SAP MDG Rule Mining (Data Quality)

Rule Mining is a data mining technique which helps us to discover and manage business
rules. It also helps us to identify different data patterns and their correlation which exist in
the system. It will help to improve the overall business strategy.

Master Data Rule Mining enables business users and business experts to analyze their
master data more effectively. It discovers recurring patterns within master data and
proposes rule enhancements (new or existing) to improve data quality and consistency.
These rules can be reviewed and accepted by business users and automatically integrated
within master data process.

The Master Data Rule Mining feature was introduced as part of SAP Master Data
Governance starting with S/4HANA 1909 and S/4HANA Cloud 2008.

Key benefits of MDG Rule Mining: -

• Data Quality: It improves data quality by detecting patterns and suggesting

governance rules automatically.
• Data Accuracy: It enhances master data accuracy and consistency through
intelligent rule discovery.
• Enhance Data Governance: It enables proactive data governance by uncovering
hidden data issues and patterns.
• Accelerated Adoption for Business Users: It reduces implementation time and
lowers the dependency on specialized technical skills. This feature makes it more
accessible for business users.
• Smarter Rule Generation with Lower Setup Costs: It helps to reduce the cost and
effort of creating governance rules by analyzing the current state of master data and
generating rule suggestions based on actual, existing data patterns.
• Instant Insights for Smarter Decisions: It enables real-time decision-making
across various data domains, including material, customer, and supplier data.
Prerequisite Configuration for MDG Data Rule Mining (Product Master/Business
Partner): -

• Fiori application to be used/configured: Below are the Fiori applications which are
required to be configured/activated for Product Master.

App Name App ID Business Roles

Manage Rule Mining for Products F4085 SAP_BR_PRODMASTER_STEWARD

Manage Rule Mining for Business F4084 SAP_BR_BUPA_MASTER_STEWARD

Partner

Key Features:
➢ Create and start mining run with the following capabilities:
▪ Describe the mining purpose or what’s the expected rules from this
mining run.
▪ By drilling down to each selected table, you can define a mining data
scope by using filters in focus area and select fields which could be
conditions or checked fields of rules.
▪ Define maximum number of rules which you want to work with after
this mining run finished.
➢ View all history mining runs, monitoring the run status and mining log.
➢ Delete stopped mining runs or stop executing mining runs.
➢ Navigate to the mined rule list from a completed mining run.

App Name App ID Business Roles

Process Rules from Rule Mining for F4071 SAP_BR_PRODMASTER_STEWARD
Products

Process Rules from Rule Mining for F4070 SAP_BR_BUPA_MASTER_STEWARD

Business Partner

Key Features:

➢ Review and manage rules from rule-mining runs.

➢ Adjust the status of mined rules: accept, reject, set to review, set to initial.
➢ Link mined rules to data quality rules: link to new rule, link to existing rule, or
remove a link.
➢ View the number of records that violate or comply with the rule.
 ➢ View the checked field - this is a field that has been identified as the subject
of a rule. All rules with the same checked field can be linked to a single data
quality rule.

• Activation of ICF nodes (TCODE SICF): The ICF nodes for the following SAPUI5
application must be activated on the front-end server:
Component Technical Path SAP UI5 Component
Name
SAP UI5 MD_QMN /sap/bc/ui5_ui5/sap/md_q mdm.cmd.mdq.minedru
Application DRL_A2 mndrl_s1 les1.av2
MD_QMN mdm.cmd.mdq.minedru
DRL_S1 * les1
MD_QRL /sap/bc/ui5_ui5/sap/md_qr mdm.cmd.mdq.rulemini
MNG_A2 lmng_s1 ngs1.av2
*

• Activation of ODATA services (TCODE /IWFND/MAINT_SERVICE): The following

OData services must be activated on the front-end server.
➢ CMD_QLTY_RULE_MINING_SRV
➢ CMD_QLTY_MINED_RULE_SRV
 • Adding Authorization (TCODE PFCG): Below authorization objects are required to
be assigned.
Authorization Object Description
MDC_DQEVAL Data Quality Evaluation Permissions
MDQRM_RULE Master Data Quality: Validation Rule
MDQRM_RLUS Master Data Quality: Validation Rule
Usage
MDQRM_MNNG Master Data Quality: Rule Mining
MDQRM_MNDR Master Data Quality: Mined Rule
MDQRM_RLIM Master Data Quality: Validation Rule
Import
MDQRM_RLEX Master Data Quality: Validation Rule
Export

• Adding the Apps in Fiori: Choose the apps from the business catalog
Product→SAP_CMD_BC_QLTY_EVAL_PROD and
Business Partner→ SAP_CMD_BC_QLTY_EVAL_BUPA

MDG Data Rule Mining Process Steps: - A complete rule mining process consists of 4
steps.

1. Create a Mining Run

2. Start a Mining Run
3. Find and Accept Mined Rules
4. Implement Accepted Rules (automated) in the Rule Repository

1 Create a Mining Run:- To process a new data quality rule, a mining run is
required to be created with below options:-

➢ Description: - Description of the mining rule is to be maintained.

➢ Goal: - A detailed explanation of this mining run’s purpose.
➢ Tables: - A list of tables to be mined at the same time. Under each table,
define the focus area and fields to be used for the mining run.
 ➢ Focus Area: - The data set to be used for mining.
➢ Fields: - A further drilldown of the selected focus areas on field level. The
system examines the values of the selected fields to find potential rules.
➢ Checked by Rule: - Check this flag if you want this field to be checked as
part of a rule. Mined rules are formatted as IF/THEN statements, selecting
this flag means that this field will be in the THEN part of the rule.
➢ Condition of rule: - Check this flag if you want the field to be a condition of a
rule. Mined rules are formatted as IF/THEN statements, selecting this flag
means that this field will be in the IF part of the rule.
➢ Maximum number of rules: - The maximum number of rules to be received
from this mining run, defaults is set to 100 rules.

Please find the screen shot below with highlighting above options: -

2 Start a Mining Run: - Once a mining run is created/saved successfully , one

numeric Run id is generated w.r.t Mining Run.
Post click on Start button on the bottom of saved mining run, one confirmation
popup gets triggered which tells that how many records are selected by mining
rule( created in first step).
3 Find and Accept Mined rules- System will show all the proposed rules, once
click on “Total rules” link. Review the proposed rules—preferably in
collaboration with domain experts—and approve them if they align with your
business processes. Please find screenshot below:-
Please find the summary of the above fields to understand it in a better way: -

➢ ID: - Identifier of each mined rule, numeric, and generated when mining run
is completed.
➢ Description: - it describes the description of rules.
➢ Focus Area: - The data sets where this mined rule applies.
➢ Data Evaluation: - It shows the result of the mined rule on the data of
selected focus area.
➢ Complies with Rule / Complies with Rule (%): - Numbers/percentage of
records which obey the rules.
➢ Violates Rule / Violates Rule (%): - Numbers/percentage of records which
violate this rule.
➢ Not Relevant / Not Relevant (%): - Numbers/percentage of records which
are not relevant to this rule.
➢ Checked field: - The field name that the mined rule evaluates, which is later
used in the final data quality rule when the rule is linked.
➢ Status: - An indicator of the decision made regarding the proposed rule.
Newly proposed rules have a status of Initial, and can be changed as
Approved, Rejected, or In Review.

4 Find and Accept Mined rules- Once the data mining rule is created, link the
data quality rule and approve the same. Post that click on prepare button to
generate the BRF+ automatically.
Scenario with example:- As a master data steward, aim to initiate a mining run to
discover business rules related to Customer General Data stored in the KNA1 table.

➢ Create and execute a Mining Run and Enter the description of the rule.
➢ Add table to our mining rule i.e KNA1 and add filter like customer account
groups in “Focus Area”

➢ Add “fields” to analyze how “languages are maintained for different

countries” in the Customer Master.
 In the above screenshot “Condition of Rule” is checked for country and
“Checked by Rule” is checked for Language key that means country will be
treated in if condition and language key will be treated in Then condition.

“IF country is ‘XX’ THAN language key is ‘ZZ’ ”

➢ Click on apply and Start button and once the execution is completed analyze
the “Total Rule” link by clicking on that link.
➢ Review the Mining Rule which we can either approve or reject as per business
needs.

➢ Total 4 rules generated with run ID. For detailed information we can click on
any run id and get the data evaluation.

➢ Post discussion with business experts , the same rule can be applied in
change request type with autogenerating of BRF+ rules.
Business Conclusion:-
Rule Mining in SAP MDG is a powerful capability that enhances efficiency and adds value to
data management initiatives. It plays a vital role in uncovering patterns and insights that
can significantly optimize business processes and inform strategic decision-making.

By applying data mining techniques, businesses can unlock the full potential of their
master data to support more informed, data-driven decision-making.