Understanding the benefits of data archiving in SAP

Introduction

For some businesses, the concept of data archiving can be unsettling. Everyone wants their data at their fingertip. It's comforting to have all the data, even if it's old for future reference. But  doesn’t excessive inactive data slow down your database and main system? This is where data archiving comes into the picture. 

The fact of the matter is that organisations create vast amounts of data as they scale and grow. However, keeping the inactive data in the live database can impact system performance. That's why archiving is essential. This blog post will define the concept of data archiving and the benefits of the SAP data archiving process.

What is data archiving?

Data archiving moves obsolete data to a separate storage for long-term retention. Archived data includes older data that remains critical to the business or must be retained for regulatory compliance purposes.

Bear in mind that data archiving is entirely different from backups. While data backups create copies of current, operational data for short-term purposes, archiving focuses on preserving historical data for extended periods. It involves moving information from the primary database to dedicated archiving storage, freeing up valuable resources and improving overall system performance.

Benefits of data archiving in SAP

Data archiving can boost system efficiency and safeguard critical historical data, ensuring that businesses adhere to compliance regulations and have access to essential data when required. With seamless management of all archiving needs, SAP data archiving becomes an integral part of a resilient data management strategy. Let's take a deep dive into the benefits of SAP data archiving.

Improved response times

As the volume of data in the SAP system reduces through archiving, the overall response time and system performance also improves. The retrieval and processing of data becomes much quicker, leading to a more agile and responsive SAP environment. Reducing data volumes also improves cybersecurity by making data recovery more seamless in the events of malicious attacks. This is essential for businesses with complex business settings and vast data volumes.

Reduction in the data storage requirements

One of the best advantages of SAP data archiving is the substantial reduction in data storage needs. By efficiently moving obsolete data, businesses can free up expensive storage space in the database. This is particularly important if the business has already shifted to an upgraded system such as S/4HANA. The HANA storage is specifically costly, so keeping the database size under control is recommended to utilise the SAP data archiving benefits.

Decreases the chances of HANA memory saturation

In SAP S/4HANA, the expandability of HANA memory is limited. Moving up to the higher tier is not easy once the top capacity has been reached. Therefore, consistent data archiving will make sure the memory space is optimum by archiving old data that is not needed in the current database.

Lesser time to migrate

This is pretty easy to understand: the more data a business has in its system, the longer time it will take for the migration process to complete. When migrating to cloud storage or a new ERP system like SAP S/4HANA, a lighter database will help reduce migration times. 

Environmental benefits

A usually overlooked benefit of data archiving in SAP is its green impact on the environment. Organisations can control their carbon footprint by reducing their extensive database storage. This scenario is simple to comprehend when we say that less data means less storage cost. This means if you have less data in your storage with the help of data archiving, you don't have to rely on high-energy consuming data storage.

Advanced system availability

One of the advantages of data  archiving is that it contributes to higher system availability by reducing downtime during upgrades and releases. Archiving enables seamless transitions between different SAP versions, reducing the risk of disruptions to existing operations. This is highly critical in maintaining business continuity and making sure that services are delivered without any interruptions.

Regulatory compliance

With the help of data archiving, businesses can implement more granular data governance practices. Data archiving allows organisations to define clear data retention policies, identify data owners, and make data access and deletion rules. This promotes regulatory and tax audit-related compliance across the globe. Discovering regulatory compliance is critical to understanding SAP data archiving benefits.

More data discovery

Having a closer look at all the historical data can be beneficial in seeing previous and current business trends that can improve business planning. Data archiving can enable a fresher perspective for business leaders in the decision-making process. 

Data is not feasible to keep front and centre, and for the most part, it doesn't have to be instantly accessible. Businesses can utilise it more effectively rather than just deleting it.

Maximise data archiving by going beyond

Archiving data is not just a usual IT housekeeping process; it's more than that! Businesses can utilise data archiving to make their database more agile, streamlined and always at its best. Remember, to get the best out of the SAP data archiving benefits, consider the factors leading towards data archiving. Set practical goals based on these factors and determine what to achieve from data archiving.

Businesses can assess their system to identify areas with the highest data usage and storage. This assessment can highlight where the most significant amount of data resides in the database to successfully move to another storage where it can stay for more extended periods and not affect the live database performance. 

With a good data archiving strategy in place, organisations can begin to recognise enhanced system performance and cost reduction by reducing the database's size and making it cleaner and leaner.