CDI

[Former Member]

Hi!

Can anyone please address the following questions:

- Who are the data quality partners for SAP? if none, how does SAP go about the data profiling, cleansing, matching, de-dup stages?

- SAP is primarily looked upon as a PIM vendor. Does SAP MDM has customers in the CDI area too? If yes, who are they? Are their any indian customers? In case anyone has any case study in this context, I'll be obliged if you forward the same.

Thanks,

Taj.

[Mark63 · Accepted solution]

SAP NetWeaver MDM 5.5 SP4 features a semi-automated deduplication based on matching strategies (for details, see the documentation on the SAP Help Portal (http://help.sap.com/saphelp_mdm550/helpdata/en/44/ab6b6f65d37455e10000000a11466f/content.htm), and the blog by Michael Reil (/people/michael.reil/blog/2006/05/18/mdm-matching-strategies-for-master-data-consolidation).

In addition, the product features an open data enrichment architecture (that is, openness to 3rd party services in the area of data enrichment. This is also documented on the SAP Help Portal, see http://help.sap.com/saphelp_mdm550/helpdata/en/44/ab6b6f65d37455e10000000a11466f/frameset.htm).

SAP offers two certification options for SAP NetWeaver MDM. The first option is SAP-certified integration for MDM enrichment adapters, which allows business information providers to link their data enrichment services to SAP NetWeaver MDM (e.g. Trillium is a certified partner). The second option is the SAP-certified

integration for MDM content, which allows partners to provide additional, certified business content for SAP NetWeaver MDM.

Some time ago, I posted a blog on the IT practice data unification (featuring master data management, in which I informed about a Web campaign showing the SAP NetWeaver IT practices. The Data Unification part of it contains (among other useful information) a flash demo showing a CDI scenario with SAP NetWeaver MDM. Check the blog and the given link therein: https://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/sdn/weblogs?blog=/pub/wlg/3718. [original link is broken] [original link is broken] [original link is broken] [original link is broken]

Regards,

Markus

Message was edited by:

Markus Ganser

[Former Member]

Thanks Markus!

Is real time event detection planned for future releases? Does SAP support the transactional hub style?

[Mark63]

There are server-based components for the automation of data load and distribution (that is, MDM Import Server -> see http://help.sap.com/saphelp_mdm550/helpdata/en/19/d4301589b54841af17e7c42b4cee49/frameset.htm and MDM Syndication Server -> see http://help.sap.com/saphelp_mdm550/helpdata/en/45/79fc8663a11956e10000000a11466f/frameset.htm.

For questions on the future scope I have to quote Bob Dylan: "The answer is blowing in the wind..."

Best regards,

Markus

[Former Member]

Let me put it this way - Say I have customer X in my MDM repository. Today is his bday. Would the MDM have the capability to generate an alert notification stating it is X's bday (in case he is our loyal customer and we plan to wish him, this feature would come handy). Also, can you help me with some customer case studies (CDI, not PIM)?

[Mark63]

Nice feature indeed. However, generally I'd say that MDM's main task is data consistency (focussing on globally relevant attributes), and the leading system to trigger business operation based on consolidated master data (such as the marketing campaign you stated) is CRM.

[Former Member]

You are right Markus, but many companies that implement CRM do it within a single department, not enterprise wide. These siloed data might have existed for years and organizations may not wish to change their structure owing to political or organizational hurdles.

Also, for doing things enterprise wide one has to address underlying infrastructure issues around data consolidation and data management and semantic issues. CDI should help consolidate all the information for a CRM initiative (especially when you are targetting customers for giving them the umbrella brand experience). Else, its capabilities would be very limited and am afraid, not very attractive either.

[Mark63]

But this is exactly what MDM is all about. Centrally consolidating master data (e.g. customer data) from dispersed application systems in a repository using the specified matching techniques and enrichment capabilites (while managing the key mapping information), and harmonizing master data in such landscapes by distributing the consolidated information to the application systems.

[Former Member]

Hi Markus,

Does SAP MDM provides web services and real time event detection? If yes, which business services relevant from a CDI perspective, does it provide?

[Mark63]

The MDM Web services are documented at http://help.sap.com/saphelp_mdm550/helpdata/en/45/018c03166a0486e10000000a155369/frameset.htm.

Regards,

Markus

[Former Member]

Hi Markus,

I had already referred that blog since you had sent me the link in your earlier reply too. My question was based on that only. Following is an excerpt of the blog -

"The Rules tab (with which you can specify a score for the success, failure and undefined conditions) allows you to define matching rules that are for comparing field values of record pairs. The matching functions include Equals (exact match) and Token Equals (match on one or more tokens). The set of functions will increase over time, making MDM matching highly extensible."

It clearly states that as of now the matching functionality is very limited. The only enhancement that I see is that while earlier one had to manually merge records once they were detected as suspects for a match, now it can happen automatically.

[Mark63]

Prior to SP4, the detection of duplicates was based on interactive search and comparison, whereas as of SP04 the matching mode allows for strategy-based duplicate detection (including indicators such as matching scores). So the detection of possible duplicates has been streamlined a lot compared to previous editions of MDM 5.5. (It's not about the merge step).

So I think this is a substantial improvement.

Regards,

Markus

[Former Member]

Thanks Markus,

I'd also appreciate if you could share some case studies (CDI) with me. Also, has there been any enhancements in SP05 as far as the data cleansing, de-dup, match and merge are concerned. What I can make out from your blog's demo is that SAP MDM's only matching capability is based on the combination of attributes, defined by the user.

[Mark63]

The demo is based on an MDM 5.5 release prior to SP4. MDM 5.5 SP4 features a new matching mode in the MDM Data Manager where you can set rules and strategies for matching. For details on this, see the blog /people/michael.reil/blog/2006/05/18/mdm-matching-strategies-for-master-data-consolidation and the documentation on SAP Help Portal (http://help.sap.com/saphelp_mdm550/helpdata/en/b6/14124aae4a46b4b3be41001eb54b51/frameset.htm (sorry the link in my first response was wrong)).

SP5 enhancements are yet to be announced.

-Markus

Message was edited by:

Markus Ganser