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Controlling (CO)
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Controlling (CO)
The following table gives an overview of the CO objects and their archiving objects:

Objects in Controlling Archiving Object

CO line items CO_ITEM

Line items / Totals records from reconciliation ledger CO_CEL_RCL

Line items (cost center) CO_ITEM

Totals records (cost center) CO_TOTAL

Master data (cost center) CO_CCMAST

Fully reversed documents (cost center) CO_ALLO_ST

Orders with transaction data CO_ORDER

Business processes CO_PROCESS

Settlement documents CO_KABR

Material cost estimate data CO_COPC

Base planning object data CO_BASEOBJ

Cost object data CO_KSTRG

Material ledger data CO_ML_DAT

Material ledger documents CO_ML_BEL

Material ledger indexes CO_ML_IDX

Transaction data for costing-based profitability analysis COPAA_xxxs, COPAB_xxxx, COPA1_xxxx (obsolete)

Transaction data for account-based profitability analysis COPA2_xxxx

Profitability segments for costing-based/account-based COPAC_xxxx

profitability analysis

Data Archiving with Archive Development Kit (ADK)

Context
Data Archiving removes mass data, which the system no longer needs, from the database, but which must still be available for
reporting. For the most part, SAP's data archiving concept is based on the archiving objects of the Archive Development Kit
(ADK).

Archiving Objects

Archiving objects describe the structure and context of the data to be archived. Predefined archiving objects are available for the
applications for which data is to be archived. In data archiving, the system writes the data to archive files according to the relevant

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archiving objects and stores these.

 Example
Financial Accounting documents are archived using the archiving object FI_DOCUMNT. This archiving object includes the
document header, company code-specific postings, change documents, and related texts.

Steps for Data Archiving

Data archiving takes place in individual steps to ensure that only successfully archived data can be deleted. These are the three
main steps:

Writing the data to be archived to a new archive file

Storing the archive files in an external store (optional)

Deleting the archived data from the database starting from the archived files you have created

The following illustration describes the data archiving procedure.

Data Archiving in the SAP System

Procedure
1. Familiarize yourself with the specifics of ADK-based data archiving.

More information:

Properties and Features of Data Archiving

Archiving Object

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Archive Administration

2. Make the settings required for Customizing for data archiving.

More information: Customizing for Data Archiving

3. Execute the data archiving.

More information: Executing Data Archiving

4. Use the options for viewing and analyzing archive files.

More information:

Archive Information System

Archive File Browser

Table Analysis

Next Steps

Data Archiving in SAP NetWeaver AS (available archiving objects)

Properties and Features of Data Archiving

Use
Properties of Data Archiving

As data archiving is integrated into the application, you have to be familiar with the semantics of the application data. Data
archiving displays the following properties over and above saving table contents:

Hardware independence

As the encryption of the numeric fields, for example, the integer is dependent on the hardware, information has to be added
to the archived data about the hardware used.

Release independent

As the data structure can depend on the SAP release, information about the record layouts and field definitions is also
archived.

Dependencies between data

Dependencies between data objects can be checked and taken into account for archiving.

Company and business structure

Due to the possible dependence of archived data on the organizational structure of the company, the relevant information
is also archived.

Data Archiving Features

Data security

As a result of the separation between writing the data to the archive file and deleting the data from the database, the
archiving transaction can be restarted if you encounter transfer errors. You can only delete the data once it has been

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successfully archived. You can achieve maximum security by optionally storing the archive files in an external storage
system before deleting the archived data. You can define the storage time in archiving object-specific Customizing.

Connection to an external store

You can use the following options for storing archive files:

Tertiary storage media, such as WORMs This can be done manually or automatically using the SAP Content
Management Infrastructure (which also contains the ArchiveLink/CMS interface).

Hierarchical storage management systems (HSM systems) in the file system. The HSM system manages the archive
files automatically. For storage of the archive files, the HSM system can also use tertiary storage media.

Data compression

During archiving, data is automatically compressed by up to a factor of 5. However, if the data to be archived is stored in
cluster tables, no additional compression takes place.

Archiving without database backup

As the data is either in the database or an archive file, you can archive data without database backup during normal system
operation. However, SAP recommends that you backup archive files before storing them.

Access to Archived Data

As the archived data has only been removed from the database and not from the application, it is available at any time.
Archive Administration enables the following types of access:

(Read) access to a single data object, such as an accounting document

Analysis of an archive file (sequential read)

Reloading to the database (if supported for the archiving object)

Automatic conversion of old archive files

When archived data is read, the system automatically makes the conversions required by hardware and software changes.

The Archive Development Kit (ADK) can make allowances for changes to database structures after the data was archived
and for changes to hardware-dependent storage formats. The conversion does not affect the archived data. The following
items are changed during automatic conversion:

Database table schema (new and deleted columns)

Data type of a column

Column length

Code page (ASCII, EBCDIC)

Number format (such as the integer on various hardware platforms)

If database structures in an application have undergone more changes than the ADK can handle (for example, if fields have
been moved from one table to another or if one table has been divided into several separate tables), then a program is
provided by the relevant SAP Business Suite solution for the permanent conversion of existing archive files.

Memory space gain

As gaining an increase in memory space improves the performance of the application programs, you require information
about the memory requirement of the data to be archived in the database and also the memory requirement of the
archived files created.

1. Call up the ABAP Dictionary ( Tools ABAP Workbench Development Dictionary ).

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2. Enter the name of each individual table, and choose Display.

Archiving Object

Use
The archiving object contains specifications for the archiving of your application data. It describes which database objects need to
be bundled in order to obtain a completed business object that can be interpreted at the time of archiving, regardless of the
technical conditions (such as release or hardware status).

An archiving object has a name of up to ten characters in length. You need this name to be able to execute the assigned archiving
activities in Archive Administration (transaction SARA). The function for calling data archiving is often integrated in the application
menu and the object name is set as the default.

Predefined Archiving Activities

The archiving activity options (programs and steps to be executed) are defined in the archiving object. You create and define
archiving objects with transaction AOBJ.

More Information

Sample Data Description Using an FI Document

Data Object

Sample Data Description Using an FI Document

Use
To ensure that archived FI documents remain available for evaluation, you need to store the technical and business environments
together in the archive file. The respective data description ensures this.

The archiving object for FI documents FI_DOCUMNT, includes the following data, which is stored in different database tables:

Document header

Document segment accounting

Document segment control data

Document segment posting procedures

Document segment CPD data

Document segment change data

Change documents

SAPscript texts

Data Object
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Use

A data object is the application-specific instance of an archiving object. While the archiving object describes only the logical
connectivity of the data, the corresponding data object contains all of the application data from the database that is needed for
the complete and consistent archiving of a business object.

A business object can contain the following types of data:

Master data objects, such as material masters, customer masters, bills of material

Transaction data objects, such as financial accounting documents, billing documents, and deliveries.

Structure of a Data Object

A data object consists of the following:

Header containing general information for identifying the data object

Items that contain application data

Archiving

The Archive Development Kit (ADK) ensures that data objects are written sequentially to an archive file. All data objects in the
archive file are set up according to the specifications in the archiving object.

More Information

Archiving object

Archive Administration

Use

The most important actions relating to data archiving take place in Archive Administration. Archive Administration offers only
those actions that have been defined for the archiving object.

You can access Archive Administration as follows:

Transaction code SARA

Menu path Tools Administration Administration Data Archiving

Application Menu

Executing the Archiving Actions

You can schedule the following actions, for example, as a background job in Archive Administration:

Preprocessing

Creating archive files

Deleting data from the database

Storing archive files

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Postprocessing

Reading archive files

Filling or emptying the index for archive files

More information: Executing Data Archiving

Administration

You can display and evaluate administration information in the overview of all archiving sessions for an archiving object.

More information:

Archive Administration: Overview of Archiving Sessions

Calling Archiving Session Administration

Other Functions

You can choose the following menu options direct from the application bar or, depending on the action chosen, using Goto or
Environment:

Network Graphik

Reload

Customizing

Job Overview: Offers an overview of current archiving jobs and the functions available for processing them.

Logs

Administration

Stored Files: Enables you to search for stored archive files according to various selection criteria.

DB Tables

Information System

Statistics

Interrupting and Continuing

Check/Delete: Cross-archiving-object check and delete function - available using Environment.

Archive Development Kit

Definition

The Archive Development Kit (ADK) is a tool for developing archiving solutions. It also prepares the runtime environment for
archiving. From a technical viewpoint, it is an intermediate layer between the application program and the archive that provides all
the functions required for archiving data.

Use

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The ADK functions are required for archiving and for subsequent access to archived data. The ADK automatically performs the
hardware-dependent adjustments (such as codepage and number format) and structural changes that are required when archive
files are created. When the archive files are accessed later, the ADK temporarily converts data that was archived using earlier
releases of the respective SAP Business Suite application (in the case of SAP R/3, this applies to releases back to and including
2.1).

Integration
The following graphic illustrates the ADK's role in the archiving concept.

See also:

Archive Development Kit (Extended Function Library Applications)

Content Management Service (CMS)

Authorization Check

Definition

Authorization object S_ARCHIVE checks the authorization to carry out various archiving object programs. The Archive
Development Kit (ADK) performs the check when an archive file is opened for one of the following actions:

Write

Delete

Read

Reload

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Use

The following authorizations can be given per archiving object and solution (such as SAP Financials or SAP Human Capital
Management):

Everything is permitted

Write, read, and reload archives; execute delete programs; change mode in archive management (notes)

Change mode in archive management

Maintain notes

Read and analyze archives and display mode in archive management

Furthermore, you need the S_DATASET authorization to read and write data. There may also be additional access authorization
checks for specific application components.

See also:

Authorization Checks in Archiving Programs

Tables and Archiving Objects

Use
You use transaction DB15 to determine all the archiving objects that archive the data records from a specific table, or to display all
of the tables for a specific archiving object. You can also call various statistics for the utilized database storage space.

Integration
This function is integrated in data archiving so that you have the option of calling it up from archive administration (transaction
SARA) with DB tables.

Features
Archiving Objects

This pushbutton takes you to the part of the screen in which you can determine archiving objects. When you enter a table in the
Objects for Table field and select Display Tables, you can display the archiving objects for this table.

Tables archived

This pushbutton takes you to the part of the screen in which you can determine tables. When you enter an archiving object in the
Tables for Object field and select Display Objects, you can display the tables for this archiving object.

 Note
When you display archiving objects, those with the following properties are not included:

Read, but do not delete

Archive using a view or a structure

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Archive using an archiving class for which no table information is maintained (transaction ACLA)

By default, the system displays only tables whose data records are deleted during archiving. By selecting All Tables, you can,
however, display all tables that are linked to the archiving object (with the exception of those mentioned above).

More information: Displaying Archiving Objects and Tables.

Space (Statistics)

This transaction provides information from SAP tables that are filled by statistics determination runs. This also provides further
information, such as the time and number of the last archiving session and various details on the client used.

Displaying Archiving Objects and Tables

Use

You use an archiving object to archive exactly those tables that are defined in this archiving object in transaction AOBJ. If you do
not know which table a specific archiving object archives, or which archiving objects archive the contents of a specific table, you
can use this procedure to find out.

Various export, filter and search functions are also available.

Procedure
Choose Administration CCMS DB Administration Data Archiving (transaction DB15). . Alternatively, you can call Archive
Administration (transaction SARA) and select DB tables.

The Tables and Archiving Objects screen appears.

Tables

1. To display a table for a specific archiving object, enter the name of the object in the Table for Object field and choose Enter.

 Note
By default, the system displays only tables whose data records are deleted during archiving. To display all tables that the
archiving object processes, choose All Tables.

2. To display all the archiving objects for one of the listed tables, select the table and then choose Display Objects.

The corresponding archiving objects are listed in the top part of the screen.

Archiving Objects

1. Choose Archiving Objects.

2. To display an archiving object for a specific table, enter the table name in the Object for Table field and choose Enter to
confirm.

 Note
In addition to the transparent tables, you can also enter pool or cluster tables here. DB15 determines the transparent
tables for the pool and cluster tables.

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3. To display all the tables for one of the listed archiving objects, select the archiving object and then choose Display Tables.

The corresponding tables are listed in the bottom part of the screen.

 Caution
DB15 does not display any archiving objects with the following properties:

Read data, but do not delete

Use views or structures to archive data indirectly

Network Graphik

Use
You can use the network graphic to show any existing dependencies between archiving objects. It shows business process flows
and contexts that can influence the archiving sequence. In particular, at the start of an archiving object, you can use the network
graphic to obtain a good overview of related documents.

 Caution
Like a map, the network graphic is only for orientation purposes. It is not intended to show all the available document types and
dependencies that exist in the system. This means that the network graphic cannot be used as a programming model for
business processes.

Features
In an archiving session, you must take into account any dependencies between archiving objects that require a specific archiving
sequence. In general, you cannot archive data for an archiving object that has preceding objects until these preceding objects have
been archived.

You can use the network graphic to determine whether the archiving object that you want to use has preceding objects. If so, the
preceding objects should be implemented before the current archiving object. The nodes in the network graphic represent the
archiving objects. A node displays the following information:

Achiving object name

Application name

Short description

Date of last archiving displayed in the following colors:

Green: Archiving and deletion successful

Yellow: Successfully archived, but not yet deleted,, or Archiving still running or Delete in progress or Delete
canceled

Red: Not yet archived or Archiving canceled

The network graphic is a standard tool for creating and displaying network plans and hierarchies.

Activities

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You can use the network graphic to call Archive Management (transaction SARA) at the same time as the required object name:

1. Double-click the archiving object for which you want to perform an action (such as write or delete).

You access Archive Administration. The system copies the name of the archiving object automatically.

2. You can now select the action that you want to carry out and schedule the relevant background job.

More Information
Calling the Network Graphic

Archive Administration

Calling the Network Graphic

Prerequisites

You are on the Archive Administration: Initial Entry screen of the transaction SARA.

Procedure

1. If you want to display the network graphic for all archiving objects, leave the archiving object name field empty.

If you want to display all the predecessors of a particular object, enter the name of the archiving object in the Object Name
field.

2. Choose Goto Network Graphic .

The network graphic is displayed for the specified archiving object or all registered archiving objects.

 Note
If you have called the network graphic for all archiving objects, you can increase the display area by enlarging the
rectangle in the bottom right-hand corner of the screen. Use the mouse to change the rectangle.

Access to Archived Data

Use

Data that has been archived using SAP Data Archiving has been removed from the database, but not from the application
component. The data is still available for read access and analysis. In some cases, archived data can even be reloaded into the
database.

Prerequisites
A prerequisite of read access and reload access, is that the file can be found in the file system. You can check this in Archive
Administration.

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Features

 Note
The uses of archived data described here are technically possible, but are not currently implemented in all application
components. For more information, refer to the application-specific sections of the documentation on Data Archiving in the
SAP Library.

They following types of access are possible:

(Read) access to a single data object, such as an accounting document

Direct access or single document access requires an index that can be filled either during archiving or at a later point. A
complex search of the documents stored in the archive files, in which all orders of an article in a particular batch are
required for a product recall action, is not possible.

The Archive Information System (AS) supports direct access using archive information structures, which are a type of index
that can be generated automatically either whilst the archive files are being written, or at a later point.

Analysis of an archive file (Sequential Read)

It is possible to run an analysis for one or several archiving sessions. The results of the analyzed data objects are displayed
in a list. Furthermore, some archiving objects offer the option of a combined analysis. With this option, you can link current
data and archived data in the database.

Reloading to the Database

Archived data does not usually need to be reloaded because it remains accessible to the applications. There is also a large
amount of data that cannot be reloaded or for which reloading is problematic. For this reason, reload programs do not exist
for all archiving objects.

