Deletion of Personal Data in Materials Management

As of enhancement package 7 SP08 for SAP ECC 6.0, functions are available that simplify the processes for blocking and deleting personal data in the following Materials Management components through the use of SAP Information Lifecycle Management (ILM):

Purchasing (MM-PUR)
Procurement of External Services (MM-SRV)
Inventory Management (MM-IM)
Logistics Invoice Verification (MM-IV)

Technical Details

Country Dependency	Valid for all countries

Software Component Version	SAP_APPL 617

Application Component	MM (Materials Management)

Available as of	SAP Enhancement Package 7 (SP08) for ECC 6.0

Required Business Functions	ERP_CVP_ILM_1

Effects on Existing Data

These functions allow you to use the SAP Information Lifecycle Management (SAP ILM) component to support the deletion of personal data and to control the deletion and blocking of business partner master data. Personal data in business partner master data can be blocked as soon as business activities for which this data is required have been completed and the residence time has passed. Once this time has expired, only users that have been assigned additional authorizations can access this data. Once the retention period has expired, personal data can be destroyed permanently, which means it can no longer be accessed. The residence time and retention periods must be defined in the system.

The check to identify the end of the intended purpose uses the retention period defined for the data to determine whether this data is still relevant for business activities. The lifecycle of data in the system involves the following phases:

Phase one: The data is used actively.
Phase two: The data is actively available in the system.
Phase three: The data must be kept and retained for other reasons.

Example: Phase 1: A business partner acts as a vendor on a number of occasions. Phase 2: The business partner could be commissioned but is not actually awarded any more orders. Phase 3: The business partner may no longer be commissioned. The data no longer needs to be processed for the primary intended purpose in phase 2, and processing is not supported in phase 3. The data is still available in the system in phase 3, however, to ensure that legal provisions for data retention are observed. This data is blocked for use in business processes in phase 3, however.

When data is blocked, users of the SAP applications can neither display nor access personal data that is no longer relevant for business activities. Data blocking has the following impact on system behavior:

Display: The system does not display any 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.
Copying or follow-on activities: A business object* that contains blocked data either cannot be copied in its entirety or the blocked data is not copied. Neither is it possible to perform follow-on activities with the blocked data for a business object*.
Search: It is not possible to use blocked data as search criteria when searching for a business object.

* Note: Inventory management documents can contain various items that are related to different vendors. In this case, it is not the business object that is affected, that is, not the document as a whole; it is only the items with blocked data that cannot be created, changed, copied, or used in follow-on activities. Those document items that relate to other vendors that are still active are not affected by the blocking.

Note Note

Only users with special authorization can display blocked data; they are not authorized, however, to create, change, or copy business objects with blocked data, or perform follow-on activities with these business objects.

End of the note.

Blocking and Deleting Data in Materials Management

In Materials Management, the process up to the blocking and deletion of personal data might look as follows:

Once all goods receipts and invoices have been processed for a purchase order for a vendor, and all payments have been processed in FI, the business activities with this vendor are deemed completed.

Before the personal data can be permanently deleted, it may need to be retained in the system for a defined period of time when stipulated by legal provisions. The check to identify the end of the intended purpose determines when the personal data for a vendor was last used in a document. If this check indicates no further use and the residence time has passed, the data can be blocked to prevent it from being used further. Once the legally stipulated retention period has ended, the data blocked up until this time can be deleted permanently.

Customizing

SAP Information Lifecycle Management (ILM)

To use SAP Information Lifecycle Management (ILM) to simplify the process to delete application-specific personal data, you need to proceed as follows:

Activate the Information Lifecycle Management (ILM) business function.
Configure the relevant Customizing settings for SAP Information Lifecycle Management (ILM) in Customizing for SAP NetWeaver under Application Server -> Basis Services -> Information Lifecycle Management.
Call transaction IRMPOL and maintain the required retention policies for customer and vendor master data (ILM objects FI_ACCPAYB and FI_ACCRECV) as well as for the ILM objects in the Materials Management application (MM_EBAN, MM_EKKO, MM_EINA, MM_INVBEL, MM_REBEL, and MM_SPSTOCK).

Locking and Deleting Customer and Vendor Master Data

To use the new functions for simplifying the processes to block and delete customer and vendor master data, you need to proceed as follows:

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): The MM_DPP_SFW_01 option must be activated.

Configure the required Customizing settings for blocking and deleting customer and vendor master data in Customizing for Logistics - General under Business Partner -> Deleting Customer Master Data and Vendor Master Data.