0 0 don’t delay! why and how to design a plan for archiving your sap data now stephen m. wright

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Don’t Delay! Why and How to Design a Plan for Archiving Your SAP Data Now

Stephen M. Wright

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In This Session ...

• We will touch on why the planning process is critical to the success of the archive process Identification and support of a common goal for archive

planning How strategic planning differs from tactical planning How tactical planning differs from logistical planning

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What We’ll Cover …

• Getting started with archive planning• Examining archiving requirements• Setting up the archive process for success• Analyzing considerations for executing the archive process• Establishing the resources for the archive process• Taking a look at configuration vs. customization • Wrap-up

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Purpose of Archive or Information Lifecycle Management (ILM) Planning

• Successful removal of expired, obsolete, or erroneous data from your SAP system

• Maintaining system integrity

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Basic Tenets of Planning

• What• Why• Where • When• Who • How

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Overlapping Aspects of Archive Planning

• Intersections

WhereWhen

Tactical

WhatWhy

Strategic

WhoHow

Logistical

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Requirements of Data Archiving

• The main purpose of data archiving or ILM is to remove from the database application data that is no longer needed in day-to-day business, with the aim of using resources more efficiently

• The following requirements must be taken into account when archiving data: Legal requirements Technical requirements Business requirements

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Legal Requirements

• Governmental, regulatory, and statutory restrictions dictate corporate data retention and access for specified periods of time based on record type

• Archived data records must have the ability to be produced on demand within the defined retention parameters

• When data retention times have expired, archived records must be able to be removed from content media storage Must be able to selectively hold records for legal challenges of

the relevant country of record origin

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Technical Requirements

• Can archived data still be read long after it has been archived, independent of the hardware used at the time of archiving and the software release status?

• Can archived data be displayed in a user friendly format?• Can expired archived data be removed and maintain system

integrity?

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Business Requirements

• From the business point of view, only those data objects that are no longer required in day-to-day operations can be removed from the database

• Therefore, a logic check must be performed to ensure that only data objects belonging to completed business processes can be archived

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Setting up the archive process for success

• Points to consider for starting the strategic planning phase of your archive process Developing archive objects Deleting table data vs. archiving Not storing attachments in the data base Is the information life cycle process consistent with legal

requirements Consider periodic review of current archive process

• Consider using the points above to mitigate risk to your enterprise by keeping data no longer than needed or removing to soon

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Developing Archive Objects

• Develop new archive objects based on: Largest table sizes Fastest growing tables within a calendar month Which tables are most widely used throughout the system Requirement to maintain module or process integrity Requirement to improve business process response time

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Data Base Management Options

• Delete table data where it is determined that no legal, governmental, regulatory, or audit requirement is identified, and replace with table stubs for application integrity

• Prevent unnecessary database growth by turning off table generation where possible

• Redirect attachment images, documents, reports, or charts to transactional data, to an external content repository

• Support information end-of-life processes that are consistent with legal and business strategies, goals, and mission

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Periodic Review of Archive Objects

• Conduct a periodic review of existing production system archive objects

• Review current archive object’s: Retention time frames System configuration Job scheduling times Application dependencies Output error reports to reduce rate of error replication and

reduce error turn-around time

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Analyzing considerations for executing the archive process

• Points to consider for starting the tactical planning phase of your archive process Archive object analysis Archive object operational questions Variant development Maintenance and daily scheduling SAP archiving R&D hints

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Archive Object Analysis Planning

• Data archiving is something that needs a lot of study and pre-analysis for any development

• For every object we archive, there will be different aspects to consider and points of action to be taken carefully

• Detail analysis is most the important part of this process The performance and results of data archiving will be based on

this analysis

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Archive Object Questions to Be Answered

• Which objects need archiving?• What will be the archiving frequency?• When is it advisable to carry out data archiving?• Who are the primary users of the data?• Does the the archive object have data or process dependencies?• How often do you expect to retrieve archived object data?

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Variant Development

• After complete analysis, variants will be set according to archiving needs for particular objects

• Processes will be defined for development/setting variants for each object to be archived Example: Will you need multiple runs for an object?

By plant By country code By sales organization

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Maintenance and Daily Scheduling

• Once all the variants are set, testing for different parameters will be done in a QA or Staging system prior to execution in the Production system The same variants will be set in the Production system, which

will be used for daily scheduling of jobs• Daily tasks will include scheduling jobs for data deletion once

archived and providing annotations to them • Daily job scheduling reports will be submitted to staff personnel

for review and further action if any needed

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SAP Archiving R&D Hints

• To make continuous improvements in data archiving techniques, research and analysis should be done regularly, including: Studying different SAP journals, forums, and available

resources Discussions with SAP users doing data archiving in other

projects and incorporating their best practices Keeping an eye on cutting edge technologies and methods in

data archiving Example: Storage technology

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SAP Archiving R&D Hints (cont.)

• Improvement in on-going processes for better quality and time management

• Error controls and handling• Review of existing objects that are already set in Production

system• Knowledge transfer and knowledge sharing among the technical,

application, and user members

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Establishing the resources for the archive process

• Points to consider for starting the logistical planning phase of your archive process Resource planning responsibility Resource time allocation External archive content server External archive content repository

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A Logistical Tale!

• When the General laid out his grand strategic plan for the defeat of their opponents and the Field Marshal spelled out the tactical plan to engage the enemy, the Logistics Officer leaned over the General’s shoulder and whispered in his ear …

“We don’t have the manpower, resources or material to do that!”

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Resource Planning Responsibility

• Resource planning responsibility Who is going to be the archive process champion?

