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Every transaction in SAP pulls from master data: customer payment terms, vendor bank details, material prices and GL accounts. When master data is wrong, every document built on it is wrong.
Main master data objects
| Object | Holds | Display |
|---|---|---|
| Business Partner (customer/vendor) | Name, address, GSTIN, payment terms, bank, reconciliation account | BP (S/4HANA); XD03/XK03 in ECC |
| Material | Description, unit, HSN, purchasing/sales/accounting data | MM03 |
| G/L account | Chart of accounts entries | FS00 |
| Cost centre | Cost responsibility | KS03 |
Organisational levels
The same customer has general data (name, address) plus data per company code (payment terms, accounts) and per sales area (pricing, shipping). Missing data at one level is why a customer works in one plant and errors in another.
Who changed what
Most master data screens have Environment › Changes or “Display changes”, showing old and new values with user and date. Essential when a payment went to the wrong bank account.
Transaction codes and menus are standard SAP ECC/S4HANA examples; your company may have custom codes, restricted authorisations or a different layout. Practise in a training or quality system.
Practice
Display one customer, vendor and material and look at their organisational levels.
📎 Practice files for this article
- 📄Lesson 5 checklistStep-by-step exercises for this lesson.⬇ TXT · 316 B
Free to use for learning. Files with macros (.bas) are plain text — import them with Alt+F11 → File → Import File, and always test on a copy.
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