Bank master data migration comes first in the sequence of any data migration project. This is due to the fact that customers and vendor master data need to be linked with corresponding bank accounts which in turn requires to have bank master data ready in the system. Also considering that this is one of the not-so-complex object, it is preferable to get rid of this object to have a feel of good start up.
However, after a couple of different migrations, I have observed that there are certain factors that might make this object migration complex, if not handled carefully.
I would like to share some of such scenarios which I have come across and how standard SAP helped me in solving some of those.
1) Data Preparation : The legacy system we were extracting the data from, does not have the bank master data (Bank key, Bank number etc..) in their system.
They have only the IBAN number of Customer or Vendor, but not the bank account number. Obviously they cannot go back to each customer or vendor to get these details. So, we have asked them, to provide all the Iban codes they have.
We have built a utility which will take the IBAN code as an input and provides the bank master data details (Bank key, Bank number etc..) along with Bank account number. This data was passed over again to the legacy system colleagues for verification and approval. Once approved, the bank master data was uploaded into our system.
The function module "CONVERT_IBAN_2_BANK_ACCOUNT" in standard SAP was used for the building the utility.
2) Data overwrite: Standard SAP has a very good feature of automatic creation of the bank master data while creating the Customer or Vendor master data using message types DEBMAS or CREMAS.
However, this might turn out as a disadvantage if the bank record creation (Payment transaction tab in General data view) is not handled propely while creating Customer or Vendor. This is because if the bank master record already exists in the system, then, the same will be overwritten while creating Customer or Vendor.
Example: In case Swift code is not given as an input in the bank record of customer(KNBK segment) or vendor (LFBK segment) of CREMAS or DEBMAS, then, the Swift code in the existing bank master data will be overwritten.
However, SAP has given a solution for this as well. In case the already existing details are not to be overwritten, then simply pass "/" value into such fields. Then, the original data will not be overwritten. Infact this data overwriting issue is not only for bank records, rather, it holds good for any of the customer or vendor master data. And ofcourse solution i.e. passing value "/" also holds good for any field.
So, just verify if the bank record being linked to customer or vendor already exists. If yes, then, pass "/" as value to fields which might already have the data and should never be overwritten.
In our case, initially we missed out this and observed that for the already existing banks, the important information like SWIFT code was overwritten. Fortunately the "Change logs" feature helped us in correcting the data.
