Vendor master data cleansing

[Former Member]

Hi Experts,

I need to find a way to do vendor master data cleansing because we have duplicates and corrupt data in the system. We have no tool (not SAP MDM or any third-party tool) and number of vendors is too big (around 22000) so we can't do in manually (with excel or access).

Can you please help me with advice how to do it, do you have any suggestions?

I am particulary interested in data cleansing criteria, do you have any documents which describe criteria used to clean data?

Thanx in advance.

Ivana

[Former Member]

We can't use SAP MDM because our client can't afford it (or is not interested in data cleansing tools), so we will have to do it manually. It would also be helpfull if you know for any free (or trial) tool that could be useful.

Problem with manual cleansing is that I don't know from where to start.

Can you suggest me what methodology I should use? Meaning, should I:

a) download all vendors in excel (and how do I do that)?

b) manually search for duplicates

c) upload new vendor master to R/3

or you suggest I do it differently and how?

Regarding criteria for finding duplicates, I can't use address fields, because most of them are invalid (wrong city, state, postal code). How do I clean data when I have following situation?

Vendor: ABC Company

Street: 5th avenue 1

City: London

Postal Code:123456789

State: Romania

Address fields are evidentlly wrong, but I can't think of any criteria which would give me that information without me reading all 22000 records

[Former Member]

Hello Ivana,

I have found this product which is helpful in data cleansing and in validations etc........

Try this link <a href="http://www.soft32.com/download_208044.html">Download</a>

Regards Dollar Man

[michael_theis]

Hi Ivana,

Main components of data cleansing is the search for and identification of possible duplicates. SAP MDM is a tool that can support you with this task. If you do not use MDM (or any other tools), you sould have a look at the capabilities of yours system. Maybe your system contains a functionality that can help you to identify duplicates.

Data cleansing criteria does always depend on the existing data. Useful criteria for vendor master data is the vendor name, the vendor address, and - if available - any unique data segments (like VAT numbers, DUNS number, and so on). you should check your data which segments you can use for cleansing. If your vendor data is very poor within the address segments, it makes no sense to use the address data for cleansing. So it is very hard to give a detailed suggestions how cleansing criteria has to look like.

BR Michael

[Former Member]

Hello Ivana,

Cud u be a little more specific regarding what help do u need that is do u want to cleanse data with MDM or not ??????

Regards Dollar Man