Finance IT

Who is going to decide or have input to resource allocation, archive object priorities, material and software procurement? Finance IT User community Legal

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Resource Time Allocation

• Generic time allocation per resource: One Developer 75% One Scheduler or Monitor 75% One Basis Administrator or DBA 50% One Application Tester 50%

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Resource Allocation: Suggested Recommendation

• One internal resource part-time job (four hours a day) on data archiving development, or, you could substitute offshore resource, or outside consulting — whatever tasks deemed appropriate

• The Data Archiving Monitoring resource could be responsible for checking the execution archive production runs part-time job (four hours a day) Monitoring resource could be allocated for archive development

work as well If the aforementioned task takes up whole day for the Scheduler

or Monitor resource, one full-time resource offshore or consulting resource for data archiving should be considered

• This plan could change depending on the objects to be archived and the timelines provided, additional resources may have to be ramped up

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Resource Allocation: Alternate Suggested Recommendation

• One internal resource part-time job (three hours a day) on data archiving DBA administration This resource could also handle the archive content server and

content repository for the archive process• The Data Archiving Application tester resource would be

responsible for checking, and validating the execution output of archive object run part-time job (three hours a day) The tester should have module, application, configuration, and

general business knowledge of the data deemed archive ready It is recommended the tester function come for the business

community

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External Archive Content Server

• The external content server is the application software that provides the link to your SAP archived data

• Examples of certified SAP content servers are: PBS Mobius OpenText Filenet Documentium

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External Archive Content Repository

• The external content repository is the storage media that houses your archived data, images, and documents

• Examples of certified SAP content repositories are: EMC Hitachi IBM Seimens

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Taking a look at configuration vs. customization

• The classic question of configuration vs. customization touches strategic and logistical planning in the following ways: Who has module application configuration access?

Read Write/update Display

Who needs to access archived data? Inside sales Finance Warehouse management

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Archive Configuration vs. Customization (cont.)

• The classic question of configuration vs. customization touches strategic and logistical planning in the following ways: (cont.) Who has archive object application customization access?

Basis team Application group Configuration team Module user community

Where you set your archive parameters affects how you tactically address the archive object’s development: Sample of module configuration Sample of individual archive object customization

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Configuration Steps – Application Example

• The next slide is an example of Quality Management (QM) and MM Purchasing in SAP Drill-down expansion of application options are displayed Functional option Organize Archiving highlighted Archiving Parameters screen displayed Archiving Parameters Detail screen displayed

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System Configuration Start

• When you set system parameters for an SAP function or application, start with this transaction and screen selection

SAP configuration

Transaction ID

Selection option choice

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Configuration – IMG Display

• Drill-down expansion of application options

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Configuration – Archiving Parameters Display QM

• Selection of parameter-specific criteria • Example: Quality Management function Plant Number ID

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Configuration – Archiving Parameters Detail

• Establish location-specific number of days a record stays in on-line system before it becomes archive eligible

Residence time translates into three

years before QM data can be archived

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Configuration – Document Parameters Display MM

• Example of configuration with Primary and Secondary residence times in Materials Management (MM) module

Specific purchase type identified for selection

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Configuration – Document Parameters Detail

• Example of system configuration with Primary and Secondary residence times

Total time before you can remove a purchase order record from database 240 days (9 months) after it is declared business complete

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Customizing an Individual Archive Object

• Object customize options Commit work counters Establish file size in MB Establish number of records per file Turn auto delete parameters OFF Turn on Archive Link for archive object Establish archive file retention time pool Review SAP archiving object program selection criteria

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Customized Archive Object Sample (MATBEL)

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Customized Archive Object Sample (MATBEL) (cont.)

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Selection Parameters (Transaction SARA)

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Selection Parameters (Transaction SARA) (cont.)

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Customized Archive Object File Designation

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Customized Archive Object File Designation (cont.)

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Resources

• SAP Data Management Guide for Data Management Suite version 5.5 (September 2007) can be obtained from SAP Support Center and SAP Service Marketplace (Quick Link /ilm, and then Data Archiving → Media Library → Literature & Brochures).

• Helmut Stepani, Archiving your SAP Data (SAP Press, July 2007)• SAP Service Marketplace (data archiving SAP Notes)

https://service.sap.com > SAP Support Portal > Help & Support > Search for data archiving SAP Notes

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7 Key Points to Take Home

• The basic tenets of archive planning cover the subject points of what, why, where, when, who, how

• Requirements for archive planning must address legal, technical, and business issues

• Strategic planning minimally should cover development plans, document attachment and display plans, and periodic review of production implemented archive objects

• Tactical planning minimally should cover object analysis, variant development, maintenance/daily scheduling, and periodic research

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7 Key Points to Take Home (cont.)

• Logistical planning minimally should cover archive process sponsor, archive process staffing resources, and hardware or software material requirements

• Configuration and customization of archive objects will drive different strategic, tactical, and logistical plans for their implementation

• Archive planning like graphic in the “Overlapping Aspects of Archive Planning” slide will have areas of overlap and convergence Be flexible in your thinking and approach and do what makes

sense to your organization

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Your Turn!

How to contact me:

[email protected]

[email protected]

[email protected]

630-767-0142

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Disclaimer

SAP, R/3, mySAP, mySAP.com, xApps, xApp, SAP NetWeaver®, Duet™, PartnerEdge, and other SAP products and services mentioned herein as well as their respective logos are trademarks or registered trademarks of SAP AG in Germany and in several other countries all over the world. All other product and service names mentioned are the trademarks of their respective companies. Wellesley Information Services is neither owned nor controlled by SAP.

0 0 don’t delay! why and how to design a plan for archiving your sap data now stephen m. wright

Documents

archive processtaking

archive processestablishing

purpose of archive

archive processidentification

data objects

erroneous data

corporate data retention

sap data nowstephen