Ans: SAP Master Data Management (SAP MDM) enables information integrity across the business network, in a heterogeneous IT landscape. SAP MDM helps to define the business network environment based on generic and industry specific business elements and related attributes – called master data. Master data, for example, cover business partner information, product masters,product structures, or technical asset information. SAP MDM enables the sharing of harmonized master data, formerly trapped in multiple systems, and ensures cross system data consistency regardless of physical system location and vendor. It helps to align master data by providing services that recognize identical master data objects and keep them consistent. In addition, it enables the federation of business processes, by providing consistent distribution mechanisms of master data objects into other systems, within the company and across company boundaries.
Ans: Import Server, Syndication Server, Console, Import manager, Data manager, Syndicator, Publisher etc.
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Ans: In Master Data Consolidation scenario, users wield SAP NetWeaver MDM to collect master data from several systems at a central location, detect and clean up duplicate and identical objects, and manage the local object keys for cross-system communication.
Ans: In Master Data Harmonization scenario enhances the Master Data Consolidation scenario by forwarding the consolidated master data information to all connected, remote systems, thus depositing unified, high-quality data in heterogeneous system landscapes. With this scenario, you can synchronize globally relevant data across your system landscape.
Ans: SAP NetWeaver MDM is used to aggregate master data from across the entire system landscape (including SAP and non-SAP systems) into a centralized repository of consolidated information. High information quality is ensured by syndicating harmonized master data that is globally relevant to the subscribed applications. A company’s quality standards are supported by ensuring the central control of master data, including maintenance and storage.
Ans: SAP MDM: Helps companies leverage already committed IT investments since it complements and integrates into their existing IT landscape. Reduces overall data maintenance costs by preventing multiple processing in different systems. Accelerates process execution by providing sophisticated data distribution mechanisms to connected applications. Ensures information consistency and accuracy, and therefore reduces error-processing costs that arise from inconsistent master data. Improves corporate decision-making processes in strategic sales and purchasing by providing up-to-date information to all people.
Ans: Parametric Import is a new and radically more efficient approach to importing and transforming data that is conceptually similar to parametric search. Parametric import lists the complete set of distinct values for each field in the source data.
Ans: EAI tools provide the connection between different systems on the technical layer to ensure message handling, semantic mapping, routing and queuing of data. ETL tools provide similar functionality but are typically deployed less as a message handling layer and more as a batch-oriented, massive volume integration mechanism. As a building block of the SAP NetWeaver platform, SAP MDM leverages the process integration capabilities of SAP’s Exchange Infrastructure (SAP XI), but, in addition, also provides services for content consolidation, data harmonization, central maintenance and controlled data distribution according to the business process semantics.
Ans: Customer ramp-up is scheduled to begin in September 2003. It will be priced separately as an engine, based on the number of managed data objects in the connected systems.
Ans: No. SAP MDM can be used in conjunction with mySAP solutions including mySAP PLM or non-SAP solutions.
Ans: SAP NetWeaver is an integration and application platform that helps unify and align people, information and business processes across technologies and organizations. SAP Master Data Management (MDM) is a building block of SAP NetWeaver to enable information integrity across the business network and to facilitate a better communication of information across a heterogeneous IT landscape.
Ans: Integration is the key to success in business. And since heterogeneous system landscapes are commonplace today, only companies with continuous processes and optimal access to consistent information can secure themselves a decisive competitive advantage. The basic principle behind this is the availability of reliable and consistent master data.
Ans: No. There are a few applications announced in the market today, which are addressing parts of the solution. However those solutions are typically limited to business partner information only and do not address the process integration needs to maintain and distribute the harmonized master data. SAP is the only provider that offers a broad and diverse connectivity and business content developed by SAP and its partner network, based on SAP’s intimate, longstanding knowledge of comprehensive business processes in more than 20 industries. This business content shortens the development cycle for customers and drives down the cost of integration projects.
Ans: No. SAP MDM is a building block of the SAP NetWeaver platform. SAP MDM can be licensed and used stand-alone in heterogeneous environments as well as in conjunction with other mySAP.com solutions or xApps in future.
