Business Partner Model - Yay/Nay
This page talks about pros/cons/challenges before considering the Business Partner (BP) Model for SMDS. Subsequent discussions should also be logged here to keep track of decisions we’ve taken and reasons for it, along with stakeholder agreements.
What is a BP Model?
A business partner can be a customer, vendor or even a lead. Business partner information includes details such as the company info, addresses, telephone numbers, tax / bank information etc.
Why is BP Model important?
In traditional ERP, object models such as customer and supplier (vendor) master data consist of redundant data. Storing redundant data is not in line with the concept of effective Master Data Management. This redundancy can be reduced/eliminated by using Business Partner based MDM.
In financial systems it becomes convenient to manage the payables and receivables & their cycles by identifying the business partners that are not just suppliers but also customers.
| Pros | Cons | Challenges/Considerations |
|---|---|---|
| Efficient management of Customers & Suppliers | Complex business process alignments within Maersk due to different platforms & functional teams | Prioritization across CMD, other SMDS Domains and other platforms within Maersk.Same hold true with business process alignments too. |
| Reduced data redundancy in SMDS and the downstream applications (hence across Maersk) | Limited user knowledge to manage the data presently | |
| Futuristic approach to cater possibilities of different ways of generating sales leads & marketing | CMD is already modernized with staggered feature requirements to be prioritized post modernization. This change will also bring design changes in CMD. |