This chapter contains the topic:
Typically, category codes for business units are unique and have no relationship to one another. These codes are stand-alone codes. However, some business units might need the category codes to have a relationship to each other. When this is necessary, you can establish one of the following:
| Relationship | Description |
|---|---|
| Dependent relationships | You establish dependent relationships when you want category codes to remain as single entities. For example, category codes for state and county are often defined as dependent structures so that you can select and sequence on county or state only. |
| Concatenated relationships | You establish concatenated relationships when you want to combine category codes. For example, in oil and gas companies, category codes for lease, well, and phase are combined or concatenated so that you can select and sequence on the lease/well/phase entity. |
Note:
Dependent and concatenated category codes are used primarily in the oil and gas industries.Dependent relationships are necessary when you have category codes that depend on two or three other category codes to make them meaningful.
A dependent relationship uses a hierarchical structure for category codes. In a hierarchical structure, the first category code is one reporting level. The first and second category codes are the second reporting level. The first, second, and third category codes are the third reporting level.
If you build a dependent relationship on two category codes, the first code stands alone, while the combination of the two codes represents a unique six-character category code.
If you build a dependent relationship on three category codes, the first code stands alone, the first and second represent a unique six-character code, and all three codes represent a unique nine-character category code.
Note:
Category codes must be sequential when building the relationships.The following is an example of a dependent relationship that uses three category codes:
| Category Code | Description |
|---|---|
| Category code 01 | Structure Size = 3
Structure Type = D |
| Category code 02 | Structure Size = Blank
Structure Type = D |
| Category code 03 | Structure Size = Blank
Structure Type = D |
In this example, the following applies:
Category code 01 is three characters.
Category code 02 is six characters (category code 01 + 02).
Category code 03 is nine characters (category code 01 + 02 + 03).
Dependent relationships are especially useful for state and county relationships in which the state is unique and the values for the category code numbers in the county are unique.
In the following example, you can reuse an identifier (in this example, 001) so that you do not have to define a unique county identifier for each county in every state:
| State | County |
|---|---|
| State - TX : Texas | County - 001 : Harris |
| State - CO : Colorado | County - 001 : Arapahoe |
A concatenated relationship combines category codes into one unique code. This relationship defines just one category code whose length is the total length of all category codes in a structure.
Like a dependent relationship, you can define concatenation for two or three consecutive category codes for a business unit. Unlike a dependent relationship, a concatenated relationship combines category codes into one unique category code.
After you have established a concatenated relationship, the category codes no longer exist as separate entities. The length of the combined code is equal to the total length of all category codes in the concatenated structure. As a result, two concatenated category codes become one six-character category code. Three concatenated codes become one nine-character code.
The following example shows a concatenated relationship between two category codes:
| Category Code | Description |
|---|---|
| Category code 01 | Structure Size = 2
Structure Type = C |
| Category code 02 | Structure Size = Blank
Structure Type = C |
The following example shows a concatenated relationship among three category codes:
| Category Code | Description |
|---|---|
| Category code 01 | Structure Size = 3
Structure Type = C |
| Category code 02 | Structure Size = Blank
Structure Type = C |
| Category code 03 | Structure Size = Blank
Structure Type = C |
Note:
You cannot concatenate more than three report codes, with a maximum length of nine characters. You can, however, concatenate other groups of report codes in the structure.You can combine dependent and concatenated relationships in a structure. For example, category codes 01 and 02 can be part of a dependent structure. At the same time, category codes 04 through 06 can be part of a concatenated structure. And, category code 03 can remain a stand-alone, or single-code structure. Such combinations work independently of each other.
In the following example, category codes 01 and 02 are concatenated. They also have a dependent relationship with category code 03:
| Category Code | Description |
|---|---|
| Category code 01 | Structure Size = 3
Structure Type = C |
| Category code 02 | Structure Size = Blank
Structure Type = C |
| Category code 03 | Structure Size = Blank
Structure Type = D |
In this example, the following applies:
Category codes 01 + 02 equals one unique code of six characters.
Concatenated category code 1 plus dependent category code 03 equals one unique code of nine characters.