Characteristic & does not exist

What causes this issue?

The characteristic must (message type E) or should (message type W) be
addressed in the report definition. This means that a set must/should
exist for the characteristic in the definition of the report rows,
report columns, or report selection.
For performance reasons, it is important that you limit the value
ranges of those key fields located at the start of the database key as
much as possible.

System Response

The system issues an error message and will not allow you to continue with this transaction until the error is resolved.

How to fix this error?

Define a set for this characteristic in the report.


Note
In Controlling (Table CCSS), different characteristics (cost center,
order, project, etc.) are portrayed internally with a common technical
characteristic, "Object". In reports, either a specific characteristic
such as cost center must be used, or the characteristic "Object" must
be used directly. If this is not the case, an error message appears
saying that the "Object" characteristic is missing.

Error message extract from SAP system. Copyright SAP SE.