The same material has different names in the purchasing table, warehouse table and sales table. Multiple files are often formed after being imported into ERP. If business personnel continue to add codes, inventory and prices will be separated. Master data governance should first establish identification rules and then decide which historical records to merge.

How to arrange records and operations

Material files manage names, specifications, units and applicable organizations respectively. The original coding is saved as a comparison relationship, and the inventory, open orders and supplier material numbers are checked before merging. Automatic merging cannot be done based on names alone. If there are differences in key specifications, they should be confirmed by business personnel.

For coding cleaning, you can first create a candidate merger list, list files with similar names but different specifications and units, and confirm the processing opinions one by one. Deactivating coding does not mean clearing historical records; old documents continue to display the original coding, and new business uses alternative coding. Supplier material numbers allow many-to-one mapping, but the supplier and packaging specifications need to be distinguished. After the import is completed, randomly check the search results on the purchasing, picking, and sales pages to confirm that personnel will not create duplicate materials again because they are familiar with the old names.

Specific scenarios that need to be checked

For example, if both departments use the name “Packaging Box” but have different sizes, the system should retain independent materials. Test duplication checks, unit conversions and disabling encoding references on import. Clarify the new approval responsibilities after going online, otherwise the one-time cleanup will soon be offset by new duplicate records.