Material master
Quick answer
Almost every logistics and finance process uses the material master.
Key takeaways
- A single material master record describes a material across the enterprise, but its data is organised into views owned by different…
- Basic data: description, unit of measure, material type.
- Purchasing: for procurement (MM).
- Watch out: Missing views blocking a process in a plant.
What the material master holds
A single material master record describes a material across the enterprise, but its data is organised into views owned by different areas: basic data, purchasing, sales, MRP, accounting, storage, quality. Each function maintains its view, embodying SAP’s integration, one object, many departments.
Key views
- Basic data: description, unit of measure, material type.
- Purchasing: for procurement (MM).
- Sales: for selling (SD).
- MRP: for planning (PP).
- Accounting/Costing: valuation (FI/CO).
Why it matters
Almost every logistics and finance process uses the material master. Incomplete views cause failures, a material without an accounting view cannot be valued/posted, without a purchasing view cannot be ordered in a plant. Clean, complete material master data (governed via MDG) is foundational to a working system.
Common pitfalls
- Missing views blocking a process in a plant.
- Wrong material type, wrong behaviour/valuation.
- Poor governance, inconsistent/duplicate materials.
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Check your understanding
Which statement is true of Material master?
- A. Each function maintains its view, embodying SAP’s integration, one object, many departments.
- B. S/4HANA release notes cover the current-generation suite, which receives frequent feature releases (cloud)…
- C. These templates give you a professional starting point for the documents every SAP project needs, so you…
Show answer
A. Each function maintains its view, embodying SAP’s integration, one object, many departments.
Covered in the “What the material master holds” section of this lesson.
Which of these also applies to Material master?
- A. Mousing everything instead of using Enter/F-keys.
- B. Incomplete views cause failures, a material without an accounting view cannot be valued/posted, without a…
- C. Backing up data but not logs, no point-in-time recovery.
Show answer
B. Incomplete views cause failures, a material without an accounting view cannot be valued/posted, without a…
Covered in the “Why it matters” section of this lesson.
Which part of the Learn SAP curriculum covers Material master?
- A. SAP MM
- B. SAP installation
- C. SAP MCQs
Show answer
A. SAP MM
This lesson sits in the SAP MM section of the Learn SAP course.