The following relation types exist between business objects. These relations are defined on the
attributes of the business objects.
Associative
A one-to-one relation between two business objects. One
attribute of a business object points to one attribute of another business
object. For example, the Currency attribute of the Sales Order business object
points to a Currency Code and Description of the Currency business
object.
Aggregational (also called multi-associative)
A one-to-many relation between two business objects. Several
attributes of a business object point to several occurrences of one attribute
of the related business object. For example, the Sales Order business object
has the attributes Sold To Business Partner and Pay By Business Partner. Each
of these attributes points to the Business Partner Code attribute of the
Business Partners business object, but they point to different occurrences of
that attribute, that is, they can point to different business
partners.
Abstraction
A relation between a business object and a related business
object that depends on the value of the attribute on which the relation is
defined. For example, the Inventory Transactions business object has a relation
to the Purchase Order business object. However, this relation is defined on the
Order Type attribute of the Inventory Transactions business object, and the
relation only exists if the value of that attribute is "purchase". Note that
the attribute whose value sustains the relation can belong to either of the
business objects. Note that it is also possible that this attribute is fixed,
in stead of variable.