To provide news on SAP NetWeaver MDM documentation updates in a timely manner, the MDM documentation team has provided a dedicated space in the MDM documentation center at SAP Service Marketplace for quite some time now (see SAP NetWeaver MDM 7.1 documentation updates, or SAP NetWeaver MDM 5.5 documentation updates).
To further streamline the publication channel for SAP NetWeaver MDM 7.1 documentation updates according to the MDM community on SDN, the MDM documentation team has decided to open a specific SDN thread in addition to the specified space at SAP Service Marketplace, and is commited to use the SDN discussion forum to continuously post information about docu updates and new documentation. So it's up to you to select the channel that suits you best.
Simply watch this new SDN thread, or include it in your favourite links if you like to stay tuned on what's going on in SAP NetWeaver MDM 7.1 documentation.
Tribute goes to the MDM documentation team.
Regards,
Markus
Monday, May 18, 2009
Google maps inside MDM Vito Palasciano
Introduction
Sometimes it can be useful to locate a vendor in order to understand in which part of the world it carries out his business activities. This blog describes how to encapsulate Google Maps directly into MDM so that it will show the vendor address each time a vendor is selected.
Getting to work…
Using the Google maps Web site (http://maps.google.com/) it is possible to search an address everywhere in the world. Once an address has been located, the “link“ functionality (the hypertext indicated by the red arrow) can be used in order to obtain the full link to the map, as highlighted in the red frame.
Google Maps
In the example above the link is http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Italy,+MILAN,+VIA+CALDERA+21
where the parameters are language (English, in this example) and address (Italy, MILAN, VIA CALDERA 21, in this example).
SAP MDM provides us with a tool named Web Tab which can be used to call an external application just by adding an URL in the Links table in Console and specifying same parameters.
It is necessary to paste a new link version into the Web Tab URL:
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=
where parameter geo_map is a calculated field in MDM that contains Country name, City and Company Name separated by a comma.
A new link version into the Web Tab URL
Additionally, it is necessary to set the Web Pane URL in the configuration option in MDM Data Manager:
Web Pane URL configuration option
From now on, it will be possible to select a vendor and see the related map, as in the following examples:
Techedge Milan
Techedge Chicago
And, finally, hoping that Techedge will sooner or later open a branch at Beau Vallon Beach…
Techedge Seychelles
Enjoy your maps!
Vito Palasciano
Vito Palasciano is a Solution Architect at TechEdge currently focused on SAP Master Data Management.
Sometimes it can be useful to locate a vendor in order to understand in which part of the world it carries out his business activities. This blog describes how to encapsulate Google Maps directly into MDM so that it will show the vendor address each time a vendor is selected.
Getting to work…
Using the Google maps Web site (http://maps.google.com/) it is possible to search an address everywhere in the world. Once an address has been located, the “link“ functionality (the hypertext indicated by the red arrow) can be used in order to obtain the full link to the map, as highlighted in the red frame.
Google Maps
In the example above the link is http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=Italy,+MILAN,+VIA+CALDERA+21
where the parameters are language (English, in this example) and address (Italy, MILAN, VIA CALDERA 21, in this example).
SAP MDM provides us with a tool named Web Tab which can be used to call an external application just by adding an URL in the Links table in Console and specifying same parameters.
It is necessary to paste a new link version into the Web Tab URL:
http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=
where parameter geo_map is a calculated field in MDM that contains Country name, City and Company Name separated by a comma.
A new link version into the Web Tab URL
Additionally, it is necessary to set the Web Pane URL in the configuration option in MDM Data Manager:
Web Pane URL configuration option
From now on, it will be possible to select a vendor and see the related map, as in the following examples:
Techedge Milan
Techedge Chicago
And, finally, hoping that Techedge will sooner or later open a branch at Beau Vallon Beach…
Techedge Seychelles
Enjoy your maps!
Vito Palasciano
Vito Palasciano is a Solution Architect at TechEdge currently focused on SAP Master Data Management.
MDM: Expectations v/s Realities
Master Data Management as a concept has existed as long as the ERP market or even before. The concept has been to help efficiently manage transactional and reporting functions within an application by having a separate repository for master data. The master data function gets called dynamically within the execution of a transaction.
This concept has evolved over the years, due to complexity of businesses and hence the IT Systems that are required to support it. In recent years the concept is gaining maturity by looking at Master data as a function to feed systems enterprise wide, not ERP alone. Hence MDM is now being viewed as a de-coupled application from the ERP applications.
Many vendors, some niche and other ERP vendors, have products to address this space. Though Gartner has reported the relative capability across various products in the ‘Magic Quadrant’, Consultants and Clients alike, are aware that none of the products have matured enough to warrant the name of ‘MDM Package Solution’. The products are still in the form of a tool/platform and a basic framework over which clients are expected to build a custom solution. Depending on what the client wants to achieve, the solution build up can be as expensive as a custom solution on any other platform.
