SAP Master Data Management
Hi,
I am going to lead a project with new SAP implementation with Master Data preparation. I have an experience with Master Data but have n't prepared master data specific to SAP. Could you please guide me where to start? How should i progress?.
Your suggestions are greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Sathish
Software/Hardware used:
Software/Hardware used:
ASKED:
April 12, 2005 6:18 PM
UPDATED:
April 29, 2005 5:58 PM
Answer Wiki:
SAP has got a lot of master data preparation. basically, u got to look at:
1) Item Master
2) Vendor Master --- shipping/billing addresses
3) Customer Master --- shipping/billing addresses
4) Chart of accounts
5) Bank details for vendor/customers
6) Tax/VAT settings
7) Credit terms/payment terms (eg, 30 days etc)
8) Inco terms (eg, FOB, CIF, DDU) for shipping purposes
Misc "master" settings
1) Document type
2) Transaction type (affects the acctg entries)
3) Company code and division (usually this is a setup and no master file need to be mapped across)
4) Inventory location
5) Currency (this is already defaulted in SAP with all the ISO settings) You need to map this to your ERP's value so that you can migrate your data
6) Country Code (same as 5 above). Affects your settings for Vendor/customer master
7) Exchange rate types. You may have some other rate type which you need to use to denote different rate types, eg, for AR/AP u want to use "BANK RATE". For GL u need to use "MONTH" rate. The bank rate maybe change frequently due to tax reporting purposes. For GL, your tax authority need you to report at a certain average rate, etc
Your SAP implementor's consultant should be able to go into more details. U will get a table of SAP values/fields which you can then mapped your ERP's table/values
Good Luck!
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In setting up master data, the most important question in is “why?” People will try to embed hierarchies or other business relationships in SAP that have the life expectancy of May Flies, and then in a year or two from they will complain that the SAP implementation does not meet business needs. Much of the undue complexity in Master Data comes from reporting requirements rather than transaction processing requirements, so try to push those complexities into the business warehouse or offline entrely.
It depends on what modules you are implementing. The previous replies will give you an indication of the areas that you should be looking in.
Also consider a mapping spreadsheet, listing all the SAP fields that you need to load in the columns, and the items by account/vendor/customer/etc in rows. You will need to build up your knowledge of the SAP fields and determine the ones you need and the ones that can be discarded. You can “switch off” the discarded fields in configuration, to tidy up the appearance of the master data records.
Finally, when you come to implement, have a plan for how you are going to take on balances. After loading the master data, this is the next important thing.
Another thing to remember with master data management is a good tool to create/update SAP records from the records that exist in your spreadsheet as above. You can use SAP-provided tools such as LSMW or CATT, which are more technical, or you can use third-party tools such as TxShuttle (www.winshuttle.com).
Good luck.