Jun 13, 2012 -- 11:58AM, Scott Priest wrote:

What’s the timeline to get the data quality piece working, and what skills does the team need?

The timeline to implement data quality is dependent on the type and complexity of your data.  We have blueprints and wizards available to get your started quickly on common cleansing, matching, consolidation and enrichment use cases.  We have seen data quality implementations (production ready for real-time, point-of-entry data cleansing via the web) occur in a just over a week.  To leverage the data quality transformations in Data Services, the team should be familiar with the core concepts of data quality.  Chapter 8 of the Enterprise Information Management with SAP book (www.sap-press.com/products/Enterprise-In...) will help to achieve this.

The good news is that Data Quality routines for cleansing and matching are provided out of the box via transformations within Data Services.  No more custom programs/scripts for data cleansing/matching .  For each transform, there are also transform configurations, which are preconfigured best practices in terms input fields, output fields and option configuration for a particular use case or type of data. 

In addition, Data Services Blueprints are available (scn.sap.com/docs/DOC-8820).  A blueprint is a sample SAP Data Services job that is configured with best practices to solve a specific scenario. Each blueprint is an end-to-end job that includes sample data and may be run in the customer environment with only a few modifications. Some jobs include batch data flows and some include real-time data flows; some jobs include party data and some include product data. Data quality jobs include structured data and text data processing jobs include unstructured data.

Jun 13, 2012 -- 12:04PM, PaulRouthier wrote:

Is there a 'Preferred' approach to the use of Data Services when integrating with NW MDM or Master Data Governance (MDG) for Vendors and/or Customers re: Cleansing and de-duping?

 

Why yes there is, Paul. 

There is an integration provided for data quality management in SAP applications, specifically in SAP ERP, SAP CRM, NW MDM and SAP Master Data Governance.  The embedded solution is called SAP Data Quality Management, version for SAP solutions, and it provides a transparent, out-of-the-box data quality solution within SAP applications.

The key capabilities include address cleansing, address enhancements, and duplicate checking for customer and vendor data domains.  For example, as you enter a new business partner, vendor or customer in the SAP application, an immediate check is done to parse names, cleanse the address, and check for duplicates.

For more information, check out these product tutorials:  www.sdn.sap.com/irj/scn/elearn?rid=/webc...

Could you provide a little more information about data matching and enrichment? How does that work?

Jun 13, 2012 -- 12:15PM, Scott Priest wrote:

Could you provide a little more information about data matching and enrichment? How does that work?

In terms of data matching, duplicate records often exist in one or more source systems. The goal of matching is to determine whether records refer to the same entity. This involves evaluating how well the individual fields, or attributes, of the records match each other. Data Services Data Quality Management matching capabilities allow you to use various fields for comparisons, to compare records in multiple directions, and then join the intersections. Data quality management employs powerful matching algorithms to account for data entry errors, character transposition, and other data inaccuracies to match records.

In terms of data enrichment or enhancment, the out of the box enhancement options in Data Services include:

• Providing full international postal information
• Assigning longitude and latitude information to records
• Assigning geospatial information such as tax jurisdiction identifiers
• Assigning gender and prenames

Data Services also supports using 3^rd party referential data (e.g. demographic data) to enhance records via our matching capabilities.  Blueprints are available for some common data content providers.

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