The Business Data Toolset originated in the Central Business Partner project. The following demands on the technical aspect of data entry played an important role in the development of the BDT:

• Extensibility
  Although the Business Partner project group had realized the central attributes of a business partner, (such as name components, addresses and bank details) there were other specific attributes in many of the remaining applications. Development partners and customers needed a facility for incorporating their own attributes into maintenance. In master data for accounts receivable and accounts payable, you had to make modifications to do this.
  Because it is impossible to collect and implement all these different attributes in one project group, maintenance for downstream enhancements had to be extensible without the need for modifications.
• Configurability
  Because mid-size customers in particular tend to suppress most of the standard SAP data fields, dialog maintenance becomes tedious when you still have to go through screen after screen on which only one or two fields are relevant. Switching screens often slows down data entry considerably.
  As a result, it was decided to make screens configurable in order for customers to both tailor entry screens to their individual needs and keep the number of screens to a minimum.
• Divisibility
  If you were to count up all the attributes in the SAP system that are relevant for a business partner, you would have several hundred fields. Since it is impossible to include all these attributes in each type of maintenance, the maintenance itself must be divisible into parts wherein only those attributes are visible which are relevant in the current business context. These parts are called roles in Business Partner.

The necessary technology was first developed in a common program with application data for Business Partner. However, it soon became apparent that the second part of this project - i.e., the business partner relationships - were placing the same technical demands on data maintenance. The requirements listed above were also applicable to other business objects. As SAP restructured with a new industry orientation, extensibility assumed a greater importance for development. Many of the IBUs wanted to extend or enhance application objects from the standard system. As a consequence, the Business Partner project group decided to separate the technical part from the application data and then make this technology available to other application objects. This technical part, which was called BP control or master data control for a long time, is now known as the Business Data Toolset, or BDT.