Category: Business Partner

Business Partner Requirements and Configuration

Posted on December 22, 2021 by - Business Partner, MDA Workbench

S/4HANA Business Partner master data design requires a structured approach to track the many moving parts.

In this 7-minute video, I share my template for doing just that. It’s a small insight into the process of crafting a master data design for Business Partner.

I also share how I quickly analyze Business Partner configuration in any SAP system-client. That’s super valuable. For this task, MDA Workbench is the secret enabler.

The output (analysis) looks just like the input (requirements). That’s because these are two sides of the same coin.

Over time, I’ve got to build up functional requirements and express them in a way that properly enables accurate configuration. And then I need to be able to quickly evaluate the Business Partner configuration in any system-client … on demand, and repeatedly. With a few minutes of effort, not hours!

What you’re going to see fits this specific use case, but the concept is totally generic — I use this approach for all kinds of configuration and master data analysis. And now so can you.

SAP S/4HANA Business Partner Objects

Posted on December 15, 2021 by - Business Partner, MDA Magazine

If you want to understand S/4HANA Business Partner, then you need to stop thinking 𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙢𝙨 𝙤𝙛 Customers and Vendors, but continually think 𝙖𝙗𝙤𝙪𝙩 Customers and Vendors.

If you know about Customers and Vendors in ECC 6.0 then this requires a dramatic shift in thinking!

I’ll confess, even experts need an occasional reminder of exactly how Business Partner is astonishingly complex, massively duplicative, simplification. All at once. But simplification accrues to users and the enterprise. You and I — responsible to implement Business Partner — get to wrestle with complexity and duplicative data.

I can tell you this much with certainty:  Continuing to think  𝙞𝙣 𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙢𝙨 𝙤𝙛 Customers and Vendors is a path to misery.

Business Partner Errors in Production

Posted on November 30, 2021 by - Business Partner, MDA Magazine

SAP S/4HANA Business Partners, extended to a Customer or Supplier role, bring the possibility of a special class of errors. Are you prepared for these in your Production environment?

Let’s frame the key decision: What is Postprocessing Office and should it be active for Business Partner in Production?

A bevy of related SAP Notes seemingly offer contradictory advice — or no advice — about whether Postprocessing Office (PPO) should be active for Business Partner (BP) synchronization in an S/4HANA production environment.  SAP Note 1573189, specifically recommends that PPO “should be deactivated in production system …”

Maybe, and maybe not. I agree with experts who say that this “recommendation” should be understood as one option, with tradeoffs to be carefully weighed. Further, we agree that — with eyes wide open — activating PPO in Production may be your best alternative.

Archive SAP Retail Site and Business Partner

Posted on October 7, 2020 by - Business Partner, Site Master

Archiving is a tedious task! And so infrequently done, who can remember the steps? I’ve carefully documented it here so that you and I never forget again!

The steps for archiving Site Business Partner also apply to plain old Business Partners and dependent objects. So now you’ve got that in your bag of tricks too!.

Archiving is a seldom-executed process in the course of implementing SAP Retail. And archiving of Site Master is even less likely to occur, unless as a necessary corrective for mistakenly created data. That’s a less-than-ideal occasion for dusting off old or never-practiced archiving skills.

Worry not! You’ll be prepared for success with this detailed guide to archiving Retail Site, Business Partner, and dependent objects.

Peeking Behind the Curtain of S/4HANA Business Partner

Posted on August 6, 2020 by - Business Partner, MDA Magazine

Of all that you’ve likely read on the topic of S/4HANA Business Partner, it’s typically not clear – or simply said – that Customer and Vendor Masters fully exist in S/4HANA, exactly as they did in ECC 6.0. They’re just hidden behind Business Partner.

What’s more, and to the point, SAP S/4HANA Sales and Distribution (SD) and Materials Management (MM) modules — and many others — remain blissfully unaware of Business Partner. They continue to use only plain old Customer and Vendor Masters.

Full stop! What does that mean for your Business Partner master data design in SAP S/4HANA ERP? It means that you’re more responsible than ever for the maintenance and outcome of Customer and Vendor.

Years after introduction, plain statements such as these about the S/4HANA implementation of Business Partner – practical implementation advice for SAP Architects and SAP Master Data practitioners – remain in short supply. Written hot on the heels of surviving the crucible of multiple implementations of S/4HANA ERP in 1709 and 1809, this document aims to mitigate that deficiency.

Let’s take a good, long peek behind the curtain, shall we?