Archive Administration: Overview of Archiving Sessions

Use
On this screen, you can display and edit administration information about archiving sessions.

Features
Within a status area, archiving sessions are, by default, organized in groups of 20. The sessions are ordered according to the
following statuses:

Archiving Sessions with Errors: The write process terminated before the first archive file was created.

Incomplete Archiving Sessions: The write process has not been completed, the deletion program did not run for all archive
files, or a write process was terminated.

Completed Archiving Sessions: Both the write process and the delete phase were completed successfully.

Archiving Sessions to be Reloaded: The content of the archiving session is to be reloaded into the database.

Archiving Sessions Created during Reload: The archiving session contains data that could not be reloaded into the
database during the reload. The archiving session is not accessible again until the reload program has been run
successfully.

Replaced Archiving Sessions: The archiving session was reloaded or converted.

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Invalid Archiving Sessions: The archiving session has been marked as invalid.

Archiving Sessions Flagged for Archiving: The administration data for the archiving session can be archived and deleted
using archiving object BC_ARCHIVE.

Interrupted: The archiving session was interrupted. This was done either manually by the user or because the interruption
parameters were reached (for example, the maximum runtime or a total number of data).

You can call up detailed information about sessions and files on the following screens:

Archiving Session Detail

Archive File Detail

The Goto menu offers access to the following:

Customizing

Job Overview Offers an overview of all archiving jobs and the functions available for their administration. For more
information on the job overview, refer to Managing Jobs in the Job Overview.

Logs

Stored Files: Enables you to search for stored archive files according to various selection criteria.

Retrieved Files: Allows you to search for archive files that were retrieved into the file system, for a comprehensive analysis,
for example. These archive files are no longer needed and can be deleted after they have been used. See Deleting Retrieved
Archive Files.

DB Tables

Information System

Statistics

Interrupting and Continuing

See also:

Calling Archiving Session Administration

Calling Archiving Session Administration

Procedure
1. Call Archive Administration (transaction SARA).

2. In the Object Name field, enter the name of the archiving object.

3. On the initial screen, choose Administration.

4. On the overview of archiving sessions, call the required function.

View the details of an archiving session or an archive file.

Store the archive file or retrieve the stored file, if there is a connection to the storage system.

More information:

Storing Archive Files

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Retrieving Stored Archive Files

5. If necessary, use the tool bar to call the following functions:

Overview of the current spool request for the archiving sessions

Function for storing or retrieving archive files

Customizing settings

Overview of all archiving jobs and the functions available for their processing

DB Tables

Information System

Statistics

6. To go to additional functions, choose Goto.

Displaying Archiving Session Details

Prerequisites

You are on the Archive Administration: Initial Entry screen of the transaction SARA. The name of the archiving object is entered in
the Object Name field.

Procedure

1. Choose Administration.

This takes you to the Archive Administration: Overview of Archiving Sessions screen.

2. Position the cursor on the list of archiving sessions with the relevant status and expand the list.

3. Position the cursor on the required archiving session.

4. Choose Detail Screen.

The Archiving Sessions Details dialog box appears.

Next Steps

Displaying Archive File Details

Archiving Session Details

Use
You can display detailed information for each archiving session.

Features

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General Information

System ID for the system used for the archiving session

Archiving session number

Date, time, and user for the session

Number of the spool assigned to the session

Current Jobs for the Session

This area only appears if there are still active read or write jobs for the current session. To go to the job overview, choose Display
Job. Here you can release, cancel, or delete individual jobs.

For the current job, the following job activities can be indicated:

Active: The job has status "ready", "scheduled", or "active".

Terminated: The job was terminated.

Changeable Settings

You can create a note and a long text for the session or mark it for archiving or as invalid. You should mark a session as invalid if,
for example. you discover after archiving that the data selection was incorrect. Invalid sessions are no longer offered for archive
selection.

Mark Several Archiving Sessions for Archiving or as Invalid

You can use the report RSARCH_FLAG_SESSIONS to mark several archiving sessions

For archiving

As invalid

When selecting the archiving sessions, you can also differentiate between sessions whose archive files are in a storage system, and
sessions for which no accessible archive files exist.

You can use this report, for example, to mark all the archiving sessions created prior to a specified date for archiving or as invalid.
This can be useful, for example, as an initial run when archiving archive administration data using the archiving object
BC_ARCHIVE.

See also:

Displaying Archiving Session Details

Displaying Archive File Details

Prerequisites
You are on the Archive Administration: Initial Entry screen of the transaction SARA. The name of the archiving object is entered in
the Object Name field.

Procedure

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1. Choose Administration.

This takes you to the Archive Administration: Overview of Archiving Sessions screen.

2. Position the cursor on the required archiving session.

3. Expand the archiving session

4. Position the cursor on the required archive file.

5. Choose Detail Screen.

The Archive File Details dialog box appears.

Next Steps
Displaying Archiving Session Details

Archive File Details

Use
You can display an archive file status dialog box for all archiving sessions except for incomplete sessions where no archive files
have been created.

Features
General Information

Archive file name

Date and time or archiving

Number of data objects

Size of archiving file in MB

Status of the archive file

Information for storing the file in a storage system

Index status

Archiving Status

An archive file can have the following statuses:

Write Complete: The archive files have been written, but the data objects in the database have not been (completely)
deleted.

Delete complete: Previously archived data objects have been deleted from the database.

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Reloaded: Data objects in the archive file have been reloaded into the database.

Converted: The contents of the archive files have been written to a new archive file with conversion programs delivered by
SAP.

Saved: The content of the archive file is a backup copy of the data in the database.

Storage Status

An archive file can have the following storage statuses:

Not stored: The archive file is still in the file system.

Storage in Progress: The request to store the archive file in a storage system is running.

Stored: The archive file has been successfully stored in a storage system.

Storage Error: The archive file was not successfully stored.

Retrieval in Progress: The request to reload the archive file in the file system has been issued.

Retrieval error:: The file could not be reloaded into the file system.

Storage Incomplete: The archive file could not be completely stored in a storage system.

Index

An index for an archive file can have the following statuses:

Index Built: The index for this archive file was successfully built.

Index Deleted: The index for this archive file was deleted.

No Index Exists: No index exists for the archive file.

Accessibility Status

An archive file can have the following accessibility statuses:

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Accessible: The archive file can be accessed in Archive Administration.

Not Accessible: The archive file cannot be accessed in Archive Administration.

Changeable Settings

The dialog box can also contain the following changeable information:

Note written by the user

File name of the archive file

Platform-independent path specified during archiving in archiving object-specific Customizing

The physical file name

Activities

Displaying Archive File Details

Deleting Retrieved Archive Files

Use

This function enables you to delete copies of archive files retrieved to the file system that are stored in an external storage system.
This is usually the case if you no longer need the copies and want to access the stored files directly.

Features

Overview of the Retrieved Archive Files

The program RSARCH_LIST_RETRIEVED provides you with the retrieved archive files. You can restrict the selection to archiving
objects, archiving sessions, archiving files and Content Repositories. The list contains the following information about the retrieved
archived files:

Archive file name

Related logical file path

Creation date

Content Repository name

Document ID in the storage system

Status of the stored file in the storage system

Storage date and time

Deleting Archive Files

To delete retrieved copies of stored archive files, select the relevant entries and the list and choose Delete Retrieved Files. The
program deletes the archive file on operating system level and automatically adjusts the administration entries in archive
administration. After this, you can again access archive files directly in the storage system.

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You can delete retrieved archive files only if the original archive files have the status ONLINE in the storage system, and the access
check of the stored archive file is performed successfully. The system checks whether the header information in the archive files
corresponds with the administration data in archive administration. If it does not, you cannot perform the deletion.

For files that do not have the status ONLINE in the storage system, you can double-click on the Status field or use the Errors
Occurred pushbutton to display additional information about the cause. If this information is not available, no message is
displayed.

Activities

You can call up the program RSARCH_LIST_RETRIEVED either from ABAP program execution (transaction SA38) or from archive
administration. To do so, choose Goto Retrieved Files .

Interrupting and Continuing Archiving Sessions

Use
In order that Data Archiving can be seamlessly integrated into the production system, you can interrupt an active archiving session
that is still in the write phase and continue it at a later time. This enables you to react, during archiving, to specific time constraints
or hard-disk space shortages. You can continue and complete interrupted archiving sessions when you have more time or more
storage space.

Integration

This function is a part of the Archive Administration (transaction SARA) and requires the support of the write program.

Prerequisites
If you want to interrupt an archiving session, the following prerequisites must be fulfilled:

The archiving object must be registered in transaction AOBJ as interruptible, so that the Archive Development Kit (ADK)
is able to inform the write program of the interruption request.

The write program is able to process the interruption request.

The archiving session must be run in production mode (not test mode) and be in process.

The settings in transaction AOBJ allow the delete phase to start before the write phase has finished.

If you want to continue the interrupted archiving session, the following prerequisites must be fulfilled:

The session was interrupted using this interruption concept. Archiving sessions that were interrupted for other reasons or
that were terminated by Archive Administration cannot be continued.

The delete phase must be completed for the data that was archived up to the point of interruption (status Completed).

Features
The write phase of an interruptible archiving session can be interrupted either implicitly (based on the values that are specified in
Cross-Archiving Object Customizing or explicitly (manually by an Application Programming Interface (API) Remote Administration
Function.

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Activities
1. Explicitly Interrupting an Archiving Session

2. Implicitly Interrupting an Archiving Session

3. Continuing an Interrupted Archiving Session

Implicitly Interrupting an Archiving Session

Prerequisites
The archiving object supports interruption.

In Cross-Archiving Object Customizing, you have specified the runtime in hours or the storage space in MB, or both.

Context

When scheduling an archiving session, you realize that the time slot available or the amount of storage space is not sufficient.
However, you want to start the archiving session, interrupt it, and continue it later.

Procedure

1. Start the archiving session as usual.

2. For each data object that function module ARCHIVE_SAVE_OBJECT writes, the ADK determines whether it is necessary to
interrupt the archiving session.

ADK calculates the following:

a. The time that has elapsed since the write job was released.

b. The storage space, by adding the size of already closed archive files to the size of the archive file that is currently being
written.

3. As soon as one of these values is reached, the ADK triggers the interruption by raising the exception
TERMINATED_REQUESTED.

 Note
The write program must be able to process the exception and call function module ARCHIVE_CLOSE_FILE.

4. The ADK sets status of the archiving session to Incomplete as usual, but also marks it as Interrupted.

Results
The archiving session was interrupted and can be continued later. To continue an interrupted archiving session, see Continuing an
Interrupted Archiving Session.

Explicitly Interrupting an Archiving Session

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Prerequisites

The archiving object supports the interruption of an archiving session.

The archiving session to be interrupted is in the write phase.

You are on the Archive Administration: Initial Entry screen of the transaction SARA. The name of the archiving object is
entered in the Object Name field.

Alternatively, you can interrupt an archiving session from archive administration.

Context
You want to interrupt an active archiving session manually and continue it later.

Procedure

1. Choose Goto Interrupt .

2. Select the archiving session(s) to be interrupted. You have the following options:

All interruptible archiving sessions for all interruptible archiving objects

All interruptible archiving sessions for the specified archiving object

Specific archiving sessions that you can select in Archive Selection

 Note
The selection of the archiving sessions is always cross-client if the archiving objects used are cross-client.

3. After you have selected the relevant archiving session, confirm your interruption request by choosing Execute.

Results
The archiving session is interrupted before the system starts writing the next data object. In archive administration, the session is
marked as Interrupted.

Continuing an Interrupted Archiving Session

Prerequisites

The delete jobs have been run for the archive files in the archiving sessions that were interrupted (the archiving session has
the status Completed).

You are on the Archive Administration: Initial Entry screen of the transaction SARA. The name of the archiving object is
entered in the Object Name field.

Alternatively, you can continue an archiving session from administration.

Context

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You can use this function to continue archiving sessions that you interrupted earlier.

Procedure

1. Choose Goto Continue .

2. Select the archiving session(s) to be continued.

You have the following options:

All interrupted archiving sessions for all interruptible archiving objects

All interrupted archiving sessions for the specified archiving object

Specific archiving sessions that you can select in Archive Selection

 Note
The selection of the archiving sessions is always cross-client if the archiving objects used are cross-client.

3. Once you have entered the Start Time and Spool Parameters, schedule the continuation job by choosing Execute.

Results

The archiving session is continued at the specified time - that is, the data objects that still have to be archived (in accordance with
your selection criteria) are written to archive files.

Database Actions Before and After Archiving

Use

When archiving application data, the way in which the database data is organized plays a central role. Therefore, you should only
use database actions can be used to optimize organization of data in the database before and after archiving.

Process

1. Database Actions Before Archiving

2. Database Actions After Archivng or Deletion

Database Actions Before Archiving

Use

Archiving application data helps to prevent storage and performance bottlenecks. Since relocating data can, in some
circumstances, in itself, impair performance - this is the case if you need to access archived data - you need to consider carefully
what data to archive.

To determine whether or not you should archive data, consider the following questions:

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For memory problems: Can more memory be assigned to the table (MAXEXTENT, Tablespace)?

If the answer is yes, and if you will need to access the archived data and you have no performance problems, you should
consider enlarging the table. You can find the exact description in the SAP NetWeaver AS Documentation SAP Database
Guide: Oracle (BRSPACE for Oracle) or ABAP Dictionary, section Tablespaces und Extents database-independent
parameterization, MaxDB).

How likely is it that you will need to access the archived data again and how often?

If you need to access the archived data often and there are no performance problems, assign more memory to the tables in
question (see above).

For performance problems: Are you using an optimal index for the access?

In some circumstances, a suitable index may be available but not being used. This depends on the database optimizer.

You can check which index is actually used to access data by Performing an SQL Trace. For more information on indexes,
refer to the SAP NetWeaver AS documentation ABAP Dictionary and search for appropriate sections using "index" as your
search term.

Does the application perform a full table scan on the tables that contain the data to be archived?

If the answer is yes and the table is fragmented, it may help to reorganize the table before archiving so that new records
and any records that remain in the database are physically contiguous.

 Caution
Note that reorganization takes a long time and may need to be repeated after archiving.

Throughput during a reorganization:

- With export/import: approximately. 60-100 MByte/hour

- With unload/load: approximately. 250-300 MByte/hour

Database Actions After Archiving or Deletion

Use

Oracle: Reorganization of the Index

If data has been archived or simply deleted and the associated tables were accessed via an index, the index should be reorganized.
Deleting table entries leaves holes in the table which are still indexed. Reorganization can shorten the access paths, reducing
response times.

For databases with a cost-based optimizer (CBO): Refresh the database statistics

If your database uses a cost-based optimizer, you must choose Update Statistics to recalculate the access paths.

Oracle: Reorganization of Tablespaces and Dbspaces

Whether you should reorganize the tablespace depends on the reason for archiving.

Do you expect a lot of new data for the archived tables?

If so, you should not reorganize.

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On the other hand, if, for performance reasons, you have archived data that is no longer needed in the system and the table
is otherwise rarely changed, you should reorganize.

Do you want to make space for other tables?

If so, you should reorganize the tablespaces and dbspaces of both the tables and the indices.

This procedure is described in the SAP NetWeaver AS documentation SAP Database Guide: Oracle (BRSPACE for Oracle
databases) and the ABAP Dictionary, section Tablespaces and Extents (database-independent parameterization, MaxDB).

Performing an SQL Trace

Procedure

1. Open a new window and choose System Utilities Performance Trace .

The Trace Requests screen appears.

2. Choose Trace On to activate the trace.

3. Perform a typical database access in the first window (for example, an application transaction or the transaction SE16).

