--- title: Dosage concepts description: You can increase the efficiency of healthcare representatives and reduce manual errors by configuring dosage specifications for a medication product associated with a program locale: en-US canonical_url: https://www.servicenow.com/docs/r/australia/healthcare-life-sciences/healthcare-and-life-sciences-service-management-core/hcls-dosage-concept.html release: australia product: Healthcare and Life Sciences Service Management Core classification: healthcare-and-life-sciences-service-management-core topic_type: concept last_updated: "2026-03-12" reading_time_minutes: 3 breadcrumb: [Configure dosage specifications, Configure, Healthcare and Life Sciences Service Management Core, Healthcare and Life Sciences Service Management, Healthcare and Life Sciences] --- # Dosage concepts You can increase the efficiency of healthcare representatives and reduce manual errors by configuring dosage specifications for a medication product associated with a program A dosage comprises the following key components: - [Dosage specifications](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ServiceNow/ServiceNowDocs/australia/markdown/australia/healthcare-life-sciences/healthcare-and-life-sciences-service-management-core/hcls-dosage-concept.md) - [Dosage characteristics](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ServiceNow/ServiceNowDocs/australia/markdown/australia/healthcare-life-sciences/healthcare-and-life-sciences-service-management-core/hcls-dosage-concept.md) - [Dosage characteristic groups](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ServiceNow/ServiceNowDocs/australia/markdown/australia/healthcare-life-sciences/healthcare-and-life-sciences-service-management-core/hcls-dosage-concept.md) To learn about how dosage components are linked to each other, see [Dosage characteristics mapping](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ServiceNow/ServiceNowDocs/australia/markdown/australia/healthcare-life-sciences/healthcare-and-life-sciences-service-management-core/hcls-dosage-concept.md). ## Dosage specifications A dosage specification consists of diagnosis details and dosage characteristics of a medication product associated with a program. For more information, see [Dosage specification table](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ServiceNow/ServiceNowDocs/australia/markdown/australia/healthcare-life-sciences/healthcare-and-life-sciences-service-management-core/hcls-dosage-spec-table.md). **Note:** When you add a dosage specification for a medication product, an equivalent dosage definition entry is added in the application. A dosage definition models a dosage specification for use as a request definition parameter. For more information, see [Dosage definition table](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ServiceNow/ServiceNowDocs/australia/markdown/australia/healthcare-life-sciences/healthcare-and-life-sciences-service-management-core/hcls-dosage-defn-table.md). ## Dosage characteristics A dosage characteristic defines the attributes of a dosage specification. A dosage characteristic has the following features: - Is included in the **Dosage characteristics** characteristic group and a characteristic group mapped to a field in the Dosage details section of a medication prescription form. - Can include a characteristic option to restrict the characteristic value. For example, to restrict the quantity of dosage. Else, when a characteristic option isn't specified for a dosage characteristic, a healthcare representative can later fill the corresponding field value in the Dosage details section of the Medication Prescription form. - Is unique for a characteristic group when multiple entries for a characteristic are created. For example, when a dosage specification includes quantity characteristic as quantity per month supply, you can't add another characteristic for the quantity per week supply. - Similar dosage characteristics are stored in the Characteristic Group \[sn\_prd\_pm\_configuration\] table. **Note:** For each dosage characteristic added to a dosage specification, a dosage variable is automatically created. A dosage variable is displayed as a dynamic field in the Dosage characteristics section of the Medication Prescription form. For more information, see [Dosage variable table](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ServiceNow/ServiceNowDocs/australia/markdown/australia/healthcare-life-sciences/healthcare-and-life-sciences-service-management-core/hcls-dosage-var-table.md). ## Characteristic groups for a dosage A dosage characteristic group comprises the similar characteristics of a dosage specification. Each dosage characteristic maps to a field in the Dosage details section of the Medication Prescription form. For a dosage characteristic to appear with a dosage specification, you must include it in the following characteristic groups: - A characteristic group mapped to a field in the Dosage details section of a medication prescription form. - The **Dosage characteristics** characteristic group available by default. ## Dosage characteristics mapping You map a dosage characteristic group with a field in the Dosage details section of the Medication Prescription form. You can use the `DosageCharacteristicsMapper` extension point to configure the mapping between a characteristic group and a field in the Dosage details section of the Medication Prescription form. For more information, see [Configure the mapping between a dosage characteristic and a dosage details field](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/ServiceNow/ServiceNowDocs/australia/markdown/australia/healthcare-life-sciences/healthcare-and-life-sciences-service-management-core/hcls-ext-point-dosage-char-map.md). By default, the application provides a few sample characteristics and characteristic groups for the Healthcare and Life Sciences workflows that you can as a reference when creating a dosage specification. The following figure illustrates the default mapping between characteristics and characteristic groups of a dosage specification, and the mapping between characteristic group of a dosage specification and dosage details fields of a medication prescription. \[Omitted image "hcls-characteristics.png"\] Alt text: Infographic displaying default mapping of characteristics, characteristic groups, and the dosage details of a medication prescription.