SAP’s MDM product addresses master data across the enterprise like Material, Vendor and Customer. It also has certain content that is much suited for an SAP environment, hence there is good amount of data modeling effort that can be saved if the company has a SAP based landscape. These are some of the key differentiators for SAP MDM against other contemporaries.
The other features, like de-duplication, merging, harmonization etc are also part of the Product offerings.
However, the above alone does not make the offering a rich or a mature one. Today, the companies need to orchestrate and manage master data as a central application to the Enterprise. This needs a robust, user friendly and configurable package with a host of functionalities. The requirement from the Industry is the following:
* User friendly screens
* Complex validations that may need to be called from other applications
* Easy to configure and
* Manage workflows for data approval
What can SAP do to meet the above requirements with the current MDM package?
* SAP needs to bring the Key components of Enterprise Portal and MDM together. This would mean that the configuration of screens and fields should be in sync and should not appear as two disjoint applications.
* Since the companies preferring SAP MDM are predominantly SAP shops, SAP needs to have EP-MDM ready for an SAP landscape. The lead time to configure and set up a Central master data management should come down drastically. This will increase the adoption and usability of SAP MDM
* SAP has tried to merge BO with SAP MDM, but these again should not be viewed and communicated as two different components. This should be communicated and projected as one single component. Currently there is a lot of confusion on what is the ETL recommended, is it of BOBJ or SAP MDM? These confusions in messaging adds to the reluctance in adoption
* Workflow is a major component of central master data management. The workflow in some cases can be as complex as running across SAP MDM and SAP ECC or other SAP applications. This can be done using the new BPM, but this again needs to be offered as a part of the product.
SAP needs to work on maturing the product to make it a robust single unit, than expect customers to work on multiple components such as BPM, EP, Webdynpro and MDM to put up a MDM Solution. Essentially, the concept can be borrowed from ECC, where-in you have; Transactional processing UI; Configuration and Developer workbench. The skills required for the same are Functional and ABAP technical and it is easy to implement and use.
The skills required for setting up the current MDM solution –using number of SAP components- are too many and can act as a big entry barrier for larger customer adoption.
SAP needs to put in a lot of resources and get this going fast before customers start looking at other products to meet their MDM needs. Most of the vendors are just catching up and faster they move the larger the pie of the market they will acquire.
Historically SAP has developed a number of products and matured it quickly to gain market share. The more recent example being CRM. I would still place my bets on SAP maturing the MDM solution to the leadership space of the Magic Quadrant.
Ravishankar Hossur Prinicpal Consultant; SAP Technologies
This concept has evolved over the years, due to complexity of businesses and hence the IT Systems that are required to support it. In recent years the concept is gaining maturity by looking at Master data as a function to feed systems enterprise wide, not ERP alone. Hence MDM is now being viewed as a de-coupled application from the ERP applications.
Many vendors, some niche and other ERP vendors, have products to address this space. Though Gartner has reported the relative capability across various products in the ‘Magic Quadrant’, Consultants and Clients alike, are aware that none of the products have matured enough to warrant the name of ‘MDM Package Solution’. The products are still in the form of a tool/platform and a basic framework over which clients are expected to build a custom solution. Depending on what the client wants to achieve, the solution build up can be as expensive as a custom solution on any other platform.
SAP’s MDM product addresses master data across the enterprise like Material, Vendor and Customer. It also has certain content that is much suited for an SAP environment, hence there is good amount of data modeling effort that can be saved if the company has a SAP based landscape. These are some of the key differentiators for SAP MDM against other contemporaries.
The other features, like de-duplication, merging, harmonization etc are also part of the Product offerings.
However, the above alone does not make the offering a rich or a mature one. Today, the companies need to orchestrate and manage master data as a central application to the Enterprise. This needs a robust, user friendly and configurable package with a host of functionalities. The requirement from the Industry is the following:
* User friendly screens
* Complex validations that may need to be called from other applications
* Easy to configure and
* Manage workflows for data approval
What can SAP do to meet the above requirements with the current MDM package?
* SAP needs to bring the Key components of Enterprise Portal and MDM together. This would mean that the configuration of screens and fields should be in sync and should not appear as two disjoint applications.
* Since the companies preferring SAP MDM are predominantly SAP shops, SAP needs to have EP-MDM ready for an SAP landscape. The lead time to configure and set up a Central master data management should come down drastically. This will increase the adoption and usability of SAP MDM
* SAP has tried to merge BO with SAP MDM, but these again should not be viewed and communicated as two different components. This should be communicated and projected as one single component. Currently there is a lot of confusion on what is the ETL recommended, is it of BOBJ or SAP MDM? These confusions in messaging adds to the reluctance in adoption
* Workflow is a major component of central master data management. The workflow in some cases can be as complex as running across SAP MDM and SAP ECC or other SAP applications. This can be done using the new BPM, but this again needs to be offered as a part of the product.
SAP needs to work on maturing the product to make it a robust single unit, than expect customers to work on multiple components such as BPM, EP, Webdynpro and MDM to put up a MDM Solution. Essentially, the concept can be borrowed from ECC, where-in you have; Transactional processing UI; Configuration and Developer workbench. The skills required for the same are Functional and ABAP technical and it is easy to implement and use.
