We will be taking a deep dive into one of the core functions of SAP MDG within the Central Governance Module. If you want to learn more about the different modules available in MDG & an overview of Central Governance check out this post with an SAP MDG overview: https://techconsultinghub.com/2022/03/01/sap-s4-hana-mdg-overview-part-1/
In this article we will explore the following topics:
SAP S4 HANA MDG Search
SAP S4 MDG Search Process
The process of master data management within SAP MDG should start with the search functionality for any of the objects (customer/vendor/material/finance). This is to first check in the system if the object already exists. This occurs in two scenarios
- The end user is assuming a create process, they will search for the object such as a new customer in the system using SAP MDGs search functionality. If they can not find the object they will move on to creation
- The end user is assuming an update/extend process. They will search for the object using SAP MDGs search functionality and move on to updating/extending/flagging the object for deletion
Let’s walk through the first step which is navigating to the appropriate Fiori tile (tcode /n/ui2/flp) for searching for a customer/vendor/business partner. We will use customer as an example but the process is the same regardless of object
As you can see the first step is selecting the manage customer tile which brings you to the following screen that has a drop down of search methods available
SAP S4 MDG Search Methods
To know how to search in SAP MDG you need to first understand the different search methods. Each search method brings up a different list of available fields that can be used to search for a customer/vendor in you SAP MDG system. This search includes both the customers/vendors/business partners that are live and existing in the backend SAP S4 HANA tables & those that are in progress of creation or change stored within change requests. As a note the customer search (HANA) is configurable so any number of the standard or customer specific fields can be added to search criteria
For each of the fields within search criteria based on the type of field there are different operators for search such as: is, contains, starts with, etc. The below image shows an example of search operators
The below table provides all of the different search methods along with the standard fields available for that search method. The fields are available for customer, vendor & business partner searching
| SAP MDG Search Method | Fields Available |
|---|---|
| Address Data | – Business Partner ID – Name 1 / Last Name – City -Street – Postal Code – Country – Name 2 / First Name – House Number – Search Term 1 & 2 |
| BP Roles | – Business Partner ID – BP Role – Name 1 / Last Name – Name 2 / First Name – Search Term 1 & 2 – BP Category |
| Bank Details | – Business Partner ID – Bank Key – Bank Account – IBAN – Name 1 / Last Name – Name 2 / First Name – Search Term 1 & 2 – Bank Country – BP Category |
| General Data | – Business Partner ID – Name 1 / Last Name – Name 2 / First Name – Search Term 1 & 2 – BP category |
| Identification Numbers | – Business Partner ID – Identification Type – ID number – Name 1 / Last Name – Name 2 / First Name – Search Term 1 & 2 – BP Category |
| Remote Client Key Search | – Business Object Type – Remote Object ID – System ID |
SAP S4 MDG HANA Search Configuration
The below steps will show how to configure the HANA search view in SAP MDG. The final search method which is HANA search needs to be activated through configuration specifically calling out the fields that are to be added to the search method. This can be accessed through the following configuration location. Within MDGIMG navigate to General Settings -> Data Quality and Search -> Search & Duplicate Check -> Create Search View
Here you can click edit on the MDG_BS_CUS_CUSTOMER search view, select the relevant fields save and generate the HANA search view and it will be available
These fields are flexible however, due the BP model I would recommend at least the following fields to assist in searching. I have broken it down into customer vs vendor fields
| Search Method | Fields to Be Added |
|---|---|
| HANA Search View for Customer | – Business Partner ID – Customer Number – Name 1 / Last Name – City – Street – House Number – Account Group – Previous Account Number – Postal Code – Country – Name 2 / First Name – Search Term 1 & 2 – Customer Attributes (if applicable) – Customer Groups (if applicable) – Tax number – Sales Organization – Company Code – Deletion Flag – Central Block |
| HANA Search View for Supplier (Vendor) | – Business Partner ID – Supplier Number – Name 1 / Last Name – City – Street – House Number – Account Group – Previous Account Number – Postal Code – Country – Name 2 / First Name – Search Term 1 & 2 – Tax number – Purchasing Organization – Company Code – Deletion Flag – Central Posting Block |
SAP S4 MDG Duplicate Check Functionality
SAP S4 MDG Duplicate Check Process
After searching for a customer/vendor/business partner and not finding an existing record the user will then create that record. MDG fortunately allows for configuration of a backup process to ensure there is no duplicate. We are going to take a quick look at how the SAP MDG duplicate check functionality works
