Data archiving: simulation data

[Former Member]

Hi,

When one runs the Data Archiving Wizard in simulation mode, the result is viewed through the Data Removal Recommendations. To access all of the 'failed' clusters is a heavy task. I know you can export to Excel for example, but that would be a list of clusters, or a cluster's contents.

I was wondering if this data is kept in memory only or if it's in table(s). We then could run a query that would present everything you need to know, in one easy step, analysis of the data being something else .

Thanks

[Johan_H · Accepted solution]

Hi Plante,

We suffered the same problem with our nearly 9 year old database of about 90 GB.

Unfortunately the data you are referring to is not stored in any (temporary) table during the process. All you can do is try to mimic the logic of the data archiving wizard, if you want to build a query.

A good place to start is with any open delivery documents, older than 2 years. Next you will want to check for old invoices with a balance due that is greater than zero.

In our case it took SAP support about a month to figure out why certain documents were blocking several clusters. The challenge is that the wizard's report is not comprehensive.

Again our case as an example: When we looked at these invoices, there did not appear to be anything wrong with them. SAP support found out that it turned out that there was some manual reconciliation made in retrospect that involved several payments, that in turn each covered several invoices. However the report only showed that these invoices were blocking the cluster.

In short, I recommend that you find two or three of the largest blocked clusters, drill down to the list of individual transactions, and investigate only the top one or two transactions. If you cannot find a reason for these transactions being blocked, do like we did, and create a support ticket with SAP.

Regards,

Johan

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

Hi Johan,

thanks for sharing you 'real life' experience. Finding all open documents before even running the simulation is the way I want to go. I work with a Business Partner and have the task to master archiving. I tested with a real database. Archiving bring the bads in a database to the top . I found out lots of Posting Periods with status of closing, Periods that never went through Period End closing, Incoming payments never deposited, and so on.

In our case it took SAP support about a month to figure out why certain documents were blocking several clusters.

Do you mean that a single document blocked more than one cluster ? The exercise seems to very complicated if you want to remove a maximum of transactions.

Gilles

[Johan_H · Accepted solution]

Hi Gilles,

Sorry, I said that the wrong way around, I meant to say that we have some really big blocked clusters (800+ transactions), that were caused by only 10 or 15 documents.

If you are only faced with open periods and a couple of unreconciled payments, you are actually quite lucky.

It is definitely a complicated process though, as transactions can be linked in unexpected and/or non-obvious ways. The same way, like in our case for example, it is possible that in some obscure way several hundreds of transactions are linked together. Finding all the links really can be a problem.

That said, there are a few reasonably simple things you can do to at least take care of all the obvious problems:

1. As you already found, close all relevant periods, and preferably all but the actually currently active periods.

2. Create a query that finds all open documents that will no longer be handled. Close and/or reconcile all these documents. If possible and allowed, backdate reconciliations.

3. Older databases like these are bound to have some minor corruption in them, due to updates and functional differences between versions. A good start to solve any of these, is to determine any and all missing default settings in B1. The next step would be to install the Remote Support Platform on the server, and run all checking tasks that it offers (which can be quite a lot).

If all else fails, some SAP partners offer special "clean install" type services (Boyum IT comes to mind).

Regards,

Johan

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

Hi Johan,

for that customer, there is cluster containing 463,222 documents ! 2,500 documents are blocking this cluster . Some of the are 'Connected to non removable document'. This is a life time serach to unblock that cluster.

Yes RSP is a good place to start. IMy advise is:

1. Run RSP taks to get any clue at what's wrong (very good tool)
2. Run queries to find open documents and close them
3. Then and only then do a simulation (and buy a lottery ticket )

The archive wizard does not seem to be any better in 8.82. May be in 9 .

Gilles

[Johan_H · Accepted solution]

Hi Gilles,

One small comment to your point 3 (although otherwise we are on the same page 😞

Create a test database from a resent backup, and run the simulation on that whenever you want. I have found that it pays to make a test run after each thing you fix, because it is quite possible that you will manage to unblock some cluster with a small single fix, even though a query or the RSP might suggest many more.

Regards,

Johan

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

Agreed !

Gilles

[Former Member]

Hi,

How big your db is and how long have you used it?

Thanks,

Gordon

[Former Member]

The customer started using SAP in 2005. The database size is around 85 G.