Benefit from SAP Master Data Governance on SAP S/4HANA 2023

SAP Master Data Governance on SAP S/4HANA 2023 (private cloud edition and on-premise) brings various innovations in the governance of business partner data including the introduction of the “cloud-ready mode” as an additional option to configure and run MDG processes. It provides a consistent process design and SAP Fiori-based user interfaces across all MDG processes and enables, for example, data provider integration for more automation in data creation and change processes, as well as federated governance for business partner (incl. customer and supplier) data with SAP Master Data Governance on SAP S/4HANA acting as a “core data owner” in a networking system landscape with clear data ownership definition. In addition, there are various cross-domain enhancements and round-offs in classic mode for central governance and other MDG processes.

Let me summarize the innovation highlights as follows: 

Introduction of cloud-ready mode for business partner data

At last year’s TechEd, SAP introduced ABAP Cloud as the next generation ABAP development model to support cloud-ready and enterprise-grade application development. It comes with SAP Business Technology Platform (BTP) and SAP S/4HANA and works with public or private cloud, and on-premise. ABAP Cloud uses FIORI, Core Data Services (CDS) for the data model, the ABAP RESTful Application Programming Model (RAP), and cloud-optimized ABAP language for the business logic.
As SAP Master Data Governance (MDG) continues to be SAP’s strategic MDM solution based on ABAP, we naturally adopted the latest technology. Accordingly, we developed cloud-ready mode in MDG which is based on ABAP Cloud.
Cloud-ready mode for business partner (incl. customer and supplier) data is an additional option to use master data governance processes like central governance, mass processing, consolidation, and data quality management. It is an alternative to the existing use of SAP MDG processes, which is now referred to as classic mode (see below the innovation highlights in classic mode). Customers can use cloud-ready mode and classic mode for central governance in parallel. Cloud-ready mode currently supports the business partner domain and is the basis for innovations such as data provider integration and federated master data governance (both specified below).

Fig.: Business configuration in the IMG structure for Master Data Governance with new node “Cloud-Ready Mode in SAP MDG”. Previous process configuration now grouped under “Classic Mode in SAP MDG”.

A key benefit of cloud-ready mode in MDG for business partner processing is the consistent process design and the SAP Fiori based user experience across all MDG processes:

• Allows end-to-end automation of processes
• Workflow possible for all relevant processes, including consolidation and mass processing
• Direct editing within mass processing UI (spreadsheet-like UI) for any process step
• Seamless navigation between mass processing and single processing UIs for data maintenance
• Consistent field extensibility across all applications, incl. key user adaption in Fiori UI
• Enables process visualization to provide data requestors with insight into the current processing state

For details about cloud-ready mode in SAP MDG, see the SAP Help Portal documentation.

Data Provider Integration

Data provider integration is an extension of the data quality management capabilities of MDG. It acts as a gateway to access external master data content and services provided by data providers.
Customer value is added by integrated use cases, leveraging external services, and optimizing and automating end-to-end master data management processes. The usage of data provider integration is included in SAP Master Data Governance (additional contract with the data provider required):

Data provider integration with CDQ AG for further automation in business partner data creation and change processes was initially introduced with SAP Master Data Governance, cloud edition (as outlined in this blog post). Now, this is also available with SAP Master Data Governance on SAP S/4HANA. I would like to illustrate its use as follows:

Let us assume you are a master data specialist who needs to create a new customer record. You open the Manage Business Partners app on your Fiori launchpad and search if the relevant company is already available: You enter the search term, e. g. the company name (1). As no data is found, a new record is required.

Fig.: Data provider integration supporting automation in creation and change of business partner data

But instead of entering all the required information manually, you can simply click on the “Look Up and Create” button (2), which directly retrieves a result list with numerous reference records from external sources. Now, you can pick the appropriate record from the list and click on “Create Business Partner” (3). This transfers the data automatically to the record currently in process (4): you have saved a lot of time and ensured high data quality in the creation process.

Fig.: Technical view of data provider integration with CDQ

For details about configuring data provider integration, see the SAP Help Portal documentation

Introduction of federated governance for business partner data with SAP Master Data Governance on SAP S/4HANA as core data owner

Federated master data governance is a deployment option for SAP Master Data Governance that is offered in addition to centrally managed master data governance. It allows for the distribution of data ownership to several MDG instances, each owning a subset of the master data. This includes the option to activate SAP MDG on operative SAP S/4HANA systems to use them as application data owners. Using the Business Partner as an example, one MDG instance is responsible for core data (for example, name, address, tax numbers, identification numbers), and several other MDG instances can have ownership of application-specific data (for example, master data that controls sales and financials processes). Customers can define the ownership according to their specific landscape. In federated master data governance, in addition to a coordinated distribution of data in the landscape, processes are also conducted in a coordinated fashion and can be tracked across system boundaries. Data can be maintained in all MDG instances and master data clients. This data needs to be replicated to a core data owner (for example, MDG on SAP S/4HANA) that evaluates which data has been maintained, and that determines the relevant data owners. These data owners are informed about changes, upon which they revise and verify their data and send the results back to the core data owner. Once the core data owner has received a response from all data owners, it replicates the data to all connected MDG instances and master data clients in the landscape.

Fig.: Concept of federated master data governance

Fig.: Federated master data governance enabling SAP MDG on S/4HANA system as core data owner and other SAP MDG on S/4HANA systems as application data owners

One key benefit of federated MDG is the ability to manage the data where it is best understood:

• Manage core attributes only once centrally
• Manage application-specific attributes in the context of homogenous business units (as centrally as possible, as de-centrally as needed)
• Federate processes across all contributing applications to flexibly address all corporate and business units needs
• Gain process visibility across systems
• Reduce upfront harmonization needs for faster time to value and increased flexibility enabling broader MDM scope

For details about federated MDG, see the SAP Help Portal documentation.

Cross-domain innovations in classic-mode

The latest SAP Master Data Governance on SAP S/4HANA release comes with various innovations in MDG key capabilities incl. central governance across different master data domains and in the MDG framework. These include, for example:

Demo videos about innovations in central governance, classic mode

To stay up to date with MDG, simply follow the SAP Community Topic Page for SAP Master Data Governance, join the Questions & Answers forum and Blog space, and check the MDG roadmap for all deployment versions.

Best,

Markus