Enterprise Administration > Implementing Windchill ESI > Implementing Windchill ESI in an SAP Environment > Distribution Target Prerequisites and Assumptions > SAP Attribute Length Assumptions
  
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 Guide - SAP 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.
* 
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.
Windchill Attribute
Windchill Maximum Default Attribute Length
Windchill Typical Default Attribute Length
SAP Attribute
SAP Attribute Length
Action Required to Prevent Incorrect Data or Failures
(Part) Number
40
10 digit all numeric
Material Number
18
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, an error is thrown and the transaction fails.
Alphanumeric numbers should not be padded.
(Part) Name
60
60
Material Description
40
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.
Doc Number
32
10 digit all numeric
Document Number
25
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.
(Doc) Name
160
160
(Document) Description
40
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.
Number (Change Number)
32
5 digit all numeric
Change Number
12
No padding is necessary. If CN number is over 12 characters, an error is thrown and the transaction fails.
(CN) Name
256
70
Change Number Description
40
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.
Description (Change Number Description)
2000
2000
Reason for Change
40
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.
ProcessPlan Number
40
8
Group Number
8
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.
Tooling Number (as the category Fixture, by default this maps to Equipment)
40
18
Equipment Number
18
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.
Tooling Number (as the category Tool, by default this maps to PRT Material)
40
18
Material Number
18
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.
Process Material
40
18
Material Number
18
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.
Operation Description
Operation Description
40
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.
Long Description
No limit
Long Description
Operation Label
No limit
4
Operation/Activity
4
Must be a numeric value. SAP does not allow alphanumeric values for operation/activity. An error will be thrown.
Sequence Line Number
Numeric value
Numeric value
Sequence number
6
If sequence number is over 6 characters an error is thrown and the transaction fails.