Master Data Series – Part 2: The SAP Material Master and Its Impact on EDI

The SAP Material Master is one of the most powerful—and problematic—components of your SAP system. With dozens of views and hundreds of fields, it supports everything from purchasing to sales. But when it comes to EDI, only a few of those fields matter. And if those few are wrong, expect failed IDocs, rejected documents, and angry trading partners.

In this post, we’ll walk through the key views, fields, and data elements within the Material Master that directly impact EDI processing and explain how to avoid common failure points.

Key Material Master Views That Make or Break EDI

While many views in the material master are operationally important, for customer EDI processes, the following views are essential:

• Basic Data View – This is where foundational fields like the base unit of measure and material description live. These are required for nearly every transaction and impact how materials are identified and processed downstream.
• Sales: Sales Org Data – Controls how the material is sold to customers. This includes a potentially different sales unit of measure, delivering plant and sales area data.
• Sales: General/Plant Data – Includes shipping data impacting your delivery timing and packing as well as availability check potentially impacting your order acknowledgement.
• Plant, Warehouse and Storage Views – Batch management and shelf-life data will impact certain industries. Weights and volumes are also found here and while not always directly used in outbound EDI, if you’re using EWM or WM, these views can impact picking, packing, and your ASN.

Storing and Using GTINs Correctly in SAP

Global Trade Item Numbers (GTINs), including UPCs and EANs, are essential in many industries—especially retail and CPG. In SAP:

• The primary GTIN can be stored in MARA-EAN11
• Additional GTINs and UoM-based GTINs are stored in the MEAN table, maintained in the Additional Unit of Measure tab in the material master

Each entry in MEAN links the material to a unit of measure and GTIN. This is important when customers order in cases or eaches and expect the correct GTIN to appear in outbound documents. Getting the master data in place is the foundation to this data being accurate for your customer.

For example, if a retailer sends an order for "1 case" using a GTIN, and your SAP system only recognizes the GTIN for eaches, the EDI order will fail—even if the product exists in your material master.

Common GTIN-Related Issues

• GTINs not maintained for all UoMs (e.g., cases vs. each) along with proper conversion factors
• GTINs mismatched to what the customer expects
• Customers requiring specific qualifiers that are missing in the IDoc
• Retailers rejecting ASN or invoice messages for GTIN validation failures

This can lead to chargebacks, delayed payments, or rejected deliveries.

Unit of Measure (UoM) Mismatches: A Hidden EDI Pitfall

SAP allows for multiple units of measure:

• Base Unit (MEINS) – Used throughout the material master
• Sales Unit – Unit used on customer-facing documents
• Alternative UoMs – Maintained in the Additional Data tab

Many customers will send orders in cases, pallets, or dozens—while your system might be expecting eaches. Without consistent setup and proper conversion, these mismatches cause:

• Quantity errors
• Pricing mismatches
• Rejected EDI documents

Summary: Why It Matters

The Material Master is more than a technical object—it’s the foundation for your customer-facing EDI documents. Misalignments in GTINs, units, or core fields may not affect your internal SAP processes, but they can break your EDI integration with partners.

In the next post, we’ll dive deeper into Pricing and how to validate what is coming in. This builds off the unit of measure and conversions being right to begin with.