---
sourceDocument: Australia Sales Customer Relationship Management
sourceDocumentLink: https://www.servicenow.com/docs/r/australia/order-management

 Release :

    - australia

ft:locale :

    - en-US

ft:publication_title :

    - Australia Sales Customer Relationship Management

ft:clusterId :

    - omgmt

bundleId :

    - omgmt

workflow :

    - Customer and Industry


---

# Defining product characteristics and characteristic options

# Defining product characteristics and characteristic options {#ariaid-title1}

Release version: Australia  
Updated March 12, 2026  
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## Summary of Defining product characteristics and characteristic options

As a product catalog administrator in ServiceNow, you define product characteristics and their options to describe and differentiate product offerings and specifications.
Characteristics are attributes such as size or color, and characteristic options are the selectable choices for those attributes.
These characteristics appear in the product configurator, enabling agents and customers to configure products accurately for opportunities, quotes, orders, and Business Portal transactions.
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## Characteristic Data Input Types

When creating characteristics, you assign a data input type that determines how options are entered in the product configurator. ServiceNow supports a variety of input types, including:

* **Address:** Mail address input
* **Attachment:** External document upload
* **CheckBox:** Binary select or clear option
* **Choice:** Single selection via radio buttons or dropdown
* **Decimal:** Numbers with fractional parts
* **Date/DateTime:** Date picker with optional time
* **Duration:** Time period input
* **Email:** Email address input
* **Single Line Text:** Free-form text
* **Integers:** Whole numbers
* **Yes/No:** Boolean response
* **Object:** Hierarchical complex characteristics with parent and child attributes
* **Arrays:** Multiple instances of a characteristic type (e.g., array of dates or objects)

## Complex Characteristics

The **Object** data type enables creating hierarchical characteristics where a parent attribute contains multiple child attributes, which may themselves be complex or arrays. For example, a "Routing Addresses" characteristic could have child attributes like Procurement Date, Route, and Address Supplier, with some children being arrays of objects. This hierarchy is reflected in the product configurator for detailed product configuration.

## Setting Up Complex Characteristics

To define complex characteristics, you first create a parent characteristic of the Object type, then establish relationships and display order with its child characteristics. This setup allows for sophisticated attribute structures, enhancing product configurability and accuracy during configuration.

## Practical Application for ServiceNow Customers

By leveraging characteristic definitions and options, customers can precisely tailor product offerings in the catalog, improve configurator usability, and ensure consistent data capture across sales and ordering processes. The variety of input types supports diverse product attributes, including complex hierarchical data, enabling comprehensive and flexible product definitions.  
As a product catalog admin, you create the characteristics and characteristic options for product offerings and specifications. Product characteristics are attributes that define and describe a product.

For example, if a product offering is a bike, the characteristics might include bike size and color. The characteristic options are the choices, such as the various bike sizes and colors available. Characteristics and characteristic
options for products are displayed in the product configurator when agents configure products for opportunities, quotes, and orders and when customers order products using the Business Portal.

## Characteristic data input types {#defining-prod-characteristics__section_e4x_hvz_zfc}

When you define product characteristics and characteristic options, you provide basic attribute information, including the characteristic name and the data input type for the characteristic options. The data input type indicates how
the characteristic options are entered in the product configurator, such as single line text or choice selection.  
The following data input types are available for characteristic options:

* Address - Mail address
* Attachment - External document to be attached
* CheckBox - Select or clear an option
* Choice - Options that can be chosen, presented as radio buttons or available from a drop-down list
* Decimal - Numbers that require a decimal point to indicate fractional amounts
* Dates - Date picker for selecting day, month, and year
* Date/time - Date picker for selecting day, month, year and time of day
* Duration - Period of time
* Email - Email address
* Single Line Text - Free-form text
* Integers - Whole numbers
* Yes/No - Yes/no response
* Object - Structure that represents a hierarchy of attributes, also called complex characteristics. An object has parent attribute with one or more child attributes.
* Arrays - Multiple instances of the same attribute type, such as arrays of Date, DateTime, Integer, Single Line Text, Object, and Decimal
{#defining-prod-characteristics__ul_rpg_hs1_1gc}You can use the Object type to build a hierarchy of complex characteristics, which has a top-level parent attribute with one or more child attributes. The child characteristics can be any of the data input types, including objects with data arrays.

The following example shows a characteristic hierarchy for Routing Addresses, which is a parent-level attribute with an object data type. This attribute has the following child attributes: Procurement Date, Route, Additional Address
Required, BGP, Routing Type, and Address Supplier. Notice that the BGP child characteristic is an array of objects with a minimum size of 2 and maximum size of 4.  
Figure 1. Example of complex characteristics in product configurator

## Setting up complex characteristics {#defining-prod-characteristics__section_spq_j1w_bgc}

Defining a hierarchical attribute structure involves setting up the parent attribute, for example routing addresses, as an object type. You then define the characteristic relationships between the parent attribute and child attributes
to establish the hierarchical structure and the order in which the child characteristics display in the product configurator.

For details on defining characteristics, see [Create product characteristics and characteristic options](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/iLpq~0sU7kJ~DmDQy3ZBMw "Add product characteristics and characteristic options that you can later add to your product offerings in Sales Customer Relationship Management.").
**Related concepts**   

* [Using product catalogs](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/zrKc~q2gpoLSyf3tuVZMGA "The product catalog provides a visual display of the available product offerings that can be added to a Sales Customer Relationship Management transaction, such as an opportunity, quote, or order. Use the catalog interface to add simple products and complex products that can be further customized.")
* [Product Catalog Management](https://www.servicenow.com/docs/jMd8j_ik0Z3CBtkQHcnmoQ "Product Catalog Management enables your organization to manage your product offerings by grouping them into catalogs and categories, which streamlines the ordering process and helps manage leads, opportunities, quotes, and orders in Sales Customer Relationship Management.")