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Author's profile photo Andrea Hoffmann

Integration of SAP Master Data Governance (MDG) with SAP Ariba Supplier and Lifecycle Performance (SLP)

We know that the integration and consistent availability of data are extremely important. Because not all Business Partners are created and governed centrally in a master data management application such as SAP Master Data Governance, but also in business applications, for example, SAP Ariba Supplier Lifecycle and Performance (SLP), an integration of such applications is not only reasonable but a requirement.

It is therefore not surprising that our customers have repeatedly asked for an integration of MDG with SAP Ariba SLP. Here’s good news for those who haven’t heard yet: We now offer an integration of SAP MDG-S with SAP Ariba SLP that is choreographed according to real and practice-oriented business scenarios! The integration is available for MDG on S/4HANA 1809 and higher, and MDG 9.2 (on ECC). Note that the integration is currently only available for customers running SLP as the only SAP Ariba component.

A closer look at the choreography

The choreography foresees various interaction scenarios according to the availability or non-availability of a specific supplier record in the interacting applications, for example:

  • Creation of new supplier in SLP during request or qualification: The supplier data is replicated to MDG-S where data can be changed and enriched, or where potential duplicates are detected. The result is replicated to SLP and the operational ERP system.
  • Change of supplier data in SLP: The supplier data is replicated to MDG-S where data can be changed or enriched. The result is replicated back to SLP and the operational ERP system.
  • Creation of new supplier in MDG: Supplier is created in a central governance process (change request) or a consolidation run. The result is replicated to SLP and the operational ERP system.
  • Change of supplier data in MDG (in central governance process or mass change): The result is replicated to SLP and the operational ERP system.
  • Merge active suppliers in MDG: The result is replicated to SLP and the operational ERP system.

You can find short videos about each of the scenarios here.

One%20of%20the%20MDG/SLP%20integration%20scenarios

One of the MDG/SLP integration scenarios

For details, you can check out the SAP Roadmap Explorer.

If you’d like to get an overview or even a detailed description of the integration scenarios, visit the SAP Help Portal. For the scenario description for SAP S/4HANA, follow this link.

By the way, an integration also already exists for MDG-C with SAP Cloud for Customer (C4C). You can find more information in the SAP Roadmap Explorer and also on the SAP Help Portal.

While currently there’s still a direct connection between MDG and the applications, we plan on adding SAP Master Data Integration in the future as part of our integration strategy for master data. SAP Master Data Integration is planned to become the central master data sharing layer responsible for the data replication without changing the use cases and scenarios.

Find more information on SAP Master Data Governance here:

If you have any further questions, please leave a comment below or post your question to the community. Carsten Koehler will be happy to get back to you.

 

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      Author's profile photo Markus Ganser
      Markus Ganser

      Thanks Andrea for sharing. The videos are awesome!

      Author's profile photo Kumar Raj Moorthy
      Kumar Raj Moorthy

      Thanks Carsten & Andrea for publishing this blog. This is very precise and referring to the links for details wherever required.

      Author's profile photo Manny Cortez
      Manny Cortez

      Very nice.  Easy read and very informative.  The videos are awesome as well.  Thank you Andrea & Carsten.

      Author's profile photo Maria Gorlani
      Maria Gorlani

      Thanks a lot, Andrea, this is really very useful!
      Just one question: the described scenarios are valid also in case of multiple ERPs?

      Author's profile photo Carsten Koehler
      Carsten Koehler

      Hi Maria,

      yes, MDG is of course able to replicate to multiple ERP systems. The same integration scenarios can be used. The customer only has to add additional ERP system(s) within the replication model of MDG.

      This is one major difference compared to directly connecting SLP with ERP where SLP only supports one ERP system.

      KInd regards  Carsten

      Author's profile photo Eliana Nobile
      Eliana Nobile

      Many thanks Andrea and Carsten for your useful information.

      I would kindly ask you for clarification on the following questions:

      • could you please confirm that integration of SAP MDG-S with SAP Ariba solutions that include both SAP Ariba Supplier Lifecycle and Performance and SAP Ariba Procurement solutions, is not currently supported?
      • in this case, if both SLP and Ariba Buying solutions are implemented and we need to integrate SLP with multiple ERP (SAP ECC), what is the best practice?
      Author's profile photo Kumar Raj Moorthy
      Kumar Raj Moorthy

      Hi Eliana,

      Customers having Ariba Procurement Solutions in the landscape will not be able to make use of this integration (between MDG and SLP) as the direct integration between Ariba Supplier Lifecycle and Performance and Ariba Procurement Solution is not currently supported. The scenario you had described to integrate SLP with multiple ERPs and also connect with Ariba B&I needs to be discussed in detail with consulting.

      Best Regards

      Author's profile photo Ramprasad Medindrao
      Ramprasad Medindrao

      Hello leads,

      Can you please suggest the process of sending ACM_ID from SLP to ERP tables ? Will this acm_id should be sent in a enhanced custom field when sending request from SLP and should be manually maintained in ERP table like ARBCIG_SYSTIDMAP or auto population will happen ?

      Can someone explain the process of how ACM_ID will be sent to ERP via MDG-S and updating acm_id with ERP vendor id in tables ?

      Author's profile photo Kumar Raj Moorthy
      Kumar Raj Moorthy

      Hi Ramprasad,

      Sending the ACM_ID from SLP to MDG-S is not supported as part of the standard BP interface. Sending it via custom generic field and having custom enhancement at MDG/ERP side are to be taken up as project/custom implementation on case to case basis.

      Best Regards

      Author's profile photo Ramprasad Medindrao
      Ramprasad Medindrao

      Hello Raj Kumar,

      If we are using MDG-S as Hub type and when configuring SLP, any CIG add on is required to be installed in MDG-S separately or just activating the required Business Functions are enough ?

      Searched many blogs, and its clear that we have Addon for CIG in ERP/S-4 HANA, but activations are required in MDG-S for SLP interfaces.

      Author's profile photo Kumar Raj Moorthy
      Kumar Raj Moorthy

      Hi Ramprasad,

      The CIG add-on needs to be installed separately in MDG-S Hub system.

      Best Regards

       

      Author's profile photo Preet Lamba
      Preet Lamba

      Hello All,

       

      We have a similar requirement.

      in our case, ACM_ID would be sent from Ariba SLP to SAP MDG and would be stored at BP level. now this ACM_ID from BP have to be passed to vendor level. can anyone suggest how we can achieve it. is there any standard BAdi which can be implemented or we have to do it with CVI.

       

      Any pointers .

      Author's profile photo Kumar Raj Moorthy
      Kumar Raj Moorthy

      Hi Preet Lamba,

      Sending of the ACM_ID from SLP to MDG-S is not supported as part of the standard BP interface. Hence the scenario you have mentioned above needs to be dealt on project to project basis as custom based on detailed requirements.

      Best Regards

      Author's profile photo sankar.ram subbiah
      sankar.ram subbiah

      Thanks Andrea for the more precise information in the Ariba SLP to MDG Integration.

      In our scope, we are not using MDG Consolidation but only MD Governance(Staging) with the Ariba SLP integration.

      In this case, we have 2 main the main challenges.

       

      1. When the user in MDG rejects the Change Request in governance, the business user in Ariba SLP cannot see this and will not know that the Supplier data is rejected.
      2. When the inbound BP webservice fails in MDG due to a missing configuration/data issue, the business user in Ariba SLP have no idea what happens to the Supplier data he/she synced to MDG

      Do we have these challenges addressed in the latest MDG version?

      Appreciate your response.

       

      Thank you.

       

       

       

      Author's profile photo Carsten Koehler
      Carsten Koehler

      Hi Sankar,

      for good reasons we recommend using MDG Consolidation when a newly created supplier arrives from SLP. What can the user do in an MDG Change Request when the new supplier turns out to be a duplicate in MDG?

      Our answer is using MDG Consolidation because here you can not only run matching to find duplicates but also Best Record Calculation for merging the data of both BPs. Additionally MDG Consolidation will replicate back the result to SLP (including key mapping e.g. in case of a duplicate). This process cannot be supported by Central Governance because it only provides a duplicate check. Therefore, we strongly recommend to use Consolidation for incoming created BPs.

      To your challenges:

      1. MDG Change Request (our recommendation is for incoming changes only) should not provide any possibility to reject such a request. Process must be finalized, activated and result must be replicated back to SLP. Otherwise data between SLP and MDG would be out of sync what should never happen. By the way, for Consolidation we established a mode which ensures execution of the process w/o rejection for incoming creations as well.
      2. Normal data issues should not lead to inbound failure but data will be loaded to Change Request / Consolidation Run where data can be changed accordingly. In exceptional error situation an inbound failure might happen, therefore administrator should regularly check the cockpit on MDG side in order to resolve such situations.

      Kind regards  Carsten

      Author's profile photo sankar.ram subbiah
      sankar.ram subbiah

      Hello Carsten,

      Delighted to see the quick and detailed reply. Much appreciated.

      I now fully understand & agree with the recommendations above.                                                                                                                                                                                                                          Further, when I read through the SAP Could Integration Gateway(CIG) help portal, it raises me 2 more questions.

      1. I see a similar process flow described during the supplier creation in the help portal link. (similar to that you have stated above with the use of consolidation)                                                                                                                                                                                              But it does say that the scenario is achieved through SAP Master Data Governance.    Should we then say that the scenario mentioned in this link can only be achieved with Master Data Consolidation?
      2. I also went through the change scenario mentioned in the same SAP CIG help portal that describes the process with a flow diagram as well.                                                                What is mentioned in this process seems to be contradicting with the your point#1 above. Because, it says that once approved/rejected, the complete current vendor record is sent back to SLP.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                So, in case if there is a business requirement to have a rejection option for the incoming changes, does the standard MDG Governance support the process as mentioned in the help portal?

       

      Appreciate your reply.

       

      Thank you.

      Author's profile photo Carsten Koehler
      Carsten Koehler

      Hi Sankar,

      1. SAP Master Data Governance consists of three main processes: Central Governance, Consolidation, and Data Quality Management. Consolidation is not a separate solution but part of SAP Master Data Governance. So the documentation is correct here.
      2. We will discuss internally how to adapt the documentation. As I said in MDG we always emphasize that rejection of an MDG process in case of incoming messages from SLP is not allowed, otherwise data in SLP and MDG might be out of sync.

      Kind regards  Carsten

       

      Author's profile photo sankar.ram subbiah
      sankar.ram subbiah

      Hello Carsten,

      Thank you very much for the reply & clarifying the questions.

      Much appreciated !

       

      Thank you.

       

       

      Author's profile photo Shivakumar Bejugam
      Shivakumar Bejugam

      Hello Carsten,

       

      Does the native integration of Ariba SLP with MDG-S supports '1 BP to multiple vendors assignment' setup?

       

      Thank you.

      Author's profile photo sankar.ram subbiah
      sankar.ram subbiah

      Hello Carsten,

      We are also exploring the option of '1 Business Partner to multiple vendors assignments' due to our multiple ECC target systems.

      Does the Ariba SLP to MDG-S integration support this feature?

       

      Thanks.

      Author's profile photo Carsten Koehler
      Carsten Koehler

      Hello Shivakumar, hello Sankar,

      Ariba SLP does not know about multiple vendors assignment so this is also not supported by the integration with MDG-S.

      Multiple customers / vendors assignment is offered in S/4HANA as well as in MDG-C / MDG-S. It is not planned to offer this functionality beyond these applications.

      Kind regards  Carsten

      Author's profile photo sankar.ram subbiah
      sankar.ram subbiah

      Hello Carsten,

       

      Thank you for the details & confirmation.

