Exploring Foundational Data

SAP Fieldglass requires two types of data for it to operate: Master Data, of course, and Transactional Data.

Master Data

The distinction between the two is that Master Data does not fulfill a transaction itself; it defines who performs the transaction and what components make it up.

So if Mavis procures Joe for WorkingNet for six months at a cost of $50,000, Mavis and WorkingNet are the Master data.

In a typical transaction, buyer data is Master data.

Transactional Data

Transactional Data, on the other hand, is what actually makes up the transaction. So in that same scenario, Joe for six months at 50,000 are the transactional data. Joe is not master data at this point because he’s not driving the transaction, he is the transaction!

However, when Joe is hired and he registers in SAP Fieldglass, he becomes Master data. This is because as a WorkingNet worker, he will now be integral to transactions such as time sheets and invoices.

In a typical transaction, worker and job posting data are Transactional data.

Business Units represent logical divisions within an organization, usually by functional areas. Typically, when you hear about a specific department within a company, that department is a business unit.

Play the video to learn about how business units help define an organization’s SAP Fieldglass tenant.

The Cost Center, like a Business Unit, can also be considered a logical division within an organization, but is used strictly for the purposes of allocating and tracking financial transactions.

Play the video to learn about how cost centers help define an organization’s SAP Fieldglass tenant.

Site, the third required Master Data, is where the work is to be performed.

Play the video to learn about how sites help define an organization’s SAP Fieldglass tenant.

Of course, an organization’s tenant in SAP Fieldglass requires many more data types than just those three—such as Users, Suppliers, Job Posting Templates, Rates, among many others—but those other types cannot exist without the three Master Data elements.

Indeed, for that reason, Business Unit, Cost Center, and Site are mandatory data elements: without them, an organization cannot have a functional SAP Fieldglass tenant.

Other data is SAP Fieldglass cannot exist without Business Units, Cost Centers, and Sites established as foundational data.