Archiving Strategy

Overview
The overall objective of an SAP ERP archiving is to manage the growth of the SAP ERP database thereby ensuring long-term system stability and performance as well as implement a document archiving solution to ensure that legal and business requirements are satisfied. Archiving removes obsolete, expired, or rarely accessed data from the database. Regular archiving ensures the access time for on-line information is kept to a minimum, allows jobs to be processed faster, and makes more efficient use of memory resources, storage and backup facilities. SAP ERP allows the client to archive data from the application while retaining it on the system for interrogation or reloading. Data in the archive files can be displayed using either the application or reports. Data to be archived is copied to a new location and then deleted from the SAP ERP database. This two-step process provides data security. The archived data can still be displayed on-line but can no longer be modified. Archiving is not the only solution to managing database growth and improving performance and should not be seen in an isolated manner. An overall Data Management Strategy evaluates Data Prevention, Data Aggregation, and Data Deletion as well as Data Archiving.

Archiving Project Implementation Roadmap

The following diagram depicts the recommended phases for planning and executing an SAP Data Archiving project.

The following table sets out the tasks required to design and implement an SAP Archiving project. Project Tasks No. Task 1. Establish Archiving Team The project team must be established and the archiving plan documented and communicated to the team with activities, timelines, deadlines and roles & responsibilities. An archiving kick-off meeting should be conducted with all participants. Archiving project technical lead (consultant ) Archiving administrator (customer) Business Process Team representatives (customer) Legal/audit representatives (customer) IT representatives (customer) 2. Archiving Workshops Archiving workshops should be conducted to define the objects one should archive and the residency requirements for each object identified . The

Project Tasks No. Task requirement for archiving is both technical and business driven. The business requirements for archived data will be captured in this process. The primary information to be gathered is data that can be archived and the identification of residence periods for this data. 3. Design Archiving Management Strategy In this task the business process owners further define the archiving cycles for the applications as captured in the Archiving Workshop. The following affect the strategy for archiving application (business) data: Technical - Identify data volumes that ensures optimum throughput from the technical implementation perspective. This can be identified based on historical SAP 4.5b volumes and on SAP recommendations for fast growing tables. Business Identify business data that must be stored in the live ERP2005 System for internal analysis, to meet commercial and legal requirements, or to meet group requirements. Identify residence and retention periods. In addition, various migration approaches for currently archived SAP R/2 data will be evaluated. This will be performed in conjunction with the data conversion team. 4. Identify Business Object Types Based on data to be archived as identified in the previous task, related SAP Business Objects (BOs) are identified. This task defines all SAP standard BO types in use (transaction or master data) for which the archiving management will be required. The outcome from this task is a list of BO types in the various modules. 5. Define Residence Period for Business Object (BO) Types The aim of this task is to define residence periods for all SAP standard BO types in use (transaction or master data). This will be based on current residence periods in SAP R/2 and the requirements captured in the BPDs. 6. Evaluate and Select Archiving / Storage Solution for Archive Files This task determines a solution for both the storage and retrieval of archived data. The evaluation includes the SAP standard solution (ie. no external storage solution and no third party query software). 7. Create Preliminary Archiving Management Concept The aim of this task is to create the definition of the preliminary archiving management concept for selected Business Object types. For every selected BO type, an archiving method has to be identified. In most cases, there will be an Archiving Object (AO) available. Based on the gathered information, a preliminary concept is defined and documented as a basis for the prototype. 8. Create Archiving Management The process of archiving business data is defined by the external application if used. The purpose of this activity is to determine the archiving strategy for the core business processes in the R/3 System in the

Project Tasks No. Task context of the technical implementation process. This task establishes an archiving manual, based on the information gathered, to record standard procedures and schedules, and what to do in exceptional circumstances. 9. Prototype Archive Management Concept This task prototypes the preliminary archiving management concept with all business cases/scenarios on the client where the considered BO types will be used, covering both archiving and retrieval functionality. During the prototyping, initially defined SAP residence periods can be challenged. The time to keep data online might be reduced if the available retrieval functionality is demonstrated to users. 10. Construct Archiving Management The aim of this task is to set-up archiving management in the SAP system by performing the required application, technical and basis customising for each Archiving Object 11. Test Archiving Procedures This task tests archiving for each business procedure and archiving object. The steps to take will be agreed with the application team members responsible. 12. Review Archiving Review of the archiving sessions defined in the archiving manual, and release of the standard procedure for archiving based on the tests in the previous step. The owners of the applications must be involved in reviewing archiving. 13.. Finalize Archiving Management Concept and Signoff Finalize the archiving management concept and obtain project management approval/signoff.

