The full overview of the newest features introduced in SAP MDG Cloud Edition

The Cloud: Standalone Centrally MDM Solution for Core Data

This option can be relevant for companies that want a low-barrier entry plan for an MDG initiative for their Business Partners with a focus on core attributes only.

Data  Model: Business Partner Domain Overview

SAP MDG CE is a SaaS solution for master data governance of core attributes based on the SAP One Domain Model for business partner data; more domains are planned. Below you will find the Data Model for the Business Partner domain. Currently, MDG CE only supports the management of core business partner master data at a corporate level. Q2 2024 will add assignments for organizational units. Material core data will be added in 2025.  

SAP MDG Cloud Edition – Custom Fields Overview

With SAP MDG Cloud Edition, you can create a field for a specific business context or make it available in other languages. These fields can then be made available for UIs, reports, email/form templates and business scenarios. These custom fields can be used in Central Governance, Consolidation and Data Quality Management.

Currently, only a limited number of fields (15 max) can be added to the BP general data (BUT000). They are added via the Fiori app “Configure Predefined Custom Fields”

We can conclude that the domain coverage of SAP MDG CE is still limited, only supporting Business Partner core data. Although the planned domain additions are something to look forward to. Let’s now look at the user interface of the SAP MDG Cloud Edition.

User  Interface

To streamline the data management process, SAP MDG CE offers a consistent design across Central Governance, Consolidation and Mass Processing, allowing for end-to-end process automation. This includes workflows for consolidation, mass processing, and direct editing with mass-processing UIs, enabling seamless navigation between mass and single-processing UIs (Fiori-based). Moreover, field extensibility is consistent across all applications, including Fiori UI, enhancing user adoption.

Processes & Features

With the release of SAP MDG CE, some brand-new features were introduced. Before, these were not available on-premise but after introducing cloud-ready mode for Business Partner, these functionalities have also become available in your S/4HANA on-premise systems. Let’s take a look at the features per MDG component.

SAP MDG Cloud Edition – Central Governance Process Overview

Central Governance can be used for the following scenarios:

• Create or change one or multiple business partners including business partner relationships (for example, contact persons) using single processing
• Change of many business partners using mass processing
• Create business partners using reference data from external data provider

SAP Standard Workflow templates are available out of the box. Custom workflows can be created with the SAP Management Workflow Capability Integration. As of the SAP MDG CE 2402 version, you can build these custom workflows via SAP Build Process Automation.

A significant change to streamline central governance and consolidation is that a Process ID is used instead of the Change Request ID, this signifies a comprehensive overhaul of the entire workflow process.   Next to this, the Mass Processing functionality is integrated into the same application and can be started from the search screen that is shown in the screenshot below.

The features and process flow discussed below are available on the SAP MDG Cloud Edition and in S/4HANA on-premise after activating the cloud-ready mode for Business Partners.

Create/Change single Business Partner – Features & Process flow

The workflow can be configured according to specific needs and replication is triggered at the end of the process. SAP uses standard templates with dual control (where the approver cannot change data) as well as email notifications that are sent to the requestor after approval/rejection.

Change multiple Business Partners Process flow

First, you select the Business Partners to be changed by various attributes. After selecting, you can individually change the Business Partners in a spreadsheet-like UI or via mass operations. The dual control and email notification principle is also in place in this process flow.

SAP MDG Cloud Edition – Consolidation Process Overview

This process aims to consolidate Business Partners from outside (external systems) into the MDG system or can be used to fix inconsistent data to achieve a single representation of master data that comes from multiple sources. 

• Import Business Partners for Consolidation
• Create and manage consolidation processes including match and merge capabilities of business partners (relationships)
• Use Mass Creation of BP Relationships

Pre-delivered process templates are available to consolidate Business Partners and custom templates can be created.

The Import app is used to load data using a spreadsheet format (csv/xml). Initial checks to validate the data consistency after loading as well as an optional subscription for Address Validation can be applied. There are different matching capabilities to detect and eventually approve/reject duplicates. Next, the best record calculation step is to merge duplicates and create a golden record. Finally, there is a validation step to check the loaded data before activation. There is also a possibility to consolidate Business Partner data including Business Partner Relationships in one combined process.

SAP MDG Cloud Edition – Data Quality Management Process Overview

Data Quality Management offers capabilities to manage and implement validation rules and analyze and monitor data based on these rules.

• Create or change validation rules
• Use validation rules in central governance processes and consolidation processes
• Define validation rules for evaluation
• Analyze results of data quality evaluation and remediate data quality issues

Validation Rules

The “Manage Validation Rules” app is a process to manage validation rules where you can collaboratively describe, catalogue, and implement rules for DQM. It is one place to orchestrate the usage of the rules in the different master data processes. The implementation of these rules is reusable across master data processes ensuring the 4-eyes principle via status handling. Synchronizing rules across systems can be achieved via the export and import of validation rules.

Evaluation Run

You can analyze and remediate data quality issues by configuring a score calculation after which you evaluate the data quality. You can then analyze the data quality and evaluation results to finally remediate your data quality issues via the different processes.

Manage Inbound Processes

The inbound process is used to match and merge Business Partners (core data) from external systems. With this app, an administrator can track inbound processes. In case of issues, a master data specialist receives a corresponding workflow item. All processes with the status Completed ran without issues and can be deleted from the list. All processes with the status Stopped (Validation) trigger the workflow for the master data specialist.

• Valid records that need no match review are activated automatically.
• Records that belong to an open match group are automatically split off into a separate process​.
• The master data specialist receives a workflow task to review the open match groups​.
• Erroneous records are automatically split off into a separate process​.
• The master data specialist receives a workflow task to correct the data​.

The advantages of this function include gaining insights into process bottlenecks, monitoring the current status of requests at a glance, and gaining an overview of your processes.
The function can be launched directly from the Process Path Overview tile and the following MDG apps through the Show Process Path button:

• Manage Inbound Processes
• Manage consolidation Processes
• Manage Governance Processes

We have now given an overview of the processes and features that SAP MDG CE has to offer. In the next chapter, we will look at some limitations of the SAP MDG CE.

Limitations

Since SAP MDG CE is currently a SaaS, there is no room yet for building custom code/developments yourself. In the future PaaS version, there shall be more flexibility concerning extensibility and customization. Please also keep in mind that SAP MDG CE is currently only focused on BP core attributes. Regarding system errors, there is currently no longer an option to resolve the errors yourself in the system, making you dependent on SAP support to resolve the errors and issues you are facing which is in our opinion a downside.

SAP MDG Cloud Edition: Summary

Our exploration of SAP MDG's Cloud Edition gave a full overview of the features of SAP MDG CE by offering an in-depth examination of the future of SAP MDG on the public cloud.
Key Capabilities:

• Central Governance: Govern master data core attributes centrally using staging, validation, rules, and approval workflows
• Consolidation: Merge and consolidate master data into a single view for analytics and insights
• Data Quality Management: Define, manage, enforce, and monitor data quality rules to improve data accuracy
• (Limited) Custom fields

Currently, we do not see the cloud-native solution SAP MDG CE as a full-blown standalone system. In its current state, it’s rather complementary to SAP MDG on S/4HANA in a federation context allowing master data syndication across multiple SAP MDG systems. View the roadmap to discover planned enhancements for SAP MDG CE or contact us if you have any questions.

As we conclude this chapter, we express our gratitude for accompanying us on this transformative journey. The outlook for SAP Master Data Governance appears promising, and at Alluvion, we are enthusiastic about leading you through it.

Until our next encounter, may your data integration be seamless, and your governance strategies future-ready!