Mandantisierung

17:19 May 7, 2018 

So the reply came from my client that they do use it in the sense of "client-specific" after all. So the points go to Michael, and thanks to everyone else for your interest and time spent on this term. All the best, Joanne

09:09 May 7, 2018 

Forget about the second part of my post; I was thinking about a very specific scenario. I think you're right, basically, although I don't agree with enablement, I don't like client-ready and I don't think customization is apt. Configuration is too vague. Just my two cents.

I'm also not sure how allowing for multi-client capabilities squares with the first sentence. It says "vorgenommene Mandantisierung dient als Beispielvorlage" and "muss an die konkreten Anforderungen im Projekt angepasst." Later, they add: "Mandantisierung aktiviert wird, indem die Tabelle" and "Mandant aktiv gesetzt wird." I thought this meant Mandantisierung = Mandant aktiv setzen (as Joanne said at the beginning). Nothing more.

@Joanne
Yes, you'll get to client-specific or client-dependent:
http://sapbasisinfo.com/blog/2014/07/15/sap-client-dependent...
https://blogs.sap.com/2013/09/19/client-dependent-vs-client-...
http://knowledgehills.com/sap/r3-client-management/client-in...
http://itsiti.com/difference-sap-client-dependent-independen...

I believe you're in a better position to judge this; quite frankly, it's been a while.

Best

08:53 May 7, 2018 

I worked for both SAP and an ERP vendor selling MS business software, so I'm no stranger to the terminology. It's not just MS Dynamics that uses a different word for Mandant; Oracle's is "tenant":
https://www.searchenterprisesoftware.de/tipp/Datenbank-Konso...

This is nothing unusual. There are several reasons why and they may not have anything to do with the purpose of the field or table. For example, a company may have acquired a competitor and is being forced to adopt some words it rather wouldn't; you sell customizations that expand on the original modules, but you can't use the same words; and so on. Some of the Mandantisierung links I found pointed to Oracle, so I hope my confusion is understandable. On top of this, SAP is no longer getting the lion's share of the business:
https://www.panorama-consulting.com/what-do-sap-oracle-micro...

Other ex.:
http://sales-productivity.ch/post/125908095096/welche-bedeut...

If you say SAP, OK and thanks. I'll recheck.

Best

21:44 May 6, 2018 

I've taken 'Mandantisierung' to mean 'Herstellung der Mandantenfähigkeit (des Systems)', which would be equivalent to 'enabling (multi-)client capability' in my view.

20:08 May 6, 2018 

As a former in-house translator and author at SAP, I've never seen Mandant used as anything other than client, and it certainly is not "company" in this context, but thank you for the link to this unusual use of the term, Björn.

The plentiful examples that I provided indicate clearly that this documentation is aimed at system administrators - they are taken from two documents: Release Notes and an Installation Guide.

If there is a translation for this, and plenty have been suggested, I would be very welcome to find it since I have never come across this term in over 21 years of translating, hence the question. In fact, I have referred this question back to the client, asking them to specify precisely what they mean, because I am still not certain what is meant by a "mandantisierte Datenbank", for example. I am veering towards "client-specific database", but mainly for the ease with which it can be used in a readable sentence, rather than my conviction that this is the correct translation.

Björn, are you saying, in the case of a "mandantisierte Datenbank" for example, that the client is created for the database? That doesn't make sense to me.

08:59 May 6, 2018 

In contrast to what my colleagues say: You do realise that the word "Mandant" has more than one translation?

SAP may call this client (although not consistently if I see this correctly), but MS Dynamics NAV says "company."

E.g.:
http://relion-help.com:49000/help/de-DE/tskCreateNewCompany....

We have NOT been told by you what kind of application this is. And there may already be a translation for this. I worked in IT long enough to know that these kinds of translations are futile unless there's more context and you have access to the relevant information.

It may sound perfectly fine to you, but come across as gibberish if, say, it's part of a help file.

And @Phil and Steffen: This has nothing to do with "enabled," IMO. If you are hypnotisiert, you are hypnotized. If something is mandantisiert, companies or clients will be or have been created for it.

Best

00:07 May 6, 2018 

I think Michael's reading might well work here

21:32 May 3, 2018 

Yes, enablement would work.

21:32 May 3, 2018 

A bit more Internet research and I have found another potentially useful sentence from a different client:

"Wichtig war dabei, dass die Systeme mandantisiert werden konnten, also Stammdaten und Bewegungsdaten sowohl gemeinsam, getrennt als auch gesplittet werden können. "

Does this support Michael's "client-specific" suggestion?

20:53 May 3, 2018 

... along the lines of '(multi-)client-enabled (software)' ('client enablement'?). See https://www.proz.com/kudoz/german_to_english/computers_softw... and https://www.proz.com/kudoz/german_to_english/it_information_...