Any changes to Inventory require Service Packs to all the modules that read the Item master. That would be:

• OrderEntry
• PurchaseOrders
• Invoices
• SalesAnalysis
• SalesCQ

Also, usually people want to do something with the data they are adding.

• Place the field on a PurchaseOrder or an Order, Invoice or Credit Note
• Send the field to SalesAnalysis, Receivables or the General Ledger
• Print it on a report, or sort or subtotal on the field
• Import or Export the field
• Do math or a calculation on the field value

To the extent that others in the community may want to store similar information, these fields should be made part of the Inventory database, and not just added as Optional Fields.