SAP data archiving has long been a recommended practice, yet it’s not uncommon for companies to overlook, or even avoid the process of moving data that is no longer actively used to a separate storage device for long-term retention. In fact, a recent IDC study revealed that 57% of respondents use backup methods to meet long-term archival requirements. This frequently leads to creation of duplicate files that needlessly weigh down the system. In contrast, Archiving, identifies inactive or less frequently accessed data and moves it to more cost-effective storage devices for long-term and accessible retention.
More often than not, only a small percentage of application data is used in daily operations after the application has been live for several years. This allows for the removal of business-complete processes from the database. However, deleting the data is frequently impractical due to the need for read access to individual data objects. Therefore, the solution is to relocate the data in such a way that it remains accessible when needed. Many companies and some IT professionals are not aware that they can still access archived data while reaping additional technical benefits when integrating the SAP best practice.
HERE ARE 6 WAYS SAP DATA ARCHIVING CAN MAKE YOU MORE SUCCESSFUL –
1. REDUCE YOUR DATABASE SIZE
There are more than 800 archiving objects ready for use across several SAP Business Suite applications, including SAP ERP, SAP CRM and SAP SCM. Using these, or custom objects to regularly archive business-complete data reduces the size of your database, keeps it manageable in the long term and allows you to control the data growth of your SAP applications. This can all be accomplished while ensuring that the data you archive is stored safely and remains readily accessible should you require it.
2. REDUCE YOUR BACKUP TIME
By reducing your database size and unburdening the backup system from unused or infrequently accessed data, you free up storage resources, shorten backup windows and restore performance. As your business continues to accrue new data, you can use standard or custom objects to keep database size, and subsequently, backup time in check.
3. REDUCE RESPONSE TIME TO INCREASE YOUR PERFORMANCE
Reducing your database size will reduce the amount of transactions for your CPUs to process through. Do more with less by freeing up space on the system and reducing the workload to allow your business to improve system response time and run more efficiently for longer.
4. REDUCE UPGRADE DURATION
We typically recommend deploying a data archiving solution prior to upgrading an SAP system in order to decrease the volume of transaction data that is migrated to the new system. This results in shorter upgrade projects, reducing time and money expended to achieve the upgrade. Just as substantial, production downtime and the risks associated with upgrading your SAP system are significantly curtailed.
5. REDUCE SYSTEM SHUT-DOWNS
In case of disaster recovery, the smaller footprint expedites the duration to reinstate the database from back up. It also expedites the business to validate the data before it is fully restored and opened for operations again. Research shows that every hour lost due to prolonged validation in the restore process can cost US businesses $, and the validation duration is directly proportional to the size of database (nos. of active records in the system).
6. REDUCE YOUR INFRASTRUCTURE GROWTH
Even with storage costs falling, IT budgets continue to be consumed by significant primary storage expenses. With more data to process, you’ll require additional CPUs, resulting in additional hardware, maintenance and storage costs. Minimize excessive growth and nonessential infrastructure costs by archiving your SAP data into more cost-effective, long-term storage devices.
It’s important to note that the archival process is almost always automated. With a “set it and forget it” workflow, you can even add reducing administrative overhead to the list of benefits. As stated earlier, deploying a data archiving strategy can ease compliance and keep you ahead of changes in archival technology, this is a key reason that Auritas designs for easy retrieval.
This is particularly convenient in the instance of an audit or data mining and analysis purposes. And with many of today’s SAP systems reaching double-digit figures in terms of age, keeping unused or infrequently accessed data for 20 or 30 years in an IT system is too lax an approach with less costly long-term storage solutions readily available for reducing total cost of ownership.
Whether your database expansion is a result of new features & functions, additional users, heightened use of particular applications, or mergers & acquisitions, Auritas can help to reduce the stored amount of your data to help increase technical ROI, maintain system sustainability and reduce end-user and IT workload.
SOME OF THE MOST COMMON SYSTEMS WE RECEIVE DATA ARCHIVING REQUESTS FOR ARE:
- ERP Central Component (ECC)
- Customer Relationship Management (CRM)
- Human Capital Management (HCM)
- Supplier Relationship Management (SRM)
Contact Auritas for more information about our comprehensive Enterprise Data Management Solutions, including Data Archiving, Legacy System Retirement, and Document Management