Post-Project Tasks No. Task 14. Initial Archive in Production In this task, the initial periodic archiving run will be performed. This includes a review of the archive runs by business representatives and the production deletion run. 15. Evaluate Effectiveness of Archiving As part of the Post-implementation review, it is important to review the adequacy of the implemented Archiving procedures. This should include a review of database and table growth rates to identify any additional objects that should be archived. This should also include a review of business process procedures to ensure that transaction data is processed appropriately to allow for archiving, ie. transactions are closed correctly.

The following tables give an overview of the objects that are available within each business process area.

FI -Financial Accounting
Objects in Financial Accounting Asset data Bank data storage Bank master data Accounting documents Budget hierarchy documents (Funds Management) CO posting documents (Funds Management) Customer master data Line items (consolidation) FI accounting document (Funds Management) Cash journal documents Vendor master data Earmarked funds documents (Funds Management) Commitment and funds transfer documents (Funds Management) G/L account master data Check data Totals records (Consolidation) Totals records and line items (consolidation) (Reload, delete, and read only) Totals records and line items (Special Purpose Ledger) Transaction figures Archiving Object AM_ASSET FI_ELBANK FI_BANKS FI_DOCUMNT FM_BUDHIE FM_DOC_CO FI_ACCRECV FI_LC_ITEM FM_DOC_FI FI_TCJ_DOC FI_ACCPAYB FM_FUNRES FM_DOC_OI FI_ACCOUNT FI_SCHECK FI_LC_SUM FLC_OBJECT FI_SL_DATA FI_MONTHLY, FI_TF_CRE, FI_TF_DEB, FI_TF_GLC, FI_TF_GLF FI_PAYRQ

Payment requests

SD - Sales and Distribution

Objects in SD Sales documents Billing Documents Sales activities Conditions Customer master data Archiving object SD_VBAK SD_VBRK SD_VBKA SD_COND FI_ACCRECV

Controlling
Objects in Controlling CO line items Line items / Totals records from reconciliation ledger Line items (cost center) Totals records (cost center) Master data (cost center) Fully reversed documents (cost center) Orders with transaction data Business processes Settlement documents Material cost estimate data Base planning object data Cost object data Material ledger data Material ledger documents Material ledger indexes Transaction data for costing-based profitability analysis Transaction data for account-based profitability analysis Archiving Object CO_ITEM CO_CEL_RCL CO_ITEM CO_TOTAL CO_CCMAST CO_ALLO_ST CO_ORDER CO_PROCESS CO_KABR CO_COPC CO_BASEOBJ CO_KSTRG CO_ML_DAT CO_ML_BEL CO_ML_IDX COPAA_xxxs, COPAB_xxxx, COPA1_xxxx (obsolete) COPA2_xxxx

Profitability segments for costing-based/account- COPAC_xxxx based profitability analysis

Funds Management
Objects in Funds Management Earmarked funds Budget hierarchy documents Budget entry documents FI postings CO postings Commitments and funds transfers Commitments/actuals totals records Budget totals records Archiving Object FM_FUNRES FM_BUDHIE FM_BUDENT FM_DOC_FI FM_DOC_CO FM_DOC_OI FM_ACTSUM FM_BUDSUM

LOLogistics General
Objects in Logistics Materials Special Stocks Statistical Data Selection Versions General Site Data Pricing Documents Single settlement requests Settlement request lists Vendor Billing Documents Posting lists Remuneration lists Customer settlements Expense settlement documents Additionals Document Change Master Records Handling units Packing Instructions for Handling Units Archiving Object MM_MATNR MM_SPSTOCK MC_Snnn MC_SELVS WS_ACSITE W_KALK WZR WREG WLF WBU WRECH WCI WSI WTADDI LO_CHANGEM LE_HU VHU_PI

LE - Logistics Execution
Objects in LE Warehouse Management Records Deliveries Shipment Documents Shipment Cost Documents Archiving Objects RL_* RV_LIKP SD_VTTK SD_VFKK

MM - Materials Management
Objects in Materials Management Purchase requisitions External purchasing documents Purchasing info records Service master records Material documents Physical inventory documents History records for the stock value tables Invoice documents Archiving Object MM_EBAN MM_EKKO MM_EINA MM_ASMD MM_MATBEL MM_INVBEL MM_HDEL MM_REBEL

Plant Maintenance
Objects in Plant Maintenance Pieces of equipment Functional locations Serial number history Measurement documents Maintenance notifications Service notifications Maintenance and service orders Task lists Maintenance plans Object links Installations Archiving Object PM_EQUI PM_IFLOT PM_OBJLIST PM_IMRG PM_QMEL SM_QMEL PM_ORDER PM_PLAN PM_MPLAN PM_NET PM_IBASE

