Mastering SAP’s information fashions | by Ayoub El Outati
If you’re a curious reader interested by studying extra about SAP information fashions, you’ve come to the fitting place!
Good day Medium readers! I’m excited to share some learnings from a latest mission the place I dived into the complexity of SAP’s information fashions.
For confidentiality causes, I’m unable to share all of the mission particulars 🤫. Nevertheless, I’ll talk about a problem I confronted relating to the complexity of SAP information fashions: what does the SAP information structure seems like and the way does every little thing match right into a coherent information mannequin that is smart for enterprise customers?
On this mission, my main focus was to combine information into an analytics/mining platform utilizing SAP enterprise information on procurement processes. As I progressed, a number of questions come up relating to information modeling and discovering my manner via the varied tables of SAP’s database.
My purpose was to create a coherent information mannequin able to effectively powering future dashboards, studies, and different analytical outputs deliberate within the subsequent steps. To realize this, I needed to absolutely perceive SAP information structure fundamentals, tables mapping and so forth. It was not a simple job however I managed to know this new information 🚀
1) SAP, a software program chief in Entreprise Ressource Planning
As lots of you understand, SAP is among the many main suppliers of ERP software program, alongside others akin to Oracle and Infor. At present, two generations of SAP ERP software program exist: SAP ECC and its successor, SAP S/4 HANA.
The elements of each softwares cowl all firm capabilities, which aren’t solely inward-looking, but additionally outward-looking, as an example on the client facet (CRM) and the provider facet (SCM). It’s made up of various modules masking all of the wants of an organization: Gross sales, Manufacturing, Logistics, Finance, Human Sources, After Gross sales Service.
It’s a software program package deal that consolidates all enterprise processes right into a single database. It additionally mechanically considers the interdependencies between totally different processes. In different phrases, SAP or ERP softwares generally, function the guts of enterprise processes, powered by an unlimited quantity of knowledge and transactions.
For information analytics and course of optimization tasks, we are able to solely say that it’s useful to combine information from SAP and mannequin it for front-end use to supply an end-to-end view of enterprise processes and establish inefficiencies. Nevertheless, it may be difficult with out first understanding how the information is organized in SAP.
2) SAP’s Information and Tables Sorts
How is SAP’s information organized? In short, a number of tables in SAP Database retailer all the information generated by SAP transactions, akin to making a vendor or a purchase order order within the case of procurement capabilities. It’s additionally necessary to notice that whereas some tables stay secure over time, others retailer information capturing particular enterprise occasions essential for each day operations. The instance of making a vendor or a purchase order order in SAP illustrates this level nicely.
Let’s think about as an example an organization within the automotive sector. This firm would have a vendor desk itemizing these they regularly work with to buy the supplies wanted to fabricate automobiles and different gadgets. The creation of a brand new vendor on this desk is a uncommon occasion that will solely happen just a few occasions per 12 months. This desk is known as a Grasp Desk, which solely shops Grasp Information.
In the meantime, creating a purchase order order is an operational job. Buying groups throughout the identical firm regularly use MM (Materials Administration) transactions to create buy orders (e.g. tens of millions of buy orders). Consequently, the desk storing all these buy orders is known as a Transaction Desk, and this sort of information is called Transaction Information.
Each tables in SAP ECC and S/4 HANA have particular names. The Vendor Grasp Desk is called the LFA1 desk, whereas Buy Orders are discovered within the EKKO Desk. For somebody working with SAP tables for the primary time, it might not be instantly clear what every desk represents based mostly on its identify. As an example, if I point out the names MCHA, MSEG, BSEG, and so forth., you’d know these are SAP tables, however wouldn’t essentially know what info they retailer. Do they comprise manufacturing orders, monetary accounts, or invoices?
That’s exactly why it was essential for me to conduct analysis, take notes, and memorize the tables inside my mission’s scope. Extra importantly, I wanted to know the relationships and fields utilized in every desk. At this stage, it’s additionally necessary to map this information for fast comprehension.
