differnece B/w Xi and MDM

[Former Member]

Hi gurus

can one tell me difference b/w Xi and MDM..?

Regards

Dinesh

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

Hi Dinesh,

XI is bascially a middleware whereas MDM is used to manage your master data.

Data from various sources may it be R3, legacy, CRM ,SRM etc is extracted and converted to appropriate formats which are understood by MDM via XI and then imported to MDM where this data is further cleansed and enriched according to the requirements and sent back to the respective systems again via XI or via other ETL tools.

Hence though both being a part of netweaver stack the usecases of both are all together different.

Hope it helps.

Thanks,

Minaz

[Former Member]

Hi Dinesh,

XI and MDM both are SAP Netweaver Product. But XI is a middleware and MDM is master data management tool.

In MDM we can do different kind of data management like consolidation, harmonization and syndication. It is used to maintain the single version of truth master data across the enterprice which can helps to take the correct discission and improve the business process.

In other word XI is act as a middle ware. For example suppose the data store in SAPR/3 is not unique one or duplicate. So to maintain the unique and error free data we need to send the data from R/3 to MDM and MDM will consolidate the data. Here we use XI to send data from R/3 to MDM. Because the data from R/3 can be sent through IDOC. But MDM does not suppot IDOC . It support XML. So we need to convert this IDOC to XML and this conversion is done by XI.

Thanks

Dola Aich

[Former Member]

Hi Dinesh,

In addition to my above post, please refer to the link lelow:

Lessons Learned with Central Master Data Creation using SAP NetWeaver MDM - Webinar Powerpoint

https://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/scn/go/portal/prtroot/docs/library/uuid/40e820b3-88aa-2a10-beba-8b37a155...

This would throw some insight on SAP-MDM scenarios. Good point is that you will also find PI in many slides clearly show casing its use in many of the MDM scenarios as a middleware.

For ex, in SAPECC and MDM integration, ECC sends data in IDOC format, which MDM can't understand. Hence we use PI for converting IDOC into XML which then is imported into MDM as an XML file.

Hope this info helps.

Thanks and Regards

Nitin Jain

[former_member182007]

Hi Dinesh,

On the Top line if you look XI is just like a pipe which Helps to pass and Transforms the Data & Records in terms of Encryption and Decryption with respect to the Other Systems in Landscape.

As far as MDM is Concern it Basically use for Data Deduplication and it also helps to maintain the Data Quality,Governance and Completness.

Hope it helps,

Rgds

Deepak

[Former Member]

Hi Dinesh,

SAP-XI is a middleware system and integrates any 2 systems may it be SAP or Non-SAP also. Recently its name is changes to SAP-PI which is Process Integration.

SAP MDM on ther other hand is a Master data Management tool used for handling only the Master data. For ex, if you talk about the Employee Master data, MDM can take care of the Employee records, consisting Employee ID, Name, Circle, Unit, Manager etc.

Yes, there are similarities in MDM and XI like you can use conversions in both of them as both are very strong tools. However, the main advantage of PI is that it integrates any 2 systems very easily.

MDM on the other hand is focissed on Cleansing, De-duplications, Governance ( using MDM Workflows), Images, PDf handling etc. In most cases infact we use PI to integrate MDM with other SAP systems such as SAP ECC.

Please go through the link below to understand a scenario where both MDM and PI (XI) are used.:

R/3-XI-MDM (Outbound Scenario) :

/people/balas.gorla/blog/2007/02/05/r3-xi-mdm-outbound-scenario

MDM-XI-R/3 Integration

/people/balas.gorla/blog/2006/09/27/mdm-xi-r3-integration

This would help you understand the use of both the tools clearly.

Hope this info helps.

Thanks and Regards

Nitin Jain

[Former Member]

Hi Dinesh,.

XI and MDM are two different Netweaver applications for two different Usage:

- SAP XI : This is now called PI(Process Integartion).It is responsible for Data format conversion and Monitoring.Xi is mostly used in any landscape as a middleware for data conversion and transfer.It is also used in mnay cases when integrating MDM with others systems.

To know more on this:

https://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/sdn/go/portal/prtroot/docs/library/uuid/b0c2cb0f-6364-2b10-d181-91820cba... integration with Xi)

http://help.sap.com/saphelp_erp2004/helpdata/en/dc/6b835943d711d1893e0000e8323c4f/content.htm (XI config for MDM)

- SAP MDM: This is a Master data Management tool for managing the master data related issue with ease .It does not perform any data conversion and deals specifically with master data objects.It can integrate with SAP and Non SAP system to pull in the master data and cleanse and maintain the master data within MDM before sending it to the target systems back.

To know more on this:

[original link is broken] (Getting started with MDM)

http://help.sap.com/saphelp_mdm550/helpdata/en/43/D7AED5058201B4E10000000A11466F/frameset.htm(new to MDM)

Hope It Helped

Thanks & Regards

Simona Pinto