why can retention time periods be only extended but not shortened with SAP ILM ?

[veesatya1975]

Hello SAP ILM Team,

we would like to know from SAP, why the retention time periods can only extended with SAP ILM, but cannot be shortened later. ? what is this not available with SAP ILM & what are the reasons?

scenario:

requirement we have for FI_DOCUMNT ILM object, a ILM retention rule on a country with 10 years (given by business), & we have defined this in IRMPOL.

with this rule we have started archive file conversions & run also data destruction (database data see image below).

later after an year , business decided & wanted to reduce the retention time to 6 years instead of 10 years.

so we must define this change in IRMPOL from 10 to 6 years.

as per SAP, this is not possible .

this excerpt below is from the latest SAP ILM - the comprehensive guide book.

(After the retention period has been calculated & transferred to the storage system with the sticker on the Archive file, it can be expanded but not shortened. This is what the BC-ILM certification currently provides for).

so does SAP ILM only allow you to extend retention periods but not shorten them later?

does this apply to only archive files or does this also apply to data destruction?

data destruction(transaction ILM_DESTRUCTION) : see below

Thanks in Advance,

Satya

[veesatya1975]

Hi Dharshan,

Thanks for the answer, the retention times are decided by both business as well as legal .

nothing is being changed as per our convenience, this is a proper requirement from the client ,

I don't think by adjusting retention (shorten or extend ) retention concept loses its meaning , but it is offering even more flexibility.

for instance in future client decided retention was too long & want to shorten it (already ILM converted archive files), then there is the technical limitation of ILM that you cannot reduce the retention period.

Regards,

Satya

[former_member289103]

Hi Satya,

Retention times are not decided by Business team but by legal team. It is not recommended to change the retention time as per convenience and if done so the retention concept loses its meaning. Do you have a scenario where the legal rule has changed and needs to be re-applied for old data already archived with ILM ?

Data destruction does not write files to ILM Aware storage. So it should not be a problem here.

Thanks and Regards,

Dharshan A