4. Choose Trace Off to deactivate the trace. Examine the SQL statement with List Trace.

5. Position the cursor on one of the PREPARE, OPEN, or REOPEN statements, and choose Explain SQL.

The system displays detailed information. The index used is specified in the line beginning with Index.

Archive Selection

Use
When executing certain archiving actions, it is necessary to select individual archive files or entire archive sessions and make them
available for the relevant action. You do this using Archive Selection, which you access from the initial screen of the relevant
action.

Archive selection is relevant for the following actions:

Delete

Read

Build Index

Reload

Postprocessing

Prerequisites

Depending on the action, there are various criteria that define whether archiving sessions and archive files are displayed in the
archive selection

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Criterion 1:

Archive File Status

Action Criterion

Delete Archive file has the status Archived or Stored (if the sequence "Store before deletion" has been
selected in Customizing)

Read Archive file has the status Archived or Deleted or Saved.

Build Index Archive file has the status Deleted and the file is in the file system

Reload Archive file is in file system and the session has the corresponding status (see criterion 5)

Postprocessing All archive files have status Deleted

Criterion 2:

The archive file must contain at least one data object. If you have performed an archiving session and maintained the variants so
that no data objects were archived, the archive file is automatically deleted and no longer offered for selection.

Criterion 3:

If a file is not accessible in the file system, the file is not offered for selection. A file is only offered for read if all the files in a session
are accessible.

While checking the accessibility of a file, the system performs a read access for each file. This check process can take a long time if
a large number of files are involved. To optimize this process the access check can be activated or deactivated according to archive
files in the file system and archive files in an optical archive in archiving object-specific Customizing.

Criterion 4:

In the case of client-dependent archiving objects, the system only offers you sessions for the current client.

Criterion 5:

An archiving session can only be reloaded if it has the status Complete or Archiving session is reloaded.

Features

You can select complete archive sessions or specific archive files from the archive selection window, which you can access by
choosing Archive Selection, from the initial screen of the archiving action.

Activities

Selecting Archive Files

Selecting Archive Files

Prerequisites
You have selected one of the following actions and are in the screen from which the relevant action is started:

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Delete

Read

Build Index

Reload

Postprocessing

At least one of the archive selection criteria is valid for this action.

More information: Archive Selection

Procedure

1. Choose Archive Selection.

The archive selection screen appears for the selected action.

2. To select all files belonging to an archiving session, select the appropriate checkbox.

As a confirmation, the small rectangle to the right of the checkbox is filled.

3. To select individual files belonging to an archiving session, expand the required node and select the relevant checkbox.

As a confirmation, the small rectangle to the right of the checkbox is only half-filled.

 Note
You can select all sessions or cancel the selection by choosing Select All or Deselect All.

 Note
The reload program can only ever process complete archiving sessions. For this reason, you cannot select individual files
for reloading.

4. Confirm the file selection by choosing Continue.

You return to the initial screen.

Results

You have selected the archive file(s) for processing. If you have also entered the start date and spool parameters, you can schedule
the required archiving action.

Next Steps

Entering Spool Parameters

Entering Start Date

Statistics

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Use

When writing, deleting, reading, or reloading, the system automatically generates statistical data on each archiving run (such as
the storage space that has been freed in the database by deletions, or the number of deleted data objects), and stores it
persistently in the database.

Data archiving administrators can analyze these key figures so that they can better plan future archiving projects and provide the
necessary resources. Statistics also provide pertinent information on the role of data archiving in reducing the volume of data in
the database.

Features

Statistics are collected by the Archive Development Kit (ADK). This occurs during the write, delete, and reload processes. In other
archiving contexts, for example execution of preprocessing, postprocessing, or conversion programs, no statistical data is
collected.

You can call the analysis transaction either directly from the initial Archive Administration screen (transaction SARA), or from the
Management screen in Archive Administration, using the Statistics pushbutton. Alternatively, you can use the
SAR_DA_STAT_ANALYSIS transaction.

As well as being displayed directly in the analysis transaction, the statistical information flows into the standard log of the write,
delete, read, and reload program. You can analyze it there as well. As a prerequisite, the relevant application must call the standard
log. In the programs mentioned, the standard log is output in the write program only, in both test mode and productive mode. In
other programs, it is only output in productive mode. In other archiving contexts, such preprocessing, postprocessing, or
conversion programs, no standard log is issued.

Selection

Statistical information is displayed on the basis of the selection data entered here. This includes:

The client in which the archiving session was executed

The name of the archiving object

The date on which the archiving session data was created

The status of the archiving session

Archiving Session Status

When selecting the archiving sessions for reporting, you can choose between archiving sessions with the following statuses:

Incomplete

Complete

Replaced

To select a status, enter the corresponding code. You can mark one indicator, or a combination of several.

The status used here is the same as the archiving session status in the management part of Archive Administration. You can find
more information under Archiving Session Details.

Displaying Statistical Information

To display statistical information, choose the Display Statistics pushbutton.

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 Note
Via Choose Layout, you can change various statistics display settings, such as column width, column order, or column
selection. You can also save this changed display as a user-specific layout variant. For a display that is easier to use, for
example, you can hide columns that do not interest you.

In the full display (that is, if a user-layout has not been defined), the following information is displayed:

Column Explanation

Session number Number of archiving session

Object Name of archiving object

Client Client in which the archiving session was executed

Date Date on which the archiving session was executed

Status Status of the archiving session (incomplete, complete, replaced)

Disk space Space on the (hard) disk occupied by the archiving session

Header data Proportion of header data in the archiving session that classifies and describes the
actual data

Total DB storage space (write) Virtual storage space in MB that an incomplete archiving session occupies in the
database

DB table storage space (write) Occupied table storage space in the database in MB

DB index storage space (write) Occupied index storage space in the database in MB

DB cluster storage space (write) Occupied cluster storage space in the database in MB

DB structure storage space (write) Occupied structure storage space in the database in MB

Total DB storage space (delete) Virtual storage space in MB that was deleted from the database by a completed
archiving session

DB table storage space (delete) Deleted table storage space in the database in MB

DB index storage space (delete) Deleted index storage space in the database in MB

DB cluster storage space (delete) Deleted cluster storage space in the database in MB

DB structure storage space (delete) Deleted structure storage space in the database in MB

Total DB storage space (reload) Virtual storage space in MB that was reloaded into the database by a replaced archiving
session

DB table storage space (reload) Reloaded table storage space in the database in MB

DB index storage space (reload) Reloaded index storage space in the database in MB

DB cluster storage space (reload) Reloaded cluster storage space in the database in MB

DB structure storage space (reload) Reloaded structure storage space in the database in MB

Written data objects Number of data objects that were written for an incomplete archiving session

Deleted data objects Number of data objects that were deleted from the database for a complete archiving
session

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Reloaded data objects Number of data objects that were reloaded into the database for a replaced archiving
session

Number of delete jobs Number of executed delete jobs for an archiving session

Length of write job Length in hours of the write job for an archiving session

Length of delete job Average length in hours of the delete job for an archiving run

Length of reload job Length in hours of the reload job for an archiving session

 Caution
When calculating storage space in the database, the system uses the length of the respective object types in the ABAP
dictionary. The value determined in this way can therefore only be an indication of the actual storage space in the database.

Archiving Statistics Information

Statistics information is saved persistently in the database table ADMI_STATS. You can archive it together with archive
management data using the archiving object BC_ARCHIVE.

Activities

Creating Statistics

More Information

Archiving Archive Administration Data (BC-CCM-ADK)

Creating Statistics

Prerequisites

You are on the Archive Administration: Initial Entry screen of the transaction SARA. The name of the archiving object is entered in
the Object Name field.

 Note
Alternatively, you can call the statistics function from the archive management in Archive Administration, or in transaction
SAR_DA_STAT_ANALYSIS. If you use this transaction, you must enter client and archiving object manually.

Context

You can display statistical information that was automatically generated by the archiving programs (write, delete, read, reload).
Statistical information provides useful data on the individual archiving sessions for the database administrator.

Procedure

1. Choose Statistics.

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The Display Statistics for Data Archiving screen appears.

2. In the Selection area, enter the date on which the archiving session was carried out.

The client and archiving object are prefilled. However, you can change these values.

3. In the Archiving Status area, select the required status for the archiving sessions for which you want to call statistics.

You can select one or more checkboxes.

4. Choose Display Statistics.

Results

The statistics are displayed in line with the entries made in the selection and status parameters.

More information: Statistics

Logs

Use

This function provides a central access to the logs generated during data archiving. You can call this function from within Archive
Administration by choosing Logs or Goto Logs as well as from Archive Administration.

Features

The following logs are written when an archiving program, such as a preprocessing, write, or delete program, is executed, and can
be displayed in this function:

Job Overview

Information on the background jobs of the archiving program

Job Log

Log of the different steps of an individual background job

Spool List

List generated by the archiving program and stored in the spool

Application Log

Log of all processed objects (summarized and detailed)

Job overview, job log, and spool list are generated only by programs that are executed in the background. The application log can
be generated for programs that run in the background and in dialog mode.

 Note
Whether or not the log of the processed objects is to be updated in the application log, meaning that an application log is
generated, can be set in the variant maintenance of the corresponding program in the entry field Log Output. See Variant
Maintenance for Archiving Jobs.

 Note
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Note that not all archiving objects offer the updating of an object log (entry field Detailed Log in variant maintenance).

Log Display

In the log function, the left area of the screen shows the available logs, organized by archiving object, action (for example,
preprocessing, write, delete, and so on) date and time. The newest log is highlighted. If cross-archiving-object logs were created,
you can view them at the end of the log tree under the entry Cross-Archiving-Object (see below).

Under Process Control, you can see whether the process was started in the test or the productive mode. If the process control
could not be determined, the field remains empty.

In the Archiving Session column, you can see the number of the archiving session that was generated by the corresponding
program (for write programs) or processed (for example by delete programs). If the session number could not be determined (for
example, in preprocessing programs), the field remains empty. In case of reload programs, the Original Session column contains
the number of the reloaded session.

Due to technical reasons, the job overview, the job log, and the spool lists can only be displayed as fullscreen.

The Application Log is displayed directly on the right-hand side of the screen. It is used to inform the user about the results of
processing the business objects he or she has selected. For example, in the write program the user learns which business objects
have been archived and which could not be archived and why.

You use the two tab pages to choose between a summarized and a detailed application log (if available). f detailed information is
available for an object, you can display it by using the magnifying glass icon in the Detail column. Click on the question mark icon
in the Long Text column to view the message long text. If no application log was created, the relevant message text is displayed.
Possible reasons for this are, for example, that the relevant archiving program does not support this function or the user wanted
the log output in the list (spool) and not in the application log.

Cross-Archiving-Object Logs

Cross-archiving-object logs are created during the execution of the cross-archiving-object check and delete function. In the log
display, these logs appear at the end of the log tree under Cross-Archiving-Object. The logs are sorted by action, date and time of
the action, and archiving object. For example, if you want to display the logs of all archiving objects for which the system
performed a cross-archiving-object check, expand the Preprocessing node in the tree structure under the above-named heading
and double-click the node with the desired date. In the right-hand area of the log display, the application log of the cross-archiving-
object check session you have chosen appears. In the summarized view, the log contains a consolidated list of all summarized log
messages of the archiving objects included in the check (these are listed as subnodes in the log tree). Due to performance
reasons, the detailed messages of the different archiving objects are not included in the detail view.

It is not possible to display information on the next lower level, that is, on archiving object level. When you choose a node
(document symbol) below the archiving object, the messages for this particular archiving object are shown in the form of a
summary and as detailed information.

Activities

You can limit the display of the logs to one specific archiving object by entering the object in the initial screen of Archive
Administration. If you want to access the logs of all archiving objects, you must leave this field empty.

To display the log for a specific log entry, select the entry in the log entries list and with a right mouse click choose the
corresponding log, for example, the job log or the application log.

To access only cross-archiving-object logs, first choose Check/Delete in Archive Administration and then Logs.

You can delete selected application logs from the system by choosing Environment Delete Application Logs . This
function corresponds to the central delete function of logs using Transaction SLG2, the only exception being that the object

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ARCHIVING is already entered per default.

See also:

Variant Maintenance for Archiving Jobs

Standard Log

Standard Log

Definition
The executing program creates a log during reading, writing, deleting, or reloading. This is either a standard log or an application-
specific log that is described in archiving object-specific documentation.

Structure

Depending on the archiving action you have performed, the standard log can contain information about the archiving session or
the archiving file, as well as information about the processed business objects.

Archiving Session Archive File-Specific Log

Number of archiving sessions

Number of processed data objects

Size of archiving session in MB

Amount of header data in %

Table space in MB occupied for

Tables

Indexes

Number of processed table entries

This information is written exclusively in the list (spool).

Business Object-Specific Log

It is used to inform the user about the results of processing the business objects he or she has selected. For example, in the write
program the user learns which business objects have been archived and which could not be archived and why.

First the summarized version of the is displayed. If the user wants the detailed version, he or she can request it on the selection
screen of the relevant archiving program (see Variant Maintenance for Archiving Jobs). If detailed information for an object is
available, you can display the required object by double-clicking it. If detailed information for a message is available, you can
display it by double-clicking the message.

If no application log was created, the relevant text is displayed. Possible reasons for this are, for example, the relevant archiving
program does not support this function or the user wanted the log output in the application log and not in the list (spool).

You can call up the standard log with the Archive Administration: Overview of Archiving Sessions view with Spool List. If the user
has defined in variant maintenance that the business object-specific information is to be output in the application log, you can

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display this information in archive administration with Logs.

Cross-Archiving-Object Check and Delete

Use

This function is used to schedule the cross-archiving object check or delete programs. These programs enable you to execute an
archivability check or to delete application data from the database for several archiving objects at once.

Using these programs allows for a more pronounced separation between the moment of the archivability check and the actual
write phase. It also allows you to merely mark data that has been archived for deletion from the database, instead of executing a
delete session immediately. The data is later deleted with the cross-archiving-object delete program (see below).

By de-coupling the archiving phases, you can better control the archiving process and integrate it in the running system. Time-
consuming program runs such as the archivability check or the physical deletion of data can be separated from the write phase,
and be executed when the system is not busy. This concept is therefore particularly suitable for archiving large volumes of data.

Prerequisites

The cross-archiving-object check and delete functions can be used for all archiving objects that support these functions. To check
if this is the case for a specific archiving object, see the archiving documentation for that application, available in the SAP Library.

Before you schedule either of these two programs you must activate the archiving objects to be considered in the Customizing for
Cross-Archiving-Object Programs view.

More information: Check and Delete

Features
Check

Here you schedule the cross-archiving-object check program, with which you want to execute an archivability check for several
archiving objects at once. During the check the program marks all business objects that fulfill the archivability criteria and are
therefore ready to be removed from the database, with a specific status.

Different applications use different statuses to mark data for archiving. The statuses used can therefore change from one archiving
object to another. SAP Customer Relationship Management, for example, uses the status Archivable and has the technical ID
I1100. A business object, such as a CRM sales order, is considered to be archivable if it fulfills the following criteria:

It is closed, meaning that it has the status Completed. This means that it is no longer changed in the application.

It has reached its set residence time. The residence time should be chosen in such a way that it only covers data that is very
seldomly accessed for reading.

In addition to these general criteria, there may be additional, object-specific criteria for determining the archivability of business
objects. These are described in the corresponding documentation available for the archiving object in question.

The business objects marked for archiving can then be archived in a second step using an archiving-object-specific write program.
The deletion of the archived data then takes place via an archiving-object-specific delete program, or a cross-archiving-object
delete program, if supported by the archiving object (see below).

