Data archiving as a data management concept helps reduce data volume while making data accessible (for audit or business) when the need arises. One major reason why organizations archive data is because of legal requirements. Usually, data, especially tax-centric data, is subjected to legal regulations and should be archived in such a way that it is accessible any time it is needed by tax authorities and auditors. Some of the legal regulations influencing data archiving and retention include:

• The record retention requirement of US Internal Reserve Service (IRS) Rev. Proc. 98-25, which provides guidelines for the retention of different business data (e.g., annual financial statements, payroll journals, and insurance records)
• German Principles of Data Access and Verifiability of Digital Documentations (GDPdU), which prescribe guidelines for the archiving and safekeeping of data, especially tax-related data for audit purposes
• Article 131, section 3 and article 132, section 3 BAO of Austria, which require taxpayers who produce permanent copies of tax records on the basis of their electronic bookkeeping to print or export files of these records for safekeeping purposes and present them on demand

Another reason for data archiving is to enhance system performance via reduced data access times and database maintenance times as a result of reduced database size.

Data archiving in an SAP environment can be challenging because of business process interdependencies, complex technical requirements, corporate data retention requirements, and strict legal regulations. Thus, the archiving process needs to be properly managed as a project broken into manageable stages based on best practices. In this article, I provide a detailed description of a project management framework for your SAP data archiving operation. This project management framework is made up of the following closely related activities:

• Build the project management team
• Perform detailed analysis
• Develop an archiving strategy
• Prepare the data archiving environment
• Perform pilot implementation and testing
• Perform productive implementation and post-implementation activities

This article does not cover the actual procedure for the technical implementation of the archiving operation, but delivers recipes for a successful archiving run based on project management strategies that work. This article is best suited for SAP technical consultants, SAP functional consultants, SAP auditors, and SAP tax consultants. A good knowledge of SAP data archiving is assumed and desirable.

Build the Project Management Team

One of the critical considerations for a successful project implementation is the composition of the project team. A typical archiving project cuts across both the technical and functional units of a business, so there must be representation from these different units:  

• Technical (IT) team: The IT team is usually made up of hardware, operating system, database, and SAP system administration experts. The technical team is typically responsible for the definition and implementation of the technical requirements of an archiving project. This team plays an important role in ensuring the availability of the resources and infrastructure required for an archiving run. Basically, it readies the SAP system for data archiving. The responsibilities of the team include empirical database analysis, configuration of an optical storage system, creation of archive files, development of customized programs, and database management activities.
• Functional team: This team includes business process owners, who are knowledgeable in the operation of the different modules and are responsible for the definition and implementation of the different business processes. The business process owners define the business processes to be archived. This team coordinates the data archiving operation while paying close attention to the interdependencies that exist between different business processes. Because they are privy to the volume of transactions performed on a daily basis and the frequency, they can contribute to information about the data volume that will need to be archived. The functional team also performs customizing settings (e.g., residence times setting) that influence the archiving process. Aside from legal requirements, the functional team can also provide insight into when (for example, as part of yearly period-end closing activities) data should be archived based on certain metrics such as document age, business content, data status, retrieval requirements, and interfaces to third-party systems. Furthermore, because business data that might be needed for operational and business transaction processing need not be archived, the functional team helps ascertain whether business data is still needed by certain units or people for transaction processing.

• Auditing/controlling team: This team is typically made up of internal auditors, external auditors, and tax consultants. This part of the project team performs provisioning of legal and regulatory advisory services for data archiving. They provide guidance in ensuring total compliance with defined regulations. Their role is important in the archiving process because they save an organization from litigation that might arise as a result of ignorance and non-compliance with legal regulations and requirements. The auditors or consultants must ensure that both country-specific and cross-country archiving regulations are considered for data archiving. This team must ensure that the policies and procedures guiding the archiving operation of an organization are well documented and followed. The input of the auditors and tax consultants is further necessitated by the specific processes required for reducing data volume with legal or tax references.

Perform Detailed Analysis

The analysis of data and business processes is an integral concept in the data archiving project. It includes:

• Database and archiving objects analysis
• Archiving sequence analysis
• Technical analysis
• Business process analysis

• Audit and controlling analysis

Database and Archiving Objects Analysis

Regardless of the regular system administrative activities that involve the daily monitoring of database size and growth, you need to carry out an analysis of the database size and database table growth rate from a data archiving standpoint. You can perform the monitoring of database size and growth using transaction DB02 (Figure 1).

