Thousands of organizations rely on SAP to run their operations effectively. Extending and leveraging master data from SAP is an everyday occurrence, and becomes more challenging for organizations migrating toward Google Apps.
A first step in preparing to leverage Google Sheets for interaction with SAP master data is to determine who is currently using SAP data in programs such as Microsoft Excel or Access, for what purposes, and how frequently.
A current usage inventory should gather the following at a minimum:
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Firstly, Description of the Activity
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Secondly, Fields used in the Activity (i.e those being accessed/updated/loaded)
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Reason for the Activity
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How Frequent does the Activity occur
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Which Business Unit/Department is the Activity serving
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End-user initiating the Activity
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Finally, IT or other supporting the Activity
We have seen organizations build on this basic “ETL”-like inventory with additional data, such as:
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Firstly, Risk Level of the Activity
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Secondly, ocation of the Master Data (i.e. Instance #, Prod, Test…)
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Thirdly, Script #
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Approver
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Transaction Reference or Code
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Finally, the date of last Run, etc.
Be sure to check every department for current Master Data access; we see scripts built that affect almost every part of the organization (Finance, HR, Production, Quality, Purchasing, Engineering/Manufacturing…).
It is not unusual to see several hundred existing processes identified using this method. Further, if “desired” applications are also part of your discovery, many more can be documented.
Mindset’s CloudSimple for Data™ enables master data management and collaboration within Google Sheets. Authentication and security are robust, and the collaborative capabilities of Google Sheets permit faster and ‘true-source’ teamwork on an activity. And at under $30/month per user, the budget needn’t restrict usage or collaboration.
For help in inventorying or leveraging your master data within Google for Work, give us a call.
