MDM-table types

[jagadeesh_madiwalar]

Hi Experts..

Please let me know the significance of the differnt tables in MDM like Flat,Hierechy,Taxanomy , Qualified and Families tables. and what is the Use and how these are requiered as per the business prospectus....

Regards

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

Hi

Following are the explanations

Flat Table

Main table or subtable. A flat table has the standard, rectangular SQL structure consisting of records and fields (rows and columns). The main table of an MDM repository is always a flat table.

Hierarchy Table

Subtable. A hierarchy table organizes information in a hierarchy, where each record is related to a parent record (even if the only parent is the root) and may also be related to sibling records and/or child records. The main table in an MDM repository typically contains some fields whose data may be hierarchical in nature.

For example, a Manufacturer field may need to accommodate division and subdivision information for manufacturers.

This hierarchical information is stored in a separate, hierarchy subtable associated with the Manufacturer lookup field in the main table.

Most of the hierarchy tables used in an MDM repository contain lookup information for fields in the main table. Other hierarchy tables in MDM include taxonomy tables, the Masks table, and the Families table, described below. MDM supports hierarchies with an unlimited number of parent/child levels.

Note that a hierarchy table is useful even when it is flat (i.e. only leaf nodes below the root), because it stores the ordered sequence of sibling records, allowing us to override the unordered sequence of values in a flat table and instead put the values in a fixed order.

Taxonomy table.

It is subtable. A taxonomy is the classification scheme that defines the categories and subcategories that apply to a collection of records. Categorizing records enables we to isolate subsets of records for various organizing, searching, editing and publishing purposes.

A taxonomy table in MDM stores a hierarchy of categories and subcategories and also supports attributes, u201Csubfieldsu201D that apply to particular categories rather than to the entire collection of records. MDM supports multiple simultaneous taxonomies.

Qualified is Subtable.

A qualified table in MDM stores a set of lookup records, and also supports qualifiers, u201Csubfieldsu201D that apply not to the qualified table record by itself, but rather to each association of a qualified table record with a main table record. MDM supports multiple simultaneous qualified tables.

Qualified tables can be used to support product applications and application-based search, and also to store any large set of subtable records that contain fields whose values are different for each main table record, such as multiple prices for different quantities, divisions, regions, or trading partners, cross-reference part numbers, and additional distributor/supplier/customer-specific information for different distributors, suppliers, or customers.

Note:

A qualified table holds qualifier and Nonqualifier fields. Qualifier fields are those whose values used to change and non qualifier are those base on which field the values are changed.

For example we can say If there are two field price and area. then price is qualifier and area is non-qualifier. Based on area price used to change.One field should be specifed as disply field under qualified table .

Families

It is a special table.A single hierarchy table named Families. Used to further partition main table records in each category into smaller groups based upon the values of other fields and/or attributes. We can associate family data (a paragraph, an image, bullets) once with a family of products rather than with each individual product, and also define the table lawet of the field and/or attribute data (field order; stack, vertical, and horizontal pivots; and other display options). This table is available only in Family mode.

Hope it helpful

Thanks

Dola

Edited by: DOLA AICH on Aug 28, 2008 2:27 PM

[Former Member]

Hi SRK,

You can have a look at the below sites which will explain you the MDM tables in more detail:

Hope it helped

Thanks & Regards

Simona Pinto

[Former Member]

Hi,

sorry for the wrong link

Look tables are used as reference or check table.They are of 4 types

a.Flat (for set of fixed values say eg.countries)

b.Qualified(for multivalued eg price of product depending on region and tax)

c.hierarchy(to create a hierachy of products)

d.Taxonomy-again hierarchy with special attribute for each node

Families table is used for publishing the catalog.

Families table itself works on taxonomy table.

For eg:you hav a taxonomy for suppliers with various attributes

supplier

|_Tools

|_Hand Tools

|_Machine Tools

|_Services

|_Repair

Now you want to furthur categorize this hierarchy based on say Manufacturer or Catalog Name.This can be done using Families table.In console create a families table as type families using Category as family field.Add a field say Image (look up Image).

After importing the taxonomy table category.

Goto Data manager select Family mode.Select a node .Under partion tab select one of the look up values or Attributes based on which u want to categorize further.Then go to Family detail here u can link a image or PDF to this family.

