About the Model Specialization Management Tool

The domain expert defines specialization packages and hence introduces concepts specific to the customer along with the associated attributes. The packages are built by creating functional specializations containing customer extensions.

The end user can choose the subtype he wants to use when he creates objects using apps. He can also choose to extend an object with a particular extension.

• Functional specializations are defined by inheriting (directly or not) from DS types and extensions that can be specialized.
• Customer extensions are defined as extending extensible types. These extensions are data extensions specific to the customer with associated attributes that can be applied to objects of different types. The end user can choose to extend an object with a particular extension using the Manage Customer Extensions command. To find out more, see Knowledge Basics: Customer Extensions.
• Collections of attributes can be defined on types and extensions.

When using Specialize Data Model, the domain expert can:

• Define sub types (with their attributes) of DS types that can be specialized.
• Define extensions.
• Define customer extensions (with their attributes) applied to DS extensible types .

When using standard apps, the end user creates objects and can:

• Select subtypes.
• Valuate all attributes including customer attributes.
• Extend objects using the customer extensions. To find out more, see Knowledge Basics: Customer Extensions.

A domain expert can iterate several times on the definition of his customization.

He can:

• Add new specialization types.
• Add new specialization extensions.
• Add new customer extensions.
• Add attributes to existing types and extensions.
• Modify the visibility of an attribute (hidden, read only, read write).
• Change the default attribute value.
• Change the attribute preferred unit.
• Delete packages, types, extensions and attributes when not deployed.