Deletion

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Here you schedule the cross-archiving object delete program. The program selects the business objects that were already archived
and those only marked for deletion, and deletes them from the database. If this function is not supported by the archiving object,
the Delete pushbutton is not offered.

The status used by the delete program for the selection of the data is application specific and can therefore differ from one
archiving object to another. In SAP Customer Relationship Management, for example, the Deletable status has the technical ID
I1102 and the Archived status the ID I1101. More information on whether a specific archiving object uses this status and what it is
called is available in the corresponding documentation in the SAP Library.

Displaying the Log

The Logs function is used to display the application logs generated during the cross-archiving-object check and delete functions.
For more information, see Logs.

Activities
You make the cross-archiving-object check and delete program settings in Archive Administration in Cross-Archiving-Object
Customizing Check and Delete .

You schedule the cross-archiving-object check and delete program in Archive Administration. To do so you must enter a variant,
where you can make the following settings:

In the Server Groups field, enter the group of application servers on which the processes are to run. If no server group is
available, you can create one using Computing Center Management System (CCMS).

In the Number of Parallel Processes field, enter the number of processes that are to be started in parallel.

Under Process Control, you determine whether the process is to run in the test or production mode. In test mode the check
or deletion process is only simulated and no actual changes occur on the database. The test or production mode settings
you make in this variant override the settings in the Customizing variant. See Check and Delete and Variant Maintenance
for Archiving Jobs.

 Note
Both programs support parallel processing, meaning that it is possible to divide their processes among several jobs and
application servers. This is generally positive in terms of performance, but also generates a greater system load, as
several tasks are being executed concurrently. Parallel processing cannot be used if no server group is specified.

Cross-Archiving Object Check Program

Use
The cross-archiving-object check program is used for the following purposes:

1. Selection of the data objects to be checked

2. Running the check

3. Setting the check status

The Check Process

First the data objects to be checked are selected using a special function module. The purpose of the preselection function module
is to select the business objects based on the specifications entered in the Customizing variant. The function module takes the

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residence time and the resubmission date into account.

Through the preselection it is possible to exclude irrelevant data objects from the actual check. The result is a list of relevant
objects that are transferred to the check program.

The check program then calls the check function module of the application to check the preselected data objects and if applicable,
set their status to Archivable. The list generated by the preselection module is grouped into packages for parallel processing.

To prevent an object from being checked again and again, for every checked object the program enters the date of the last
archivability check in a field in the corresponding header table. This date and the resubmission date, which can be specified in
Customizing, are then used during the next program run to calculate whether the object can be checked again. Objects with the
Archivable status are not checked again.

For SAP Customer Relationship Management archiving objects, the check function module initiates the sending of BDocs
(Business Documents), after the check status has been set. BDocs contain change information about the archived business
objects that are to be considered by the connected mobile systems.

The advantage of the background check is that it facilitates a more automated and therefore faster archiving of business objects.
This type of check, however, also means a higher use of resources. Generally, SAP development decides whether the archivability
check is executed via a cross-archiving-object check program or through an archiving-object-specific preprocessing program. In
some cases you can choose freely.

Activities

The Customizing settings of the cross-archiving-object check program are made in Cross-Archiving-Object Customizing in the
Check and Delete function. The scheduling of the program takes place in Archive Administration with the Check/Delete function.

Customizing for ADK Data Archiving

Use
In Customizing for data archiving, you to set parameters that affect the data archiving process.

Prerequisites

You have Customizing authorization.

Data types are entered.

Organizational data is entered.

Areas

Archiving Customizing can be divided into the following areas:

Cross-Archiving-Object Customizing

Archiving-Object-Specific Customizing

Basis Customizing

Application-Specific Customizing

Some applications provide the option of specifying archivability criteria for application data, to be used during data
archiving. Examples would be the residence time for sales documents or the account type life and document type life for

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accounting documents. If it is possible to enter archivability criteria, this function appears in the Customizing of the
application in question and in Archiving Customizing of the corresponding archiving object.

 Note
For more information on archiving-object-specific and application-specific Customizing, see the application-specific
sections of the archiving documentation available in the SAP Library.

Cross-Archiving-Object Customizing (ADK Archiving)

Use
The settings that you make here apply on a cross-application and cross-archiving object basis for all archiving objects.

The cross-archiving object Customizing includes the following functions:

Technical Settings

Check and Delete

Technical Settings

Use
With this function you can make the following settings to control the data archiving process. These settings apply to all archiving
objects.

Data Archiving Monitor

Using this indicator, you can either switch the data archiving monitor (transaction SAR_SHOW_MONITOR ) on or off.

If you set this indicator before the data is archived, the archiving-relevant information about the write and delete jobs is updated.
You can analyze this information using the Data Archiving Monitor. In addition, Alerts (error messages) are triggered if there are
errors.

The Data Archiving Monitor also provides the following information:

Overview of all archiving objects that were executed

Detailed information about individual archiving sessions

Progress report on processed archive files

Help with the analysis of open alerts

The Data Archiving Monitor is part of the CCMS monitor group (transaction RZ20 ), and is available under SAP CCMS Monitor
Templates Database Data Archiving .

For more information, see Data Archiving Monitor.

Check Access for Archive Selection

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With this function you can check whether an archive file is available for access in archive administration, when you select archives
for reading, deletion, analysis or reloading. The check can be performed separately for stored archive files and archive files that are
still in the file system.

If you select For Files in File System, the access check covers all archive files in the file system.

If you select For Stored Files, the access check covers all archive files that are in a storage system.

Archive files for which the access check was negative are shown as "not accessible" in the selection screen.

 Note
The access check for stored files requires accesses to the storage system. This means that the check can be very time-
consuming and should only be used after careful consideration.

Verify Archive Files

With this function you can specify that archive files receive additional verification information, which is to be analyzed at a
predetermined point in time. The saving of this additional information does not affect the size of the archive files. The verification
information is necessary for later analysis during deletion, reading or reloading.

The information is used to verify the state of the archive files before the file is accessed. Corrupt files are recognized and reported
at once, and as a result the data is not deleted from the database.

When archive files are written the system automatically saves the verification information. With the Delete, Read or Reload
indicator, you can determine when this verification information is to be analyzed. You can set more than one indicator.

Implicit Interruption of the Write Phase

If supported by the archiving object, you can interrupt the write phase and resume it later. You can specify the time of interruption
using the following criteria:

Max. Duration Hours

Here you specify how much time (in hours) has to pass since the write job was started, before the write session of all
archiving objects that support interruption is stopped.

Max. MB per Session

Here you specify the amount of data (in MB) that has to be reached for the write phase of all archiving objects to be
interrupted automatically.

Both interruption criteria are independent of each other: The criterion that is first fulfilled automatically triggers the
interruption; the other criterion does not have to be fulfilled.

 Note
You can see whether an archiving object supports the interruption function or not in transaction AOBJ, if the
Interruption Possible indicator has been set.

Server Group for Background Processing

Here you can specify on which application server or servers the archiving jobs (write, delete, read, and so on) are to run in the
background, irrespective of the archiving object. If no server group exists yet, you can create it using transaction SM61 .

The system distributes the archiving jobs across the application servers of the server group.

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Preprocessing, postprocessing and write jobs that were scheduled via Archive Administration (transaction SARA ) have the
following characteristics:

These jobs are scheduled with a higher priority (job class A).

If the specified server group contains an application server that runs on the database server, then the jobs are scheduled
there.

 Note
The higher prioritization of the write jobs and the fact that the jobs are scheduled on the database server, decreases the
network load during data selection and when the archive files are written to a file system that belongs to the database
server.

 Note
Constraints on the side of the application server may increase the runtime of the entire archiving process, especially if
fewer background work processes are active as delete programs.

Choose only those servers for a server group on which background work processes are active during archiving.

If you have created a server group and entered it in cross-archiving-object Customizing, then other activities such as reloading,
reading of archive files, and index build/delete functions, are performed on that server group.

More Information

Basis Customizing

Archiving Object-Specific Customizing

Implicit Interruption of an Archiving Session

Setting Up Check and Delete Programs

Use
You can set up the cross-archiving object check and delete program according to your requirements. For example, individual
parameters for the selection of the business objects to be checked for a specific archiving object, or you can activate specific
archiving objects for the cross-archiving-object check or delete.

The check is based on the archivability of business objects. You can execute the check for multiple archiving objects in parallel. The
deletion of business objects is also possible for multiple archiving objects.

Prerequisites
The cross-archiving-object check and delete functions can be used for all archiving objects that support these functions.
Therefore, only this objects are offered In Customizing.

Procedure
You make the settings for the relevant parameters in the detail view for an archiving object. To go there, double-click the line with
the required object, for example, BC_ARCHIVE (Archive Administration data).

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You can set the following parameters:

General Settings

Check active

If you select this checkbox, the archiving object is taken into account by the next session of the cross-archiving-
object check program, This covers all archiving objects for which you have selected the checkbox. The program
periodically reads a control table to see which archiving objects are still active. Only those parameter values that
were initially (at the time the program is started) read from this table by the check framework program are
processed. In the standard system, this checkbox is deselected.

 Note
Framework programs control the cross-object check and delete programs. They are responsible for starting the
corresponding check or delete function module in the application. This module then does the actual work.

 Note
Changing the Customizing settings during the runtime of the check program: Activating an archiving object does
not affect the running program. An archiving object that was deactivated during the runtime of the program is
removed from the program run, if it has not been processed at that point in time. If you want to stop the program
prematurely, you must deactivate all active archiving objects.

Delete active

 Note
This indicator is offered only for an archiving object if the object supports this function. If this is the case, you can
use the object-specific delete program.

If you select this checkbox, the archiving object is taken into account by the next session of the cross-archiving-
object delete program, This program runs in the background periodically and covers all archiving objects for
which you have selected the checkbox. The program deletes all business objects with the Archived or Deletable
status (however not Archivable). In the standard system, this checkbox is deselected.

Settings for the Check Program

Number of Calls for Preselection Module

Determines total number of times the preselection function module is called. As soon as this value is reached, the
archiving object is removed from the program session. The default value is 10,000 calls.

 Note
The check program works with two archiving-object-specific function modules: The preselection function
module and the check function module.

Package Size of the Preselection Module

Here you define the number of business objects that are selected in the database and passed to the check function
module of the application per call of the preselection function module. The default value is 50,000 objects.

Package Size of the Check Module

The framework program divides the business objects transferred during the preselection process into subpackages,
which are then processed in parallel. The package size is the number of objects that are processed per call of the
check function module. The default value is 500 objects.

Resubmission Interval in Days

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Here you define after how many days a business object, which was not archivable during a previous check, can be
checked again. By setting the corresponding value, for example 10 days, you can prevent already checked business
objects from being checked again, as this would unnecessarily prolong the check process. The default value is 10
days.

In the Active Variant field, you can set the variant to be used by the check program. It defines which data is to be processed
by the check program.

Settings for the deletion program

 Note
These settings are only offered for an archiving object, if the object supports this function.

Number of Calls for Preselection Module

Determines total number of times the preselection function module of the delete program is to be called. As soon as
this value is reached, the archiving object is removed from the program session.

The preselection module of the delete program selects all the business objects with the deletable status, groups
them and passes them to the cross-archiving-object delete program.

Package Size of the Preselection Module

Here you define the number of business objects that are selected in the database and passed to the delete function
module of the application per call of the preselection function module.

Package Size of the Delete Module

Here you define the size of the subpackages that are to be processed by the delete program in parallel.

More information:

Cross-Archiving Object Check and Delete

Cross-Archiving Object Check Program

Archiving-Object-Specific Customizing (ADK Archiving)

Use
These settings are valid only for the relevant archiving object. You can set the following parameters:

Technical Settings

Logical file name

Size of an archive file

Settings for the deletion program

File storage to storage system

Check and Delete

This function enables you to navigate to Customizing for cross-archiving-object checking and deleting. Unlike when you
access from cross-archiving-object Customizing, you can only make settings for Customizing of the current archiving
object.

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Archive Routing

You use this to define the rules and conditions for the definition of the Content Repositories that are used to store archive
files.

Technical Settings

Use
You use this function to make the following settings to control data archiving. These settings are valid only for the relevant
archiving object.

Logical file name

Size of an archive file

Settings for the deletion program

File storage to storage system

Logical File Name

Use
This is where you enter the logical file name that is used for the archiving object when you store the archive files in the file system.
During runtime, this logical name is converted to a platform-specific physical file name under which the archive files are stored in
the file system.

Features
For information on how to define a logical file name, see Defining Logical Path and File Names. This also provides information on
the interplay between the logical and physical file and path names and the settings that you need to make.

 Note
Provided you have not defined a logical file name that differs from the standard, you do not need to make any further settings.

Size of an Archive File

Use
This parameter specifies the maximum size that an archive file can reach when running a write program.

Features
You have the option of specifying the

Maximum size in MB

Maximum number of data objects

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. The value that is reached first triggers the creation of a new archive file. If you leave both fields blank, only one archive file is
created.

Many archiving objects have a maximum files size of 100 MB by default. The maximum number of data objects is set to 0 by
default. For these archiving objects, the maximum size of the archiving file determines the file size.

Note that the maximum size of an archiving file is limited by the operating system and also by the external storage system if one is
connected.

 Note
Since the action Start Deletion Program is triggered automatically for each archive file, you can carry out delete and write jobs
in parallel if relatively small archive files are created. This parallel activity can have a positive effect on the runtime of an
archiving session, as the database is used more efficiently. If a file is too small, the number of processes rises and the system is
negatively affected.

 Note
The size should usually be between 20 and 100 MB. The size must not exceed 2 GB, or no index can be constructed, thereby
preventing single document access.

Settings for the Delete Program

Use
You define the control parameters for running the delete program here.

Features
You can set up a Test Mode Variant by modifying the parameters accordingly. A test mode variant does not delete data
from the database.

You can set up a Production Run Variant by modifying the parameters accordingly. A production run variant deletes the
archived data from the database.

 Caution
Delete program variants are client-specific. You must therefore make the variant settings in all the clients for which you
want to carry out archiving sessions.

When archiving for the first time using a selected archiving object, the relevant test mode and production mode variants
for the delete program must be fully maintained. Check whether both variants exist. Note especially, that if a production
mode variant is not available, data is not deleted form the database when the delete program is run.

During a delete job, you specify when the delete program is to be run in the background:

If you select the Not Scheduled, the delete program is not run automatically but can be run at any time following archiving.

 Note
Delete jobs can also be scheduled without using Archive Administration (transaction SARA). You so so using an external
job scheduler or the program RSARCHD. For more information, see Scheduling Delete Jobs Outside of Archive
Administration.

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If you have selected the Start Automatically button, the delete program is run automatically immediately after an
archive file is generated. See also the note under Archive File Size here. If it was specified in Customizing that the file
storage is to take place before the delete phase, the delete program is not started until the file has been stored.

This radio button is of interest primarily if you want to save the archive files before the delete phase. If there is a long time
period between the write phase and the delete phase, there is a danger that the data could be changed before it is deleted,
which means that the data in the archive and in the database are no longer the same. The delete phase should therefore be
carried out as soon as possible after the write phase.

 Note
Since Before Images has been deactivated for the rollback segments, there should be enough space available (Oracle's
Rollback Tablespace).

If you have selected the After Event radio button, the delete program is run automatically once a specific event has
occurred. You select the relevant event by using the F4 input help for the Event field. an event requires that a parameter
be set (an argument), enter the required parameter in this field. A parameter qualifies an event. See also Background Event.

Once all delete jobs for an archiving session are complete, the ADK issues the event SAP_ARCHIVING_DELETE_FINISHED.
The event parameter is the number of the archiving session. You can use this event for event-driven scheduling of
accumulated archiving jobs, succh as the automatic backup of archive files using external tools.

