Master Data Governance: An Overview and Key Considerations

What Is Master Data?

The Data Governance Institute (DGI) defines master data as “the ‘nouns’ upon which business transactions take action.”

Master data, explains DGI, “describes core entities of an enterprise that are used by multiple business process and IT systems. Examples are parties (e.g., customers, employees, vendors, and suppliers), places (e.g., locations, sales territories, and offices), and things (e.g., accounts, products, assets, and document sets).”

Master data, also known as data domains, is often thought of as the core building blocks upon which your business is built.

What Is Master Data Governance?

Master data governance can help a business achieve high-quality master data and visibility into its processes.

Master data governance can, for example, allow for a standard and consistent definition to be created to define “customer,” resulting in a single customer view across multiple lines of business. It does this by allowing a glossary of agreed terminology to be created, along with specific metadata attributes.

Master data management (MDM) can be used as a tool to support master data governance strategy; however, MDM and master data governance should not be confused as the same thing.

The master data governance solution provided by SAP, SAP Master Data Governance, allows organizations to pull together master data from all parts of the organization and manage it centrally. The SAP Master Data Governance application can be implemented on SAP S/4HANA and can be deployed on-premise or in the private or public cloud.

Key Considerations for SAPinsiders

Master Data Governance: An Overview and Key Considerations

What Is Master Data?

The Data Governance Institute (DGI) defines master data as “the ‘nouns’ upon which business transactions take action.”

Master data, explains DGI, “describes core entities of an enterprise that are used by multiple business process and IT systems. Examples are parties (e.g., customers, employees, vendors, and suppliers), places (e.g., locations, sales territories, and offices), and things (e.g., accounts, products, assets, and document sets).”

Master data, also known as data domains, is often thought of as the core building blocks upon which your business is built.

What Is Master Data Governance?

Master data governance can help a business achieve high-quality master data and visibility into its processes.

Master data governance can, for example, allow for a standard and consistent definition to be created to define “customer,” resulting in a single customer view across multiple lines of business. It does this by allowing a glossary of agreed terminology to be created, along with specific metadata attributes.

Master data management (MDM) can be used as a tool to support master data governance strategy; however, MDM and master data governance should not be confused as the same thing.

The master data governance solution provided by SAP, SAP Master Data Governance, allows organizations to pull together master data from all parts of the organization and manage it centrally. The SAP Master Data Governance application can be implemented on SAP S/4HANA and can be deployed on-premise or in the private or public cloud.

Key Considerations for SAPinsiders

The following points can help you implement effective master data governance:

• Establish master data governance business processes flows. According to the author of this technical article, “An Introduction to SAP Master Data Governance,” Mohammad Assad Shaik, says developers can use rule-based workflow (RBW) templates to configure master data governance business process flows. “RBW uses the Business Rules Framework Plus (BRF+) component as the configuration engine. Although the SAP Business Workflow is the foundation for the RBW, the look, feel, and configuration mechanism vary,” writes the author. “RBW not only supports the approval processes but also executes validations at defined steps.”
• Create a use case. In his article, Shaik describes a scenario where an enterprise is operating three SAP ECC systems, one for each business unit. The steps listed describe how the enterprise selected a deployment model for material master data maintenance using SAP Master Data Governance. Read the use case.
• Improve supply chain operations with the right master data governance tools. The data governance team at Ascend Performance Materials was tasked with improving multiple supply chain processes to help its supply chain technicians, mechanics, and other employees find the data they needed faster. To address the challenges, Ascend worked with Winshuttle (acquired by Precisely in 2021) to implement Winshuttle Foundation, a business process automation and data management platform with deep SAP integration capabilities. It also implemented Winshuttle Studio. Read how these solutions enable a flexible and iterative approach into the business.