Ans: Implementation services will be provided by SAP’s Global Professional Services Organization as well as together with selected system integrators.
Ans: Those interfaces including ALE will continue to be used in parallel to process operational data. It is not planned to replace those interfaces with SAP MDM.
Ans: The use of the SAP Exchange Infrastructure is the foundation for SAP MDM. SAP solutions are powered by the SAP NetWeaver platform with high emphasis on interoperability to :NET and J2EE/Java.
19. For which 3rd party products will SAP provide the adaptors ?
In the first phase the adaptors to 3rd party products will be provided on a project basis. SAP plans to make selected adaptors to 3rd party systems to a part of the standard solution in future.
Ans: MDM is integral to SAP’s ESA strategy. The initial list of documented Web services with MDM 3.0 were provided with MDM 3.0 information release. These refer to the ability to access master data information in MDM as a service to create records, etc. New web services will be available as per the roadmap. With SAP MDM 5.5 in conjunction with SAP Exchange Infrastructure, one can create web services by exposing MDM functions using MDM JAVA or .NET APIs.
Ans: The initial release of SAP MDM will support the following master data objects: business partner, product master, product structures, document links, technical assets and change masters.
Services provided depend on the type of objects and will include maintenance of objects, search for objects, workflow, mass changes, change notifications, duplicate checking, and notifications for object creation and discontinuation.
Ans: SAP Net Weaver MDM 5.5 is an integral part of the NetWeaver stack. In the current feature release, enterprise application integration, both SAP and non-SAP, is accomplished through SAP XI. Interoperability with other systems is possible via SAP Net Weaver MDM 5.5’s APIs (including ABAP whose development is currently in process). Tight, native integration is part of the SAP Net Weaver MDM 5.5 roadmap and further pre-built integration points will be rolled out as we progress along the development path. SAP MDM 5.5 SP2 will provide view-only iViews for SAP Enterprise Portal.
Ans: Yes, these are all part of the SAP NetWeaver platform and print publishing is an extension of the capability to product content management. By definition, this is the case since the former A2i xCat application, now further augmented and known as SAP NetWeaver MDM 5.5, is part of the SAP NetWeaver MDM family of products.
Ans: SAP MDM will provide adaptors for mySAP CRM, mySAP SRM and SAP R/3 in the first phase. MySAP SCM will be supported via SAP R/3 in the first phase. In the next phase, a direct adaptor will also provided for mySAP SCM.
Ans: SAP MDM 5.5 exposes its core functions using published JAVA and .NET APIs. Any integration between MDM and other non-SAP software can be handled using APIs. Also, MDM functions can be exposed as web services using APIs in conjunction with SAP Exchange Infrastructure. Broader integration between SAP MDM 5.5 and other SAP NetWeaver components will be available through product roadmap.
Ans: If the failure lies with XI or R/3, the same XML can be reprocessed (no resending is required). If there is a validation or data problem, the records needs to be identified and modified in MDM Data Manager Client and the Syndicator batch will resend them as they were updated since the last syndication.
Ans: The effort depends on the number of fields required for the front-end. Fields that are added have no impact. Fields that are deleted (and maintained in the front-end), need to be removed. Fields that are renamed need to be updated.
Ans: We are in the process of installing workflow. Apart from installed workflow.exe and vision professional 2003, is there anything else we need to make sure that needs to be installed?
If you want to create new MDM WF Templates, then on your PC install SAP MDM Workflow, Data Manager and Vision. If there are needs to setup roles for certain users for WF Steps, then you will need Console too.
For a user who will only process or execute some simple WF tasks/steps, the SAP MDM Workflow, and Data Manager is enough.
Ans: The saved search option is client computer specific. That means that a user’s search criteria are available only to the user and not to other users. Therefore the saved search is not an option in this case. Using role constraints you may achieve the required results.
Ans: MDM currently does not trigger external processes on errors. The system uses logging capabilities to register errors and there are specific log files for the various components of the system. If the monitoring system/s can be triggered on changes to the log files then the system can be monitored.