Figure 1

Analysis of database size and growth with transation DB02

You can generate standard reports such as the largest tables and fastest-growing tables to ensure that the decisions you make about data archiving are based on empirical evidence. For example, the top largest tables displayed in transaction DB02 might not necessarily be the fastest-growing tables — just because a table is large does not necessarily mean that it is still growing. The size issue might be a result of contiguous spaces that table reorganization would fix. In a nutshell, performing the analysis of database size and growth allows you to ascertain whether archiving is actually needed or not.

Following the analysis of tables relevant for archiving, you can perform the analysis of the required archiving objects via transaction DB15 (Figure 2). This transaction allows you to ascertain the archiving objects that are used for archiving specific database tables and it allows you to display the tables associated with a specific archiving object.

Figure 2

Table and archiving objects analysis with transaction DB15

Furthermore, it is important to perform table analysis in an archiving environment to know how table contents are distributed to specific fields. You can do this by using transaction TAANA. The output displays a count of table entries (e.g., BKPF — accounting document header) and assigns the number of entries found to the selected field values (e.g., company code, fiscal year, and document type) as shown in Figure 3.

Figure 3

Table analysis via transaction TAANA

Also, the SAP system allows you to perform table analysis with report RARCCOA1 and display table analysis data with report RARCCOA2. Figure 4 shows a typical table analysis data generated for managerial accounting (CO) tables COEP, COEJ, COSP, COSS, and COST, which display the number of table entries compared with the archiving objects.

Figure 4

Analysis report of CO tables for archiving — RARCCOA2

Archiving Sequence Analysis

An archiving sequence is necessary if there are multiple objects that are needed for data archiving. It defines the sequential order of carrying out the archiving of archiving objects. For example, the archiving sequence for a sales process is such that the deliveries documents are archived before billing documents and then sales documents. Analysis from a business process perspective can be laudable for identifying actions that you need to perform before other actions. Analysis of the archiving sequence is essential in ensuring that you do not encounter avoidable errors when carrying out data archiving.

The network graphic is an invaluable tool that you can use as a guide when defining an archiving sequence for your archiving project. You can access the network graphic by following menu path Goto > Network Graphic in transaction SARA (Figure 5).

Figure 5

Excerpt of an archive sequence session for different business processes

The network graphic gives a concise overview of the archiving sequence for business processes (e.g., production planning [PP], materials management [MM], and sales and distribution [SD]) and dependent documents (e.g., document logs, material documents, and shipment costs). The network graphic essentially provides an overview of the relationship between the different data objects that need to be archived. The output from the network graphic can serve as a vital input during the kick-off meeting of an archiving project.

Technical Analysis

You need to carry out technical analysis before performing the archiving operation. To ensure high availability of the SAP system and archiving resources, you need to carry out adequate capacity planning to ensure that the server configuration meets the system requirement for the archiving operation. Necessary hardware resources and software needs to be available and functional. Technical analysis is essential in ascertaining optimal storage medium for data safekeeping after archiving based on considerations such as access time window, frequency of access, estimated maintenance cost, and use of archiving options such as SAP ArchiveLink. The SAP system is also reviewed against the patch-level requirements for specific archiving operations. The technical team also needs to analyze the security and authorization needs of the SAP system and users to ensure adequate security and appropriate authorization provisioning. Analysis based on security and authorization provisioning enables you to identify the specific needs of different users for archiving operations. For example, aside from general and controlled authorization requirements for archiving, a specific document type needs additional authorization for certain archiving objects. This is evident in the fact that for you to archive contracts and scheduling agreements, you need activity 06 (delete authorization) for the archiving objects M_RAHM_EKO, M_RAHM_EKG, M_RAHM_BSA, and M_RAHM_WRK. This is different for a purchase order that needs the same authorization for archiving objects M_BEST_EKO, M_BEST_EKG, M_BEST_BSA, and M_BEST_WRK.

Business Process Analysis

The functional team, especially the business process owners, plays a vital role in this phase of an archiving project. Business process analysis helps you determine the appropriate customizing settings, such as residence times for different documents. The residence time defines the number of days in which data should be kept online. The residence time is an important customizing setting at the business process level that influences the availability of a business document or data for archiving. You can define residence time for different documents (e.g., purchase requisition) by following menu path SAP Customizing Implementation Guide > Materials Management > Purchasing > Purchasing Requisition > Define Tolerance Limit for Archiving (Figure 6).

Figure 6

Residence times setting for a purchase requisition

Analysis at the business process level allows you to ascertain and define when a business process is complete. This is essential because for a document to be archiveable, the related business process must be complete or closed. For example, you cannot archive a purchase order that is associated with an open down payment. The integrated nature of the SAP system is responsible for process interdependencies, which can be a problem during data archiving. Business process analysis allows you to identify business processes that are linked to the data to be archived, thereby helping in the identification and definition of dependencies that exist between different archiving objects. For example, you must archive external purchasing documents before archiving vendor master data and material master data. Also, business process analysis ensures that you are able to identify actions that you won’t be able to perform again in a business process after archiving. For example, after archiving table VBOX (billing document — rebate index), it is not possible to reprint billing documents.

