Considerations for Managing Flexfields in Items and Change Orders

Item extensible flexfields and item revision extensible flexfields are handled differently in Product Information Management and Product Development work areas.

Here's what you should keep in mind if you're managing flexfields in both work areas.

Flexfield Type	Product Information Management	Product Development
Item Extensible Flexfield	Available in items and change orders. On selecting a revision, only the current effective values appear.	Available in items and change orders. On selecting a revision, revision-specific values appear.
Item Revision Extensible Flexfield	Appears on the item page where it's configured. Appears in the change line in the classic Product Information Management work area, but not in the Simplified Change Management Interface.	Not supported. Doesn't appear in the item view or change order affected objects view.

Best Practices

Here are some best practices for managing flexfields:

• In Product Development, you can use item extensible flexfields to track different attribute values by revision when specific data isn't explicitly tracked through change control.

• In Product Information Management, you can choose not to include item attributes in change control, but still use item revision extended flexfields to track the difference in values between revisions.