Exploring the latest Advancements in SAP MDG for S/4HANA 2022

SAP Master Data Governance - Product Overview

Like we also did last year’s blog, we encourage our customers to take advantage of this year’s  Customer Connection program to submit or upvote their desired features and improve the solution even further in 2023. Would you require any assistance with this process, our team of experts is always here to help. So join us as we dive into the new capabilities of SAP MDG S/4 HANA 2022, and discover how it can help your master data management strategy for the better!

SAP Master Data Governance, is SAP’s premier solution for enterprise master data management. With SAP MDG you can streamline your master data management processes and enhance data quality across your organization. Let’s start by taking a brief overview of the main components of SAP MDG that received the most significant updates in 2022:

• Central Governance: Simplifies master data creation and management with centralized workflows that enable you to create, modify and validate master data based on business rules and manual expertise from domain experts. Once a record has passed through the workflow and is approved, it can be distributed across your enterprise landscape.
• Consolidation: Helps you identify duplicates in de-centralized master data and manage key-mapping information to obtain the best record for use in business processes and analytics.
• Data Quality Management: Lets you actively track and control the quality of your master data, and remediate issues directly from within the application to ensure that your data is accurate and reliable.

Discover the Latest Innovations in SAP MDG for S/4HANA 2022

Central Governance – General Framework

DERIVATION SCENARIOS NOW AVAILABLE IN CENTRAL GOVERNANCE

• From MDG Customer Connection 2021/2022 program
• Available as of S/4HANA 2022
• Only available for Product & Business Partner data models

SAP MDG offers powerful data quality management capabilities that allow businesses to build derivation logic using derivation rules. These rules are then utilized during master data processing, ensuring data consistency and accuracy across the enterprise.

With the introduction of derivation scenarios in SAP S/4HANA 2021 Feature Pack Stack 01, businesses were able to apply these powerful features to product and business partner data during consolidation and mass processing.

And now, with the release of SAP S/4HANA 2022, derivation scenarios have been extended to central governance as well. This means that businesses can now utilize these features throughout their master data governance processes, further streamlining and improving their data management practices.

Example case:

When a trading-good product gets created, depending on the defined material group it derives the corresponding authorization group, old material number, cross-plant status and even customer-specific fields!

EXPORT FILE UPLOAD ERROR MESSAGES AS (.XLSX)

• From MDG Customer Connection 2021/2022 program
• Available as of S/4HANA 1809 or MDG 9.2
• SAP Note: 3129191

The latest update to SAP Master Data Governance enables users to download all error messages that arise during file uploads as an office open XML file (XLSX), improving error handling and communication. Users can now save a complete list of errors and distribute the handling of errors to multiple people, resulting in better collaboration and faster resolution of errors. This feature is particularly useful for organizations with large amounts of data and complex data structures, where errors can be difficult to identify and address efficiently.

FILE UPLOAD AND DOWNLOAD OF OFFICE OPEN XML (.XLSX)

• From MDG Customer Connection 2021/2022 program
• Available as of S/4HANA 1809 or MDG 9.2
• SAP Note: 3155366

To improve user experience and increase compatibility with commonly used file formats, the applications "File Upload" and "File Download" now support the processing of XLSX format files. This allows users to easily upload and download their data in a familiar format, without the need for additional file conversions.

CREATE FOLLOW-UP CHANGE REQUEST VIA CL_USMD_MODEL_EXT

• From MDG Customer Connection 2021/2022 program
• Available as of S/4HANA 1809 or MDG 9.2
• SAP Note: 3208250

For developers working with SAP Master Data Governance, an update has been made with the extension of Class CL_USMD_MODEL_EXT to include a new method called CREATE_FOLLOW_UP_CREQUEST. This method enables the creation of a follow-up change request, providing greater control and flexibility over the data management process. Additionally, The MDG API Guide and enhancement implementation MDG_BS_MAT_CREATE_SUCCESSOR_CR has been updated to reflect this change, ensuring that developers have all the necessary information and tools to utilize this new functionality in their work.

