High volume of complexity– assets, materials, suppliers, transactions

Too costly to govern and maintain control

Many gaps exist – people, process, technology

Poor data quality is the primary reason for

of all business initiatives failing to achieve their targeted benefits. In two-thirds of organizations, analysts spend the majority of their time on data-related tasks instead of analytic ones, partially because they lack access to consistent company information.

After highlighting some key scenarios, Tracy listed how effective Master Data Governance can resolve the issues. He then delved into a screen demonstration of SAP MDG coupled with the PiLog MDG Content Accelerator, a set of dictionary, classification, and corresponding template content that allows customers to start effective Master Data Governance from Day 1 of their projects. This closed out a great day interacting with many SAP users who “feel the pain” of Data Quality and Master Data Governance issues in their organizations.

Discussions with visitors to the PiLog table revealed that many companies need education and guidance on how to govern their master data well. Said one visitor, “We know we need to govern our data, but we don’t know how or where to start the process. We need help determining a strategy.” This is common with companies who have not historically managed their data well, if at all. Another visitor highlighted something the teams from PiLog have found at many of our clients. “We have problems on the financial side with controlling the creation of both GL accounts and materials associated with specific accounts [related to fund accounting.]” While most SAP clients focus only on the operations side (material masters, maintenance, and equipment,) we are starting to see more bring up issues on the Financial Master Data of General Ledger Accounts, Cost Centers, and Profit Centers.

Others expressed their need to control the creation and complete lifecycle of their master data records throughout their systems and processes. Said one sales-side support person, “We build customer agreements [contracts] that often don’t have item masters available, so we have to create them on-the-fly.” Such immediate data needs emphasize the importance of an embedded Master Data Governance strategy.

We look forward to attending other ASUG events across North America in order to understand more of the problems that SAP customers encounter with Master Data Governance topics. For more information on how PiLog, Inc. can help with your Master Data Governance, Data Cleansing, or Enterprise Asset Data Acquisition, contact us via our website at www.piloggroup.com.