Using table sets and table sharing sets

To set up table sharing, table sets and table sharing sets are used.

A table set is a set of tables that are shared. For example, a table set may contain all tables that must be shared in case of a group company.

A table sharing set is a proposed table sharing configuration. A table sharing set contains a collection of table sets. For each of these sets, the table sharing set defines exactly which logical companies are linked to which physical companies.

You can use table sets in various ways. For each requirement, you can use a separate table and, in a table sharing set, you can use these table sets to link the tables from the logical to the physical companies. You can also create one or more larger table sets that contain the tables for several requirements.

The following figure shows an example of this type of setup:

In this example, company 100 is the master data company and all tables are logically linked to this company. Four table sets are created:

• Table Set 1 contains all common tables related to requirements 1 to 3. Tables of this table set are shared between all companies.
• Table Set 2 all logistical tables related to the logistical requirements 4 and 5. Tables of this table set are shared between companies of type Logistic and of type Both.
• Table Set 3 contains all financial tables related to requirements 6-9. Tables of this table set are shared between companies of type Financial and of type Both.
• Table Set 4 contains all financial tables related to requirement 10, which is related to functionality which is not applicable for financial company 400. Tables of this table set are shared between companies of type Financial and of type Both, except with company 400.

To create the table sets, first the most important tables will be added which have to be shared and then, during the analysis phase referenced tables will be added. You can carry out this analysis by table set, but also by table sharing set. The advantage of this method is that tables that are part of one table set, for example, the common table set 1, are taken directly into account when analyzing the tables from the other table sets, for example, table set 2.

In the first instance, a table set contains the main tables to be shared. Therefore, for example, the table set for central items, contains the general item table (tcibd001). When you analyze this table, the table sharing exception session shows all tables with a reference to this general item table, which is a very large list. A good method to analyze this list, is to start with the tables from the table set (in this example tcibd001) and look at all the tables which are directly referenced from tcibd001 and add these tables one by one or ‘accept’ the reference, which implies that the field will remain empty.

Two methods are available to specify the table sets. You can first select the minimal table sets applicable and add tables to them, or you can start with the maximum table set and then remove tables from it.