In today's digital enterprise landscape, high-quality data is a cornerstone of efficient operations, regulatory compliance, and informed decision-making. Poor data quality can lead to process inefficiencies, reporting errors, and increased operational costs. To address this, organizations increasingly rely on Data Quality Management (DQM) practices—especially within systems like SAP Master Data Governance (MDG)—to ensure that their master data is complete, consistent, accurate, and trustworthy.
This article introduces the fundamentals of data quality management and explains how SAP MDG supports organizations in implementing a robust and sustainable DQM strategy.
Data Quality Management refers to the set of practices and technologies used to ensure that enterprise data meets defined quality standards. In the context of master data, this means validating, monitoring, and continuously improving the data that underpins key business processes across finance, procurement, sales, manufacturing, and more.
Key dimensions of data quality include:
SAP MDG acts as the centralized governance platform for managing master data across an enterprise. Poor-quality data entering MDG or being generated within MDG can quickly cascade into downstream systems, affecting operational performance.
Benefits of high data quality in SAP MDG include:
SAP MDG integrates data quality management throughout the master data lifecycle. Some key features include:
Define Data Quality Standards
Identify what "good data" means for your organization by defining rules per domain.
Implement Validation Rules
Use BRFplus or BAdIs to enforce the rules in data entry and workflows.
Configure Duplicate Checks
Enable real-time duplicate detection using search configurations and match rules.
Monitor and Analyze Data Quality
Use reports or integrate with Information Steward to track DQ metrics over time.
Govern and Remediate
Assign roles and workflows to ensure continuous data quality improvement.
Data Quality Management is a vital pillar of successful master data governance. With SAP MDG, organizations are equipped with the tools to define, enforce, and continuously improve master data quality across their enterprise. By integrating validation, duplicate detection, governance workflows, and quality monitoring, SAP MDG empowers organizations to transform data into a trusted asset—enabling better decisions, higher efficiency, and stronger compliance.