 Note
You can use transaction SM62 to display and maintain events.

You can use the Build Index indicator to specify whether an index is to be constructed for a particular archiving object. You
can use this index to access specific data objects from the archive file (single document access).

 Recommendation
Instead of using this function for single document access, we recommend that you use the Archive Information System
(AS).

File Storage to Storage System

Use
You can specify here whether an archive file is to be transferred automatically after successful processing to a connected storage
system. This can be done manually or automatically using the SAP Content Management Infrastructure (which also contains the
ArchiveLink/CMS interface). You can also specify the sequence of the delete and storage phases.

Prerequisites
A storage system is linked to the SAP Business Suite software.

Features
To start automatic storage of the archive file, select the Start Automatically indicator. Select the relevant content repository.

 Note
If rules and conditions have been defined for the specified archiving object for Archive Routing, it is no longer possible at this
point to manually select the content repository as described above. During the archiving process, the Archive Routing settings

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always override the manual selection of the content repositories. In this case, instead of an input field for the content
repository, the system displays the Archive Routing button, which you can use to access Archive Routing to maintain the rules
and conditions.

More information:

Archive Routing

Routing of Archive Files to Different Content Repositories

Under Sequence, you can specify when the storage is to take place:

If you select Delete Before Storage, the archive file is not stored until it has been processed by the delete program. If the
delete program is run in test mode, automatic storage is not carried out. This option improves performance.

You can use this setting to perform storage manually if no delete program has been run for the archive file. In this case, the
system informs you that this does not match the selected sequence. You must then ensure that the file is not stored at the
same time as the delete program is active.

If you select Store Before Delete, the archive file is stored as soon as the write program has created the archive file, but
before the delete program has edited it. The delete program can therefore only remove the contents of an archive file from
the database once the archive file has been stored. option offers enhanced backup, as the archived data is not deleted until
it has been stored.

During storage before delete, you can choose Delete Program Reads from the Storage System to control the read
behavior of the delete program during the delete process:

Indicator selected: After storage, the stored archive file is deleted from the file system. Consequently, during the
delete phase, the delete program reads the archive file from the storage system. ensures that the data is only
deleted from the database if it was successfully stored in the storage system.

Indicator not selected: After storage, the archive file is not deleted from the file system. The delete program reads
the archive file from the file system. This setting results in improved performance of the delete program without
neglecting backup considerations.

If in the settings for the delete program, the radio button Start Automatically is also selected, the delete program is
started automatically following storage. It therefore makes no difference whether the delete program is run in test or
production mode.

Similarly, if you select After Event,delete jobs are scheduled, but they are not run until triggered by the event that has been
configured in the settings for the delete program.

Settings for the Postprocessing Program

Use

Here you can schedule a postprocessing program to run after the delete phase. Postprocessing programs carry out operations
following an archiving session, such as updating statistics and cleaning up secondary indexes. Most archiving objects do not
require a postprocessing program.

Prerequisites
The archiving object being used has a postprocessing program.

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To start the postprocessing program, you need to fulfill the following prerequisites:

The last delete program in the archiving session is finished.

No archive file has the status Archived, Archiving in Progress, or Delete in Progress.

Features

In the Variant input field, you define with which variant you want to schedule the postprocessing program.

By selecting the Start Automatically checkbox, you define that the postprocessing program starts automatically after the delete
phase.

Archive Routing

Use

You can use this function to create rules and conditions, based on which archive files are automatically routed to specific areas in
the file or storage system. You have the following options: You can enter one or morel logical file names to determine one or more
directories in the file system into which the archive files are written. You can also enter one or more content repositories to which
the archive files are to be routed during the store phase.

Which of these two options you choose depends on whether you are using a file system or a storage system connected through
ArchiveLink in your archiving strategy. However, it is also possible for you to specify both a logical file name and a content
repository for one archiving session. In this case, the specified directory would be used as an exchange directory before the
storage phase. It is also possible to specify only directories at first and then to extend the rules later by specifying content
repositories for storage of the archive files.

The criteria used in the rules and conditions for both directories and content repositories should be on the organizational unit level
(such as company code) or time-based (such as fiscal year).

Due to legal compliance issues, companies, especially those with international locations, are increasingly forced to keep archived
data separately in order to comply with different retention requirements for different kinds of data, lines of business or countries.
Compared to the manual selection of content repositories or the use of a standard directory such as ARCHIVE_GLOBAL_PATH,
Archive Routing offers companies more flexibility and automation options for this purpose, especially as the latter permits you to
specify only one content repository for all data of one archiving object.

Integration
Customizing

The routing rules and conditions are entered for individual archiving objects in Archive Routing. The function is available under
Archiving-Object-Specific Customizing in Archive Administration (transaction SARA). If no rules have been entered, the directory
or content repository are selected the traditional way. For more information, see Defining Logical Path and File Names and File
Storage to Storage System.

Archiving Process

The system checks the rules during the write phase of the archiving process. If you are also storing your archive files, then the
system checks the rules again during the store phase. It is important to note that Archive Routing does not use the actual contents
of the archive file to determine the directory or content repository, but the selection criteria entered in the variant for the write
session. Note that the set of data covered by the selection criteria in the variant does not have to be exactly the same as the set of
data covered by the routing rules and conditions. However, it is important rather the set of data for the variant selection is within
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the set of data specified by the rules. If it is the case, the archiving session is carried out and the archive files are routed to the
appropriate directory or content repository. If not, the archiving session is terminated.

Features

In Customizing, you can create rules for each archiving object that determine which directory or content repository is to be chosen
based on the selection criteria of the write program variant. For each rule, you enter conditions that contain a selection criterion
and a corresponding value or interval. It is possible to create one or more rules per archiving object and one or more conditions per
rule. The complexity of the rules depends on how specific your criteria for separating your archived data into different directories
or content repositories is.

The smallest unit for which a directory or content repository can be determined using Archive Routing is an archiving session. This
means that the individual archive files, and therefore all the data objects (documents) in an archiving session are routed to one and
the same directory or content repository. If you want to route data to different directories or content repositories, you must start a
separate session for each directory or content repository.

Example
You define the following rules and conditions for archiving object SD_VBAK:

Sales Organization Creation Date Content Repository Logical File Name

0001 Any A1

0002 01.01.2000 to 12.31.2002 A2

0002 01.01.2003 to 12.31.9999 A3

These rules are checked during the write phase of the SD_VBAK archiving session. If the selection criteria of the write variant
match the values entered in the rules and conditions, as described above, then the data is routed to the appropriate content
repository during the storage phase. If not, the archiving session is terminated during the write phase. In this example, no logical
file name was specified. This means that prior to the storage phase the data is written to the previously defined standard exchange
directory (determined, for example, by ARCHIVE_GLOBAL_PATH).

More Information

Routing of Archive Files to Different Content Repositories

Routing of Archive Files to Different Directories

Routing of Archive Files to Different Content Repositories

Use
This process describes how you can use archive routing to define rules and conditions that enable archive files to be stored in
specific content repositories automatically during archiving. The actual storage process is also described here.

Process
1. Define Rules and Conditions for Archive Routing

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You define the rules and conditions in the Customizing settings for specific archiving objects in archive administration
(transaction SARA) under Archive Routing.

a. Archiving Object

You first specify here the archiving objects for which the content repository is to be determined using archive
routing. By specifying a content repository here, you can override the content repository entered in the technical
settings.

The system requires this information so that it can assign a content repository. Archiving is not possible without
this.

b. Rules

You select an archiving object and enter one or more rules with the respective content repository here.

c. Conditions

You select one of the rules and enter the condition(s) that the system can use to determine a content repository
that is suitable for the rule. Enter a selection here, such as airline or posting date and the associated value or
interval. (Note the following: You can only enter single values and not ranges for selection values such as airline. The
single value, such as the ID LH, is entered in the From field.) You can use the possible entries (F4) to select the
selection values.

2. Routing of Archive Files

During an archiving session, the system checks the rules and conditions you have specified twice: Once during the write
phase and then again during the storage phase.

As described under Archive Routing, it is essential that the system uses the selection values or the content of the write
program variants to determine the content repository in which the archive files in an archiving session are to be stored. You
should therefore ensure that the data quantity covered by the selection values in the write variant is found within the data
quantity defined by the rules. If this is not the case, the system terminates the archiving session during the first check
before the write phase.

Archive files are first routed during the storage phase if all conditions described here are met and it was possible to
uniquely determine a content repository.

You can only define one content repository for each archiving session. If you want to use more than one content repository
for the same archiving object, you must start a separate archiving session for each content repository.

 Note
Following storage: Changes to the routing rules do not usually affect archive files that have already been stored. When
an archive file is created, the system transfers the content repository to archive administration and then always reads it
from there. This means that the system also finds an archive file even if the new routing rules would mean that it would
be stored in a different content repository.

The storage is not reorganized even if the routing rules are changed. This means that archive files that have already been
stored are not moved.

Result
During the storage phase, the system stored the archive files in the content repository according to the rules that you specified.

Example

The following examples show various archive routing scenarios.

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You have created the following routing rules in archive routing:

Sales Organization Creation Date Content Repository Logical File Name

0001 Any A1 (rule 1)

0002 01.01.2000 to 12.31.2002 A2 (rule 2)

0003 01.01.2003 to 12.31.9999 A3 (rule 3)

In words, these rules mean the following:

Archive files for sales organization 0001 are stored in content repository A1.

Archive files for sales organization 0002 and a creation date between 2000 and 2002 are stored in content repository A2.

Archive files for sales organization 0002 and a creation date up to and including 2003 are stored in content repository A3.

 Note
The creation date refers to the selection field "Created On" in the write variant and not the date on which the archive
was written.

Example 1:

You start an archiving session with the following variant:

Selection variant

Sales organization From 0002 to

Created On From 01.01.2000 to 31.01.2000

Archive files that are to be generated using this variant should be stored in content repository A2. The sales organization is the
sales organization in the second rule and the date range is found in the date range for the same rule.

Example 2:

You start an archiving session with the following variant:

Selection variant

Sales document From 1 to 100.000

Sales Organization From 0002 to

Created On From 01.01.2000 to 31.01.2000

Or From 01.01.2001 to 31.01.2001

Without From 06.01.2001 to

This variant means that sales documents are to be archived if their document number is found between 1 and 100,000, which
belong to sales organization 0002 and were created in January 2000 or January 2001 but not on 6.1.2001.

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The system would determine content repository A2 for these selection values. The system ignores the line in the sales document,
since this selection criterion does not appear in the rules. The system ignores the last line, since this selection is already found in
the range between 01.01.2001 to 01.21.2001 This leaves the following for archive routing:

Selection Variant

Sales Organization From 0002 to

Created on From 01.01.2000 to 31.01.2000

From 01.01.2001 to 31.01.2001

This is suitable for the requirements in rule 2.

Example 3:

Selection Variant

Sales Organization From 0002 to

Created On Greater or equal to 01.01.2003 to

The system was unable to determine any content repository here. It initially appears that the third rule should apply and the
system would use content repository A3. This is not however the case, since the system does not know here that all data that is
equal or later to 1.1.2003 is automatically suitable for the range "From 1.1.2003 to 12.31.9999".

See also:

If the archive routing function available in the standard system does not meet your requirements, you can use the Business Add-In
(BAdI) ARCH_ROUTING_EXTERN. For more information, see Business Add-In: Archive Routing..

Business Add-In: Archive Routing

Use
You can implement the Business Add-In (BAdI) ARCH_ROUTING_EXTERN (for the Routing of Archive Files to Directories in the file
system this BAdI is only available as of the next major release of SAP NetWeaver), if the standard Archive Routing function does
not sufficiently meet your specific requirements. The main purpose of this BAdI is to replace the standard Archive Routing process
with customer-specific code. This is possible for individual archiving objects. The BAdI is filter-dependent, with the archiving object
being the filter.

An active implementation of this BAdI for an archiving object replaces the entire Archive Routing for that archiving object. In this
case the system uses neither the rules as described under Archive Routing nor the content repository specified in technical
Customizing (V_ARC_USR). Other application-specific settings are not run either. The basic concept of Archive Routing, however,
remains the same - the content repository is still determined using the information in the selection variant.

The BAdI has two methods for determining the content repository from the selection variant:

PARAMS2CREP

PARAMS2PATH_EXTENSION

A detailed description of these methods is available in the system documentation of this BAdI.

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 Caution
From a technical standpoint it is possible to insert other information into a customer-specific program for determining the
content repository, than that taken from the selection variant. However, keep in mind that the content repository is not
physically determined until the storage phase. During the write phase it is merely checked. This means that the algorithm
should be delivered at both points in the process. The system itself (ADK) only remembers the content repository at the time of
storage.

Routing of Archive Files to Different Directories

Use
This process describes how you can use archive routing to define rules and conditions that enable archive files to be automatically
stored in specific directories in the file system during archiving. The way in which archive files are actually stored is also described
here.

If you are not using a storage system that is connected using ArchiveLink, or you initally want to only store your data in the file
system, you can specify logical file names in Archive Routing to define directories in which archive files can be stored
automatically. If archive files are subsequently to be stored in content repositories, you can subsequently assign the correct
content repository to the rules. The system observes this assignment in the storage location.

Prerequisites
In Basis Customizing (transaction FILE), you have defined logical file names for use in Archive Routing and assigned them to the
individual logical file names. For more information, see Defining Logical Path and File Names.

Process
1. Define Rules and Conditions for Archive Routing

You define the rules and conditions in the Customizing settings for specific archiving objects in archive administration
(transaction SARA) under Archive Routing.

a. Archiving Object

You first specify here the archiving objects for which the directory is to be determined using archive routing.

b. Rules

You select an archiving object and enter one or more rules with the respective logical file names here.

c. Conditions

You select one of the rules and enter the condition(s) that the system can use to determine a directory that is
suitable for the rule. Enter a selection here, such as carriier ID or booking date and the associated value or interval.
(Note the following: You can only enter single values, such as carrier ID, and not intervals for selection values, The
single value, such as the ID LH, is entered in the From field.) You can use the possible entries (F4) to select the
selection values.

2. Routing of Archive Files

During the write phase of an archiving session, the system checks the rules and conditions that you have specified in the
Customizing settings for specific archiving objects.

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As described under Archive Routing, it is essential that the system uses the selection values or the content of the write
program variants to determine the directory in which the archive files in an archiving session are to be stored. You should
therefore ensure that the data quantity covered by the selection values in the variant is found within the quantity defined by
the rules. If this is not the case, the system terminates the archiving session during the first check before the write phase.

Archive files are first routed to the respective directories during the write phase in the production mode, if all conditions
described here are met and it was possible to uniquely determine a directory using the logical file name.

You can only define one directory for each archiving session. If you want to use more than one directory for the same
archiving object, you must start a separate archiving session for each directory.

Result
During the write phase, the system stored the archive files in the directory according to the rules and conditions that you specified.

Example
Before archiving using SD_VBAK, define the routing rules as follows:

Sales Organization Creation Date Content Repository Logical File Name

0001 Z_MY_LOG_FILE1

0002 01.01.1999 to 12.31.1999 Z_MY_LOG_FILE2

0002 01.01.2000 to 12.31.2000 Z_MY_LOG_FILE3

0002 01.01.2001 to 12.31.2001 Z_MY_LOG_FILE4

In words, these rules mean the following:

Archive files for sales organization 0001 are created in the directory associated with the logical file name Z_MY_LOG_FILE1.

Archive files for sales organization 0002 and a creation date during 1999 are created in the directory associated with the
logical file name Z_MY_LOG_FILE2.

