I want to share our successful implementation of automated master data governance for our supplier collaboration network in SAP IBP SI 2302. We onboard 15-20 new suppliers monthly, and manual master data validation was creating significant delays.
Our previous process involved manual review of each supplier’s master data submissions, which took 3-5 days per supplier. We implemented automated validation rules, duplicate checking, and workflow notifications that reduced onboarding time to under 24 hours. The solution has been running for six months with excellent results. Happy to share implementation details if others are interested in similar automation.
Also curious about the workflow notifications. How granular did you make them? Do different exception types route to different teams, or does everything go to a central data governance team?
How did you handle the duplicate record checks? We have suppliers with multiple legal entities and sometimes legitimate duplicates. Did you build intelligence to distinguish between true duplicates and valid multiple records?
Great question. Our duplicate detection has three levels. First level checks for exact matches on supplier ID and tax ID - these are flagged as hard duplicates and auto-rejected. Second level uses fuzzy matching on name and address with an 85% similarity threshold - these generate workflow notifications for manual review. Third level checks for same parent company with different legal entities - these are allowed but flagged for monitoring. The key was building business logic that understands our specific supplier structure.
Did you integrate this with your supplier onboarding portal? We’re looking to automate the entire flow from supplier registration through master data creation in IBP.