Ans: I am working in CCM 2.0 on SRM 5.0 and am interested to know more about MDM. I currently work as a Functional Consultant. I am interested to know what does the MDM do, and as a functional consultant, what would be my role.
Ans: I recently downloaded and installed SRM-MDM catalog 1.0. I found some of the pieces missing like MDM Syndicator, MDM Syndication Server, Image manager, etc.
Ans: SRM-MDM does not include the MDM Syndicator. If you need the Syndicator, you need to purchase a full MDM license.
Ans: I have installed MDM.5.5 SP4 and I need to install the Patch 01 and Patch 02. I have downloaded the patches from the service market place but unable to find any documentation on how to install the patch.
Ans: MDM patches are typically complete installation of the MDM components that have had improvements made to them. These components will need to be reinstalled which usually takes about 2 minutes per component.
You would follow the same procedure as if you were upgrading to a new SP.
Also, MDM Patch 3 is already available in Service Marketplace. You don’t have to install Patch 1 and Patch 2 separately.
If you are using MDM4J or Portals, then you have to make sure the Software Component Archives you are deploying match the MDM Server version.
I recommend you remove the old SCAs and then deploy the new SCA matching the server version.
Ans: I’m installing SAP MDM 5.5 SP04 following the Installation Guide in the Marketplace. However, at the end of the installation I don’t have the default repositories for Materials, Vendors and Customers.
Ans: You need to download “MDMBC55004P_3-10003437.ZIP” which contains Business Content (Repositories, Import/Export Maps, XSDs etc.) and copy .a2i files into <MDM Server Folder>/Archives directory so that you will be able to un-archive them.
Ans: Yes it is possible as you are not limited to the use of iViews that exist. Your own application-specific iViews can be created. You can also access the server with direct calls to the API from the java environment.
Ans: This is an administrative problem. I am an experienced Basis person, installing SAP MDM 5.5 SP04 for the first time.
I have configured the MDM server (mds) on Solaris 10 system. I have also configured MDM import server (mdis) and Syndication server (mdss) on the same machine. I have installed the database software and configured the empty repository on the same host machine. The database and all the 3 MDM services (mds, mdis, and mdss) are running on a Solaris machine.
After that, I installed “MDM console fat client GUI” component on my desktop and tried to “mount the server” by specifying the “hostname” of the Solaris machine where MDM services are running, but I am not able to mount it. It says invalid server and does not mount.
Which says, you should have the administrative right on Solaris machine where MDM server is running; but how do I have that being a Windows user.
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You need to check the following:
Ans: There seems to be no documentation available on the subject. Concat does not even accept multiple parameters, so how could one possibly concatenate two or more strings?
Also, the aggregate functions (Max, Min, and Count) do not seem to work across records.
Ans: The COUNT, MAX, MIN, SUM, AVERAGE and CONCAT functions are for use with multi-valued lookup fields.
The COUNT function “Counts the number of all assigned multi-valued lookup field values”. The MAX function “Returns the highest number of all assigned multi-value lookup fields (e.g. Price)”. MIN, SUM and AVERAGE return seem self explanatory.
CONCAT “Lists all assigned values of a multi-value lookup field separated by a semicolon”
If you want to concatenate strings, use “&”.
Ans: Each MDM client like console, import manager, and so on is a program of its own. So if you start it, it’s running. To check if the MDM server is running, the easiest way is to start the MDM Console and to mount the corresponding server.
The server icon will show you the status. A red icon means: server is stopped. The green icon means: server is running. The same is valid for any repository installed on your MDM Server. Mount a repository and then the icon tells you if it’s running or not.
Ans: I have gone through some articles about MDM which says that MDM gets the data from different applications using XI and pushed the same to SAP BI.
Ans: MDM is not only used to send data to BI; it is also used for Master Data harmonization so that all the different systems in an organization like CRM, R/3, and Legacy have the same master data.
It is also for Rich product-content management, Customer data integration, Global data synchronization, etc.
