Meaning of Costing Variant in SAP PP

Can anybody pls tell me what a costing variant means in PP.

A tool that contains all control parameters for costing, including parameters that control how cost estimates are executed and the material prices or activity prices that are used to valuate the costing items.

In material costing (costing with and without quantity structure), the costing variant determines the following:

- The purpose of the cost estimate (costing type)

The prices that are selected to valuate the quantity structure and calculate overhead expenses (valuation variant)

The dates that apply to the actual cost estimate and to the explosion and valuation of the quantity structure (date control)

How the BOMs and routings are selected to create the quantity structure (quantity structure control; only relevant for cost estimates with a quantity structure)

The strategy by which the SAP System looks for costing data from other cost estimates (transfer control)

In unit costing (base object costing and unit costing for orders), the costing variant determines the following:

- The purpose of the cost estimate (costing type)

The prices that are selected to valuate the costing items (valuation variant)

Whether the individual costing items are assigned to cost elements

In Easy Cost Planning, the costing variant determines the following:

- The purpose of the cost estimate (costing type)

The prices that are selected to valuate the costing items (valuation variant)

For internal orders, work breakdown structure (WBS) elements, and ad hoc cost estimates, the dates that apply to the cost estimate (date control). For WBS elements, the dates can be overridden by the dates of the WBS element.

You define costing variants in Customizing for the appropriate application component.