Regular SAP Archiving: Myths Vs Reality

MYTH: Regular SAP archiving is expensive 

REALITY: The cost of not regularly archiving outweighs the cost of making it part of the BAU process. Moving your non-operational data to much cheaper archive storage means less data on your active database, dramatically reducing hardware, software and maintenance costs. Outsourcing this process can also save you the cost of doing it internally.

MYTH: I will no longer have access to the data once it has been archived

REALITY: Access to SAP archived data is crucial to support business and regulatory requirements. For most modules of SAP, such as FICO, MM and SD, users will not notice any difference when accessing archived data. The only limitation is users will not be able to edit archived data, as it is stored in a read-only format which makes it compliant throughout its retention period. For other modules additional reports can be written to access the information.   

MYTH: I will need to build an in-house team to manage SAP archiving

REALITY: Not necessarily. You can engage with your SI to understand if they have the skills and knowledge to do this.  The most effective option it to engage SAP archiving experts to support you. e.g. Proceed Group. Having worked with hundreds of customers across the globe, this is one of our core strengths. In fact we frequently support SI’s with this specialist area.  

MYTH: Storage is cheap so I can just buy more

REALITY: Keeping unnecessary data on active systems comes at a cost. In many cases expenditure for copies of the production systems to support development, testing and disaster recovery or  cost associated with support and maintenance is not taken into account. The average SAP database grows by 15 – 20% per year, meaning each year you will have to store more data.  For those customers that use cloud storage, there is a direct link between the size of your database and the costs of your hyperscaler service. The more data you store will have an impact on the return you will achieve from that investment. 

MYTH: It is better to keep all the data instead of archiving regularly

REALITY: Keeping data for longer, just in case, can potentially have a significant impact in relation to how much a company can be fined. Legal disputes are typically based on the full extent of the data you hold.  Businesses that keep data for longer than they have to face larger financial liabilities. 

MYTH: Managing regular archiving is too time consuming

REALITY: When regular SAP archiving is set-up correctly and monitored, it does not need to be time consuming. It can easily become part of your business-as-usual process. What you need though is the expertise to know what archiving objects to set-up and how to do this in the correct way. The experts will also know what to look out for in terms of problem resolution.   

MYTH: SAP archiving is a one-off project

REALITY: Many think that once they’ve archived, they can relax and, in most cases, the immediate problem is resolved. The reality is that you need to continue archiving on a regular basis to prevent being in the same position in a few years, with all the associated costs. One of the first things we ask customers when we start an archiving project, is what their plans are for running archiving after the initial project.