Regards

Nisha

Edited by: Nisha L on Aug 28, 2008 12:56 PM

[Former Member]

Hi SRK,

Please let me know the significance of the differnt tables in MDM like Flat,Hierechy,Taxanomy , Qualified and Families tables. and what is the Use and how these are requiered as per the business prospectus....

The following is the explanation given by SAP:

Flat and Hierarchy Lookup Tables

A lookup table is used to store values that are shared by many records in other tables, and also to act as a valid table that defines the set of legal values of the corresponding lookup field for data entry and search. For example, a single manufacturer is typically associated with many product records. By storing manufacturer data in a lookup table, you can edit the single copy of a manufactureru2019s data to immediately update all records that reference it. At the same time, by defining a lookup field into the manufacturers table, you can constrain the set of legal values of the lookup field to the corresponding set of values for manufacturer in the manufacturers table.

For simple lookup tables, you need to decide whether the lookup values should be stored in a flat table or a hierarchical table, and what subtable fields are needed to store the additional information about each subtable record. For example, the Manufacturer field in the Productstable typically should be a lookup field, with the Manufacturer data stored in a lookup table. Furthermore, the Manufacturers lookup table should be hierarchical if, for example, you need to accommodate company divisions.

A hierarchy lookup table is useful even when it is flat (that is, only leaf nodes below the root), because it stores the ordered sequence of sibling records, allowing you to override the unordered sequence of values in a flat table and instead put the values in a fixed order.

We recommend using the singular for lookup field names (Manufacturer) and the plural for table names (Manufacturers).

Taxonomy Lookup Tables

Product categories and subcategories, along with the attributes associated with them, are represented in an MDM repository as a hierarchy in a taxonomy table. A taxonomy table is a special kind of lookup table that provides support not only for a hierarchy of category and subcategory records, but also for category-specific attributes that can be assigned to each category on a category-by-category basis.

By convention MDM often refers to this table as the Categories table. Every product should belong to a category.

Whereas the taxonomy table itself and the fields of each of its records are created and defined in the MDM Console, the hierarchy of product categories and their associated category-specific attributes are created and managed using the MDM Client in Taxonomy mode.

A product can belong to at most one leaf-node category.

MDM supports multiple simultaneous taxonomies within a single MDM repository.

Families Table

The Families table is a special table that contains family records. Like the normal tables, family records consist of fields you specify within the MDM Console; however, the records themselves are created and maintained automatically by MDM based on the specifications you provide for the Family Hierarchy in the MDM Client in Family mode.

Each family corresponds to a single record in the Family Hierarchy. In addition to storing family data for the family in each of the fields you specify for the table, each leaf node family record stores the set of like main table product records that are members of the family. The family structure allows you to associate family data once with the family rather than with each individual product within the family.

The Field Detailpane for the Families table includes an additional property for the Family Field. This is the main table lookup field that will be used as the primary partition of main table records into families. In a traditional Family Hierarchy, the Family Fieldis usually a taxonomy lookup field, although you can use any hierarchical lookup field.

Qualified Lookup Tables

A qualified table is a special kind of lookup table that is extremely versatile. It can be used to efficiently store complex relationships between a main table product record and one or more lookup table records that contain various types of additional information.

A qualified table stores a set of lookup records, and also supports qualifiers, database u201Csubfieldsu201D that apply not to the qualified table record by itself, but rather to each association of a qualified table record with a main table record.

An MDM repository can have multiple qualified tables.

For more details , Kindly go through the link below which gives you additional info:

http://help.sap.com/saphelp_mdm550/helpdata/en/8e/9f9c427055c66ae10000000a155106/frameset.htm

Go to-> Repository Maintenance, You will find all the table types with their relevance

Also, you can go through the link below:

How to Create your very Own Master Data Objects:

https://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/sdn/go/portal/prtroot/docs/library/uuid/e8d76c89-0a01-0010-b4b7-e1ae2ece...

Hope it helps.

Thanks and Regards

Nitin Jain

[Former Member]

Hi,

You can go through following thread

Regards'

Nisha

[jagadeesh_madiwalar]

Hi

I think this is the wrong link.......