;
- material and location filters;
- configured planning views, Planning Books, and analytical aggregations in the Enterprise edition.
Checks¶
- all identifiers, descriptions, and types are filled;
- characteristic identifiers are unique across the three catalogs;
- every material or location referenced by a value exists;
- every value references a characteristic of the corresponding owner;
- every composite key occurs only once;
- every value conforms to its characteristic type;
- reclassification is reviewed because it can change cluster membership and the next planning run.