Implement Changes to Master Data

A change to a master data-bearing characteristic may only mean a change to characteristic values. In this situation, there's no change to the definition of the characteristic.

Maintenance of characteristic values is normally done using data loads. However, there may be situations (if the cardinality of an InfoObject is low or you would like to change just a single record) to do manual changes. These are the options to launch Master Data Maintenance:

• In SAP BW/4HANA Cockpit, choose the InfoObject Master Data Maintenance app.

• In BW Modeling Tools, choose Miscellaneous → Master Data Maintenance

• In BW Modeling Tools, open the InfoObject definition, then choose the Master Data Maintenance link.

SAP still recommends loading master data from the source systems, but the SAP BW/4HANA Cockpit provides maintenance features such as the following:

• Creating texts in multiple languages.

• Adding, changing, or deleting records.

• Copying records.

• Searching for characteristic values (with key or attribute fields as search criteria).

• Displaying values without master data.

• Generating a where-used list for certain values.

• Exporting complete master data to a CSV file.

Sometimes, you must change the definition of a characteristic. You can make the following changes to a characteristic after master data has been loaded:

• You can switch between display attributes and navigation attributes.

• You can turn on or off a transitive attribute.

• You can add a new attribute, text version, or hierarchy.

• A time-independent attribute can be changed to a time-dependent attribute.

• Another compounding characteristic can be added.

• You can delete an attribute, text version, or hierarchy, but be aware of the consequences (effects on other objects, loss of data).

In these cases, default values are added (time reference from January 1, 1000 to December 31, 9999, and empty content in the new key or attribute fields).

As long as the InfoObject contains data, the following changes are not possible:

• Change an attribute or text from a time-dependent to a time-independent version.

• Remove compounded fields.

• Change the data type or length.

To make such changes, follow these steps:

1. Create a copy of the InfoObject.
2. Load all data to the copy.
3. Delete all content from the original InfoObject.
4. Load the values back from the copy.

In a transformation, you can, for example, decide to use the interval matching the current day, or to overwrite duplicates. Finally, tidy up and delete the other InfoObject.

You can enhance the structure of master data-bearing characteristics after the master data has been loaded.

You can also add new attributes or enhance the checkboxes for the texts. However, you must then execute a new data load to fill the new fields of the master data tables.

You cannot delete fields from a structure if the fields contain data. If you want to change a time-dependent attribute into a time-independent attribute, you must first delete the contents of the tables for the characteristic.