IBM Maximo for Service Providers, Version 7.6.1

Customers and Classifications

When you create a classification, it is global by default. If you want to associate a customer with a classification, you must make the classification customer specific. Customer-specific classifications are more restrictive than global classifications.

You use the Classifications application to control whether a classification is available to all customers or to specific customers.

Customers and child classifications

Customer-specific classifications can become more restrictive at each subsequent level of the classification hierarchy.

Global classifications can have child classifications that are global, customer specific, or a mix of both.
Customer-specific classifications can have only child classifications that are customer-specific. Child classifications can be associated with a customer if their customer-specific parent classification is also associated with that customer.

If a parent is a global classification, you can associate customers with a customer-specific classification without restriction. If you associate a customer with a classification, that customer is automatically associated with all ancestors in the hierarchy, with two exceptions:

if the ancestor is a global classification
if the customer is already associated with the ancestor classification

Example 1

In this example, each customer that is associated with a classification is also associated with the parent classification, unless the parent is global. The set of customers that is associated with this classification is more restrictive at each subsequent level of the classification hierarchy.

Customer-specific classification diagram. Details are in the text preceding and following the diagram.

If you associate Customer 4 to IT \ HARDWARE \ DESKTOP COMPUTER, then Customer 4 is also added to the IT \ HARDWARE customer-specific ancestor.

$Diagram of Customer 4 being added to IT \ HARDWARE. Details are in the text preceding and following the diagram.$

Example 2

You associate Customer 5 to the IT \ HARDWARE classification and choose to automatically associate customers with child classifications. Customer 5 is automatically associated with the IT \ HARDWARE \ DESKTOP COMPUTER child classification. If the IT \ HARDWARE \ DESKTOP COMPUTER classification also automatically associates customers with child classifications, Customer 5 is associated with the IT \ HARDWARE \ DESKTOP COMPUTER \ VIDEOCARD classification.

Diagram of Customer 5 being added to child classifications. Details are in the text preceding and following the diagram.

The associations are propagated to all subsequent levels in the hierarchy by using the current classification to determine when to add customers to child classifications. If you choose to automatically associate customers with child classifications, existing customer associations are not affected. Customer 3 and Customer 4 were not added to the classification IT \ HARDWARE \ DESKTOP COMPUTER \ VIDEOCARD. Only Customer 5, the new customer association, was added.

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