Selecting the best dictionary to use and how to use it is worthy of serious consideration.
Some dictionaries are available as open source whilst others are bundled with tools. Some are fixed and others are flexible. Some come ready loaded with attribute values whilst others are completely blank.
Dictionary quality is important; too few attributes and items will be insufficiently described. If there are too many attributes, they will never be completed.
Dictionaries are like the story of Goldilocks and the three bears. You need to find one that is just right!
A good dictionary is concise and not too deep. You are attempting a balancing act of getting just enough information into your descriptions so items are well defined without excessive detail so that it takes hours to complete. Remember that having 14 attributes for a relay is all well and good but you will probably only have room in the short description for the noun modifier and 5 attributes.
Attribute order and priority is a factor when assessing dictionaries. Can attributes be re-ordered, amended, inserted and prioritised? Can attributes be marked as mandatory or preferred? Can attributes be marked as equivalent or alternates? Can attribute values be managed and controlled or specified within ranges?
Most material masters of around 50,000 lines will need about 1,800 noun modifier pairs to adequately describe all the items.
Most commercial dictionaries will have over 3,000 noun modifier pairs to choose from.
Each noun modifier pair has a set off attribute labels. Each label has a range set of allowable values and where appropriate a relevant unit of measure. Because an attribute can have more than one legitimate unit of measure it is essential that the values and units are held separately.
The number of attributes against each noun modifier pair needs to be looked at in context. Just because you could include colour as an attribute for every item in the material master does not mean that it is necessary or desirable.