Item types

You can group the products in your enterprise into item types which are subsets that represent either different lines of business (for example, consumer electronics, entertainment, or services) or varying product types (for example, pants, shirts, shoes).

During requirements gathering, be sure to get a good understanding of the all items in an enterprise regardless of when they will be made available in the solution. You must identify the item types and sub types that the enterprise needs in the solution. A list of item types and sub types will help in extracting the attribute set that is common to all items and the set of attributes that are applicable to items of a particular type.

An item type must be specific enough to identify an item no matter how the item is categorized. An item might be classified under various categories but the item type is an attribute of the item and remains intact regardless of where the item is classified. For example, a shirt will always remain a shirt whether it appears under Casual Shirt, Dress Shirt, or Holiday Deals. Similarly, a consumer electronics item will always remain a consumer electronics item whether it falls under MP3 players, Phones, or Special Offers.

The following table illustrates the item attribute, the data model, and the purpose of the item attributes.

Table 1. Item attribute
Item attribute	Data model	Purpose
Item type	Implemented as an item attribute	Item type attribute helps to identify an item regardless of categorization. For example, clothing, electronics, and toys. Drives the attachment of secondary specs
Item Sub type	Implemented as an item attribute	Item Sub type attribute helps to further identify an item type. It helps during search on item sub types. For example, shirts within clothing, audio within electronics, and others.
Common attributes	Implemented as the primary spec	Common attribute is common for all enterprise items.
Item-type attributes	Implemented with secondary specs	Item-type attribute is a separate spec for each item type. Item-type attribute is a type of Extension attribute.