Let’s start with the end goal in mind. When entering a new customer/vendor/business partner the system uses an automatic duplicate check that is configured based on a set of fields and match criteria to determine if the record your are trying to create is possible a duplicate. If a potential duplicate there will be a pop up window showing the record you are trying to create along with potential duplicates to review and a percentage confidence of the duplicate
The popup window provides the ability to continue as duplicate checks are warning messages or to switch to one of the duplicates which will bring up the existing customer/vendor/business partner to allow you to edit the existing record instead
SAP S4 MDG Duplicate Check Settings for Finding Duplicates
Now let’s take a peak into the settings required in order to ensure there is an effective duplicate check. There are the following settings that need to be set up in order to configure the SAP MDG duplicate check
- The mandatory fields for duplicate check – If these fields aren’t populated the duplicate check won’t run
- The list of fields to be considered for duplicate check – These fields will only be considered if there is data populated
- Relative weight of each field for duplicate check – Each field will be assigned a relative weight to ensure if certain fields like street are a match there is more weight assigned then if country is a match for example. As a note weight does not need to equal 100% for example you can have 20% for three fields, 10% for one field and 40% for another field. That just means that the 40% is twice as important in relative weight, and the 100% is half as important
- Fuzziness threshold for each field – For each field it can be determined if it needs to be a 100% match in order to be considered a duplicate or if 70% matches it is considered a duplicate. For example: tax numbers could be required to be 100% match where as the name can be a 70% match in case there is variation in the name but it’s the same customer
- Threshold for overall duplicate – There is a low and high threshold, low thresh hold warns of a potential duplicate high threshold warns it is a duplicate
- Output order of fields to be displayed in potential duplicate screen – When there is a potential duplicate this determines which fields should be displayed on the duplicate record and the order they should appear in order to have the user compare if it’s a true duplicate. Note that you can have additional fields to compare that are not considered in the duplicate check.
Let’s go over an example criteria that can be used to determine a duplicate going through each of these key points needed
| Duplicate Setting | Fields & Values |
|---|---|
| Mandatory Fields | – Business Partner Name – Country |
| Criteria | – Tax Number – Name fields – Street fields – City – Postal Code – Country – House Number |
| Relative Weight | – Tax Number – 35% – Name fields – 25% – Street fields – 25% – City – 15% – Postal Code – 15% – Country – 5% – House Number – 15% |
| Fuzziness Threshold | – Tax Number – 100% (exact) – Name fields – 75% (fuzzy) – Street fields – 70% (fuzzy) – City – 85% (fuzzy) – Postal Code – 100% (exact) – Country – 100% (exact) – House Number – 95% (fuzzy) |
| Low/High Threshold for Overall Score | 65% Warns of potential duplicate 85% Warns of duplicate |
| Order of Display Fields | – Account Group – Name fields – Street fields – House Number – City – Tax Number – Postal Code – Country |
SAP S4 MDG Duplicate Check Configuration
Now let’s take a look at the backend MDG configuration that supports this process. The first step is to use tcode MDGIMG to bring up configuration. The next step is to go to general settings – > data quality and search -> search & duplicate check -> define search applications
Navigate to the HANA search and then go to match profile
Next go to the BP in our case and select relevant fields. Once you are on the relevant fields use the criteria above as an example to complete the configuration
As you can see this is the configuration aspect of the above criteria where
- Entity Type & Resolved Attribute Describe the Criteria of fields
- Mandatory Column describes fields mandatory for duplicate check
- Weight Column describes the relative weight of each field
- Fuzziness describes the fuzzy match or exact match (1.00 being exact)
- Sequence Describes the fields the order of fields that should be shown to the user for checking a duplicate
Once this is completed the next step is to provide the overall match criteria. As a note the system will determine based on each field if there is a match or not based on fuzziness then use all the relative weights to get an overall match score. This is where some trial and error is best to make sure the weights/fuzziness provided finds duplicates as needed without being overly sensitive
To provide the overall match score thresholds navigate within MDGIMG to general settings -> data quality and search -> search and duplicate check -> configure duplicate check for entity types
Here you can see I put the low and high thresholds for what triggers duplicate check warning for the user
Hope this helps clear up how to use the SAP S4 HANA MDG Search & Duplicate Check functionality. If this was helpful or if you have any further questions please provide a comment below. If you would like to be notified when future blogs are provided for SAP S4 HANA master data consider subscribing to the mailing list!