Common Structures

If two or more organizations use the same item structure, you can define the structure in one organization and reference it from the other organizations, creating what's known as a common structure in those organizations.

Common structures share a component hierarchy, including the substitute components and reference designators defined for the components.

How Common Structures Work

Here are some things you must know about creating common structures.

When you create common structures, you can:

• Define a structure in one organization and reference it from other organizations, creating what's known as a common structure in those organizations, if two or more organizations use the same item structure.
• Reference another structure as a common structure only if the referenced structure has the same structure name.
• Reference structures only from organizations that have the same item master organization as the current organization.
• Create a common structure within the same organization, as well as across multiple organizations. Sharing structures across multiple organizations minimizes the maintenance of your item structures.
• Create component items in the target organization without any additional or explicit privileges. But you will require access to the root item in that organization.
• Create a common structure using FBDI only at the first level of the structure.

When you create common structures, you can't:

• Update the structure of common items in a common structure. However, you can update the fields and descriptive flexfields in the header for a structure that's common. Any maintenance, such as removing or adding components or changing component attribute values, has to be made against the source (referenced) structure.
• Reference another structure as common if that structure also references a common structure.

Substitute Components in Common Structures

Here are some things you must know about substitute components in common structures.

• When you use a structure as a common structure, the substitute components that you use for items in the source organization are automatically added to any target organizations where the component doesn't exist.
• Substitute components in the source organization are automatically added to target organizations when you:
  • Create a structure in the target organization using the Create from Common action.
  • Add a substitute to a component of a structure that's already used as a common structure.
• Once the organization is automatically assigned, you can’t undo the assignment when the substitute component is deleted. You must manually delete the association.

Publish Common Structures

You can include common structures in item publications.

To publish common structures, you must select Structures as an entity of the item object to publish.

• If there are changes in the header details or descriptive flexfields for the common structure in an item, then any common structure is published.

• The master item and its structure are only published when changes occur to the item or structure content.

• If there are changes to the master structure, or to the header attributes of the master structure, then the item containing the master structure is published.

  For example, if you add a new component to an item, the item record containing the structure for the master item is published.

• If there are changes to an item or common structure header, then the item is published.

• If there are changes to items that have common structure, or to the header attributes of the common structure, then the items that have common structure are published.

  If there are no changes to the items, or to the header attributes, then the items aren't published.

• You can set the first level as common or specify the number of common levels starting from the first level.