SAP Transaction Archiving

[Former Member]

Hi,

With SAP, how do we manage archiving past historical data?

I would like to know if SAP provides any tools in order to manage the historical transactions data in the database.

For example, say we decide to keep only last 3 years of business data with regards to Finance Module. Then the data prior to 3 years should be archived. Does SAP provide some tools or scripts to manage this task?

I hear that it is the responsibility of the Functional Consultants to take care of archiving their respective domains.

However, I feel that they would not be in a position to manage the archiving process themselves as this is a technical job.

How does SAP go about this?

Any ideas, information in this area would be helpful.

Thank you very much

Regards,

Augustine

PS: Any information in this regard would help please.

[former_member206552 · Accepted solution]

hi augustine

please see link below

http://www.sdn.sap.com/irj/scn/index?rid=/library/uuid/d76f5301-0b01-0010-2a97-9938052ddf81

http://help.sap.com/saphelp_erp60_sp/helpdata/en/d2/36e2791560ed4a96e97a3175694886/content.htm

best regards

marius

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

Dear Marius,

Thank you very much for your inputs.

It has given me a start in the right direction.

So from what I understand, this very much seems to me like the job and responsibility of a SAP Basis Team and not the functional consultants.

I also understand that the archived data are stored in files external to the database. Is there a way to store the data in another database or another tablespace in the same database, etc?

Thank you in advance.

Augustine

[former_member206552 · Accepted solution]

hi augistine,

In my view this is not a basis function,i had sit with the applications team a while back and we did the initial setup to an archive server (ixos), after that it was their responsibility to archive and retrieve the data using SARA. We only assisted them if they were unable or had an error. we where only responsible for the basis tables to be archived

Note 706478 - Preventing Basis tables from increasing considerably

hope this help

best regards

marius

[former_member188883 · Accepted solution]

Hi Augustine,

So from what I understand, this very much seems to me like the job and responsibility of a SAP Basis Team and not the functional consultants.

No. Its not only basis teams effort. It involves lot of efforts from functional team in identifying the impact after archiving, helping in resolving issues during archiving with scenarios like PO is not closed, FI document is OPEN, Sales document flow not completed etc etc.

I also understand that the archived data are stored in files external to the database. Is there a way to store the data in another database or another tablespace in the same database, etc?

Archive data can be stored in following places

1) File system on windows or unix

2) Compliant Archive servers like Open Text

3) Also in database like MaxDB which can be configured through content server.

But recommended option is to store in under legally compliant location like Open Text .

Hope this helps.

Regards,

Deepak Kori

[shaun_wimpory2 · Accepted solution]

Hi Augustine,

From my experience the Basis team are not the best team to define and configure functional archive objects.  I have seen a number of scenarios where archiving old documents is imposible due to significant changes in configuration, thus closing/completing old business documents requires custom archive objects to be developed, and this often falls in the realm of an ABAPer.

The best archiving experts I've come across have a very strong ABAP background.

Basis play a role in ensuring that archiving occurs during periods of "low" activity, monitors the database activity, storage space, and any post-archive reorgs that may be needed.

Cheers

Shaun

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

Thank you very much Shaun.

Regards,

Augustine

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

Thank you very much Marius.

Regards,

Augustine

[Former Member · Accepted solution]

Thank you very much Deepak.

Regards,

Augustine