PERFORM DUPLICATE CHECK BUTTON ADDED

• From MDG Customer Connection 2021/2022 program
• Available as of S/4HANA 1809 or MDG 9.2
• SAP Note: 3156812

SAP Master Data Governance on SAP S/4HANA 2022 offers an added level of flexibility to users by enabling them to perform duplicate checks on-demand, without any pre-conditions. This feature allows you to check for potential duplicates at any time, regardless of whether the check has been previously performed or if any data has been modified. With this added functionality, you can ensure data accuracy and avoid any potential errors or inconsistencies whenever you want.

HANA-BASED SEARCH: DISPLAY THE NUMBER OF SEARCH RESULT RECORDS

• From MDG Customer Connection 2021/2022 program
• Available as of S/4HANA 1809 or MDG 9.2
• SAP Notes: 3196973

Users can now retrieve the number of master data records that match specific search criteria in Hana-Based Search, providing them with more efficient search results. This feature is particularly useful for large datasets, where filtering and sorting can be time-consuming and complex.

CR-TRACKER FOR PARALLEL WORKFLOW STEPS

• From MDG Customer Connection 2021/2022 program
• Available as of S/4HANA 1511or MDG 8.0
• SAP Notes: 3168316

The Change Request Tracker in SAP Master Data Governance now supports happy flow information for parallel change request work items. This means that end-users can now easily track the progress of multiple change request steps that are being worked on concurrently.

DATABASE SEARCH OPERATOR 'CONTAINS' IGNORES THE CASE

• From MDG Customer Connection 2021/2022 program
• Available as of S/4HANA 1809
• SAP Notes: 3216762

This was already supported for Hana-based search, but with the latest update, the database search function for flex data models and inactive data has been improved to ignore case sensitivity, allowing for more accurate search results. This enhancement enables users to easily search for data even if they don't know the exact spelling or capitalization of the keywords.

Central Governance – Business Partners, Customers, and Vendors

VALIDITY DATES FOR BUSINESS PARTNER SPECIFIC DATA

• From MDG Customer Connection 2021/2022 program
• Available as of S/4HANA 2022

Valid to and valid from date fields have been added to Business Partner specific data like:

• Roles
• Address
• Address Usages
• Bank Accounts
• Identification numbers
• Communication information (telephone, email, websites, etc)

This new functionality ensures that all historical data is preserved and can be tracked easily during audits and day-to-day operations.

BUSINESS PARTNER DATA MODEL ALIGNED WITH SOAP SERVICE

• From MDG Customer Connection 2021/2022 program
• Available as of S/4HANA 2022

For master data specialists there is now the capability to maintain business partners and replicate the data to other systems using the SOAP service. The BP data model now contains all relevant fields of the SOAP service to prevent data loss during replication. In addition, for attributes of Retail and Fashion Management, the business function "ISR_RETAILSYSTEM" must be active for new UIBBs.

The following entities have been enhanced:

Central Governance – Materials

BUSINESS SYSTEM FIELD VALUE HELP FOR REMOTE CLIENT KEY SEARCH

• From MDG Customer Connection 2021/2022 program
• Available as of S/4HANA 1809 or MDG 9.2
• SAP Notes: 3117530

MDG Material now benefits from the same business system value help that was previously made available for MDG Business Partners. This new feature streamlines the process of selecting the correct business system for remote searches, making it faster and more efficient. For example, an end-user looking to manage an existing material in a remote system can now quickly and accurately select the right business system for their search.

Central Governance – Financial

IMPROVED COPY FUNCTIONALITY FOR G/L ACCOUNTS COMPANY CODE

• From MDG Customer Connection 2021/2022 program
• Available as of S/4HANA 1809 or MDG 9.2
• SAP Notes: 3139101

Companies can now easily copy G/L accounts from an existing company code to a newly introduced one in MDG Financials S/4 HANA 2022, saving a significant amount of time and effort. This streamlined process eliminates the need for manual data entry and reduces the risk of errors.

COST ELEMENT HIERARCHY DATA VISIBLE IN “MANAGE GLOBAL HIERARCHIES”

• From MDG Customer Connection 2021/2022 program
• Available as of S/4HANA 2020
• SAP Notes: 3170182

MDG-Finance application now enables Cost Element Hierarchy changes to be viewed in the S/4 FIORI app "Manage Global Hierarchies". This enhanced functionality allows for a more streamlined and efficient cost management process by providing real-time visibility into cost element hierarchy changes.

