Don’t Delay! Why and
How to Design a Plan
for Archiving Your
SAP Data Now
Stephen M. Wright
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In This Session ...
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We will touch on why the planning process is critical to the
success of the archive process
 Identification and support of a common goal for archive
planning
 How strategic planning differs from tactical planning
 How tactical planning differs from logistical planning
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What We’ll Cover …
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Getting started with archive planning
Examining archiving requirements
Setting up the archive process for success
Analyzing considerations for executing the archive process
Establishing the resources for the archive process
Taking a look at configuration vs. customization
Wrap-up
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Purpose of Archive or Information Lifecycle Management
(ILM) Planning
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Successful removal of expired, obsolete, or erroneous data from
your SAP system
Maintaining system integrity
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Basic Tenets of Planning
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What
Why
Where
When
Who
How
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Overlapping Aspects of Archive Planning
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Intersections
What
Why
Strategic
Where
When
Tactical
Who
How
Logistical
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What We’ll Cover …
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Getting started with archive planning
Examining archiving requirements
Setting up the archive process for success
Analyzing considerations for executing the archive process
Establishing the resources for the archive process
Taking a look at configuration vs. customization
Wrap-up
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Requirements of Data Archiving
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The main purpose of data archiving or ILM is to remove from the
database application data that is no longer needed in day-to-day
business, with the aim of using resources more efficiently
The following requirements must be taken into account when
archiving data:
 Legal requirements
 Technical requirements
 Business requirements
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Legal Requirements
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Governmental, regulatory, and statutory restrictions dictate
corporate data retention and access for specified periods of time
based on record type
Archived data records must have the ability to be produced on
demand within the defined retention parameters
When data retention times have expired, archived records must
be able to be removed from content media storage
 Must be able to selectively hold records for legal challenges of
the relevant country of record origin
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Technical Requirements
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Can archived data still be read long after it has been archived,
independent of the hardware used at the time of archiving and the
software release status?
Can archived data be displayed in a user friendly format?
Can expired archived data be removed and maintain system
integrity?
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Business Requirements
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From the business point of view, only those data objects that are
no longer required in day-to-day operations can be removed from
the database
Therefore, a logic check must be performed to ensure that only
data objects belonging to completed business processes can be
archived
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What We’ll Cover …
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Getting started with archive planning
Examining archiving requirements
Setting up the archive process for success
Analyzing considerations for executing the archive process
Establishing the resources for the archive process
Taking a look at configuration vs. customization
Wrap-up
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Setting up the archive process for success
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Points to consider for starting the strategic planning phase of
your archive process
 Developing archive objects
 Deleting table data vs. archiving
 Not storing attachments in the data base
 Is the information life cycle process consistent with legal
requirements
 Consider periodic review of current archive process
Consider using the points above to mitigate risk to your
enterprise by keeping data no longer than needed or removing
to soon
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Developing Archive Objects
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Develop new archive objects based on:
 Largest table sizes
 Fastest growing tables within a calendar month
 Which tables are most widely used throughout the system
 Requirement to maintain module or process integrity
 Requirement to improve business process response time
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Data Base Management Options
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Delete table data where it is determined that no legal,
governmental, regulatory, or audit requirement is identified, and
replace with table stubs for application integrity
Prevent unnecessary database growth by turning off table
generation where possible
Redirect attachment images, documents, reports, or charts to
transactional data, to an external content repository
Support information end-of-life processes that are consistent with
legal and business strategies, goals, and mission
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Periodic Review of Archive Objects
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Conduct a periodic review of existing production system
archive objects
Review current archive object’s:
 Retention time frames
 System configuration
 Job scheduling times
 Application dependencies
 Output error reports to reduce rate of error replication and
reduce error turn-around time
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What We’ll Cover …
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Getting started with archive planning
Examining archiving requirements
Setting up the archive process for success
Analyzing considerations for executing the archive process
Establishing the resources for the archive process
Taking a look at configuration vs. customization
Wrap-up
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Analyzing considerations for executing the archive process
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Points to consider for starting the tactical planning phase of your
archive process
 Archive object analysis
 Archive object operational questions
 Variant development
 Maintenance and daily scheduling
 SAP archiving R&D hints
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Archive Object Analysis Planning
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Data archiving is something that needs a lot of study and preanalysis for any development
For every object we archive, there will be different aspects to
consider and points of action to be taken carefully
Detail analysis is most the important part of this process
 The performance and results of data archiving will be based on
this analysis
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Archive Object Questions to Be Answered
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Which objects need archiving?
