2/12/2014

SAPexperts | 3 Tips to Ensure Quality Business Partner Master Data

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3 Tips to Ensure Quality Business Partner Master Data

by Ned Falk , Senior Education Consultant, S AP
May 15, 2007

SAP experts/CRM
To preve nt users from selecting the wrong busine ss pa rtner role in transa ction BP, learn how to turn off business
partner roles you dont need. The n find out how you can li mit the se arch further by using custom busine ss
partner role categories that contain only busine ss pa rtner role s tha t are rela ted to your business. Thi s pre vents
potentia l errors i n your master data, which can cause addi tiona l errors i n your SAP CRM syste m.
Key Concept
Eac h business partner role c ontains a predefined set of functions based on the business partners relat ionship to your
company. For example, y ou could have business partner roles suc h as employee or vendor. The business partner roles
det ermine the fields you have available in the S AP CRM sys tem for the bus iness part ner. Business partner role
cat egories sort busines s partner roles into groups, s uch as person or company.

Bus iness part ner roles are c ritic al in your CRM project they define the func tions your business partners c an perform
during CRM transac tions . However, when you selec t a business partner role for a new business partner, y oull notice that
SAP provides about 46 s tandard busines s partner roles .
When I recent ly created a busines s partner using transaction BP, I noticed how easy it is to assign the wrong bus iness
partner role. Firs t, SA P CRM defaults to the bus iness part ner role Busine ss Pa rtner Gene ral, a bus iness part ner role t hat
is not often needed. Second, the number of options for a business partner role made it diffic ult t o dec ide which role was t he
mos t suitable.
If the default bus iness part ner role is not appropriate or too many choic es ex ist, it can cause errors in master data and
then errors in bus iness proc esses . Ill show you how you c an hide unwanted bus iness part ner roles. Then Ill explain how to
set a new default business partner role to the one that you use most often. Finally , Ill show you how to define role
cat egories to furt her limit the roles a user can select when setting up a new business partner. I tested these tips in SAP
CRM 2005, but they also apply to SAP CRM 4. 0.

Tip 1. Hide Unnecessary Roles

In my situation, t he sy stem had c ustom business partner roles t o differentiate between c ompany employees, Interna l
Employee (ZINTE) and contrac t employees, Subcontracte d Employee (ZSUBE). These cust om busines s partner roles
rendered the standard S AP busines s partner role Employee s uperfluous , so I wanted t o remove t his option from the
bus iness part ner role list.
To turn off t his business partner role, follow IMG menu path Cross-Application Components>SAP Busi ness
Partner> Business P artne r>Basic Se ttings>Business Partner Roles> Define BP Roles. Double-c lick on the BUP 003
bus iness part ner role t o acc ess t he details screen shown in Figure 1. To hide the business partner role from the selec tion
lis t, click on the Hide chec k box and save.

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Fi gure 1

SAPexperts | 3 Tips to Ensure Quality Business Partner Master Data

Hide the standard SAP busine ss pa rtner role Empl oyee

Tip 2. Set a New Default Role

To set a new default role, t he first s tep is to configure a cus tom business partner role category, whic h allows y ou to set a
new default business partner role. In Figure 2, click on BP Rol e Categori es, t hen c opy t he busines s partner role category
BUP 003 t o your new business partner role category ZPERS.

Fi gure 2

Cre ate new business partner role category ZPERS

Nex t, enter t he new bus iness part ner role c ategory ZP ERS for busines s partner roles , in my ex ample ZINTE and ZSUBE.
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SAPexperts | 3 Tips to Ensure Quality Business Partner Master Data

Follow IMG menu path Cross-Application Components>SAP Busi ness Partner>Business Partner> Basic
Settings>Busi ness Partner Roles>Define BP Roles and double-clic k on ZINTE. Ent er ZP ERS in the BP Role Cat. field.
Then repeat t his for the ZSUBE busines s partner role (Figure 3). Wit h this set ting, the system allows only business
partner roles ZINTE and ZSUBE for business partners with t he busines s partner role category ZPERS.