MDM is also used for other uses as well, but its main purpose is to maintain ‘Master Data’, based on what you need.
Ans: I am a starter user of SAP MDM.
Can you give me the key areas or topics that I have to focus on in learning MDM?
It would be helpful if you can also give me the number of days each topic would take.
There are mainly 4 topics: Console (1 month), Import Manager (15 days), Data Manager (1 month), and Syndicator (15 days). Obviously, days required are subject for debate.
Ans: There are actually three main strategies in data unification. The use of one or the other will depend mainly on the corporate practices for IT where MDM is being implemented.
* Master data harmonization: Here the master data is copied from each client system into MDM. A matching is needed in order to identify duplicates, and build the MDM translation tables that will allow to know where the data is, and which records correspond to the same real “object” in your different systems (Key Mapping Tables). In that case, each single system just works as before, and the added value of MDM is that you know EXACTLY where your data is, and how many “real objects” you have across your systems.
* Master data consolidation: This one step further; here you perform first a harmonization (as above), consolidate the entries on global fields, and re-distribute the data to the original systems. In that scenario NO DATA is created in MDM. The added value is related to the fact that data will be consistent across the corporation. You may imagine that the difficulty here is to figure out which information should “win” in conflict cases. Here you need a good cleansing tool, with relevant matching strategies.
* Central master data management: This the final leap. Here you go again one step further, and you start creating centrally data in MDM, and distribute it to the different client systems.
Ans: When you create a new repository in MDM, it automatically creates a main table named Products. I do not want to use this as the main table and I have to create my own main table with different attributes.
Ans: You cannot delete the main table, but you can rename it.
When the repository is unloaded, you can re-name, add new fields to the main table. You can also create new sub tables.
For a more detailed process, you can refer from the MDM Console Reference Guide.
Ans: I have saved an import map. I can see it when I try to export it but I am able to see it in the console.
Ans: The only place where you see an Import Map is while you create “Port”. You need to select the appropriate “Client System” in order to see “Map” drop down filled with the appropriate Import map.
You can also try restarting the console.
Ans: Is there any possibility to export and import the role and user definitions?
We have a SAP MDM repository with a lot of roles and users and also with a lot of changes. I’m searching for a fast and efficient way of managing the roles and users.
There is no export/import functionality for roles and users. The only way to manage these in an automated way would be to write a program that uses the Java or ABAP APIs. Both APIs expose functionality to create, update and delete roles and users.
Ans: Images are not directly attached to a record/field/attribute. Instead, they are linked to a field or attribute text value.
To link an image, you first need to load it into the repository. This is usually done in the Data Manager by going to the “Images” table and adding a record there. Images are held in containers called “Groups” which allow you to logically group images (logos, icons, full-page, etc). You first need to define the group you want to store your images in. You can do this by clicking the “Edit” button when adding a record to the “Images” table. Groups are stored in a hierarchical structure; right click the structure when editing groups to add a new group.
Once a group has been selected, you just add the files you want to create images from. Once the file has been added to the “Images” table, you can select that image for an image field/attribute.
The benefit of linking is that the actual image (the binary data) is only stored once in the repository and can be referenced multiple times.
I want to know when and where exactly we use MDM. What are the advantages of MDM?
Ans: Master data management generally comes into play when you operate on the basis of a heterogeneous IT landscape. This means, you have several or many application systems running and each of them has its own set of master data records such as vendor, customer, product etc. In this case it is very likely that you have redundant data – that is, duplicate records in one system, or identical data dispersed over several systems within the landscape but without the general knowledge aggregation. In addition to the redundancy problem, dispersed master data is likely to have different quality levels, which again may lead to poor business execution.
With master data management, you can gain overall knowledge of your master data across your IT landscape to enable consolidated reporting, and increase the overall quality of your master data records in your IT landscape through data cleansing, enrichment and de-duplication.
For a functional overview of SAP NetWeaver MDM, refer from the following URL:
Meanwhile, SAP NetWeaver MDM features the following capabilities:
Ans: What is the maximum length of text that can be accommodated in an “Attribute”?