What will be the archiving frequency?
When is it advisable to carry out data archiving?
Who are the primary users of the data?
Does the the archive object have data or process dependencies?
How often do you expect to retrieve archived object data?
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Variant Development
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After complete analysis, variants will be set according to
archiving needs for particular objects
Processes will be defined for development/setting variants for
each object to be archived
 Example: Will you need multiple runs for an object?
 By plant
 By country code
 By sales organization
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Maintenance and Daily Scheduling
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Once all the variants are set, testing for different parameters will
be done in a QA or Staging system prior to execution in the
Production system
 The same variants will be set in the Production system, which
will be used for daily scheduling of jobs
Daily tasks will include scheduling jobs for data deletion once
archived and providing annotations to them
Daily job scheduling reports will be submitted to staff personnel
for review and further action if any needed
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SAP Archiving R&D Hints
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To make continuous improvements in data archiving techniques,
research and analysis should be done regularly, including:
 Studying different SAP journals, forums, and available
resources
 Discussions with SAP users doing data archiving in other
projects and incorporating their best practices
 Keeping an eye on cutting edge technologies and methods in
data archiving
 Example: Storage technology
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SAP Archiving R&D Hints (cont.)
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Improvement in on-going processes for better quality and time
management
Error controls and handling
Review of existing objects that are already set in Production
system
Knowledge transfer and knowledge sharing among the technical,
application, and user members
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What We’ll Cover …
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Getting started with archive planning
Examining archiving requirements
Setting up the archive process for success
Analyzing considerations for executing the archive process
Establishing the resources for the archive process
Taking a look at configuration vs. customization
Wrap-up
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Establishing the resources for the archive process
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Points to consider for starting the logistical planning phase of
your archive process
 Resource planning responsibility
 Resource time allocation
 External archive content server
 External archive content repository
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A Logistical Tale!
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When the General laid out his grand strategic plan for the defeat
of their opponents and the Field Marshal spelled out the tactical
plan to engage the enemy, the Logistics Officer leaned over the
General’s shoulder and whispered in his ear …
“We don’t have the manpower, resources or
material to do that!”
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Resource Planning Responsibility
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Resource planning responsibility
 Who is going to be the archive process champion?
 Finance
 IT
 Who is going to decide or have input to resource allocation,
archive object priorities, material and software procurement?
 Finance
 IT
 User community
 Legal
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Resource Time Allocation
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Generic time allocation per resource:
 One Developer
 One Scheduler or Monitor
 One Basis Administrator or DBA
 One Application Tester
75%
75%
50%
50%
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Resource Allocation: Suggested Recommendation
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One internal resource part-time job (four hours a day) on data
archiving development, or, you could substitute offshore resource,
or outside consulting — whatever tasks deemed appropriate
The Data Archiving Monitoring resource could be responsible for
checking the execution archive production runs part-time job
(four hours a day)
 Monitoring resource could be allocated for archive
development work as well
 If the aforementioned task takes up whole day for the Scheduler
or Monitor resource, one full-time resource offshore or
consulting resource for data archiving should be considered
This plan could change depending on the objects to be archived
and the timelines provided, additional resources may have to be
ramped up
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Resource Allocation: Alternate Suggested Recommendation
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One internal resource part-time job (three hours a day) on data
archiving DBA administration
 This resource could also handle the archive content server and
content repository for the archive process
The Data Archiving Application tester resource would be
responsible for checking, and validating the execution output of
archive object run part-time job (three hours a day)
 The tester should have module, application, configuration, and
general business knowledge of the data deemed archive ready
 It is recommended the tester function come for the business
community
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External Archive Content Server
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The external content server is the application software that
provides the link to your SAP archived data
Examples of certified SAP content servers are:
 PBS
 Mobius
 OpenText
 Filenet
 Documentium
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External Archive Content Repository
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The external content repository is the storage media that houses
your archived data, images, and documents
Examples of certified SAP content repositories are:
 EMC
 Hitachi
 IBM
 Seimens
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What We’ll Cover …
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Getting started with archive planning
Examining archiving requirements
Setting up the archive process for success
Analyzing considerations for executing the archive process
Establishing the resources for the archive process
Taking a look at configuration vs. customization
Wrap-up
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Taking a look at configuration vs. customization
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The classic question of configuration vs. customization touches
strategic and logistical planning in the following ways:
 Who has module application configuration access?
