Material master in SAP is a key resource that supports and unifies every aspect of the supply chain and sales process. From basic information such as material description to more complex parameters like the reorder point or strategy group for planning processes, each field may impact on the way in which a business process is performed, its possible restraints and underlying conditions. Mastering materials information may help your business thrive while the opposite may cause your organization to dwell in inefficiency and reprocessing.
Material master act as a fundamental basis by providing key and static information for business management, ensuring coherence in planning and production control. Essentially, they are the core of the supply chain, which is why it is essential to develop data quality control and governance systems to prevent errors and inconsistencies.
There are many concerns that businesses and end users face daily when dealing with the material master: In which organizational levels should I create this material? Do I really need to fill out all those fields? What’s the right value for that field? Sadly, most of the time there are no straightforward answers or clear business rules that ease the work. Then you get down to the common “we had always used this value” kind of answer, that prevents your business from fully capitalizing on your powerful SAP implementation.In this article, we will explain how to optimize material master data management in SAP and what the most suitable solution is for carrying out this task. A complementary solution is needed because, as we will see throughout the text, the SAP base system presents certain limitations that are important to consider.
Difficulties in material management in SAP
There are several challenges when dealing with the material master, that are common to most of the business that runs on SAP ECC or SAP S/4 HANA.. These difficulties negatively impact operational efficiency, generate additional costs in scenarios such as overstock or stopped maintenance, and increase errors in key processes, such as purchasing, inventory, maintenance, and production.
Material duplication
One of the most frequent problems is material duplication. The lack of strict controls in the system, combined with the possibility of creating materials with different codes despite sharing similar characteristics, facilitates the appearance of duplicate records. This mainly happens when there are no clear policies or methods with prior validations within the system.
Additionally, the automation of material entry is limited, which can lead to human errors due to manual processes, duplicated inventories, and unnecessary purchases. As a result, operational costs increase, and material traceability becomes more complex. All this consumes time and resources, in addition to affecting the accuracy of financial and inventory reports.
Manual creation of master data
The manual management of master data is another source of errors, as it can lead to the entry of incomplete or incorrect data. This happens because the SAP MM module requires the proper configuration of multiple views (purchasing, inventory, planning, etc.) for each material. If any of these views are incomplete or poorly configured, processes may fail.
Extending each material in every existing view/organizational unit is not a solution, as you may be enabling undesired processes for certain materials. For example, purchasing raw materials in a remote distribution center with no manufacturing process will probably be a costly error.
Lack of efficient data governance
Another major challenge is the difficulty in managing data governance effectively. This is partly due to the fact that SAP does not have a standard functionality for creating master data through automated workflows. As a result, there is no efficient procedure that involves the responsible departments in reviewing and validating data before it is loaded into the system.
In many cases, this forces companies to rely on inefficient external tools, such as Excel documents, which are often sent via email. This method introduces additional risks, such as human errors, delays, and difficulties in maintaining uniform standards across the entire organization.
Complications in large-scale processes
Finally, another recurring problem in SAP material management is complications in large-scale processes, such as data migrations or updates. This is because the SAP Material Master has limited tools to validate large volumes of data before loading them.
As a result, manual interventions are once again required, which increase human errors and generate data inconsistencies, such as missing records or incorrect formats in the templates used for loading information into the system.
Ultimately, SAP material management faces challenges such as the lack of standardized processes, excessive dependence on manual processes, and technical limitations that significantly impact the organization.
Considering these issues, at Innova, we have developed SiDM Materials, a solution designed to optimize material master data management in both SAP ECC and SAP S/4 HANA and address these challenges in the easiest and most reliable. Below, we will explain the main functionalities of this suite.
SiDM Materials: Optimized material management in SAP
Inefficiencies in SAP material management can be resolved with the right tools. SiDM Materials is the most comprehensive solution on the market for master data management of materials, and its implementation is fast and simple, as it does not require external components. It runs directly within SAP, eliminating the need for develop external integrations.
These are its main functionalities:
- Workflow and Request Control: Improves the management of material master data in SAP through flexible and user-friendly workflows, allowing for the creation, review, and approval of materials with greater control and precision.
- Incomplete Material Extension: Identifies and automatically expands missing information across different organizational units and views, ensuring data availability and correctness for daily operations.
- Automatic Data Validation: Applies business rules to verify, correct and even automatically populate virtually each field in the material master, preventing errors and optimizing key processes such as purchasing, sales, and inventory. And for more comfort, we can help you to build those business rules, using IA models to analyze your own historical master data and identify the proper patterns.
- Duplicate Material Correction: Detects and removes duplicates using multiple criteria, preventing errors in the database and additional costs.
- Texts standardization: Supports text templates definition, to ensure all materials descriptions (short and long) follow to a common standard. Even more, massive translations to different languages are easier than ever.
- Large-Scale Data Management: Facilitates migration, massive updates, and material extensions, allowing data import from Excel with automatic validations to ensure accuracy.
Simple solution for efficient management of your master data
To summarize, thanks to SiDM Materials, companies can achieve:
- Elimination of duplicate materials
- Higher quality and consistency in material master data
- Documented business rules keeping the know-how in your company
- Automation through customized workflows
- Mass data management without risks
- Reduction of operational workload for both the team and support staff
- Greater efficiency in purchasing, production, and logistics processes
The implementation of SiDM Materials ensures a fast return on investment, as it optimizes material master data management, improves data accuracy, streamlines operational processes, and strengthens business decision-making. Contact Innova App now and discover how SiDM Materials can transform material mastar data management in your SAP system.