Work approvals (WCM) Applications (WCM) Work clearance documents (WCM)

WCM_WAP WCM_WAPI WCM_WCD

PP - Production Planning and Control

Objects in PP Bills of Material Process Orders Master Recipe Production Orders XSteps Routings Work Centers and Capacities Backflush Documents Archiving Object CS_BOM PR_ORDER PI_PLAN PP_ORDER CMX_XSTEPS PP_PLAN PP_WKC PP_BKFLUSH

PS - Project System
Objects in the Project System Operative project structures Standard networks Documents for transfer price agreements and transfer price allocations Archiving object PS_PROJECT PS_PLAN CO_FIXEDPR

HR - Human Resources
Objects in HR PA long-term documents Payroll results Time evaluation results Trip data Payroll documents for posting data to Accounting Index files for posting data to Accounting Account data for pension fund HR object Cross-Application Time Sheet Archiving Object PA_LDOC PA_CALC PA_TIME PA_TRAVEL PA_PDOC PA_PIDX PA_PFUND BC_HROBJ CATS_DATA

Reasons for Archiving

There are both technical and legal reasons for archiving application data. Data Archiving: Resolves memory space and performance problems caused by large volumes of transaction data Ensures that data growth remains moderate so that the database remains manageable in the long term Ensures that companies can meet the legal requirements for data storage in a costefficient manner

Purpose of Data Archiving

The goal of data archiving is to reduce or limit data growth in your SAP system which allows you to live within your current system resources. The result of not having a data management strategy that involves prevention, aggregation, deletion, and archiving may lead to the need to upgrade your hardware, addition of disk space, expanded main memory or CPU improvements. This results in a greater cost of managing your solution environment.

Data Management: Prevention, Aggregation, Deletion and Archiving

Data archiving is a very effective tool for reducing large data volumes. However it should not be the only consideration in a Data Management strategy. Applying the following four-step method is recommended to reduce your data volumes before you start archiving. 1) Data Prevention For certain data it is technically possible to switch off updating. This is usually for data that is not necessary from a business point of view. An example is spool data being immediately deleted after their output. 2) Data Aggregation In some cases it is possible to aggregate data, for example through forming sums. An example of how to apply this method would be in line item aggregation in CO. 3) Deletion Some data that is not required can be deleted rather than archived. An example of this type of data is a batch input folder. Generally these folders are created during a batch

transfer and are no longer needed after the transfer. These processed folders can be deleted by using a delete program.
4) Archiving

Archiving should be used for data that cannot be prevented nor deleted. Determine how long your data needs to remain in the system from a business point of view. Only archive the data that is no longer needed for processing in the production system.

The following figure can help you decide when to use data archiving:

Basis Data Archiving Functions

To better understand data archiving it is important to understand the technical basis of the functions and get an overview of the relevant processes and scope of the functions

Basic Terms Used in Data Archiving

The following are the most common terms in SAP data archiving. Archive Development Kit The Archive Development Kit (ADK) is the technology at the core of data archiving. It is responsible for controlling and managing the archiving sessions and makes sure that the data remains interpretable in the long term. ADK is also a programming interface for application programs and it is responsible for handling the archive files. ADK is used to create, open, write, read and close the archive files. The following figure shows ADK integration functions.

Archiving Objects Another central component of data archiving is the archiving object. It determines which tables are accessed during archiving to make sure that a business object, such as an invoice or a financial accounting document, can be completely removed from the database. In addition, an archiving object also contains the archiving programs and Customizing settings, necessary for archiving its corresponding business object type.

An archiving object has the following components: Data declaration Is used to define which data from the database makes up a business object. Archiving programs o Write program: Writes the business objects sequentially to the archive files. o Delete program: Deletes the business objects from the database after it has read and confirmed them in the archive file. o Preprocessing program (optional): Prepares the data for archiving. This includes, for example, the setting of an archivability indicator (also called a deletion indicator). o Read program: Is used to display an archived business object. o Postprocessing program (optional): Is used to process data after archiving; for example to update statistic data or indexes. Reload program (optional): Reloads the archived business objects into the database.

Customizing Settings Customizing settings are used to define the archiving-object-specific parameters for a specific archiving session. These settings depend on the archiving objects and can vary. The following figure shows the different components of an archiving object.

Archiving classes Another common term used in data archiving is "Archiving Classes. It refers to data objects that are not independently defined from a business process point of view, but which belong together from a technical point of view; these include SAPscript texts, change documents, and classification data. These data objects are created when a business object is created or modified and they are usually archived together