Configuring compatibility rules for horizontal relationships

concept australia Updated Oct 7, 2026 2 min read order-mgt-compatibility-management.md

As a provider, you can use compatibility rules to establish horizontal relationships between the specifications of multiple products, services, or resources.

You use a compatibility rule to define a source specification and a target specification and to establish a relationship between them.

The ServiceNow AI Platform provides two types of relationships that you can use to define a compatibility rule:

Requires: The source specification requires the defined target specification.
Excludes: The source specification excludes the defined target specification.

While you're creating a compatibility rule, you can establish the horizontal relationship either by defining the specifications or by defining the details for the specification characteristics. You can also define the maximum and minimum quantity of the specifications to support and fulfill your customer orders as per the defined decomposition rules.

Before you can capture a new customer order that has a horizontal relationship, you must configure the compatibility rules by defining the source and target specifications. To learn more, see:

Create a compatibility rule
Define the source specifications in the compatibility rules
Create compatible records in compatibility rules
Create a compatibility rule
Create a compatibility rule in the product catalog to define the horizontal relationships between your product, service, and resource specifications.
Define the source specifications in the compatibility rules
Define a source specification in a compatibility rule so that you can create a horizontal relationship in your product catalog.
Create compatible records in compatibility rules
Create a compatible record in a compatibility rule so that you can define a target specification to establish the horizontal relationship with.

Parent Topic:Configuring Order Management

Related topics

Order management

Using Order Management

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---
title: Configuring compatibility rules for horizontal relationships
description: As a provider, you can use compatibility rules to establish horizontal relationships between the specifications of multiple products, services, or resources.
locale: en-US
canonical_url: https://www.servicenow.com/docs/r/australia/order-management/order-mgt-compatibility-management.html
release: australia
topic_type: concept
last_updated: "2026-10-07"
reading_time_minutes: 2
breadcrumb: [Order management, Configure, Sales Customer Relationship Management]
---

# Configuring compatibility rules for horizontal relationships

As a provider, you can use compatibility rules to establish horizontal relationships between the specifications of multiple products, services, or resources.

You use a compatibility rule to define a source specification and a target specification and to establish a relationship between them.

The ServiceNow AI Platform provides two types of relationships that you can use to define a compatibility rule:

1.  Requires: The source specification requires the defined target specification.
2.  Excludes: The source specification excludes the defined target specification.

While you're creating a compatibility rule, you can establish the horizontal relationship either by defining the specifications or by defining the details for the specification characteristics. You can also define the maximum and minimum quantity of the specifications to support and fulfill your customer orders as per the defined decomposition rules.

Before you can capture a new customer order that has a horizontal relationship, you must configure the compatibility rules by defining the source and target specifications. To learn more, see:

-   [Create a compatibility rule](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ServiceNow/ServiceNowDocs/australia/markdown/australia/order-management/create-compatibility-rules.md)
-   [Define the source specifications in the compatibility rules](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ServiceNow/ServiceNowDocs/australia/markdown/australia/order-management/order-mgt-define-source-specifications.md)
-   [Create compatible records in compatibility rules](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ServiceNow/ServiceNowDocs/australia/markdown/australia/order-management/order-mgt-create-compatibles.md)

-   **[Create a compatibility rule](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ServiceNow/ServiceNowDocs/australia/markdown/australia/order-management/create-compatibility-rules.md)**  
Create a compatibility rule in the product catalog to define the horizontal relationships between your product, service, and resource specifications.
-   **[Define the source specifications in the compatibility rules](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ServiceNow/ServiceNowDocs/australia/markdown/australia/order-management/order-mgt-define-source-specifications.md)**  
Define a source specification in a compatibility rule so that you can create a horizontal relationship in your product catalog.
-   **[Create compatible records in compatibility rules](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ServiceNow/ServiceNowDocs/australia/markdown/australia/order-management/order-mgt-create-compatibles.md)**  
Create a compatible record in a compatibility rule so that you can define a target specification to establish the horizontal relationship with.

**Parent Topic:**[Configuring Order Management](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ServiceNow/ServiceNowDocs/australia/markdown/australia/order-management/order-mgt-configuring.md)

**Related topics**  


[Order management](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ServiceNow/ServiceNowDocs/australia/markdown/australia/order-management/explore-order-management.md)

[Using Order Management](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ServiceNow/ServiceNowDocs/australia/markdown/australia/order-management/using-order-management.md)