External List Management (ELM) involves creating & maintaining lists (data files) in SAP CRM by acquiring specific

data from the Marketing team or any other source. This data is then used by the SAP CRM system to create
Business Partners and also transactions such as Leads and Activities.

The ELM process involves:
Procuring the list (data file)
Loading this list (data file) to the CRM system
Mapping this list (data file) to the standard SAP fields
Creating master data (business partners) and/or transactional data(leads/activities)