Items and Documents in Product Development

Items and documents have many features in common. Both types of business objects are derived from the same original class type. From the primary Root Item Class, the administrator may create a Root Document Class.

Additional class types may be created based on the root classes. Different class types allow different kinds of items and documents. Items created from the same item class inherit the same template of attributes. Documents created from the same document class inherit the same template of attributes.

The document business object behaves in much the same way as the item business object. A document that contains information or specification about an item or assembly can be added to an item structure. Or, a document structure could be built with documents that contain item requirements or specifications in parallel with every item of an item structure.

The differences between items and documents are:

• Documents can't be associated with manufacturer parts;

• Documents don't use the item grade function and attributes.