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General characteristics

Every component type possesses the following characteristics:

Characteristic	Type	Description
Name	Text (50)	Unique description of component type.
Description	Text (256)	Additional description of the component type.
Category	Category	One of the possible categories.
Symbol	Symbol	This symbol is used for the visual identification of the component type.
Type	Type	Type of component type can be selected from the types defined on the category.
Technology	Technology	The technology of the component type can be selected from a fixed value range
Dominating	Yes/No	Does the type dominate components?
Size	Number	Size of component type.
Unit	Text (10)	Any unit for the size.
Costs/Unit	Number	Costs incurred per unit.
Units	Number	How many units are comprised within an ordering unit.

Technology

The available technologies are specified in terms of “Mixed”, “Copper”, and “Fibre optic cable”.

If a technology is specified on the type of component type, the component type is overridden by it.

Dominating Yes/No

This characteristic describes the relationship of the component type to the components derived from it. Please also refer to Chapter “Components”. As a matter of principle, two types of component types can be distinguished:

1.	Dominating component type

This type of component type specifies characteristics that may not be changed by the specific component. This ensures a consistent behaviour of the components of this type in the entire system.

Example:

The component type “Strip_Type_X“is created as dominating component type. If „Strip_Type_X“ is now expanded by a connection point, all already existing components of the component type „Strip_Type_X“ are also automatically expanded by a connection point.

2. Not dominating component type

A not dominating type specifies characteristics that may be changed by the specific component type as defaults. Changes on the component type have no impact on existing components of this component type.

Size

This characteristic has a descriptive character in all categories with the exception of cables. For more details on the implications for cables, please refer to the relevant chapter.