About the Product Class Hierarchy

The product class hierarchy allows you to organize and manage product attributes. It is separate from the mechanisms you use to organize products themselves, such as product lines and product categories.

For example, you have the product class hierarchy in the following figure. The product class called Class has two attributes defined on it, Attribute 1 and Attribute 2. Class also has a subclass called Subclass. Subclass has Attribute 3 defined on it and contains one product, called Product C.

Subclass inherits Attribute 1 and Attribute 2. It also has an attribute definition of its own, Attribute 3. Product C, assigned to Subclass, inherits all three attribute definitions.

Note: When you define a product with components, you define named parts called relationships. Then you add the contents of product classes to them. Adding a small number of products to a relationship from a large product class requires that the entire product class be searched each time the product with components is instantiated. This can adversely affect performance. Consider defining the product class system to avoid this.

In the Administration - Product screen, then the Product Classes view, you can create product classes, organize them into hierarchies, and define attributes for them. By clicking the Structure view tab, you can view the Class Explorer, which gives you an overview of the entire product class hierarchy system.