3) Information Mapping of SAP Procurement Tables
An extra problem that you could possibly face in this sort of mission is knowing each the information structure of SAP and the way procurement enterprise processes are outlined. Fortunately, my earlier expertise engaged on course of enchancment tasks with procurement groups was useful when it got here to procurement processes. Earlier than getting into the SAP Information Mannequin or Mapping of procurement tables, let’s briefly overview the primary objects dealt with in a procurement course of.
To simplify, procurement is the method of buying one thing, which may very well be uncooked supplies, providers, instruments, and so forth., from a vendor. This course of entails receiving the bought gadgets, verifying their situation, after which initiating the cost course of, also known as the Accounting Payable course of. Nevertheless, we won’t cowl this course of in our scope.
All through this course of, procurement groups undertake varied duties: they validate buy requisitions, create buy orders, and ship these orders to distributors. Most of those duties are carried out utilizing ERP software program, particularly the MM (Materials Administration) module in SAP. Throughout this circulation of actions, key objects or elements transition from one step to the following:
- Buy Requisitions: These are created internally, usually by manufacturing groups, to tell procurement groups {that a} particular merchandise must be bought for manufacturing functions.
- Buy Orders: These are created by procurement groups and embrace detailed details about the gadgets to be purchased, the amount, the seller who ought to obtain the PO, and different related information.
- Items Receipt: Upon receiving the products talked about within the PO, a items receipt is offered by the seller. This receipt is essential for verifying that the products obtained within the warehouse match what was requested within the buy order.
- Bill Receipt: This doc confirms that the obtained items and providers are appropriate and as per the acquisition order. It’s regularly used to provoke the cost course of to the seller.
Every object in SAP has its related Transaction Desk that shops all of the created objects. For instance, as beforehand talked about, Buy Orders are saved within the EKKO Desk. Nevertheless, there’s one other layer of complexity to contemplate in SAP Tables: the idea of header and merchandise paperwork.
In SAP, an object or doc akin to a purchase order order has two ranges of illustration: the header stage and the merchandise stage. It’s because, conceptually, a doc is all the time created with two ranges of knowledge. The header accommodates common and aggregated information, whereas the gadgets correspond to particular strains throughout the identical doc.
As an instance, think about you’re shopping for a PS5, The Final of Us 2, and a headset.
Your last order will embrace a header together with your tackle and order quantity. The gadgets you’re buying, together with their amount (on this case, one in all every merchandise) and worth, might be listed individually in line gadgets
Then, a typical query is: does the EKKO desk symbolize the header information or the merchandise information? The proper reply is the header information. The merchandise information is saved in a separate desk referred to as EKPO.
This core idea is crucial because it applies to the vast majority of SAP objects/paperwork. Invoices can have one desk for header information and one other for gadgets, as will items receipts. Nevertheless, buy requisitions are an exception, having solely an gadgets desk.
To combine and analyze SAP procurement’s information, I wanted to establish the suitable tables to extract and perceive their relationships to construct a corresponding information mannequin. The mapping I did to visualise how these information components interconnect is detailed beneath:
Clearly, the mapping I’ve executed primarily focuses on the basic transaction tables of the procurement course of. Extra tables, akin to grasp tables and different transaction tables — for instance, these storing modifications to buy orders — may very well be included within the mapping.
This mapping additionally highlights the relationships between tables, whether or not they’re one-to-one, one-to-many, or many-to-many. Moreover, it consists of the fields that type the first key of every object.
Understanding the function of every desk and the potential relationships might be time-consuming. Nevertheless, quite a few sources can be found to help, akin to people who helped me create this high-level procurement information mapping. In the event you’re interested by studying extra about SAP tables, think about visiting this web site. It supplies an in depth overview of every SAP desk, together with main keys, fields, potential values, and so forth. You solely must kind the identify of the desk you’re searching for, for e.g. MSEG and you’re going to get extra particulars concerning the desk’s construction and kind of saved info:
Lastly, if this text obtained you extra inquisitive about SAP information fashions for different enterprise capabilities, don’t hesitate to examine SAP Group web site. You will see that some fascinating content material, as an example the identical high-level information mapping for finance capabilities:
