Improving Customer Master Data Management with Maextro

”Working with the Blustonex team on this implementation of Maextro has enabled us to:

• Reduce re-keying of data in the process of creating and changing customer master data

• Improve the accuracy of customer master data

• Improve governance and ownership around customer master data

• Eliminate unsupported spreadsheets throughout the creation and change process

Developing the Fiori UI was the most challenging aspect of the project but we worked closely with Bluestonex to achieve the requirements.”

-Rochelle Norton – IT Manager

Who Are BAE Systems?

BAE Systems Applied Intelligence (AI) delivers information intelligence solutions to government and commercial customers. They help customers collect, exploit, and manage data so that they can deliver critical business services more effectively and economically.

As a business, BAE AI runs SAP software to manage their supply chain and financial data. Currently in place is SAP ERP ECC6 EHP7 and SAP NetWeaver Gateway 7.50, along with other peripheral systems like Salesforce and Business Information Systems.

BAE’s strategic search for better master data management and governance led them to contact Bluestonex to review Maextro, specifically for enhancing their customer master data processes.

The Challenge

BAE had a fairly manual process for creating and maintaining customer master data in SAP and also faced challenges with external systems like Salesforce, which resulted in numerous manual entry points.

The existing process relied too heavily on Excel spreadsheets and the experience/knowledge of master data when it came to re-keying the information into SAP. This left BAE exposed to the risk of errors and ongoing data quality issues.

Solution Overview

Having established that Maextro met BAE’s requirements, the solution development process commenced with two workshops. The scoping and build became clear, with the main objective of replacing the previous manual (largely Excel-based) ways of working. This established new and reinforced existing business rules for SAP data as well as integrating with non-SAP systems, such as Salesforce. BAE and Bluestonex jointly identified opportunities for quick wins in productivity savings, data accuracy, and streamlined processes.

The initial scope focused on new customer requests, with approval steps and data enrichment via business rules, as well as changes to existing customer master data.

We used Maextro’s native technology of SAP ABAP core engine as well as SAPUI5 (Fiori) Apps to create and approve requests.

Deployment was very swift, with the Maextro core engine deployed within a day, along with the Fiori apps. Despite challenges in building the Fiori enhancements due to limitations in SAPUI5 technology, the UI5 apps deployed received very good feedback.

Using the Maextro core engine, we quickly established templates to hold various business rules and also the capability to generate mass creation of account groups in one request. For example, a PMO could request a new customer and simultaneously capture different billing addresses. Within SAP, this process can be tedious, involving the setup of the initial “sold to” party and subsequent partner functions (ship to, bill to, payer), and then the creation of additional account groups (e.g., additional “bill to’s”).

Solution Deployed:

• Create Request – SAP UI5 App
• Approve Request – SAP UI5 App
• Data Gather & Data Approval – SAP GUI
• Integration with Salesforce

The Results

BAE AI is pleased with the results of their first Maextro process deployment and is planning to further enhance functionality and develop self-sufficiency with configuration aspects of the solution.

How Did We Meet the Business Objectives?

• Consolidate, Enrich, and Reduce Data Input Source: All Excel data input sources were replaced with consolidated data input views within Maextro. This was further enriched with business rules (default values and data conformity) to create a single source of true customer master data.
• Flexible Solution to Enforce Business Rules and Master Data Processes: Maextro provides comprehensive rule sets catering to a wide variety of business rules. All Maextro rules can be configured via system configuration (IMG) with no programming or changes to the core system.
• Introduce Additional Authorisation Over and Above Standard SAP Authorisation: Maextro’s workflow management and field control rules provide an additional layer of security to prevent unnecessary updates to data views or fields. These simple rules can be configured as required by the business.
• Simple Workflow Management to Capture and Approve Data: Maextro provides an integrated workflow engine which is directly configured in Maextro.
• Scalable to Other Master Data Objects: Maextro provides a comprehensive catalogue of additional objects to deliver an enterprise-wide MDM & Governance solution.

What’s Next?

BAE AI plans to deploy more Maextro objects over the coming months as they embark on broader improvements to their data strategy.

BAE AI also plans to deploy SAP Screen Personas Slipstream UI5 engine to replace SAP GUI steps, aiming to provide users with a consistent and delightful look and feel.