Item Attribute, Item Defining Attributes, Status Attributes & Item Status

Item attributes are information about an item, such as order cost, lead time, and revision control.

Item Defining Attributes - An item defining attribute identifies the nature of an item. What designates an item as an “engineering item” is the attribute Engineering Item, but what controls the functionality of the item are the collection of
attributes that describe it. You can buy an engineering item if you want to; simply set Engineering Item, Purchased, and Purchasable to Yes.
The following table presents item defining attributes:

When you set an item defining attribute to Yes, the item is automatically assigned to the default category set of the corresponding functional area. For example, if you set Inventory Item to Yes, the item is automatically assigned to the default category set for the inventory functional area.

An item status Codes is defined by selecting the value check boxes for the status attributes.
Item Status Codes may be used to set or update the default values for certain item attributes.  They can be used to control the functionality of an item.  When you update the values for a status, all items that use that status will be updated also.
The Item Status Code controls certain item attributes designated as status attributes.  Each status attribute has a Status Setting option.   The option determines whether a status attribute value is set by the status code and is not updateable, defaulted and updateable, or not used when you define an item

Pending Status:
You can assign one or more pending statuses for an item, to be implemented on future dates. These statuses become effective on their assigned effective dates. You can also view the history of an item status.
(N) Items—>Master Items (M)—>Tools -> Pending Status

You can submit the Update item statuses with the Pending statuses of the concurrent program to update the status of all items with Pending statuses and current effective dates. When you submit this concurrent program, change its parameters so that it resubmits itself periodically, automatically updating item statuses to a Pending status, as effective dates become current. Pending statuses are used in the product development cycle.

Item Attribute Control determines whether you have centralized (Master level) or decentralized (Organization level) control of item attributes. Both status attributes and item status can be controlled at the item level or organization levels.

You can choose the status setting level of each status attribute in the Item Attribute Controls window. The status setting level determines whether you can update the value of each status attribute within an item status.
Sets Value: The status that you assign to the item loads a non updatable value into the status attribute. You can update the status attribute by changing the status that you assigned to your item.
Defaults Value: The status that you assign to the item loads a default value into the status attribute. You can update the status attribute as you define your item.
Not Used: The status that you assign to the item does not determine the value of the status attribute. You can enable or disable the status attribute as you define your item.
Status Setting Level Consideration: You have the flexibility to change individual status attribute settings. Using meaningful status codes gives you control over item usage.