Phase 3 — Master Data
🎯 In plain words
❓ Why it matters
Clean master data = smooth transactions. Bad master data is the #1 cause of real-world MM errors — wrong tax code, missing accounting view, duplicate vendor, no source. Get the cards right and POs, goods receipts and invoices almost fill themselves in; get them wrong and every downstream step throws an error.
🧠 Key concepts you must know
1. The material master — views + types
A material master is one record split into views (Basic, Purchasing, Accounting/Valuation, MRP, Storage, etc.), each owned by a different team. Maintain it with MM01 (create) / MM02 (change) / MM03 (display). The material type sets defaults and which views appear:
| Type | What it is |
|---|---|
| ROH | Raw material |
| HALB | Semi-finished |
| FERT | Finished product |
| HAWA | Trading goods (buy & resell) |
| ERSA | Spare parts |
| VERP | Packaging |
| DIEN | Service (no stock) |
| NLAG | Non-stock material |
| UNBW | Non-valuated (qty only) |
| ANLA | Asset-related material |
Where the data lives: MARA (general/client level), MARC (plant), MBEW (valuation/accounting value), MARD (storage-location stock).
2. Vendor = Business Partner (BP)
In S/4HANA the old vendor master is now the Business Partner. One BP carries roles:
- FLVN00 — Vendor (general / MM purchasing data).
- FLVN01 — FI Vendor (company-code finance data).
- FLVN02 — Vendor (purchasing-org data).
CVI (Customer-Vendor Integration) keeps the BP and the classic vendor/customer tables in sync. Account groups still drive number ranges and field control — and in real systems numbering is often alphanumeric/external, not a tidy block of digits.
3. Info record & source list
- Purchasing Info Record (ME11) — the agreed price & conditions for one material from one vendor; it auto-defaults the price into the PO.
- Source List (ME01) — the list of approved sources for a material at a plant, with date ranges and a "fixed" flag.
- Quota Arrangement (MEQ1) — splits demand across several sources by percentage (e.g. 60% Vendor A, 40% Vendor B).
🛠️ Do it now — practise alongside
Don't just read — go create the cards in your IDES. Master data only sticks once you've built one:
Material Master BP Config (18) Source Management (14)Create RM-IRON-01 with MM01 (Basic + Purchasing + Accounting views), set up a vendor BP, link a price with ME11, then add it to the source list with ME01.
🔗 Connects to
- Phase 4 — Procure-to-Pay: every PR, PO, GR and invoice points at this master data.
- Phase 1 — Org Structure: a material lives at plant + storage location; a vendor sits under a purchasing org.
- Material Master reference: the deep, view-by-view walkthrough.
🎓 Cert focus & quick recall
C_TS452 area ②. Expect questions on which table holds which view, BP roles, and what info records vs source lists do.
Which tables hold the material's accounting/valuation view, and which hold plant data?
Valuation/accounting value sits in MBEW; plant-level data in MARC. General client-level data is MARA, and storage-location stock is MARD.
FLVN00 vs FLVN01 vs FLVN02 — what's the difference?
FLVN00 = general Vendor role (MM/purchasing). FLVN01 = FI Vendor (company-code finance). FLVN02 = Vendor purchasing-org data. One Business Partner can hold all three.
What does a purchasing info record store, and why is it useful?
The agreed price and conditions for one material + one vendor (plus lead time, tolerances). It auto-defaults the price into POs so you don't re-key it.
What is the source list for?
It lists the approved sources for a material at a plant over date ranges, can fix a preferred source, and controls which vendor MRP/PO creation may use.
✅ You're ready to move on when…
- You can name the main material types (ROH/HALB/FERT/HAWA) and what each is for.
- You've created a material, a vendor BP, an info record and a source-list entry in IDES.
- You can say which table holds the valuation view (MBEW) and explain the three vendor BP roles.