Archive files for sales organization 0002 and a creation date during 2000 are created in the directory associated with the
logical file name Z_MY_LOG_FILE3.

Archive files for sales organization 0002 and a creation date during 2001 are created in the directory associated with the
logical file name Z_MY_LOG_FILE4.

Archive files are not stored, since no content repository was specified. They remain in the file system. However, they are created in
the directories for the corresponding logical file names. Once archives have been generated for both sales organizations, you
decide to store the archive files. To do so, you extend the rules as follows:

Sales Organization Creation Date Content Repository Logical File Name

0001 A1 Z_MY_LOG_FILE1

0002 01.01.1999 to 12.31.1999 A2_1999 Z_MY_LOG_FILE2

0002 01.01.2000 to 12.31.2000 A2_2000 Z_MY_LOG_FILE3

0002 01.01.2001 to 12.31.2001 A2_2001 Z_MY_LOG_FILE4

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Since the files have already been generated for the rules you defined previously and routed to the appropriate directories, you can
easily store these here.

These examples show it can be necessary to change routing rules for sessions that have not yet been stored. This is often the case
if a storage system is to be introduced at a subsequent stage.

More Information
Routing of Archive Files to Different Content Repositories

Basis Customizing (ADK Archiving)

Use
In Basis Customizing you can specify the file names under which the archive files are to be created. The logical file name is
composed of a name and a path. The path is a logical path, meaning that you must follow predefined conventions that determine
the physical format of the path during runtime (platform-specific) based on your specifications. File names and file paths can be
client-specific (transaction SF01) or cross-client-specific (transaction FILE).

For more information, see Defining Logical Path and File Names.

 Recommendation
We recommend that you maintain the platform-independent file names as cross-client files names.

 Note
If you want to transfer archive files to a storage system using the SAP Content Management infrastructure, ensure that the
correct content repository is set up in Archiving Object-Specific Customizing.

Defining Logical Path and File Names.

Use
To specify the platform-specific physical path and file name under which the archive files (which were created during archiving
using this archiving object) are to be stored, you define logical path and file names assign them to the archiving object.

 Note
By default, the system uses the logical file name ARCHIVE_DATA_FILE and the logical path name ARCHIVE GLOBAL PATH.
Consequently, the names only need to be changed if they have to be adjusted to meet special requirements.

Prerequisites
If you intend to transfer the archive files to a storage system using the Content Management Service (includes ArchiveLink
and the CMS interface) , you must ensure that this storage system has access to the archive files.

In the case of HSM systems, you must make sure that the archive files can be written to the file system of the HSM system.

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Procedure

1. Defining logical path names

1. Start transaction FILE.

Alternatively, from the initial screen for Archive Administration (transaction SARA), choose Customizing Basis
Customizing Cross-Client File Name/Paths .

2. To enter a new path name, select an existing path name, such as ARCHIVE_GLOBAL_PATH, or choose New Entries. This
must be as descriptive as possible.

3. In the Logical File Path Definition dialog structure, double-click on the Assignment of Physical Path and Logical Paths
substructure.Double-click to select a syntax group or create a new syntax group.

4. Assign a physical path name to the logical path name.

 Caution
When assigning path names, the symbol <FILENAME> must appear at the end. At runtime, this symbol is replaced by
the physical file name (without path name). No part of the physical file name in the path name must be defined.

 Recommendation
If you want to store your archive files, enter the placeholder <F=ARCHIVELINK> in the logical path. With
<F=ARCHIVELINK><FILENAME> the files are created directly in the basis path of the content repository that has been
assigned to the archiving object. This way you can avoid an internal copy process during the store phase.

 Recommendation
You have created the subdirectory "data_archiving" for archive files in the global directory. You then specify a path
name:

· <P=DIR_GLOBAL>/data_archiving/<FILENAME> (Syntax group UNIX)

· <P=DIR_GLOBAL>\data_archiving\<FILENAME> (Syntax group WINDOWS NT)

In a heterogeneous system landscape (such as UNIX and Windows NT servers) all system-specific syntax groups must be
maintained. Ensure that the definitions for the various syntax groups point to the same directory.

1. Save your entry.

2. Defining Logical File Names

 Note
Logical file names client-specific (transaction SF01) or cross-client-specific (transaction FILE). A client-specific definition
always overrides a cross-client definition. Therefore, ensure that in every client any unnecessary client-specific definitions are
deleted.

The following describes the procedure for creating a cross-client definition using the transaction FILE. You create the client-
specific definition in the same way using transaction SF01.

1. Start transaction FILE for cross-client file names.

Alternatively, from the initial screen for Archive Administration, choose Customizing Basis Customizing Cross-Client
File Name/Paths .

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For client-specific definitions, from the initial screen for Archive Administration, choose Customizing Basis-
Customizing Client-Specific File Names .

2. To enter a new file name, select an file path name, such as ARCHIVE_DATA_FILE, or choose New Entries. This must be as
descriptive as possible.

3. Double-click on the Logical File Name Definition, Cross-Client dialog structure.

You can access the Change View: Logical File Name Definition, Cross-Client: Overview screen.

4. Maintain the Physical File and Logical Path fields.

In the Physical File field, enter the physical file name you require.

The following parameters are of particular interest here:

PARAM_1: Two-character application abbreviation (such as HR; CO, MM) for classifying the archive files in the
system. The value is determined from the definition of the relevant archiving object at runtime.

PARAM_2: Single-character alphanumeric code (0-9, A-Z). If, when a new archive file is created, an existing file with
an identical physical name would result in a conflict, the ADK increases this value. This must therefore always be a
part of the physical name.

PARAM_3: At runtime, this parameter is filled with the name of the archiving object. In archive administration, this
enables you to check the file contents or to store the archive files by archiving object.

 Recommendation
To enable maximum space in the name range for the archive file, the following entry is recommended for this
field:

<PARAM_1>_<DATE>_<TIME>_<PARAM_2>.ARCHIVE

In the Logical Path field, you assign the logical path name defined previously to the current logical file name. You can assign
a logical path name to multiple logical file names.

5. Save your entry.

3. Assigning a Logical File Name to the Archiving Object

Once you have defined the logical path name and file name, you need to assign the logical file name to the archiving object.
Proceed as follows:

1. In the initial screen for Archive Administration, enter the name of an archiving object and choose Customizing.Under
Archiving Object-Specific Customizing, choose Technical Settings.

2. In the Logical File Name field, enter the required logical file name .

3. Save your entries.

Executing Data Archiving

Prerequisites
You have defined the necessary settings.

More information: Customizing for Data Archiving

You have executed or checked the necessary preparatory steps according to the checklist for data archiving.

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More information: Archiving Checklist

Context

In addition to the main steps (creation and storage of archive files and the deletion of archived data from the database), data
archiving also includes other activities. These include scheduling preprocessing an postprocessing as well as reloading or reading
archive files.

Procedure

1. Call Archive Administration.

More information: Archive Administration

2. Enter the archiving object.

When you call from the application, the system automatically transfers the archiving object to Archive Administration.

You can branch to the network graphic to view the available archiving objects, their status and possible dependencies. From
the network graphic, you can access the initial screen for Archive Administration by double-clicking an archiving object.

3. Select the required Activity for the archiving object and schedule the corresponding background job.

a. Optional: If you want to prepare data for archiving(for example, selecting the delete checkbox), schedule the
preprocessing program.

More information: Scheduling Preprocessing for Data Archiving

b. Schedule the creation of archive files as your first archiving step.

More information: Creating Archive Files

c. Schedule the storage or the deletion of archived data. Decide on the sequence of these actions according to the
following criteria:

If security is your main concern, you should schedule the storage of the archive files first. In addition, you can
set the delete program to read the data from the storage system and not from the file system.

If the performance of the archiving program is more important to you, schedule the delete program first. To
do so, you need to have selected the Delete before Storage checkbox in archiving object-specific
Customizing.

More information:

Storing Archive Files

Deleting Archived Data from the Database

d. Optional (if offered by the archiving object): Schedule the postprocessing program.

More information: Scheduling Postprocessing for Data Archiving

e. Fill (or empty) an index for the archive files. The index is required for the display of individual documents belonging
to archiving objects.

More information: Filling and Emptying the Index

f. Access archived files, if necessary.

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More information:

Retrieving Stored Archive Files

Reading Archive Files

g. In emergencies only (if data was archived incorrectly): Reload data to the database.

More information: Reloading Archived Data

Archiving Checklist

Use
This checklist helps to ensure that you complete the necessary archiving steps and that you perform them in the correct order.

Procedure

Before the first archiving session

1. In Basis Customizing, check that the logical file names are entered.

2. In cross-archiving object Customizing, check that the Central Repository for storage is maintained using the SAP Content
Management Infrastructure.

3. In application-specific Customizing, check that the residence times are defined.

Before using an archiving object for the first time

Check archiving object-specific Customizing settings:

Was the file name correctly assigned?

Are the deletion program variants maintained? (Note that the variants are client-specific)

Is the maximum archive file size correctly set?

Is the delete program set to run automatically?

Is index creation scheduled?

For each archiving session

1. Ensure that the user department and system administration coordinate their activities.

2. Check the network graphic to determine whether interdependencies exist (do other data objects have to be archived first?)

3. Schedule the archiving session (create variant).

4. If the delete program does not start automatically, start it manually.

5. If the archive files are not to be stored automatically by the Content Management Infrastructure,, trigger storage
manually.

Scheduling Preprocessing for Data Archiving

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Context

You have the option of preparing the data in the database for archiving. For example, the preprocessing program selects the data
for archiving.

Procedure

1. Call Archive Administration (transaction SARA).

2. On the initial screen, enter the name of the archiving object in the Object Name field.

3. Choose Preprocessing.

This takes you to the Archive Administration: Preprocessing screen, in which you can schedule a background job for the
program.

4. Use the F4 help to choose a variant. If there is no variant available, choose Variant and enter the relevant variant.

 Note
You can use a variant only in one job. Otherwise you risk the data being archived more than once. If you use a variant
again, a dialog box notifies you of this. Choose Jobs with Selected Variant to access the overview of all jobs that already
have variants created. In the job overview, you can delete jobs that use a specific variant.

5. Enter the start date and the spool parameters.

More information:

Entering the Start Date

Entering Spool Parameters

 Note
You use the Archive Directory to determine the amount for available storage space in the current object-specific archive
directory.

Results

You have now entered all data required for the background job. To create the job, choose Execute.

Creating Archive Files

Context
Archiving begins with the creation of an archive file. This includes the following steps:

1. Creating an archive file with the write program

2. Reading the data to be archived from the database (in background processing)

3. Writing the data to the archive file

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The creation of an archive file continues until archiving is complete or until a restriction defined in archiving-object-specific
Customizing (maximum size of an archive file or maximum number of data objects in archive file) has been reached. If archiving is
not completed due to a restriction, the write program creates an additional archive file for the data that has not been archived.

If a restriction defined in Customizing is reached during archiving, Archive Administration continues with the deletion phase (if the
following checkboxes have been selected in archiving-object-specific Customizing: Start Automatically and Deletion Phase
Before Storage).

 Note
It is always possible to schedule a write job, even outside of Archive Administration (transaction SARA), by using an external
Job Scheduler. This enables an improved reconciliation of the data archiving processes with the other processes in your system
environment.

More information: Scheduling Write Jobs Outside of Archive Administration.

Virus Scan

When you write archive files, you can run a virus scan on the data to be archived. The virus scan checks all data objects that
contain records with XSTRING fields (length of byte sequence variable) or X fields (byte sequence). Only these byte sequence data
types potentially contain and distribute viruses.

The ADK virus scan is integrated into the virus scan interface for SAP NetWeaver, and you can activate and implement it as
described there. The virus scan profile is called /SARC/ARCHIVING_ADK. It is deactivated when delivered. When the profile is
active, the message "Virus Scan with Virus Scan Profile /SARC/ARCHIVING_ADK Active" appears in the job log
of a write job. This message is always issued, even if no suspicious data objects has been detected.

If a virus is found, the ADK issues the message as follows:

Virus <Name> found in Object <Structure Type> <Component>. The write program terminates with a system
exception. The relevant session is handled the same as any other terminated session (for example, due to technical reasons) in
Archive Administration. Non-infected archive files that were written and completed correctly before the termination, remain intact.

Write Run Followed by Event

After the creation of all archive files for an archiving session has been completed, the Archive Development Kit (ADK) triggers the
system event SAP_ARCHIVING_WRITE_FINISHED. As a result of the reaction to the system event, you have the option of
scheduling subsequent archiving jobs automatically. These include refilling indexes or the value help, as well as saving archive files
prior to deletion. The event parameter is always the number of the archiving session.

For additional automation of the archiving process, you can transfer the archiving session number to the function module
ARCHIVE_GET_FILES_OF_SESSION. This determines, irrespective of the platform, the name and path of the archive files that
were written for an archiving session.

To define new jobs, use transaction SM36. To maintain events, use transaction SM62.

Archiving of Attachments

You can use generic object services (GOS) or SAP ArchiveLink to link attachments (for example, Office documents, notes, URLs)
with a data object.

If the write program is started for these data objects, the object itself is deleted from the database and written to the archive.
However, any attachments associated with the object remain in the content repository as standard.

Once the data object has expired and is deleted from the archive, any associations between the object and its attachments are
removed. The attachments are deleted using the report Reorganization of Documents and Send Requests (transaction
RSBCS_REORG).
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 Note
For a few applications, GOS attachments can be used to archive the assigned attachments directly with the data object. To do
so, set the Archiving of GOS Attachments indicator on the archiving selection screen. For more information, see the field help.

Procedure

1. Call Archive Administration (transaction SARA).

2. On the initial screen, enter the name of the archiving object in the Object Name field.

3. Choose Write.

A new screen, on which you can schedule a background job for the write program, appears.

If archiving for the archiving object was executed or interrupted and if archiving files that have not yet been processed by
the relevant deletion program still exist for the archiving session, the system points this out.

 Caution
Multiple archiving of data can lead to problems. For this reason, some archiving objects require that data does not exist
multiple times in the archive as this can lead to incorrect results, for example, in forming totals.

Ensure the following:

The new write job you want to plan does not select any data contained in the archived files that have not yet been
processed by the deletion program.

No variants with overlapping selection values are used at the same time.

 Note
If the variant you have chosen is already being used in other jobs, you can use the Jobs with Selected Variant
pushbutton to display these and delete them, if necessary.

4. Use the F4 help to choose a variant. If no variant is available, choose Variant and enter the relevant variant. For more
information about variant maintenance, see Variant Maintenance for Archiving Jobs.

 Caution
If, in archiving-object-specific Customizing for the deletion program, the Start Automatically checkbox is selected and
you have chosen a product variant for the write program, the deletion program then starts its product variant. This
means that after archiving, the data is deleted from the database.

5. Enter the Start Date and the Spool Parameters.

 Note
Before you start archiving, you can use the Archive Directory pushbutton to determine the amount of available storage
space in the current object-specific archive directory. However, this function is not suitable for HSM systems.

Results

You have now entered all data required for the background job. To create the job, choose Execute.

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 Note
After all archive files have been completely written for a run, ADK starts the system event SAP_ARCHIVING_WRITE_FINISHED.
This triggers subsequent processes, such as file backup using external tools.

The Goto menu offers access to the following:

Customizing

Job Overview: Offers an overview of all archiving jobs and the functions available for processing them. For more information
on the job overview, refer to Managing Jobs in the Job Overview.

Administration

Database Tables

Infosystem

 Note
You can view the logs for the started process on the initial screen of Archive Administration by choosing Logs.

