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You had great hopes after spending millions to implement SAP Master Data Governance (MDG) — improved master data quality, streamlined processes, and business teams finally empowered to manage their own master data. And yet, the signs of problems persist. If you’re experiencing any of the following, your SAP MDG needs help.
The Warning Signs:
- Business teams still rely on Email and Excel for data collection — despite SAP MDG, spreadsheets remain the de facto tool for gathering master data from the business
- Master data requests take days or weeks instead of hours — long cycle times persist because business teams spend a lot of time on data collection, and coordination before the data is ready for SAP MDG.
- First-time-right rates remain below 85% — data errors continue to slip through, requiring rework and corrections in MDG as well as SAP ERP.
- Persistent data quality issues in your operational systems — your ERP, planning tools, logistics, MES, CRM, and e-commerce platforms still suffer from poor master data
- Errors are being fixed directly in operational systems, because a lot of key Master Data bypasses SAP MDG, and fixing in SAP MDG is too cumbersome.
- Expensive SAP MDG consultants are doing non-value-added work — highly paid resources spend their time on manual data entry and corrections.
- Business users rarely touch the system — SAP MDG sits underutilized while your business teams find workarounds.
5 Root causes for why SAP MDG needs help
1. SAP Master Data Terminology Is Too Complicated for Business Teams
SAP MDG is tied to SAP ERP’s master data structures, field names, and terminology, all of which are cryptic to business teams. As a result, the only practical way for business teams to request anything that meets the business needs is through Excel spreadsheets, emails, or other workarounds.
2. Good Support for Core Data, Little to None for Extended Master Data
SAP MDG does a reasonable job for core master data. The bigger issue is with respect to Extended master data (BOMs, recipes, routings, production versions, quality inspection plans, specifications, regulatory data, supplier certifications, and more), which can account for up to 80% of your total master data scope. SAP MDG provides little to no support for this critical data. When the business can’t manage extended data in SAP MDG, they bypass it by creating alternate workflows, spreadsheets, and other methods, increasing the chance of errors propagating and longer cycle times.
3. Near Impossible to Support Other Business Systems
Most businesses don’t run on SAP ERP alone. Many manufacturing organizations use planning systems such as O9, OMP, and Kinaxis, logistics platforms such as Manhattan and Blue Yonder, MES from Rockwell and Siemens, and CRM systems such as Salesforce, alongside SAP ERP. These systems all need master data, and SAP MDG makes it extremely difficult, if not impossible, to support them. The result is fragmented master data governance, with each system operating as its own island.
4. No Error-Proofing at the Source
Without support for error-proofing at the source of master data, poor master data flows freely into SAP MDG and propagates downstream into ERP. SAP MDG wasn’t designed to validate and catch errors at the point of data collection. By the time master data reaches SAP MDG, it’s already too late, the errors are baked in, and your team spends its time fixing problems instead of preventing them.
5. Continuous Improvement Is Extremely Difficult
Master data governance usually gets better over time. Most companies identify process bottlenecks and continuously refine master governance and related workflows. But SAP MDG makes continuous improvement extremely difficult. The rigidity of the system, combined with the lack of visibility into front-end processes, means business and master data teams are stuck with what was designed with no room for improvement. Over time, they stop using the system because it does not support changing circumstances.
How to Get More from Your SAP MDG Investment
You shouldn’t break what is working in SAP MDG. Unless, of course, the value you are getting is negligible. If the SAP MDG solution is handling core master data well and distributing it to ERP, we recommend keeping it as is.
To fix the seven signs of breakdown, you can add a process orchestration-based solution like ZMDM in front of SAP MDG to support:
- Simple, intelligent, and governed front-end data collection from business teams
- Error-proofing as part of front-end data collection
- Extended Master Data for SAP ERP
- Master data needs of non-SAP systems