Generic ItemOrder business object

IBM defines an item is anything that can be ordered, sold, replaced, returned, or repaired. This broad definition allows the ItemOrder business object to be used by Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) applications, Customer Interaction Management (CIM) applications, and Supply Chain (SC) applications. ERP and SC applications conceptualize "items" as anything an organization procures (raw materials), manufactures, and sells (finished product). CIM applications conceptualize "items" as a "Fixed Product".

The definition of an item evolves during its lifecycle, from its creation as a new product or as a component of a new or improved item, to its maturation, and ultimately to its obsolescence. Therefore, more than a single organization within a company supports the maintenance of the item master record.

Figure 1 illustrates how item information may be defined over its life cycle by multiple organizations and used in multiple operations. IBM separates these operations into multiple business objects.

The ItemOrder business object contains data attributes that pertain to the order management part of the life cycle. An item can be referenced in an order management object (a record) only after it has received values for the fields specific to the order management organization. Each organization entity has its own logical set of data maintained in the business application. For example, assume that an organization uses the 'Sales01' and 'Sales02' business units to represent logical groupings of order management information. Separate items will support orders for Sales01 and Sales02, each with its order management fields specific to a business unit.

ItemOrder's attributes capture the set of fields that are maintained for a specific order management organizational entity.

Note: In order to bind an adapter to a collaboration template that processes generic ItemBasic, ItemOrder, and ItemPlanning, all of these business objects as well as generic Item must be installed in the repository and the adapter must be configured to support them. Even if your installation does not use generic Item directly, it must remain in the repository and be supported by every relevant adapter.

Business object structure

ItemOrder is a hierarchical business object that contains five child business objects. Figure 1 illustrates the generic ItemOrder business object hierarchy.

Figure 1. The Generic ItemOrder business object hierarchy

ItemOrder

ItemOrder contains such key information about an item as its:

Note: Because IBM collaboration templates may process the ItemBasic, ItemOrder, and ItemPlanning business objects while synchronizing the triggering item and its prerequisite items, it is important that the key attributes be consistent in these business objects. ItemId, SalesArea, and Plant are the default key attributes in ItemBasic, ItemOrder, and ItemPlanning. If you change any of these not to be a key or if you specify additional attributes to be a key, you must make identical changes in all three business objects.

ItemOrder contains sales grouping information about the item. The grouping information can be used for reporting or functional purposes, that is, to provide reports about the item within the sales organization or to provide the capability to process the item within similar groups. The grouping attributes include data about the Product Hierarchy, Commission Group, the Sales Statistics Group, Rebate Group, and the Product Group.

ItemOrder also provides five attributes for user-specified group information and ten attributes for specifying whether an attribute has been configured. ItemOrder contains the primary UOM (the item's main unit of measure, which can be converted into other units of measure), the Sales UOM, and the UOM of the item for deliveries. It also contains the OtherUOM child business object.

ItemOrder contains the dates the first order is received and when it is first shipped; the service starting date; and the last date the item was supported.

ItemOrder contains the item's model and catalog numbers; its order method; and its payment terms. It includes the item's Product Category (which can functionally affect the item in the business application; for example, the SAP Item Category); Sales Status (which indicates whether the Item can be processed in the order cycle); and the commission percentage. ItemOrder contains data for the item's Accounting Rule, Invoice Rule, Service Level, Availability Check Code, Availability-to-Promise Rule, Picking Rule, Order Lead Time, and Safety Lead Time.

ItemOrder contains such margin information as the lowest and highest acceptable margins as well as the lowest and highest acceptable margins by percent. ItemOrder contains such quantity information as its minimum Make-To-Order quantity; minimum and maximum order quantities; minimum delivery quantity; and the increment by which the order quantity can be increased.

ItemOrder contains flags that indicate whether the item requires inspection, is a co-product, has a warranty, can be returned, can be ordered, and can have a commission applied. It also contains flags that indicate whether it can be recycled, disposed, repaired, serviced, reused, replaced, installed, drop-shipped, configured, and assembled to-order.

ItemOrder contains the following child business objects:

Business object attributes
Child business object Description Cardinality
OtherUOM

OtherUOM contains the primary unit of measure (UOM) and an alternative UOM. The alternative UOM is converted to the primary UOM through a conversion factor quotient, based on values stored for the conversion factor numerator and denominator. The conversion is performed by dividing the numerator by the denominator and multiplying the result by the quantity in the primary UOM divided by the quantity in the alternative UOM. For example, one box divided by 4 each is multiplied by 100 each divided by 25 boxes.

OtherUOM contains such physical information as the item's size, weight, volume, and dimension. The business object contains the alternative UOM's unit of measure for length, width, and height; for weight; for volume; and for dimensions.

OtherUOM contains the item's EAN or UPC code for the alternative UOM, and the unit type.

Note: Because ItemBasic and ItemOrder both contain OtherUOM, IBM stores this child business object in its own repository text file. For ItemBasic and ItemOrder to process correctly, the following repository files must exist:

  • %CROSSWORLDS%\repository\BO_ItemBasic.txt
  • %CROSSWORLDS%\repository\BO_ItemOrder.txt
  • %CROSSWORLDS%\repository\BO_OtherUOM.txt
n
SalesText SalesText contains the item's unique identifier, which can be a concatenation of the item's name and organization attribute value; the language in which the description is provided; the text's class and code and a flag indicating whether the note type is identical to the text class; and short, medium-length, and long description text. n
TaxData TaxData contains the item's unique identifier, which can be a concatenation of the item's name and organization attribute value; its tax product identifier, which is used to apply taxes; and other tax class and category data. n
Price

Price contains the item's unique identifier, which can be a concatenation of the item's name and organization attribute value; its sales area (related to a sales organization); its accounting level (related to an accounting or valuation organization unit); its plant (related to an operation organization unit, such as a manufacturing plant, distribution center, or service center); its warehouse (related to such warehouse management functionality as putaway, takeaway, and capacity of bins or racks); and its inventory location (related to a specific storage location within an organization unit; for example, Storage Location '0001' in Plant '0001' will be 0001$0001).

Price contains the item's price type, price list identifier, price value, minimum price, and price currency. It contains the price UOM and a flag that indicates if the price UOM is the default UOM. It contains such information as the price's minimum and maximum quantities and its increment quantity.

n
Cost

Cost contains the item's unique identifier, which can be a concatenation of the item's name and organization attribute value; its sales area (related to a sales organization); its accounting level (related to an accounting or valuation organization unit); its plant (related to an operation organization unit, such as a manufacturing plant, distribution center, or service center); its warehouse (related to such warehouse management functionality as putaway, takeaway, and capacity of bins or racks); and its inventory location (related to a specific storage location within an organization unit; for example, Storage Location '0001' in Plant '0001' will be 0001$0001).

Cost also contains such information as the item's sales account, cost element, unit cost, cost currency, and cost UOM.

n

Supported verbs

The generic ItemOrder business object supports the following verbs:

Examining the object

To examine the attributes of the generic ItemOrder business object, use the System Manager or the Process Designer Express.

Related References

 

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