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Latest Innovations in a Nutshell
Continuing the blog series about updates on MDG innovations in SAP S/4HANA, I'd like to provide you with details on the latest innovations in SAP Master Data Governance on SAP S/4HANA 2023 Feature Pack 02. Highlights include:
- Generative AI for assisted changes/summary of changes in central governance (classic mode) and for business partner processing (in cloud-ready mode) using Joule AI copilot; only available with SAP S/4HANA 2023 Private Cloud Edition (not on premise)
- Improved data quality analytics for business partner and product master data.
- Enrichment of business partner from CDQ reference data as an integrated part of consolidation, mass processing, etc.
These come in addition to various continuous improvements in central governance (classic mode).
Innovations in Detail
Let's take a closer look at the innovations.
Inclusion of Generative AI in MDG
Generative AI is used for summary of changes and assisted changes in central governance (classic mode), and for optional business partner processing (in cloud-ready mode) initiated by a Joule dialog.
The AI-generated summary of changes provides you with an overview of changes in natural language (using a large language model) enabling you to:
- verify the completeness and/or correctness of master data changes.
- get a brief overview of the changes comprised in an MDG change request.
- avoid pointless revisions based on incomplete changes.
- have a non-technical summary of changes (in contrast to change documents).
- facilitate approver’s final checks.
The AI-assisted change lets you change master data attributes with as little effort and as few steps as possible so that applying changes to a master data object is time efficient. You can make prompts in natural language to make field changes.
The AI-assisted change in central governance is applicable for business partner and material, and the AI-generated summary of changes in central governance is applicable for business partner, material, and custom objects which do not use editions.
In addition, SAP Master Data Governance on SAP S/4HANA integrates with the AI copilot Joule, enabling queries in natural language and navigation to SAP Master Data Governance on SAP S/4HANA cloud-ready mode for follow-up actions on business partner (incl. supplier and customer) data. (This innovation can be consumed as of FPS01).
These initial steps of including Generative AI in MDG processes are planned to be continued to cover more use cases in MDG classic mode and cloud-ready mode.
| Note: The AI features outlined above come only with SAP S/4HANA Private Cloud Edition (not with the on-premise release). |
"Data Quality Analytics 2.0" for business partner and product master data
- SAP Analytics Cloud comes with an enhanced dashboard for chief data officers or master data specialists to get a real-time quality abstract on the prevailing quality and history trends of product and business partner master data, providing:
- data quality overview in 3-level reporting structure by category, dimension, and rule
- data quality analytics for seven business partner segments, e.g., Business Partner Core Data, Customer Sales Data, and Supplier Purchasing Data, each with drill-down using master data attributes or/and organization unit e.g., Country, Company Codes etc.
- data quality analytics for seven product master data segments, e.g., Plant data, Sales Data, and Classification Data, each with drill-down using master data attributes or/and organization unit e.g., Product Group, Plant etc.
- embedded authorization control via live data connection
- integration in MDG system for data remediation
For more details about "Data Quality Analytics 2.0", read the SAP Community blog post by Kefeng Wang.
- Analytics CDS views for master data quality of business partner and product provide data source (CDS views) for master data quality analytics of business partner and product using organizational unit and attributes in SAP S/4HANA.
Enrichment of business partner records from reference data as an integrated part of consolidation, mass processing, etc.
In cloud-ready mode, the enrichment of business partner records from CDQ reference data is enabled as an integrated and automated step within:
- Single Processing
- Mass Processing
- Consolidation
- Federation processes
For more information about the enrichment of business partner records from reference data, check the overview presentation and read the SAP Community blog post by Martin Steinhauser.
Integration of SAP Business Workflow as local workflow engine (cloud-ready mode)
As an alternative to BTP Workflow Service (subscription required), the SAP Business Workflow can be assigned to process steps in the process template configuration. It can trigger any custom-defined action after a process step (e.g. email notification).
Continued improvements for central governance in classic mode (material data)
Increased effectiveness through enhanced copy function in search and use of validation rules for classification in central governance for material:
- You can copy a selected material from the Search Materials Result List and choose one of three different copying options: Only Basic Data, All Data, or By Organizational Levels. When selecting Only Basic Data, basic data, long texts, and classification are copied. Choosing All Data will result in the complete data from the template material being copied. If you select By Organization Level, a dialog box will appear allowing you to choose which organizational data should be copied.
Additionally, if a change request exists for the template material, the changed data from staging will be included in the copied material.
- You can use validation rules for classes (table KSSK) and characteristics (table AUSP), defined using the rule management functionality of MDG, data quality management to check data during change request processing.
Continued improvements for central governance in classic mode (business partner incl. customer and supplier data)
SAP S/4HANA 2023 FPS02 comes with improved Partner Functions content display and relationship categories in business partner processing:
- The relationship type allows you to classify the relationship category into different subdivisions. Accordingly, you can maintain the relationship type on the user interface for Relationships, Contact Persons, Shareholder Relationships, and their related details user interface.
- In addition, there are more search criteria when using the F4 Help on the Partner field in the partner functions lists ERP Customer Sales Areas: Partner Functions or ERP Vendor Purchasing Organization: Partner Functions. The F4 help also includes Business Partner, Customer, Supplier and Maximum No. of Hits as search criteria. The UIBBs for Partner Functions include the column Assigned BP.
For an overview of the innovations outlined above, see also the What's New in SAP Master Data Governance on SAP S/4HANA 2023 FPS 2 presentation. As you can see from these innovations, both classic mode in MDG and cloud-ready mode are continuously enhanced. The driver for innovations in classic mode is primarily the SAP Continuous Influence program, whereas cloud-ready mode in MDG is the strategic development path going forward.
To get the full picture of planned innovations in SAP Master Data Governance across the entire MDG solution portfolio up to 2025, see the SAP Roadmap Explorer.
To stay up to date, simply follow the SAP Community Topic Page for SAP Master Data Governance and join the Q&A and discussion forum.
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