Storing Archive Files

Prerequisites
An external storage system is linked to your SAP System. If you use a Hierarchical Space Management system (HSM) as a
store, enter the file path in transaction FILE,

The content repository, to which you want to transfer the file, has been maintained in archiving object-specific Customizing
for the archiving object.

You are in Archive Administration of the archiving object for which you want to store files.

Context

If you have not specified in archiving object-specific Customizing that archive files are to be transferred automatically after their
creation to a connected storage system, you can store the archive files retroactively by using the SAP Content Management
Infrastructure.

Procedure

1. Choose Storage System.

The Store/Retrieve Archive Files menu selection screen appears.

2. Choose Store Files

The Archive Administration: Store/Retrieve Archive Files selection screen appears.

3. Use Archive Selection, to select the archive files you want to store and specify the start date.

4. Confirm the storage request by choosing Execute.

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The selected archive files will be transferred to the storage system at the specified time.

Next Steps
Retrieving Stored Archive Files

Retrieving Stored Archive Files

Prerequisites
You are in Archive Administration of the archiving object from which you want to retrieve files.

The archive files for retrieval are accessible from Archive Administration.

Context
You use SAP Content Management Infrastructure (also contains the ArchiveLink/CMS interface), to retrieve archive files stored in
a storage system into the SAP system for further processing such as evaluation.

Procedure

1. Choose Storage System.

The Store/Retrieve Archive Files menu selection screen appears.

2. Choose Retrieve Files

This takes you to the Archive Administration: Retrieve Files screen.

3. Use Archive Selection, to select the archive files you want to retrieve and specify the Start Date for the retrieval.

4. Confirm the retrieval by choosing Execute.

Results
The selected archive files will be retrieved into the SAP system at the specified time for further processing.

See also:

Storing Archive Files

Deleting Archived Data from the Database

Prerequisites
In Archive Administration, there are archiving sessions for which the delete phase is not yet complete.

You have waited for the write phase to be completed.

More information: Settings for the Delete Program

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Context
In the third archiving step (after creating and storing archive files), Archive Administration starts the delete program. This reads
the archived data from the archive file and deletes it from the database.

Depending on the settings you have made in archiving object-specific Customizing, the deletion process for an archive file can run
at the same times as the creation of new archive files.

If you want to save the archive files prior to deletion or if you the next available timeframe for the delete phase is insufficient, you
can schedule the delete program manually. You do the scheduling in Archive Administration (transaction SARA), directly with an
external job scheduler, or you use the program RSARCHD.

 Note
If you do not carry out deletion until after the archive file has been stored, you can make a setting in Archiving Object-Specific
Customizing so that the system will read archive files the from the storage system during deletion. In this way, you can detect
early on errors that might arise when transferring or saving the archive files in the storage system.

Delete Run Followed by Event

After all delete jobs for an archiving session have been completed, the Archive Development Kit (ADK) triggers the system event
SAP_ARCHIVING_DELETE_FINISHED. As a result of the reaction to the system event, you have the option of scheduling
subsequent archiving jobs automatically. These include refilling indexes or the value help as well as saving archive files. The event
parameter is always the number of the archiving session.

For additional automation of the archiving process, you can transfer the archiving session number to the function module
ARCHIVE_GET_FILES_OF_SESSION. This determines the platform-independent name and path of the archive files that were
written for an archiving session.

To define new jobs, use transaction SM36. To define events, use transaction SM62.

 Note
You can also schedule event-controlled delete runs to start automatically. You can define the event that triggers the delete
program in the Settings for the Delete Program group box in archiving object-specific Customizing.

Procedure

1. Call Archive Administration (transaction SARA).

2. On the initial screen, enter the name of the archiving object in the Object Name field.

3. Choose Delete.

This takes you to a screen in which you can schedule a background job for the program.

 Note
If you only want to run the delete program for test purposes (so that the data is not deleted from the database), select
the Test Mode checkbox.

4. Choose Archive Selection.

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This takes you to a dialog box that contains the archiving sessions for this archiving object. This should be the current
archiving session.

5. If you want to edit a complete archiving session, select an archiving session and choose Continue. You return to the initial
screen.

f you want to edit one or more specific archive files, expand the archiving session. Select the required archive files, than
choose Continue.

6. Enter the start date and the spool parameter.

More information:

Entering the Start Date

Entering the Spool Parameter

Results
You have entered all data required for the background job. Start the job with Execute.

 Note
You can view the logs for the started process from the initial screen of Archive Administration.

More information: Logs

Scheduling Postprocessing for Data Archiving

Prerequisites
A postprocessing program exists for the archiving object (not all archiving objects have a postprocessing program).

 Note
The postprocessing program processes the data after the archiving session in the database, for example, by deleting log data
that is no longer required or by updating statistics. For this, no access to the archive files is required. Postprocessing is not
usually necessary.

Procedure

1. On the initial screen for Archive Administration, choose Postprocessing.

2. On the Archive Administration: Postprocessing screen, you schedule the archiving job by entering the variant, the start
date, and the spool parameter.

More information:

Creating the Archiving Job Variant

Entering the Start Date

Entering the Spool Parameter

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 Note
You use the Archive Directory pushbutton to determine the amount for available storage space in the current object-
specific archive directory.

Results
You have scheduled a background job and can execute it.

Reloading Archives

Prerequisites

 Caution
The reloading function is intended for emergencies, such as an error in Customizing or selecting the wrong documents for data
archiving. Therefore, data should be reloaded immediately after the erroneous archiving session. If you reload the data later you
may end up with inconsistencies in your database.

You are on the Archive Administration: Initial Entry screen of the transaction SARA. The name of the archiving object is
entered in the Object Name field.

Archive Administration has access to the archive files to be reloaded.

 Note
When reloading data, the system can only process complete archiving sessions. Archive files can be reloaded
completely or partially. In either case the archive file is marked as reloaded. Objects that were not reloaded are written
to a new archive file.

Procedure

1. Choose Goto Reload .

This takes you to a screen in which you can schedule a background job for the program.

2. Choose Archive Selection.

This takes you to a dialog box that contains the archiving sessions processed by the delete program.

3. Select the desired archiving session and choose Continue.

You return to the initial screen.

4. Enter the Start Date and the Spool Parameters.

Results

You have now entered all data required for the background job. To create the job, choose Execute.

See also:

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Creating Archive Files

Archive Selection

Filling and Emptying the Index

Prerequisites

You are on the Archive Administration: Initial Entry screen of the transaction SARA. The name of the archiving object is entered in
the Object Name field.

Procedure

1. Choose Index.

The Filling and Emptying Index dialog box appears.

2. Choose Fill Index or Empty Index.

3. Define the variant, select the archive, and enter the start date and the spool parameter.

More information:

Selecting the Archive

Entering the Start Date

Entering the Spool Parameter

4. Choose Execute.

Reading Archive Files

Use
In addition to the data in the online database, archived data can also be read or analyzed. When data is analyzed, it is read
sequentially and elementary information such as item number, customer, and order date is displayed in list form. It is possible to
run an analysis for one or several archiving sessions. Not all archiving objects offer an analysis program.

Prerequisites
The archive files to be read are accessible from Archive Administration.

There is at least one read program for the archiving object used.

You are on the Archive Administration: Initial Entry screen (transaction SARA). You enter the name of the archiving object
in the Object Name field.

Procedure
1. Choose Read.

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This takes you to the Archive Administration: Start Read Program screen, where you can schedule jobs.

2. In the Batch/Dialog field, you define whether the read program will run in the background (batch) or online (dialog).

3. In the Read Program field, enter the required read or analysis program and choose Execute.

Depending on the selected archiving object, you access a specific selection screen. You more information, see the
documentation for the relevant archiving object.

4. Enter the your selection and choose Execute.

This takes you to the Archive Administration: Select Files to Read dialog box. For more information, see Archive Selection.

5. Select the archive file that you want to read or analyze and confirm the selection by choosing Continue.

The Goto menu offers access to the following:

Customizing

Job Overview Offers an overview of all archiving jobs and the functions available for processing them.

More information: Managing Jobs in the Job Overview.

Administration

DB Tables

Information System

More Information

Archive Information System

Reporting Information Structures

Variant Maintenance for Archiving Jobs

Use
When you schedule jobs for the execution of archiving programs, such as the preprocessing, write or delete programs, you must
enter a variant. The purpose of this variant is to define which data is to be processed and to allow the user to make other settings
that are necessary for the processing of the data.

These variant settings can be made when you are scheduling jobs, using the Maintain function.

Features
Variant maintenance is always dependent on the corresponding archiving object. Therefore, the variants may vary considerably
depending on the archiving object. These differences, however, occur mainly in the section of the variant maintenance, in which the
data selection takes place. For more information about the variant maintenance for a specific archiving object, see the
corresponding documentation for the archiving object in the SAP Library.

The rest of the variant maintenance is the same for most archiving objects. The following settings are possible (depending on the
type of program to be scheduled: write, delete, and so on).

Under Process Control, you determine whether the process is to run in the test or production mode.

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Test Mode

In the test mode, the program is only simulated. Depending on the program, either no archiving files are written, or no data
is deleted from the database.

Productive Mode

In this mode the data is physically processed, according to your selection criteria and, if applicable, additional archiving-
object-specific criteria. For example, during the delete phase data is actually removed from the database by the delete
program.

Additional settings you can make in the variant maintenance function:

Detailed Log

In this field you can decide whether a detailed log ( Complete option) is to be generated in addition to the summarized log
during the execution of the program. The summarized log contains each message only once. For each message the number
of affected objects is listed as well as an example of an object.

The detailed log contains all processed objects including the corresponding messages. If you choose Without Success
Messages, no success messages are written to the detailed log.

 Recommendation
Detailed logs should only be generated if you are processing a small number of objects, or, for example, in the test mode.
Otherwise the program may terminate, due to a memory overflow.

Log Output

Here you can determine, whether the log should be output into the List (spool for background programs), to the
application log, or to both.

The advantage of the application log output is that the log messages are displayed during the program runtime. (With
background programs this occurs every 30 minutes and with dialog programs, every 10 seconds). Logs that were output to
the list can only be viewed after the program has finished.

With the list output you have the option to automatically store the log in a storage system (see Spool Parameters under job
scheduling). Logs that were written to the application log can only be stored manually from within the display view.
Moreover, logs that were output to the list, are automatically removed when the corresponding background job is deleted.
Logs written to the application log must be deleted manually.

All logs can be displayed from within Archive Administration by choosing Goto Logs . For more information, see Logs.

Comment on Archiving Session

Here you can enter a short text that helps you identify and better find the archiving session in Archive Administration.

See also:

Logs

Entering the Start Date and Spool Parameters

Use
On the initial screen for scheduling the following archiving activities, you need to enter the start date and the spool parameters:

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Write

Delete

Read

Fill and Empty the Index

Store and Provide Archive Files

Schedule Preprocessing

Schedule Postprocessing

Reload

Features
The Start Date and Spool Parameters pushbuttons are followed by a traffic light icon and a note. The table lists the three
possibilities.

Traffic Light Note

Red The values are not entered.

Yellow The values have already been maintained in this session, for the current action or the values for the spool
parameters were taken from the user settings or from the user-specific print parameters.

Green The values are entered.

Activities

Entering the Start Date

Entering the Spool Parameters

Entering Spool Parameters

Prerequisites

You are in Archive Administration (transaction SARA) and have selected one of the following actions:

Write

Delete

Reload

 Note
If the spool parameters are already maintained in the user-specific print parameters, these values are automatically copied
Otherwise, you only have to maintain the spool parameters once after entering the Archive Administration transaction. The
settings remain valid until the end of the archiving session.

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Procedure

1. Choose Spool Parameter.

The Background Print Parameters screen is displayed. Here, you can maintain the settings for the printing the archiving
log.

2. Enter the general parameters for the printer, number of printouts, and number of pages.

3. Under Attributes, you can maintain a range of further attributes for spool requests.

4. Choose Continue.

Results
The spool parameters for printing the archiving log are entered. If you have also made your archive selection and entered the start
date, you can now schedule the required archiving action.

Next Steps
Entering the Start Date

Entering the Start Date

Prerequisites
You are in Archive Administration (transaction SARA) and you have selected one of the following actions: Write, delete, or reload.

 Note
You have to enter the start date only when you execute the first action of an archiving session. The start date is retained until
the end of the archiving session.

Procedure

1. Choose Start Date.

You reach the screen for maintaining the start date values.

2. Choose one of the buttons for defining the desired start date, and maintain the parameters in the fields available.

To schedule periodic jobs, use the Period Values function to enter the required start values.

Use the Restrictions pushbutton to define restrictions for the start date.

3. Choose Continue.

Results

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You have entered the start date for the archiving action. If you have also made your archive selection and entered the spool
parameters, you can now schedule the required archiving action.

Next Steps
Entering the Spool Parameter

Selecting Archive Files

Archive Information System

Use
The Archive Information System (AS) is a generic tool for indexing data archives that is fully integrated into the SAP data
archiving environment . The indexes that are created, and which are called the Archive Information Structure, let you display the
archived data.

 Note
In this documentation the terms archive information structure and information structure (or infostructure) are used as
synonyms.

Features
The archive information structure includes the following components:

Archive Retrieval Configurator (ARC)

The ARC enables you to create archive information structures with the help of field catalogs, and to fill the structures with data
from the archive. The archive information structure, which represents a kind of archive index, provides the basis for archive data
reporting.

In the Archive Retrieval Configurator, you can decide whether you want to store your archive information structures on the
standard database of the SAP system or on a secondary database (Sybase IQ). Storing archive information structures on a Sybase
IQ database provides faster access to your data and relieves the SAP system database as the archiving indexes are stored on an
"external" database. For more information, see SAP Library for SAP ERP under Cross-Application Functions in SAP ERP
Cross-Application Components Information Lifecycle Management .

Archive Explorer

The Archive Explorer enables fast searches of archived data. It does this by accessing the archive information structures that have
been created and then stored in transparent database tables using the Archive Retrieval Configurator. Furthermore, the Archive
Explorer allows direct access of individual data objects in the archive, which can then be displayed in both technical and
application-specific views.

See also:

Using the Archive Information System

Using the Archive Information System

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Use
This process describes the step-by-step procedures for using the Archive Information System (AS).

 Note
Reloading archived data can lead to problems with the Archive Information System, as the available information structures are
not updated automatically.

More information: Procedure for Reloaded Archives

Procedure
1. Checking available information structures

First you should check if an information structure already exists that you could use for reporting archived data. You can then
change this information structure to suit your needs. If there is no information structure available that you can use, you can create
a new one.

2. Creating the information structure

You define the information structure to be used for archive reporting. In doing this, you specify which source fields from the archive
are copied to which fields in the information structure. You do this with the help of application-specific field catalogs, which are
included in the features of the Archive Information System.

An information structure is only ever valid for one archiving object. Multiple information structures can be defined for one
archiving object. For more information, see Creating Information Structures.

3. Activating the information structure

After you have created an information structure, you need to activate it. Alternatively you can use a standard information
structure, provided that it fits your requirements.

At this stage, the system generates a transparent database table and the reporting program. For more information, see Activating
Information Structures.

4. Filling the information structure

During an archiving delete run all (activated) archive information structures belonging to an archiving object are filled
automatically. To do so, the Archive Development Kit (ADK) transfers all data records found in the archive to the AS interface.
From the defined infostructure, the AS filters the data from the data records transferred and enters it in a transparent database
table together with an access key. This table serves as the basis for later searches.

As well as the automatic fill using the delete program, an information structure can also be filled later for already available archives
This can be useful if you want to fill the information structure, report data that was already archived, or if you have changed the
fields of an information structure. For more information, see Filling Information Structures.