The skills required for setting up the current MDM solution –using number of SAP components- are too many and can act as a big entry barrier for larger customer adoption.
SAP needs to put in a lot of resources and get this going fast before customers start looking at other products to meet their MDM needs. Most of the vendors are just catching up and faster they move the larger the pie of the market they will acquire.
Historically SAP has developed a number of products and matured it quickly to gain market share. The more recent example being CRM. I would still place my bets on SAP maturing the MDM solution to the leadership space of the Magic Quadrant.
Ravishankar Hossur Prinicpal Consultant; SAP Technologies
SAP Business Objects and SAP NetWeaver MDM - Bringing Together The Best of Two Worlds--Markus Ganser
This is really good news for data stewards and other IT people dedicated to information management and data quality management: SAP Business Objects and SAP NetWeaver continue to team up in a common approach to establish sustained enterprise strategies.
Attentive community readers may already have noticed that the SAP NetWeaver Information Management space and the SAP Business Objects Information Management space are semantically closely related, both covering one and the same hot spot in current enterprise strategies applied to gain the competitive edge. This has already been addressed in the Extending the Value of SAP NetWeaver Business Intelligence with the Business Objects Business Intelligence Platform presentation. And - the common ground can also be observed in the master data management space.
As already depicted in the SAP NetWeaver Master Data Management roadmap graphic below, you can see one example of how these areas have started to interact, combining the best of two worlds featuring end-to-end data quality driven master data management.
Roadmap2008
[*) Please note that possible future developments are subject to change and may be changed by SAP at any time for any reason without notice]
With the Data Quality Management (DQM) for SAP NetWeaver MDM package at hand, you can leverage the powerful address cleansing capabilities of SAP Business Objects Data Services in SAP NetWeaver MDM*.
For an architectural overview of SAP NetWeaver MDM and SAP Business Objects interacting through the DQM-MDM Enrichment Adapter see the following graphic.
image"
From the package you will get the following benefits:
1. Ready-to-run sophisticated address cleansing capabilities on an international scale.
2. Master data excellence by combining master data quality and master data persistency
3. Streamlined service-based integration via the MDM Enrichment Architecture.
4. Workflow-embedded data enrichment process.
The related user guide provides a general overview of BusinessObjects™ Data Quality Management software, version for SAP NetWeaver MDM, as well as specific information for installing and integrating this product with SAP NetWeaver MDM.
SAP Business Objects Data Services customers can download the Data Quality Management (DQM) for SAP NetWeaver MDM package from the SAP Download Center (Path: Download > Installations and Upgrades > Entry by Application Group > SAP Business Objects packages and products > BOBJ DQM FOR SAP NW MDM).
*) refers to SAP NetWeaver MDM 5.5 SP6; version for SAP NetWeaver MDM 7.1 is coming soon (will be announced separately)
Attentive community readers may already have noticed that the SAP NetWeaver Information Management space and the SAP Business Objects Information Management space are semantically closely related, both covering one and the same hot spot in current enterprise strategies applied to gain the competitive edge. This has already been addressed in the Extending the Value of SAP NetWeaver Business Intelligence with the Business Objects Business Intelligence Platform presentation. And - the common ground can also be observed in the master data management space.
As already depicted in the SAP NetWeaver Master Data Management roadmap graphic below, you can see one example of how these areas have started to interact, combining the best of two worlds featuring end-to-end data quality driven master data management.
Roadmap2008
[*) Please note that possible future developments are subject to change and may be changed by SAP at any time for any reason without notice]
With the Data Quality Management (DQM) for SAP NetWeaver MDM package at hand, you can leverage the powerful address cleansing capabilities of SAP Business Objects Data Services in SAP NetWeaver MDM*.
For an architectural overview of SAP NetWeaver MDM and SAP Business Objects interacting through the DQM-MDM Enrichment Adapter see the following graphic.
image"
From the package you will get the following benefits:
1. Ready-to-run sophisticated address cleansing capabilities on an international scale.
2. Master data excellence by combining master data quality and master data persistency
3. Streamlined service-based integration via the MDM Enrichment Architecture.
4. Workflow-embedded data enrichment process.
The related user guide provides a general overview of BusinessObjects™ Data Quality Management software, version for SAP NetWeaver MDM, as well as specific information for installing and integrating this product with SAP NetWeaver MDM.
SAP Business Objects Data Services customers can download the Data Quality Management (DQM) for SAP NetWeaver MDM package from the SAP Download Center (Path: Download > Installations and Upgrades > Entry by Application Group > SAP Business Objects packages and products > BOBJ DQM FOR SAP NW MDM).
*) refers to SAP NetWeaver MDM 5.5 SP6; version for SAP NetWeaver MDM 7.1 is coming soon (will be announced separately)
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Latest updates from sdn.sap.com
SAP Developer Network Latest Updates
Posts
