Delete, Archive, Destroy
SAP NetWeaver Information Lifecycle Management
(ILM) covers the entire lifecycle of data, which ends with the destruction of data. The lifecycle of data shows the differences between the terms “delete”, “archive”, and “destroy”:
Data is entered or changed in business processes and saved in the database.
Data with errors is changed or deleted.
After a business process has been completed, data is no longer required; however, there is data that needs to be retained for revision reasons, or with regard to legal cases that have not been settled. Data from completed business processes can no longer be changed. This data can be archived. When archiving data, the data is moved from the operational system to a connected archive system.
NoteData that has been archived can then be deleted from the operational system. The data can only be deleted from the archive system once the retention period for this data has been reached.
End of the note.You must destroy data that has reached the end of its retention period and that may no longer be retained due to legal reasons. The data is deleted from the operational system and the archive system. Using SAP NetWeaver ILM data destruction, the data that is to be destroyed is deleted from the database tables and the archive system.