Deletion of Personal Data in Financial Accounting (FI)

As of enhancement package 7, SP 05 for SAP ECC 6.0, functions are available that simplify the blocking and deletion of personal data by using SAP Information Lifecycle Management (ILM).

Technical Details

Country Dependency	Valid for all countries
Software Component Version	SAP_FIN 617
Application Component	Accounts Payable (FI-AP) Accounts Receivable (FI-AR)
Available as of	SAP Enhancement Package 7 (SP05) for SAP ECC 6.0
Required Business Functions	ERP_CVP_ILM_1

Existing Data

These functions enable you to use the SAP Information Lifecycle Management (ILM) component to support the deletion of personal data and to control the deletion and blocking of customer and vendor master data. Personal data collected in customer and vendor master data can be blocked as soon as business activities for which this data is needed are completed and the residence time for this data has elapsed; after this time, only users who are assigned additional authorizations can access this data. After the retention period for data expires, personal data can be destroyed completely so that it can no longer be retrieved. Retention periods must be defined in the customer system.

Data Transfer

An end of purpose check determines whether data is still relevant for business activities based on the retention period defined for the data. The retention period of data consists of the following phases.

Phase one: The relevant data is actively used.
Phase two: The relevant data is actively available in the system.
Phase three: The relevant data needs to be retained for other reasons.
For example, processing of data is no longer required for the primary business purpose but to comply with legal rules for retention the data must still be available. In phase three, the relevant data is blocked.

During the EoP check, the system checks whether data can be blocked. For normal customer and vendors, it is not possible to block the data in the following cases:
- One or more open items exist.
- One or more parked or completely stored documents exist.
- One or more recurring documents exist.
- In the master data record of a customer or vendor, a reference to a vendor or customer exists and is active in the master data.
- A customer or vendor is used as the alternative payer for another customer or vendor.
- Saved documents exist in the cash journal.
For one-time customers and vendors, all documents that are related to a customer or vendor are grouped to a process. If the process is completely finished (invoices, partial or residual payments), the system blocks all documents related to this process by saving the authority group defined in ILM in the FI line item. If the customer, the vendor, or the process can be blocked, the last payment date is used. If this payment date is earlier than the retention date calculated based on the Customizing settings defined in SAP Information Lifecycle Management (ILM), it is possible to block the customer or vendor in Financial Accounting (FI) provided that the data is not used by any other applications.

Blocking of data prevents the business users of SAP applications from displaying and using data that may include personal data and is no longer relevant for business activities.

Blocking of data can impact system behavior in the following ways:

Display: The system does not display blocked data.
Change: It is not possible to change a business object that contains blocked data.
Create: It is not possible to create a business object that contains blocked data.
Copy/Follow-Up: It is not possible to copy a business object or perform follow-up activities for a business object that contains blocked data.
Search: It is not possible to search for blocked data or to search for a business object using blocked data in the search criteria.

It is possible to display blocked data if a user has special authorization; however, it is still not possible to create, change, copy or perform follow-up activities for blocked data.

Customizing

SAP Information Lifecycle Management (ILM)

To use SAP Information Lifecycle Management (ILM) to simplify the deletion of application-specific personal data:

Activate the business function Information Lifecycle Management (ILM).
Make the necessary Customizing settings related to SAP Information Lifecycle Management (ILM) in Customizing for SAP NetWeaver under Application Server Basis Services Information Lifecycle Management .
Run transaction IRMPOL and maintain the required residence and retention policies for the customer master and vendor master in SAP ERP (ILM objects: FI_ACCPAYB, FI_ACCRECV, FI_ACCKNVK).
Run transactions IRMPOL and IRMARA and maintain the required residence policies for the check management:
- Policy category: Residence rules
- Object category: SAP Business Suite
- Audit area: BUPA_DP
- ILM object: FI_SCHECK

Blocking and Deletion of Customer and Vendor Master Data

To use the new functions to simplify the blocking and deletion of customer and vendor master data:

Activate the following business functions:
- ILM-Based Deletion of Business Partner Data (BUPA_ILM_BF)
- ILM-Based Deletion of Customer and Vendor Master Data (ERP_CVP_ILM_1)
Make the necessary Customizing settings related to the blocking and deletion of customer and vendor master data in Customizing for Financial Accounting (New) under Accounts Receivable and Accounts Payable Deletion of Customer and Vendor Master Data .