Fi gure 3

Assign the business partner role category ZPERS to business partner role ZSUBE

I want t he ZI NTE business partner role to be the new default busines s partner role for t he ZP ERS business partner role
cat egory . In Figure 3, check the Std Assignment BP Role>BP Role Cat. chec k box .
In the I nterface Control sec tion at the bot tom of Figure 3, the BP V iew has not changed from the S AP default BUP003.
The BP V iew field controls t he available fields and t abs t o organize your business partner role, s o your cus tom business
partner roles have the same fields and tabs as BUP003.
Als o, the Position field is 1. This Position field overwrites t he default alphabetical order of busines s partner roles in t he
bus iness part ner role s elect ion drop-down menu when using trans action BP. By assigning t he busines s partner role the first
pos ition, you allow users to see this business partner role first, making it easier to access . If no number is as signed, then
alphabet ical order prevails.

Tip 3. Limit Choice of Roles

Configure a c ustom transaction to limit the users choice of busines s partner roles to just t he two cus tom business partner
roles ZI NTE and ZS UBE. This further limits the c hoice of business partner roles, which helps you avoid bad data. To do
this, create a new transaction code us ing t ransaction SE93 (create t ransaction), then configure it to c reate business partner
roles only within the new busines s partner role category ZPERS.
First, c reate a transac tion code by copying a st andard code that is similar to what you need. SAP provides many
transact ion c odes other than BP t o create a business partner for example, BUA1 creates part ners with the business
partner role contact person. However, you need t o create a new maint enanc e transact ion for custom business partner roles.
You can view the delivered business partner transactions by following IMG menu path Cross- Applica tion
Com ponents>SAP Business Partner>Busine ss Pa rtner>Basi c Settings>Busi ness Partner Roles>Define Appl icati on
Tra nsactions.
By using thes e transact ions as a start ing point, the system ass igns an underly ing A BAP object that by default bypasses
the normal BP transaction GUI where you have to selec t a person, organization, or group. When you bypas s the normal BP
transact ion GUI, y ou can use your cust om busines s partner roles inst ead of the standard business partner roles, s uch as
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SAPexperts | 3 Tips to Ensure Quality Business Partner Master Data

Business Partner Genera l. In my example, the sys tem propos es the ZINTE busines s partner role as the default business
partner role when you link t he new transact ion c ode t o the new business partner role cat egory .
Ill use BUM1, Cre ate Employee (BP), as a t emplate to make a new ZEMP transact ion. Go to transaction SE93, enter
source t ransaction BUM1, and clic k on the c opy icon t o open the copy dialog box (Fi gure 4). E nter the t ransaction code
you want to c opy (in my case BUM1), then give the new transaction code a name (in my cas e, ZE MP). When you c opy
the transaction, t he sy stem copies over the data to c reate a busines s partner with limit ed options for the business partner
role.

Fi gure 4

Use transacti on SE93 to copy the BUM1 transaction

Now that you have a new SAP trans action, you need to customize it to call out just your business partner role cat egory .
Follow IMG menu path Cross-Application Components>SAP Busi ness Partner>Business Partner> Basic
Settings>Busi ness Partner Roles>Define Appl icati on Transactions and click on t he Ne w Entries button to acces s the
det ails screen in Figure 5.

Fi gure 5

Details of business partner appli cation tra nsaction

Nex t, check t he new ZEMP transact ion (Figure 6). The new ZEMP t ransaction defaults to busines s partner role ZINTE, the
standard for this business partner role cat egory . If you c lick on the drop-down menu in the Create in BP rol e field, y ou
can see that ZSUBE is t he only ot her business partner role available.

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Fi gure 6

SAPexperts | 3 Tips to Ensure Quality Business Partner Master Data

Tra nsaction ZEMP

Note
To find out more about other configuration options for bus iness part ners, including cust om busines s partner roles and
screen c hanges, consider tak ing t he CR100 c lass, CRM Cust omizing Fundamentals .

Ned Falk
Ned Falk is a senior education consult ant at SAP . In prior positions , he implemented many
ERP solutions , inc luding SAP R/3. While at SAP, he initially focused on logist ics. Now he
foc uses on SA P Net Weaver BW, SAP CRM, and t he integration of SA P Net Weaver BW and
SAP BusinessObject s tools. Y ou can meet him in person when he t eaches SAP NetW eaver
BW or SA P CRM clas ses from t he At lanta SAP offic e or in a virtual training class over the
Web.
See more by t his author
You may contact the aut hor at ned.falk @sap. com.
If you have c omments about t his article or publication, or would lik e to submit an artic le idea,
please c ontac t the edit or.

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