In SAP, especially in the modern SAP S/4HANA system, business partners are a central method of managing important data about business partners such as customers, suppliers, employees or even real estate. Previously, such data was maintained separately in different areas (e.g. for customers or suppliers), which often led to duplication of work. Today, this is done centrally via the so-called transaction BP, which makes data maintenance easier and more efficient.
What does central master data maintenance mean?
Master data is basic information that a company stores about its business partners, e.g. names, addresses, contact details or bank details. With transaction BP, this data can be created and managed uniformly in one place. A business partner is created once and can then be used for different purposes without having to enter the data multiple times.
Manage business partners with roles
Each business partner is assigned one or more business partner roles that define which function they have, e.g. customer, vendor or employee. These roles contain specific information that is relevant to the respective function. For example:
- A business partner who is both a customer and a supplier is assigned a customer role and a supplier role, combined with general data such as name and address.
- These roles make data maintenance flexible because general information only needs to be created once and can then be used for different purposes.
Good to know: These are roles that are created and maintained within the business partner administration, not to be confused with authorization roles. These are managed via transaction PFCG and have nothing to do with this.
Advantages of centralized management:
- Less effort: changes, e.g. a new address, only have to be made once.
- Flexibility: A business partner can have several roles, e.g. customer and supplier at the same time.
- Data protection: Sensitive data is protected by authorizations so that only authorized persons have access.
- Linking: Data such as customer and supplier data can be intelligently linked.
- Time dependency: Changes, e.g. new contacts, can be entered flexibly over time.
The data is connected via authorization objects that control who can access or edit which data. In SAP S/4HANA, data is exchanged between different modules via interfaces such as the SAP Core Interface (CIF) and Customer Vendor Integration (CVI), e.g. between a business partner and a customer or vendor object.
Which authorization objects are important to maintain business partners?
Authorization objects in SAP control who can access or edit which data. Here are the most important ones for business partners:
- B_BUPA_ADR: Regulates the processing of address data.
- B_BUPA_ATT: Defines which business partners may be maintained.
- B_BUPA_BNK: Controls the processing of bank data.
- B_BUPA_CRI: Controls the editing of roles and specific attributes.
- B_BUPA_CRS: Responsible for creditworthiness data (e.g. credit rating).
- B_BUPA_FDG: Defines which fields may be displayed or changed in business partner maintenance.
- B_BUPA_GRP: Restricts processing to certain business partner groups.
- B_BUPA_RLT: Defines which business partner roles may be edited.
- MDGC_LCOPY: Controls the copying of customer master data from the SAP MDG system.
These objects ensure that sensitive data is protected and that only authorized persons have access.
What is the “Central Person”?
The Central Person is a concept for linking employee data centrally. An employee can have different personnel numbers in different systems (e.g. SAP ERP, CRM). The Central Person bundles these numbers so that the employee can be treated uniformly as a business partner with an employee role. This is particularly useful if employees work in different countries or systems.
How do you protect business partner data?
Business partners are managed in S/4HANA via transaction BP or via special tools such as SAP Master Data Governance (MDG) for customers (MDG-C) or suppliers (MDG-S). These tools enable secure and centralized data maintenance. Important measures to protect the data are
- Authorization objects: Objects such as B_BUPA_GRP or B_BUPA_RLT restrict access to certain business partners or roles.
- Approval procedure: With MDG, changes to master data can only be made after approval, which prevents errors and misuse.
- Restricted access: Authorization groups (B_BUPA_GRP) ensure that only authorized persons can access sensitive data.
- Data security: Sensitive information such as bank details or credit rating data is specially protected and only accessible to certain roles.
The business partner concept in SAP S/4HANA makes managing business partner data simpler, more flexible and more secure. Central data maintenance, flexible roles and strict authorizations allow companies to use their data efficiently and protect it at the same time.