Time to Consider Master Data Management

Consistent master data is the lifeblood of a company. This is a no-brainer given that all business transactions and enterprise analytics depend on the quality of the underlying data. So, taking care of master data has always been important. But in times of economic change and global threats, such as the COVID-19 pandemic that we are all living through, the negative impact of poor data makes businesses even more vulnerable.

Click Tip: Evolving list of 2021 blog posts

It’s time for master data management

There is hardly any enterprise that has never faced challenges from poor data in its day-to-day business. Hiccups can occur across all lines of business: for example, due to non-compliance, slow group close, broken or slowed sales cycles, or inefficiencies in the supply chain.

Data inconsistencies can occur anywhere, and most of the time one-stop remediation doesn’t do the trick. An appropriate master data management strategy can be the remedy to really tackle the challenge on a sustained basis. Many times, enterprises start to think about leaving the trodden path in handling master data in times of change. For example, to be prepared for one-off events like mergers and acquisitions or divestitures, or when business dynamics make corporate restructuring, process optimization or consolidation of IT landscapes an imperative.

However, this does not start with buying software. Rather, the starting point or precondition is that the CIO and the data stewards in charge are able to assess the prevailing conditions in the enterprise, being aware of the data quality and management processes that are in place. Then, knowing the overall system environment incl. data architecture and application landscape on a local and global scale, they can derive the desired MDM processes and methods from a conceptual perspective. This includes the definition of the organizational set-up, that is, defining which people to put in charge of controlling master data. Based on these fundamentals, a long-term master data strategy, prioritized according to the business criticality of issues, can be laid out. It is only after these conceptual findings that software comes into play.

Take a look at SAP’s proven means to tackle the master data challenge

• For example, in a testimonial from US-based downstream energy company  Marathon Petrolueum Corporation:

• Or in a webinar recording about the data quality inititative at Döhler GmbH, an international, Germany-based producer of natural food and beverage ingredients and SAP Innovations Award 2021 winner:

Try it out yourself

For more information on SAP Master Data Governance

To get and keep engaged, find the following:

• Exchange knowledge: SAP Community | Q&A | Blog
• Try SAP Master Data Governance on S/4HANA for free: Trial Version
• Learn more: Latest Release | Previous Release I Webinars | Help Portal | How-to Guides

Stay tuned for more blog posts to come this month on SAP Community home and follow MDGUpdates2021.

Best,

Markus