Specs

A specification (spec) defines the data model (meta-model) for items, categories, locations, import or export files, and lookup tables.

Overview

The following list identifies spec characteristics:

A model for how data is stored, calculated, and managed within IBM® Product Master.
A model for data as it resides outside of Product Master.
Flexible data templates that are used for data validation and can be changed.
Can be updated and maintained by a selected group of users.
Contains attributes that can be indexed to improve the speed of search operations.

There are several types of specs:

Destination spec: A destination spec defines the structure of the data that is exported to a destination data file for a catalog or hierarchy export.
File spec: A file spec defines the structure of a data file from a data source to use for a catalog or hierarchy import.
Lookup spec: A lookup spec is the data model that is used to define a Lookup Table. A lookup spec must have a primary key.
Primary spec: A primary spec is the data model that is used to define hierarchies and catalogs. A primary spec must have a primary key.
Script input spec: A script input spec defines the structure of the parameters that are passed to a Product Master script; especially a script that runs through the Product Master UI (for example, a report script).
Secondary spec: A secondary spec is the data model that is used to define location attributes and supplementary attributes that are associated with particular categories. Secondary specs do not have a primary key.
Sub spec: A sub spec is a reusable spec, which can be used as part of either a primary or a secondary spec, for example, to group a set of attributes that always occur together. If a spec node from a sub spec is going to be used as a primary spec's primary key, it must be defined to have a minimum and maximum occurrence of 1.

The Specs Console enables to browse and view the following specifications: