Duplicate Check 

 The duplicate check is integrated in the address maintenance dialogs for address type 1 and address type 2. The function module ADDR_ENABLE_DUPLICATE_CHECK is called to activate the functions in the application transactions. The duplicate check is activated in the following master data transactions:

·        Customer master (ERP) including consumer

·        Vendor master (ERP)

·        SAP Business Partner (ERP, Add-ons and CRM)

The following checks are carried out in the PAI processing of the address maintenance dialogs:

·        By default, all address data is first checked for correctness.

·        The address is checked for complete postal correctness if the SAP regional structure or an implementation of the business add-in ADDRESS_CHECK is active.

At the end of the PAI processing, the method ADDRESS_SEARCH of the business add-in ADDRESS_SEARCH is called for the duplicate check. The parameters stored by the application using the function module ADDR_ENABLE_DUPLICATE_CHECK are read with the function module ADDR_GET_DUPL_CHECK_PARAMETERS. Several object types, for example, customer and consumer, can be specified as the search area in the application program. One of the object types is flagged as Leading in the field MAIN_OBJ (this is ensured by a check in the function module ADDR_ENABLE_DUPLICATE_CHECK). Using the associated index pool, the Customizing table TSADRVGRPC is read and the field list is determined with the method READ_INDEX_FIELD_LIST. The corresponding contents of the address fields are put in the transfer table IM_T_SEARCH_FIELDS.

The information as to which object type is leading is also transferred to the table IM_T_OBJECT_TYPES of the method ADDRESS_SEARCH. The partner tool uses this information to read Customizing tables in different ways, for example (in order to implement different settings for the customer master to those for the delivery master, for example).

For more information about the partner solution, see the corresponding documentation.

The partner implementation now carries out a search in the search index within the method ADDRESS_SEARCH. It has to be decided in the search which data records are regarded as similar. A percentage can be determined for the degree of the match. Since the SAP standard does not enable customers to set the degree of the match as of which a data record is to be regarded as similar, the partner implementation has to achieve the following, according to the specification:

·        The customer has to be able to set the degree of the match as of which a record is regarded as similar and this has to be as separate as possible for the customer, vendor, and SAP business partner. This value is known as the threshold value.

·        A sensible default value has to be specified for this threshold value, which can then be used if the customer has not made any settings.

For more information on these points, see the documentation for the relevant partner solution.

The list of the similar hits is displayed in the dialog transactions (for example, Create customer) by means of an additional dialog. The user can then either select a record and choose it as a duplicate, not recognize any of the proposed hits as duplicates and continue processing, or cancel because insufficient, incorrect, or too many entries can lead to a misleading search result.

When identifying a record, the address management determines the owner object of the address (for example, the customer number or vendor number) from the address number specification by means of the address where-used list. This information is then returned to the application program.

When identifying a duplicate, you can jump directly from the customer master or the vendor master to the maintenance of another master record, after confirming one further dialog box. If you do this, the previous record is completely discarded. As of Release 4.6C, the SAP business partner also supports this navigation option.