SAP Attribute Length Assumptions
As the following table shows, some important business object attributes have different standard lengths inWindchill PDMLink and the distribution target.Windchill ESI assumes that your business process limits theWindchill PDMLink attributes to the lengths allowed by the distribution target. If the attributes sent are longer than those allowed by SAP, SAP throws an exception. Before installing Windchill ESI, you must decide how to deal with these field length differences.
The instructions in the Installing and ConfiguringWindchill ESI section of theWindchill Enterprise Systems Integration Installation and Configuration - SAP section describe how to handle the field length discrepancies between the out-of-the-box Windchill PDMLink attributes and out-of-the-box SAP attributes.
If either system has been customized, the following documents should provide you with guidelines on how to customizeWindchill ESI to compensate for field length differences.
• For information on how to limit attribute lengths in Windchill PDMLink, refer to the Customizing Column Lengths section of the Windchill Customization Guide.
• For guidelines on how to set up auto-numbering in Windchill PDMLink, refer to the section Basic Administration.
The following table summarizes the field length differences as well as the actions that you can take to prevent erroneous data and failures if you have customized your system with different attribute lengths.
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If you have not made any customizations to the default SAP Attribute Lengths then no action is required. If you have modified your SAP Attribute Lengths then you need to customize your system using this table.
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Windchill Attribute
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Windchill Maximum Default Attribute Length
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Windchill Typical Default Attribute Length
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SAP Attribute
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SAP Attribute Length
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Action Required to Prevent Incorrect Data or Failures
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(Part) Number
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40
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10 digit all numeric
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Material Number
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18
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If part number is numeric and less than 18 characters, it must be padded with zeroes to meet the character length required by SAP.
If part number is over 18 characters, the transaction fails with an error message.
Alphanumeric numbers should not be padded.
If the Field Length Extension is enabled at SAP, and part number is numeric and less than 32 characters, it must be padded with zeroes to meet the character length required by SAP.
If part number is over 32 characters, the transaction will not fail during part creation, but the failure will occur while creating BOM using the part with a material number more than 32 characters long.
Alphanumeric numbers should not be padded.
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(Part) Name
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60
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60
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Material Description
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40
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If part name is over 40 characters, it needs to be truncated to meet the SAP field length or an error is thrown and the transaction fails.
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Doc Number
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32
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10 digit all numeric
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Document Number
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25
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If document number is numeric and less than 25 characters, it must be padded with zeroes to meet the character length required by SAP. If document number is over 25 characters, an error is thrown and the transaction fails.
Alphanumeric numbers should not be padded.
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(Doc) Name
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160
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160
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(Document) Description
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40
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If document name is over 40 characters, it needs to be truncated to meet the SAP field length, or an error is thrown and the transaction fails.
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Number (Change Number)
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32
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5 digit all numeric
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Change Number
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12
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No padding is necessary. If CN number is over 12 characters, an error is thrown and the transaction fails.
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(CN) Name
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256
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70
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Change Number Description
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40
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If CN name is over 40 characters, it needs to be truncated to meet the SAP field length, or an error is thrown and the transaction fails.
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Description (Change Number Description)
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2000
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2000
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Reason for Change
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40
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If CN description is over 40 characters, it needs to be truncated to meet the SAP field length, or an error is thrown and the transaction fails.
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ProcessPlan Number
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40
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8
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Group Number
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8
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If process plan number is numeric and less than 8 characters, it must be padded with zeroes to meet the character length required by SAP.
If process plan number is over 8 characters, an error is thrown and the transaction fails.
Alphanumeric numbers should not be padded.
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Tooling Number (as the category Fixture, by default this maps to Equipment)
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40
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18
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Equipment Number
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18
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If equipment number is numeric and less than 18 characters, it must be padded with zeroes to meet the character length required by SAP.
If equipment number is over 18 characters, an error is thrown and the transaction fails.
Alphanumeric numbers should not be padded.
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Tooling Number (as the category Tool, by default this maps to PRT Material)
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40
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18
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Material Number
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18
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If material number is numeric and less than 18 characters, it must be padded with zeroes to meet the character length required by SAP.
If material number is over 18 characters, an error is thrown and the transaction fails.
Alphanumeric numbers should not be padded.
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Process Material
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40
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18
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Material Number
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18
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If process material number is numeric and less than 18 characters, it must be padded with zeroes to meet the character length required by SAP.
If process material number is over 18 characters, an error is thrown and the transaction fails.
Alphanumeric numbers should not be padded.
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Operation Description
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Operation Description
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40
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If Operation description is over 40 characters it needs to be truncated to meet the SAP field length, or an input data invalid error is thrown by the Middleware.
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Long Description
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No limit
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Long Description
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Operation Label
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No limit
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4
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Operation/Activity
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4
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Must be a numeric value. SAP does not allow alphanumeric values for operation/activity. An error will be thrown.
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Sequence Line Number
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Numeric value
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Numeric value
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Sequence number
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6
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If sequence number is over 6 characters an error is thrown and the transaction fails.
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