Procedure documentationProcessing ILM Policies

 

In SAP NetWeaver ILM, time-based data lifecycle management is performed with the help of rules that you define in the context of policies. With data archiving based on ILM-enabled archiving objects, the system interprets the relevant ILM rules for each data object. The system uses the retention rules to determine the retention period, the storage location of the archive files, and the archive hierarchy.

Caution Caution

SAP does not assume any warranty or liability for the correct definition of your ILM policies or your adherence to retention periods required by law.

End of the caution.
Policy Dependencies

You always define a policy for an ILM object belonging to an audit area. By selecting a policy category, you define the structure of the rules for that policy. How you define the policies for an ILM object depends on the Customizing settings of the ILM object within an object category. You can define multiple rules for each policy.

Object for Customizing and Defining ILM Rules

Description

Object Category

Groups ILM Objects according to application area. For more information, see: Object Categories of ILM Objects

ILM Object

Within an object category, contains all the settings of an ILM-enabled archiving object (and therefore the data object to be archived) relevant for the definition and application of ILM rules. For more information, see: General Settings for ILM Objects, Business Suite-Specific Settings for ILM Objects

Policy Category

Determines the type and structure of ILM rules for an ILM object. For more information, see: Policy Categories for ILM Objects

Audit Area

Groups ILM objects from a business aspect, according to common criteria for storage and for queries (such as tax audits). You can define the rules only for ILM objects in active audit areas.

Policy

Groups rules into an ILM object within an audit area. For example, you can include country-specific specifications for an ILM object, for the definition of retention rules in different policies. Rules in a policy cannot be used operatively until you have flagged the policy as live.

Rule

Defines the duration of the retention period or residence period to be determined as well as the time reference and the time offset for determining the start date. You can use conditions to restrict the validity of each rule.

Prerequisites

  • You are familiar with the Customizing settings (displayed in the figure above) for the ILM objects for which you want to create policies.

    For more information, see: Making Customizing Settings for ILM Rules

  • You have assigned the ILM objects to audit areas.

    For more information, see: Processing Audit Areas

  • You have created a transport request (Customizing request) in which you can record the changes to the ILM rules.

Procedure

1. Start the Function for Editing Policies using Selection Criteria

  1. In the menu for the ILM Retention Management Cockpit or the ILM Retention Warehouse Cockpit, choose Start of the navigation path ILM Rules Next navigation step Edit Policies End of the navigation path.

    More information: Assigning Authorizations for SAP NetWeaver ILM Functions

    In the application system, you can also use transaction IRMPOL to call the function for editing ILM policies.

  2. On the initial screen, enter the selection criteria for the policy or policies:

    • Policy Category

    • Object Category

    • Audit Area (only when creating a policy here or in the following step, otherwise optional)

    • ILM Object (required only when creating a policy, otherwise optional)

  3. Start the function depending on your purpose for editing:

    • Create policy Choose New.

    • Displaying and (editing) the policy: Choose Continue.

      Note Note

      You use Edit to switch from display mode into editing mode in a policy.

      End of the note.
2. Creating an ILM Policy

  1. If you did not enter the Audit Area as a selection criteria when starting the function, enter it here.

    Each policy refers to an ILM object in an audit area. If an ILM object belongs to more than one audit area, it can possess policies specific to an audit area.

  2. To identify a policy within an audit area, enter the Policy Name. With the policy name, you can, for example, differentiate between country-specific policies for the same ILM object within an audit area.

  3. To include the condition fields or standard condition fields that are available for an ILM object in the rules of the policy, you need to copy these fields from the table Available Condition Fields to the table Selected Condition Fields.

    Note Note

    Note that when editing an ILM policy (IRMPOL) a maximum of four conditions can be included per policy.

    End of the note.

    Define the sequence in which the selected condition fields are positioned in the table of ILM rules. This sequence also determines the structure of the archiving paths (URIs) for the storage of resources in the archive hierarchy.

    Note Note

    Exception: For the ILM objects AL_DOCUMENTS and AL_PRINTLISTS, the structure of the archive paths is composed according to a fixed pattern independently of the selected condition fields.

    End of the note.

  4. Save your entries. Specify the transport request (Customizing request).

  5. Optional: Enter a comment about the recently created policy (not yet live) in the list of policies.

    Until the policy is live, you can still make changes to its condition fields.

3. Defining ILM Rules

Define the required ILM rules for your selected policy, depending on the policy category you have selected.

  • If the policy is intended for retention rules, the system offers the corresponding table for the definition of ILM rules.

    For more information, see: Editing Retention Rules

  • If the policy is intended for residence rules, the system offers the corresponding table for the definition of ILM rules.

    For more information, see: Editing Residence Rules

4. Managing ILM Policies
Setting or Resetting the Live Status of a Policy

Policy rules have an operative effect on the data only if the policy has the status Live. You cannot change a live policy. To make changes, you need to reset the policy status to Not Live.

To set the status of the policy to Live, that is, to reset it to Not Live, proceed as follows:

  1. Make sure that you have switched to editing mode for the selected policies.

  2. Select the policy in the table of policies.

  3. Choose Change Status and confirm the prompt.

  4. If no assignment has been made to a transport request, enter the transport request and confirm your entry.

Deletion, Transport, Export and Import of Policies

The following functions are available in the list of policies:

  • Delete (Icon): You can delete only those policies that are not live, including all rules that belong to them.

  • Transport: You can include selected policies, including the related rules, in a transport request and transport them.

  • Export: You can export the policies of an object category into an XML file so that you can edit the content of the rule definitions outside of the system. (If you change the structure of the rules, it is no longer possible to import them.)

    Example applications:

    • You want to use existing ILM rules as templates for country-specific rules. To do so, export the policy templates and change the country. You then import the country-specific version.

    • You can also use the export function for documentation purposes or to print ILM policies.

    To check the structure of an XML schema, you can export the schema definition for the object category of the policies you want to export. This export is only possible within a specified object category.

  • Import: You can import the policies that you exported as an XML file. Prerequisite: The rule structures and Customizing for the imported policies and for the existing policies are identical. The system offers you policies for import that correspond to the selection criteria with which you called up ILM policy editing.

Overview of the ILM Rules of all Policies of an ILM object

If multiple policies exist for an ILM object in different audit areas, you can display an overview of the rules for the ILM object per audit area. To do so, select the policies of the ILM object and then choose Overview.

More Information

Simulating the Evaluation of ILM Rules