 Read
 Write/update
 Display
 Who needs to access archived data?
 Inside sales
 Finance
 Warehouse management
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Archive Configuration vs. Customization (cont.)
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The classic question of configuration vs. customization touches
strategic and logistical planning in the following ways: (cont.)
 Who has archive object application customization access?
 Basis team
 Application group
 Configuration team
 Module user community
 Where you set your archive parameters affects how you
tactically address the archive object’s development:
 Sample of module configuration
 Sample of individual archive object customization
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Configuration Steps – Application Example
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The next slide is an example of Quality Management (QM) and MM
Purchasing in SAP
 Drill-down expansion of application options are displayed
 Functional option Organize Archiving highlighted
 Archiving Parameters screen displayed
 Archiving Parameters Detail screen displayed
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System Configuration Start
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When you set system parameters for an SAP function or
application, start with this transaction and screen selection
SAP
configuration
Transaction ID
Selection option
choice
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Configuration – IMG Display
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Drill-down expansion of application options
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Configuration – Archiving Parameters Display QM
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Selection of parameter-specific criteria
Example: Quality Management function Plant Number ID
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Configuration – Archiving Parameters Detail
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Establish location-specific number of days a record stays in online system before it becomes archive eligible
Residence time
translates into three
years before QM data
can be archived
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Configuration – Document Parameters Display MM
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Example of configuration with Primary and Secondary residence
times in Materials Management (MM) module
Specific purchase type
identified for selection
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Configuration – Document Parameters Detail
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Example of system configuration with Primary and Secondary
residence times
Total time before you can remove a
purchase order record from database
240 days (9 months) after it is declared
business complete
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Customizing an Individual Archive Object
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Object customize options
 Commit work counters
 Establish file size in MB
 Establish number of records per file
 Turn auto delete parameters OFF
 Turn on Archive Link for archive object
 Establish archive file retention time pool
 Review SAP archiving object program selection criteria
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Customized Archive Object Sample (MATBEL)
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Customized Archive Object Sample (MATBEL) (cont.)
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Selection Parameters (Transaction SARA)
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Selection Parameters (Transaction SARA) (cont.)
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Customized Archive Object File Designation
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Customized Archive Object File Designation (cont.)
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What We’ll Cover …
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Getting started with archive planning
Examining archiving requirements
Setting up the archive process for success
Analyzing considerations for executing the archive process
Establishing the resources for the archive process
Taking a look at configuration vs. customization
Wrap-up
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Resources
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SAP Data Management Guide for Data Management Suite version
5.5 (September 2007) can be obtained from SAP Support Center
and SAP Service Marketplace (Quick Link /ilm, and then Data
Archiving → Media Library → Literature & Brochures).
Helmut Stepani, Archiving your SAP Data (SAP Press, July 2007)
SAP Service Marketplace (data archiving SAP Notes)
 https://service.sap.com > SAP Support Portal > Help & Support
> Search for data archiving SAP Notes
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7 Key Points to Take Home
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The basic tenets of archive planning cover the subject points of
what, why, where, when, who, how
Requirements for archive planning must address legal, technical,
and business issues
Strategic planning minimally should cover development plans,
document attachment and display plans, and periodic review of
production implemented archive objects
Tactical planning minimally should cover object analysis, variant
development, maintenance/daily scheduling, and periodic
research
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7 Key Points to Take Home (cont.)
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Logistical planning minimally should cover archive process
sponsor, archive process staffing resources, and hardware or
software material requirements
Configuration and customization of archive objects will drive
different strategic, tactical, and logistical plans for their
implementation
Archive planning like graphic in the “Overlapping Aspects of
Archive Planning” slide will have areas of overlap and
convergence
 Be flexible in your thinking and approach and do what makes
sense to your organization
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Your Turn!
How to contact me:
stephen.m.wright@accenture.com
Stephen.wright.ctr@dla.mil
smwright@wowway.com
630-767-0142
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Disclaimer
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other product and service names mentioned are the trademarks of their respective companies. Wellesley Information Services is neither owned nor
controlled by SAP.
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