SAP ERP: The Master Data Backbone for SAP Hybris

[meghnadwivedi]

The master data management strategy is essential for an ever-evolving e-commerce platform. Here we will explore some reasons to consider traditional SAP ECC as the master data backbone of SAP Hybris - SAP Commerce Cloud Offering.

Centralizing material and customer master data in SAP ERP will promote data integrity, simplified processing, and authentic reports, but how?

SAP ERP and SAP Hybris (also known as SAP Commerce Cloud): SAP ERP is a comprehensive enterprise resource planning application (ERP), otherwise known as a business automation tool while SAP Hybris is a powerful eCommerce application where customers can have seamless online shopping experience. These two systems in tandem can lead to an efficient solution for eBusiness.

Why SAP ERP Should Be the Master of Product Data (c/a Products in Hybris, Material in SAP ERP):

1. Single Source of Truth: Centralizing Product data in SAP ERP ensures a single source of truth, reducing the risk of inconsistent and incorrect information. Since SAP ERP is the backend system that possibly can be connected with several other applications and might be receiving data via EDI, Idocs, APIs and SAP Hybris is just of the systems connecting with SAP ERP for order processing. It makes more sense to keep material master data in SAP ERP, as it acts as a target system for order processing from all sources.


2. Streamlined Data Management: When SAP ERP is the master of product data, only relevant information required by SAP Hybris needs to be replicated, avoiding unnecessary data duplication.


3. Enhanced Order Fulfillment: With ERP as the master, orders placed in SAP Hybris are based on product data known and managed by ERP. This reduces the risk of orders ending in error due to product unavailability in ERP, thereby enhancing order fulfillment.


4. Facilitating E-commerce Attributes: Certain attributes like Product long descriptions, Product Images, and Customer-related documents such as installation guides and software certifications are specific to the e-commerce environment. Storing these additional attributes in Hybris allows businesses to meet unique e-commerce requirements while preserving ERP's role as the master data repository.


5. Scalability and Flexibility: SAP ERP's robust infrastructure and resource planning capabilities ensure scalability and adaptability as the business grows. Businesses can handle increased transaction volumes from online platforms and introduce new products to the e-commerce platform effortlessly.


6. Swift Performance, Happy Customers: Centralizing master data in SAP ERP leads to faster page load times on the e-commerce platform, enhancing user experience, reducing bounce rates, and boosting customer retention.

Why SAP ERP Should Be the Master of Customer Information (c/a B2BUnit in Hybris):

1. Data Consistency: Centralizing customer data in SAP ERP ensures consistent and up-to-date information across all business units. This consistency helps in maintaining accurate customer data and improves customer service.


2. Robust Reporting Capabilities: ERP provides exhaustive reporting capabilities that are necessary for every business. The customer and customer attributes are often the center of reporting, so keeping customer master data in SAP ERP would not only be beneficial, but essential. This will not affect the performance of the e-commerce platform as business reports can be pulled out from the backend and shared across.


3. Data Security and Compliance: SAP ERP offers advanced data security features and compliance controls, safeguarding sensitive customer information. With E-commerce in scope, it's very important to keep customer information protected.


4. Data Reusability: Since SAP ERP is a single central system for all front-end/customer-facing applications. It makes sense to maintain customer data in SAP ERP and to reuse the data in other applications.


5. Boost E-commerce performance: SAP Hyrbis is not only connected to SAP ERP for customer attributes but it integrates with other platforms like Lytics for personalized experiences, Algonomy for product recommendations, and Salesforce for lead tracking. Offloading SAP Hybris from master data management would help improve the performance of the e-commerce platform.

In summary, maintaining a master data source in SAP ERP not only benefits but also improves the performance of the mission-critical customer-facing e-commerce system. In addition, the seamless integration capabilities of ERP and Hybris as they both are SAP-provided, favor in keeping the master data source in SAP ERP.