Legal and Controlling Analysis

Auditors and tax consultants play a major role in this phase of data analysis. They are responsible for analyzing controls and legal issues to ascertain whether there are specific legal requirements for data retention, both locally and internationally. The analysis in this phase checks if archived data needs to be displayed using special tools or technologies and if there are specific fields or sections of a business document that must be displayed for audit purposes. It is a best practice to ensure that archived data are well protected and stored securely. This requirement is part of what the audit and control team analyze as it relates to optimal backup strategy and compliance with procedures. Analysis is also carried out to ensure that authorization to archived data is properly controlled and prevented against manipulation.

Develop an Archiving Strategy

The archiving strategy is a concept designed to guide the archiving processes and operations of an organization. Based on the output of the analysis phase, an archiving strategy should be developed for immediate and future use by an organization. Members of the project team, especially the auditing/controlling team, must thoroughly review the archiving strategy to ensure that it addresses technical, functional, and legal requirements. When designing the archiving strategy, the entire SAP system landscape must be considered with particular emphasis on specific system requirements and dependencies. The strategy should spell out which system really needs archiving and the systems for which archiving is not as important. For example, SAP ERP contains business-critical data that needs to be archived, but by contrast SAP Advanced Planning and Optimization (SAP APO) only contains temporary data that does not necessarily need to be archived.

Furthermore, the archiving strategy should be clear on timelines for data retention as it relates to specific legal and business requirements. For example, a country might require you to keep accounting data or documents for seven years. Although archiving helps reduce data volume, it is a best practice to consider other data volume management techniques (e.g., data avoidance, summarization, and deletion) in your archiving strategy. The archiving strategy must be properly documented, approved, and signed off by top management or C-level executives of an organization. 

Prepare the Data Archiving Environment

This phase is primarily concerned with preparatory activities for performing the archiving operation in a test and production environment. It is important to study related documentation and implement related SAP Notes before carrying out configuration settings or performing the archiving operation. For example, SAP Notes 401318 and 456129 are invaluable resources for archiving purchasing documents.

In this phase, you need to perform data archiving configuration settings such as the definition of the logical file name and path via transaction FILE, and cross-archiving object and basic configuration settings via transaction SARA. The file server needed for the archiving operation is also configured based on the expectations from the analysis phase. Based on your archiving requirement, you need to properly set up the necessary resources or tools for data archiving, such as an optical storage system. Furthermore, if the system performs a full table scan on fragmented tables housing the data to be archived, reorganization might be necessary to ensure that the remaining records are physically contiguous. The members of the project team need to be trained so that they know how to perform their responsibilities in the archiving process.

Perform Pilot Implementation and Testing

A test run is necessary so that the business process owners and end users can review the result of the simulated archiving operation. The concerned users normally need to review the generated logs and make necessary corrections, especially related to open business activities or documents. The technical team can also correct technical errors that occurred during the archiving run. This phase is also important for the audit/controlling unit because they need to ascertain that the archiving operation result meets legal requirements as defined and required by law. This activity is important so as to avoid surprises of inaccessibility to data that are imperative for immediate and future business transaction processing. It is important to test all adopted options for accessing archived data such as standard display transactions, archive read programs, archive information system, and data retention tools (e.g., DART). The concerned team should develop how-to guides for end users on how to access archived data and consequently train them accordingly. It is important that end users and by extension business process owners sign off on the user acceptance tests.

Perform Productive Implementation and Post-Implementation Activities

After all issues have been corrected in the test run phase and everyone is satisfied with the result of the simulation, you can perform the archiving operation in the production environment. The end users need to be informed accordingly afterward so that they are aware of the new system status. As asserted earlier, one of the reasons for data archiving is to reduce database volume. After productive implementation of the archiving operation, you need to perform certain activities to ensure that the benefits of the archiving operation are achieved. Some of the follow-up activities include backup of archive files, safekeeping (preferably in an off-site location), update of database statistics, and database reorganization.

Kehinde Eseyin

Kehinde Eseyin is a security architect. He holds a bachelor’s degree in computer science. He has about 12 years of IT security, governance framework, IS risk, and compliance experience gained by working in numerous global organizations. Over the years, he has demonstrated competencies in security design, information assurance, cyber security, data privacy, threat and vulnerability management, penetration testing, business architecture, project management, IT audit, IS controls framework, and identity and access management.
 

You may contact the author at eseyinok@gmail.com.

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