Data Archiving 

This IT Scenario variant is an important part of an effective data management strategy. Data archiving is used by companies with two main goals in mind: reducing data volumes in the system and complying with legal data retention requirements. Both goals are obtained using the same processes, which together make up this variant: Monitoring, Analyzing and Categorizing, Archiving and Post Processing.

The Concepts Behind Data Archiving

Data Archiving is a secure and reliable process through which data from closed business processes, meaning data that is no longer needed in online business, is written from the database to an archive, and then deleted from the database. Optionally the archived data can then be moved to an external storage system (ADK-based archiving). An important aspect of this entire process is that the archived data must be accessible at any time, in case it needs to be viewed again, for example as part of an audit or for business reasons. Data archiving provides several functions for the reading of archived data.

In terms of legal compliance some data can or even must be deleted, as soon as the required data retention period has been reached. This scenario variant offers different functions that allow you to store archived data separately based on specific criteria. This facilitates the deletion of the archived data later.

Benefits

As an important part of every data management strategy, data archiving helps companies curb data growth within their systems and supports them in their legal compliance strategy.

More specifically, data archiving provides companies with the following benefits:

·        Greater system availability through reduced data volumes in the database

·        Better use of resources, due to leaner systems

·        Improved system performance, because of smaller database tables

·        Support in complying with legal data retention requirements through more automatization and more complete data archiving and storage processes.

Architecture of the Scenario Variant

The technological basis for data archiving is part of the SAP NetWeaver Application Server and is available in two variations:

ADK-based Archiving

ADK-based archiving is used only by ABAP applications that employ ABAP archiving objects in their data archiving projects.

XML-based Archiving

XML-based archiving is employed for XML archiving objects that are used by ABAP applications with XML interfaces, and for archiving sets used by JAVA applications.

Required Usage Types of SAP NetWeaver

To be able to use the functions of this variant you need the technical usage types Application Server ABAP and JAVA (only for XML-based archiving).

IT-Processes of the Scenario Variant

This process variant is composed of the following IT processes:

Process	What you need to know...
Monitoring	In this IT process you monitor the behavior of the database and database tables in terms of data growth, performance and system behavior.
Analyzing and Categorizing	In this IT process you examine the fastest-growing tables and those involved in performance-demanding queries in depth, and group data according to different requirements.
Customizing	In this IT process you make customizing settings to archive the appropriate data, as identified under Monitoring and Analyzing and Categorizing.
Archiving	In this IT process you carry out the actual data archiving process. This includes the scheduling and control of write and delete jobs. All important data archiving functions are found in Archive Administration (transaction SARA).
Post Processing	In this IT process you carry out different tasks necessary after archiving, such as managing archiving jobs, building indexes for accessing archived data, cleaning up the database, and deleting archived data.