      Much appreciated.

       

      Thank you.

      Author's profile photo Vaibhav Bhardwaj
      Vaibhav Bhardwaj

      Hi,

      I'm not able to watch the video despite I've successfully logged in, getting error '403. You don't have rights to view this page'. Can someone help me here?

       

      Regards

      Vaibhav

      Author's profile photo Andrea Hoffmann
      Andrea Hoffmann
      Blog Post Author

      Hi Vaibhav,

       

      Sorry to hear the link isn't working for you. I just tried and it worked fine for me - please give this one a try. Let me know if you run into problems with that one as well and we'll figure it out :).

       

      Kind regards,

      Andrea

      Author's profile photo Amith Menezes
      Amith Menezes

      Hello Andrea Hoffmann,

      Thank you for this blog and the many links to the videos on scenarios. They have been helpful.

      However, I do have a question about the Restrictions mentioned in your blog as well as here:

      Integration of SAP MDG-S with SAP Ariba solutions that include both SAP Ariba Supplier Lifecycle and Performance and SAP Ariba Procurement solutions, with or without the guided buying capability, is not currently supported.

      Does this still apply and in what context?

      I have recently seen SLP and MDG-S integrated with 3 SAP ECC systems where Ariba Procurement solutions were also implemented (Suite integrated end-to-end Ariba Solution) using Ariba CIG. There is no mention of such a restriction in the Ariba CIG guides either.

      Perhaps this is a different solution offering? Could you please provide some information on this?

      Kind Regards,

      Amith.

       

       

       

      Author's profile photo Andrea Hoffmann
      Andrea Hoffmann
      Blog Post Author

      Hi Amith,

      Thanks for your message. I've forwarded your comment to the product owner who'll get back to you to clarify the question.

      Kind regards,

      Andrea

      Author's profile photo Kumar Raj Moorthy
      Kumar Raj Moorthy

      Hi Amith,

      The restriction mentioned is about customers having Ariba Procurement Solutions in the landscape will not be able to make use of this integration (between MDG and SLP) as the direct integration between Ariba Supplier Lifecycle and Performance and Ariba Procurement Solution is not currently supported.

      The implementation scenario that you had described with SLP integrated to MDG-S connected to multiple ERPs and with Ariba B&I could be possible without the direct integration between Ariba Supplier Lifecycle & Ariba B&I but needs to be evaluated on a case to case basis on customer's requirement.

      Best Regards

      Kumar Raj

      Author's profile photo Amith Menezes
      Amith Menezes

      Thank you Kumar and Andrea,

       

      That answers my question.

      Author's profile photo Liu Zhijie
      Liu Zhijie

      Hi Andrea, thanks for your sharing.

      We're planning to integrate the SLP and SAP ECC.

      I've some questions about the MDG-S and MDG foundation, whether any license is required for MDG-S and MDG foundation?

      Whether MDG is mandatory for integration SLP between ECC?

      If not, is DRF the alternative way?

      And for the step# 2 - Send supplier to MDG via SOA Service, is there any existing standard service can be used in ECC?

      Thanks a lot.

      Steve

      Author's profile photo Carsten Koehler
      Carsten Koehler

      Hi Steve,

      no MDG licence is required for integrating SLP and SAP ECC. DRF can be used for replication independent from MDG. You only have to configure DRF in a way that incoming suppliers from SLP are directly written to active area instead triggering an MDG process (option Staging Area).

      You can use the same SOA Service as for integrating with MDG.

      Kind regards  Carsten

      Author's profile photo Liu Zhijie
      Liu Zhijie

      Thank you, Carsten.

      Author's profile photo Wilder Prieto
      Wilder Prieto

      Hi Andrea,

      Does this integration work the same way with MDG 2022? or there are some new or something has changed?

      Thank you

      Author's profile photo Carsten Koehler
      Carsten Koehler

      Hi Wilder,

      integration works the same way with MDG on S/4HANA 2022.

      Kind regards  Carsten