Consolidation & Mass Processing

• All available as of S/4 HANA 2022 – older versions not included

BUSINESS PARTNER RELATIONSHIP – MASS DELETION PROCESS

In S/4 HANA 2022, the "Manage Mass Processes - Business Partner Relationships" app now includes a new process goal called "Mass Deletion". This feature enables the deletion of business partner relationships in large volumes through manual selection inside the "selection" step of the process or via a file upload.

REMOVE UNCHANGED MATERIAL DATA DURING THE MASS PROCESS

A new step before the validation and activation step of the mass process has been introduced. This enhances performance by removing any unchanged records from the process. Meaning that only the relevant records that have been modified will be checked during the validation and activation steps, resulting in faster processing times and improved efficiency.

EXPORT CAPABILITY FOR RECORDS IN THE VALIDATION STEP WITH MESSAGES

This new export feature is available for use in both the initial step of consolidation as well as the validation step of mass processing. It provides a significant improvement in process handling by allowing users to export records that contain error messages, which can then be corrected by uploading a new file. This feature also enhances the visibility of potential issues that may arise during the mass processing of data.

EXPORT ACTIVE RECORDS IN THE ACTIVATION STEP

To increase documentation capabilities for changed and created records during mass processing & consolidation you can now export all activated records after the activation step of the process.

This can be done either inside the activation step of the process or by opening the “Export Master Data” app. Inside the app, a new export function “By Process ID” has been added.

Data Quality Management

• All available as of S/4 HANA 2022 – older versions not included

VALIDATION RULE SIMULATION TEST FUNCTIONALITY

With the introduction of the "Verify Rule Implementation" feature in SAP S/4HANA 2022, businesses can reduce the risk of unexpected rule changes and ensure correctness by comparing simulation results of inactive and active versions of the rules. This feature also provides a preview of the rule results so businesses can see the potential impact on their data quality, allowing them to make informed decisions and further improve their data management practices.

Available for both Product & Business partner.

CUSTOM FIELDS DATA QUALITY MANAGEMENT

In the latest version of SAP Master Data Governance, custom fields can now be enabled for all MDG Data Quality Management processes and apps after enabling them in the “Custom Field App”. This new feature allows custom fields to be managed more efficiently with MDG data quality management and significantly reduces the total cost of ownership for working with custom fields.

This feature is also available for product and business partner domains, including customers and suppliers. With the easy management of custom fields and their integration into MDG data quality management processes, businesses can improve their data quality and achieve more accurate and consistent data across their enterprise even now for their own customer-specific fields.

These custom fields can be used inside the following processes:

• Validation Rules
• Rule Mining
• Evaluation
• Error Analysis
• Remediation
• Derivation scenarios

EXPORT/IMPORT DERIVATION SCENARIOS

With the latest release, businesses can now download and upload derivation scenarios and their rules in one app for both products and business partners. This new feature allows for a faster setup of the system landscape and the ability to reuse derivation scenarios in different systems, resulting in a more streamlined and efficient process for managing master data governance across the system landscape!

Conclusion

As SAP prioritizes its customers’ and partners’ opinions, we expect further advancements in the Master Data Governance (MDG) solution and the broader master data management strategy. The latest release of MDG for S/4HANA 2022 incorporates customer feedback, demonstrating the company's commitment to enhancing the solution's capabilities and improving the user experience year by year.

Going forward, while building on its existing features we can also anticipate the integration of emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence and machine learning to enhance the solution's data quality and management capabilities, think of examples as duplicate detection or process automation. The solution already features data profiling, data validation rules, and data quality dashboards, among others, as SAP takes steps in this direction.

As more and more businesses recognize the importance of data governance and master data management, we can expect to see increased adoption of solutions such as MDG to improve data accuracy, consistency, and reliability. The company's focus on customer feedback and continuous improvement ensures that the solution remains valuable to businesses, while hopefully opening up more possibilities for companies of all sizes and industries.

In conclusion, the latest advancements in MDG for S/4HANA 2022 demonstrate the company's commitment to providing innovative and customer-centric solutions to enhance master data management practices. As businesses prioritize data governance and management, MDG and SAP's master data management strategy is likely to play a critical role in helping companies to achieve their data management goals.

Should you be interested to find out more about Master Data Quality/Governance and SAP MDG for S/4HANA, feel free to contact us.