3777218 - Interaction between Constraints and Default Values

Default values are being used for characteristics, either defined statically in the characteristic master data or assigned dynamically through a procedure. Constraints are also applied to the same characteristics. The following two scenarios are of particular interest:

Scenario 1: A constraint exists where a characteristic with a default value appears as an assignment target, and the constraint contains an IF condition. The AVC engine removes values from the characteristic's domain in the IF condition that would overwrite the default value, preventing users from selecting such values. However, users can still manually overwrite the default.

Example:

X = 'SOMEVALUE' IF Y = 'SOMEOTHERVALUE'

If X is assigned a default of 'DEFAULT', the AVC engine removes 'SOMEOTHERVALUE' from the available options for Y.

This behavior occurs because:

• The AVC treats defaults identically to other assignment types (user, procedure, constraint, etc.) in dependency processing.
• When the AVC detects that the left side of the IF in a constraint is false, it enforces the negation of the right side. For hard assignment types, this prevents inconsistencies. For defaults, no actual inconsistencies are prevented.

Scenario 2: Default values are assigned to characteristics on both sides of the IF in a constraint, and the constraint is violated. Additionally, a chain of constraints may exist where a default value appears on the left side of the IF in one constraint and on the right side of the IF in another, resulting in an overall violation. The AVC automatically resolves the inconsistency, which may affect either characteristic.

Example:

X = 'NEWVALUE' IF Y = 'SOMEOTHERDEFAULT'

If X is assigned 'SOMEDEFAULT' and Y is assigned 'SOMEOTHERDEFAULT', the constraint is violated. The AVC may resolve the conflict by removing 'SOMEDEFAULT' (resulting in X being assigned 'NEWVALUE') or by removing 'SOMEOTHERDEFAULT' (resulting in Y being unspecified).

The order of conflict resolution by default retraction follows lexicographic ordering. In the example above, the default for X would be deleted first.

Advanced Variant Configuration (AVC)

SAP S/4HANA Cloud Public Edition – All versions

SAP S/4HANA Cloud Private Edition – All versions

KBA , LO-VCH , Advanced Variant Configuration , LO-VCH-DEP , AVC Object Dependency , Problem