Ans: The maximum length for a text attribute value is 128 characters.
When importing into your main table via the Data Manager Import, the import process will prompt you when it finds text attribute values that are not present in your taxonomy (skip, add, etc.).
Importing attributes into taxonomy is not completely possible with the Data Manager’s import. Use the Import Manager instead.
Ans: When we sent the vendors information from MDM into R/3 using XI, we got this error:
“Error when reading object PartnerGUID”
Ans: I believe the values are case sensitive. Check your case and send it again.
Ans: How do you populate taxonomy and hierarchy tables?
Ans: Categories and Hierarchies can be built automatically in the Import Manager. In your Source Hierarchy pane, once you marked a field, there’s for example, an option (via context menu) to split field contents into a hierarchy. Afterwards, a new field is created which can be mapped then to a Destination Hierarchy field.
Once you mapped hierarchy-fields to each other, there is special ‘value mapping options’ (again from the Context menu) for hierarchies available.
You can find way more documentation in the Import Manager Reference guide.
Ans: Taxonomy is also a hierarchy. However, it is a special kind of hierarchical structure where you can define attributes and attach those attributes to taxonomy categories. The primary purpose of taxonomy is to classify your data.
Ans: We defined one multilingual field in the main table, which support Chinese [CN], Chinese [TW] and other languages. In the syndication XML file, we found the language key of Chinese [CN] and Chinese [TW] are same. Both of them equal “ZH”. In fact, they should be different.
Ans: We have applied SP3 Hotfix5.You just need to choose “Country Code” as the value of “language format” in Syndicator Map properties.
Ans: Workflow for XI is for business process oriented, not people oriented.
Workflow in MDM is data oriented and authorizations/central data creation oriented.
Workflow on Portal, as I have seen, is people oriented for things such as Knowledge Management.
For a Portal/MDM scenario, you could use Guided Procedures, which is how SAP is planning to handle all the different workflows across the landscape. The Guided Procedures handles and monitors either process on SAP and on Non-SAP systems.
Ans: I tried to un-archive the Inquera Demo Repository that I downloaded from the Inquera Website. Here is what I’ve done so far.
When I tried to un-archive the sample repository from the console, I didn’t see the archive file that I placed in the folder C:\Program Files\SAP MDM 5.5\Server\Archives. I tried renaming the file too; to “Sample.a2a.” but I still didn’t see the demo repository archive.
The file size is around 150 MB. I have another archive file in the same directory that is around 2MB that I’m able to see when I un-archive from the console, and it is not a hidden file. I am able to see the .a2a file in Windows Explorer.
Ans: You can try these steps:
Ans: I have this problem that whenever I un-archive a repository in the console (server and client version 5.5.33.13), the MDM Server service stops in the middle, in which the un-archiving operation gets aborted in between.
The repository is then marked as invalid.
This seems to happen every time I archive a repository too. Other than that I am able to mount and create repositories.
Ans: I happened to face the same problem a while back. Generally, restarting MDM server or MDM services will solve the problem. It will be even better if you do a reinstallation of the MDM Server.
Ans: Recently, when I archived a repository, it stated that it contained warnings. I ran verification on the repository and it reported no errors or non-fatal errors, only warnings. Upon checking the log, the warnings all consist of: Warning (1385) the table ‘xyz’ has not been analyzed recently.
Ans: You can try the following remedy in the Console component of the MDM:
Ans: Yes. While archiving, in the “Archive MDM Repository” pop-up, click on “Options” button and select “Schema only”.
When you un-archive this, you will get a repository with schema only; no data.
MDM Program folders
Ans: One example is to specify a folder in a remote server as the “Ready” folder.
Yes. You will need to configure these values in mds.ini file.
Example:
Archive Dir=C:\PROGRA~1\SAPMDM~1.5\Server\Archives\
Distribution Root Dir=C:\PROGRA~1\SAPMDM~1.5\Server\Distributions\
These folders can be anything as long as MDM Server has access to those directories in the Remote Server.
After you set the property for Distribution Root, then create the Port in Console.