When it comes to finding the right master data objects in SAP Master Data Governance (MDG), there is a lot of room for improvement. Users need to input a handful of search criteria just to be presented with a result list that does not contain the information that they need. If you want to know how easy it can be to add the relevant information and consequently make the life of your MDG users easier – keep reading.
Finding the right information is hard
Even after narrowing down a HANA search result with the available search criteria in SAP MDG, it is often still possible to receive a list consisting of tens of Business Partners (BP). Finding the right master data poses a time consuming and laborious task, even with relatively small result sets. Just imagine searching for one of your biggest customers, which is maintained in the system as individual dataset for each shipping destination – a search result mess.
The fundamental problem here is the layout of the SAP out-of-the box solution, which does not provide sufficient information about the object being searched to the user (see the video below). It is sometimes very hard for the user to distinguish between similar objects without opening them and checking each of them manually. Unique characteristic features or dependent data, such as addresses or bank details, are not displayed in the standard SAP search result list.
An informative search result lists is quite easy to achieve
To establish a good user experience, Camelot provides an adaptable enhanced search result list. With our solution it is possible to add data, remove unnecessary ones or link a Quickview to a value field. These are especially handy because additional data can be displayed when hovering over an entry with the mouse.
The solution provides condensed additional information about the master data object that will allow the user to draw informative value out of the search result list. Information should only be a glimpse or a hover motion away.
This approach allows us to provide tailor-made search result lists to our customers.
In this brief demo scenario, the search result list has been extended by several columns, including the Quickview-feature. In those we display additional information about tax data or condense the information about the blocking / deletion status of the BP. The columns can also be rearranged, and Quickviews can be adapted to customers’ needs.
In a nutshell, our solution combines following aspects:
- Add new columns with the data you find useful to the search result list
- Utilize Quickviews to display additional data on mouse-over
- Rearrange the layout to the users’ necessities
Making life easier for your users
Using above-mentioned Camelot approach, you can not only provide a significant improvement of the information quality to your users, but also reduce the time needed to find the correct master data object.
Our approach is not only valid for the object of Business Partner (as displayed in our demo) but can also be applied to all other master data objects that you maintain in your SAP MDG environment including e.g. Material or Financial objects. The complete concept can be tailored to your needs and all data available in the respective objects added and condensed in the format you might need.
If this piqued your interest, please feel free to contact Thomas Tolksdorf (tto@camelot-itlab.com) or Tobias Balogh (tbal@camelot-itlab.com) to learn more about our ideas and solutions in master data maintenance with SAP MDG.
We would like to thank Dustin Trocha for his valuable contribution to this article.