5. Reporting information structures

In Archive Explorer, define the archiving object and the information structure from which you want to report. In the selection
screen, where necessary, specify the display parameters for the archived data. Select a data object from the list of data objects
and, where possible, specify the view in which it is to be displayed. For more information, see Reporting Information Structures.

 Note

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As well as standard reporting, there is also a special ad-hoc reporting function available that enables direct reporting from
archives. There is no need to fill the archive information structure with data from the archive.

Creating an Information Structure

Procedure
1. On the initial screen for Archive Retrieval Configuration (ARC), choose Archive Infostructure Create .

2. Enter the required data.

This includes the name of the new archive information structure, the archiving object for which the information structure is
intended, as well as a field catalog that you can select by choosing the F4 input help. In the field on the right you can also
enter a short text for the information structure.

3. Choose Create.

4. In the Selectable Fields frame, select all the fields that you want to include in the information structure.

5. Choose Include Selected Fields.

The selected fields are included in the information structure in the Infostructure Fields frame.

6. Save your entry. Choose Return to go back to the ARC entry screen.

Next Steps
Activating and Deactivating Information Structures

Activating and Deactivating Information Structures

Procedure
You are in the initial screen of the Archive Retrieval Configurator (ARC).

Activating an Information Structure

1. Choose Archive Infostructure Activate . The information structure is activated. This structure will be filled
automatically during the next delete phase for this archiving object.

2. Optional: If necessary, you can fill an active information structure for existing archives retroactively.

More information: Filling and Emptying Information Structures

The consequences of activation are:

The archive info structure can be reported in the Archive Explorer.

You can display status information about this information structure.

You cannot make any changes to the information structure.

Deactivating an Information Structure

In the menu, choose Archive Infostructure Deactivate .

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This ensures that the system ignores this information structure during the next delete phase for the archiving object or if the
archive information structure is filled retroactively.

 Note
You can make changes to an inactive information structure. However, if you make changes, note that you might also have to
regenerate the table. When doing this, you must delete the data in it. Finally, you must refill the information structure.

Filling and Emptying Information Structures

Prerequisites

You are in the initial screen of the Archive Information System (transaction SARI).

The information structure to be filled has been created and activated.

 Note
An information structure can only be filled for archive files that have already been processed by the delete program.

Procedure

Filling Information Structures

1. Choose Status.

You are now in Status Administration:

2. Enter the name of the archiving object for which you want to fill and information structure.

3. Choose Status per Infostructure.

This takes you to the selection screen for archive information structures.

More information: Status per Infostructure

 Note
When filling the info structure, you can also select individual archiving sessions. Choose Status per Archive.

4. Select the archive infostructures that are to be filled with data from the archive.

5. Choose Fill Structures and enter your desired processing type in the dialog box that appears. Confirm your entry. The
information structure is filled.

 Note
Alternatively you can trigger the filling of an info structure from the Archive Retrieval Configurator entry screen. Enter
the relevant information structure and then select Environment Fill Structure . This takes you to the Status per
Info Structure screen.

Emptying Information Structures

1. Select the archive information structures or archiving session that you want to empty.

2. Choose Empty Structures.

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The system empties the information structures.

Reporting Information Structures

Prerequisites
You have created and filled the information structure on which reporting is to be based.

The initial screen of the Archive Explorer appears.

Procedure

1. Enter the name of the information structure. It must be active.

To select an information structure, you can also enter the name of an archiving object and use F4 to display all active
information structures belonging to the object.

2. Choose menu option Archive Infostructure Reporting .

This takes you to the Archive Explorer selection screen.

3. Enter selection criteria to establish which data you want the reporting to read.

If you do not want to restrict the selection, choose Execute.

4. Choose Execute.

The system displays the information structure list. It contains all of the data that the reporting program has read from the
fields contained in the information structure.

5. Double click on the entry you want to access the archive directly. If more than one view is defined for this object, a dialog
with a choice of views appears.

 Note
Depending on the archiving object, the dialog box offers a technical view or a business view or both. Multiple business
views are also possible.

6. Select the desired view and confirm with Continue.

This takes you to the table overview for the selected data object.

7. To display the table contents, click on the magnifying glass symbol for a table (similar to the display function in transaction
SE16).

Results
You are now at the lowest level of data, that is the field level for the archived object. You can take the information directly from the
table.

Next Steps
Ad Hoc Reporting

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Procedure for Reloaded Archives

Context

After archived data has been reloaded, the system does not automatically update the archive information structures, so the
Archive Information System status display displays an error. You must therefore perform the update manually.

Prerequisite

Archived data has been reloaded into your system.

You are in Status Administration of the Archive Information System.

Procedure

1. Choose the Status per Archive view.

2. Select all of the archiving sessions whose files were reloaded (these sessions have the status Reloaded).

3. Empty the information structures for the reloaded archive files using Empty Structures. You can usually do this online.
Scheduling as a background job is not necessary.

Results

The reloaded files have now disappeared from the display. If new archive files have been created during the reload, proceed as
follows:

1. Continue with the Status per Archive view.

2. Select the archiving sessions that were created by the reload (these sessions have the comment Created by reload from
<session>).

3. Fill the information structures for the newly created archive files.

More information: Filling and Emptying Information Structures.

 Note
If you performed this sequence in reverse order, in certain circumstances, the fill status of the newly created archive files
can appear as Incorrect. If this occurs, empty all of the information structures for which the fill status is Incorrect.
Perform the steps according to the standard procedure.

Status

Use
The Status function allows you to check whether an information structure has already been filled. Using this information, you can
then fill or empty specific information structures. Furthermore, you can check the actual indexing as well as the retention of
archive files.

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You can go to the status screen either from the initial screen of the archive information system or from the Archive Retrieval
Configurator (choose Environment Fill Infostructure ).

Prerequisites

There must be at least one activated information structure for the archiving object.

Status per Archive

This function provides a list of the available archiving sessions and the information structures assigned to them. You can see from
the list for which archiving sessions the activated structures have been completely filled.

More information: Status per Archive

Status per Infostructure

This function provides a list of the statuses of the activated information structures. From this, you can see whether an information
structure has been completely filled with all archived data or data otherwise removed from the database.

More information: Status per Infostructure

Checking Indexing

This function checks the actual indexing of an archive file, that is, it checks whether data has been passed from the source fields to
the information structure. The affected archive files are marked accordingly.

You can call the Check Indexing function from the Extras menu.

Displaying File Residence

This function checks the residence of an archive file, that is, it checks whether Archive Administration can access the file. The
affected archive files are marked accordingly. A file can only be used to fill an information structure if is accessible by Archive
Administration. Otherwise direct access to the data object is only possible with the Archive Explorer.

You can call the Display Residence function from the Extras menu.

Filling or Deleting Information Structures

Use Fill Structures to fill information structures with data from the archive.

Use Empty Structures to delete the contents of information structures.

More Information

Filling and Emptying Information Structures

Procedure for Reloaded Archives

Status per Archive

Use

The following status information is displayed:

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Archiving session identification, date, and status

Information structure fill status per archive file

Description of the information structure

Name and status of the archive file

 Note
Choose Compress to restrict the display to the archiving sessions. This gives you a better overview when you want to select
individual sessions. This function cannot be applied to individual archiving sessions.

The traffic light displays the following statuses:

Green: The system has already filled an information structure for this session.

Yellow: The system has filled an information structure for this session, however, all of the archive files could not be fully reported.

Red: The system has not yet filled an information structure (indicated by -) or has only partially filled an information structure.

An archive file can have the following statuses:

1) Complete

This archive file has been completely incorporated into the specified archive information structure.

1) Errors

This archive file has not been completely incorporated into the specified archive information structure.

1) -

This archive file was not selected when the archive information structure was filled.

The Complete status tells you that these archive files have been searched completely for source fields. However, it does not tell
you anything about the indexing of the files, that is, whether data has actually been moved from the source fields to the
information structure. You can check the indexing with the help of the Check Indexing function in the Extras menu.

More Information
Status per Infostructure

Status per Infostructure

Use
The following status information is displayed:

Description of the information structure

Archiving object name

Archiving session identification, date, and status

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Information structure fill status per archive file

Name and status of the archive files

 Note
Choose Expand to display the complete list of status information. This expands the list to include the fill status for the
information structure. The name and status of the archive file are also displayed. This function cannot be applied to individual
information structures.

The traffic light displays the following statuses:

Green: The system has fully reported all archiving sessions for this information structure.

Yellow: The system cannot report, or can only partially report, some of the archiving sessions for this information structure.

Red: The system has not yet reported any archiving sessions for this information structure (indicated by "-").

An archive file can have the following statuses:

Complete

This archive file was completely incorporated when the archive info structure was filled.

 Note
The status tells you that the archive file has been searched completely for source fields. However, it does not tell you
anything about the indexing of the file, that is, whether data has actually been moved from the source fields to the
information structure. You can check the indexing with the help of the Check Indexing function in the Extras menu.

Erroneous

This archive file was not completely incorporated when the archive info structure was filled.

This archive file was not selected when the archive info structure was filled.

More Information
Status per Archive

Creating Database Indexes

Use

To avoid long runtimes when archive information structures are accessed, we recommend that you create a database index for
every infostructure. The index helps speed up accesses to the database table of the infostructure. If you are using an infostructure
that does not have a database index, you can use this function to create an index.

 Recommendation
Do not create your own database indexes for SAP infostructures, because this may create problems during the transport of the
infostructures, due to naming conventions. Instead, copy the relevant SAP infostructure into your own namespace and then
create an index for the new infostructure.

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Integration
The data of the infostructure is saved in the database table, which is generated when the infostructure is activated, that is, directly
in the production system. Because productive systems are protected against changes to cross-client objects (settings in system
change option), it is not possible to create database indexes for generated Archive Information System tables. Instead, you can use
the function described below, provided by the Archive Information System, to do so.

Features
To create a database index for an infostructure, simply define it The index will then be generated when you activate its
infostructure in the database. The index definition is stored in table AIND_STR8.

To use the function for the definition of a database index from the Archive Information System, choose Customizing Goto
Database Index .

You will see a table whose rows correspond to the fields of the index you want to define. The columns of the table have the
following meanings:

Column Meaning

Index Name Name under which the index is saved in the ABAP dictionary

Position Position of a field in the index

Field Name Technical name of the filed in the infostructure

Assign the relevant fields to the table. If you need the field MANDT (Client), then you must incorporate it manually.

Note the following when you work with database indexes for archive information structures:

Entries in table AIND_STR8 are transported automatically together with the infostructure. You only need to trigger the
transport manually if the infostructure itself is not to be transported.

If you delete an infostructure, the corresponding entries in table AIND_STR8 are also deleted.

If you remove a field that is also part of an archive index from an infostructure, you must adapt table AIND_STR8 manually,
otherwise you will encounter problems when you try to activate the infostructure.

The system only recognizes index definition entries if no database table exists yet for the infostructure. Therefore, you may
have to delete the database table of the infostructure. You can find this function in the Archive Information System under
Customizing Utilities Delete Table .

 Note
Creating or changing a database index for an already existing infostructure generally means long runtimes, because you
must deactivate the infostructure, delete the corresponding tables, activate the infostructure, and then refill it. You can
use program ASCORRINDX to make changes to database indexes without having to delete the corresponding
infostructures and fill them again. For more information about how to use this program see the corresponding program
documentation.

Example
The index definition for the standard infostructure SAP_FI_DOC_002 contains the following rows:

Index Name Position Field Name

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LIF 10 MANDT

LIF 20 LIFNR

LIF 30 BUKRS

REF 10 MANDT

REF 20 AWKEY

When you activate the infostructure a database table with two indexes is creates: The index LIF contains the fields MANDT, LIFNR,
and BUKRS (in that order), and the index REF contains the fields MANDT and AWKEY.

Partitioning

Use
The database tables that are generated when you create new archive information structures can become extremely large over the
duration of their usage. This puts an increased pressure on the database and makes it more difficult to handle the infostructures
and tables. To combat this effect, you can use partitioning to divide up the infostructures in such a way that the system distributes
the data across several tables instead of writing it into one single table. This facilitates the administration of the database, which is
more difficult with large data volumes.

Features
Configuration of Partitioning

You can call partitioning from the Archive Retrieval Configurator (transaction SARJ) by entering an infostructure and choosing
Goto Partitioning .

To configure the partitioning function, in the From Date field, enter the date as of which the system is supposed to write the entries
for the infostructure into a new table. The date refers to the creation date of the archiving session. If required, you can also enter
the name of the table that is to be generated in the Table Name field. If you do not want to specify a name, the system
automatically generates a table name that corresponds to the infostructure. The tables are not generated until the first data record
is written, which would be either during the delete phase or during the subsequent filling of the infostructure.

 Example
The following configuration data has been entered for partitioning:

From Date Table Name

01.01.0001

01.02.2005

14.04.2005

Based on these entries, the system would generate a separate database table for the following time periods: "Until 01.31.2005",
"02.01.2005" until "04.13.2005"and as of "04.14.2005".

For a detailed example of a partitioning scenario, see Example: Partitioning an Infostructure.

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 Caution
The configuration entries for partitioning logically belong to the infostructure. This means it is cross-client and is transported
and shipped together with the infostructure. Changing the configuration settings means a modification of the infostructure.
Therefore, never change the partitioning of infostructures that are not part of your namespace. This particularly applies to the
SAP infostructures (those shipped by SAP) in customer systems. For more information, see Copying Infostructure Data.

The partitioning concept is so flexible that you do not have to specify that partitioning is to take place from the outset. In the case
of large data volumes, rebuilding the infostructure would be very resource intensive. This means that data that has already been
built does not need to be changed. All accesses to the Archive Information System remain intact. This applies to the Archive
Explorer and to programmed accesses with the function module AS_API_READ or other interfaces to the Archive Information
System.

Predefining Tables

In addition to partitioning you also have the option of predefining a table or several tables for a specific infostructure. This has the
following advantages:

The name of the predefined table is determined when configuration takes place. You can choose a name from within your
namespace or a name that matches your requirements. If you do not specify a table name the system automatically
generates a name, which you cannot influence.

The table you specify is generated in the development or Customizing system and is then transported to the production
system. This allows you to still make changes to the table, such as other technical settings or a different short text. In
addition, the table has the same name in all systems, which is not the case for the automatically generated AS tables
(ZARIX tables). This facilitates the administration of the system landscapes.

When you specify a table in the configuration, the system checks whether this table already exists. If so, it checks whether the
table matches the infostructure and rejects the entry you made if necessary. If the table does not exist, the system asks you
whether you want to generate the table. If you say yes, the table is generated in such a way that it corresponds to the infostructure.

 Note
We recommend that you always instruct the system generate these tables. This means you can be sure that the structure of the
table always matches the infostructure. We also recommend that you enter the same data for the object directory entry as that
of the infostructure. This is particularly important for package assignments.

Displaying Partitioning

You can use the display function to view the current settings of the partitioning of an infostructure. You can call up the display
function from within the status management of the Archive Information System by choosing Goto Partitioning or from within
the display of an infostructure in Customizing by choosing Technical Data.

Partitioning Configuration

This area on the display screen shows how partitioning was configured.

Current Partitioning

This area shows which tables the system used during which time periods so far. For the time periods that were entered in
the configuration and that appear in this area, the system uses the assigned table also in the future. When the first record
for the corresponding interval is written to the infostructure, the system sets the Change On date for that particular table.
The entry that does not have a change date contains the table that was generated when the infostructure was first
activated (normal AS table). This table only serves as a reference structure for partitioned infostructures.

Tables that have the G (Generated) indicator, have been generated.

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If an entry only has the indicator N (Read Only) indicator, it means that the Archive Information System does not write any
more entries to this table. It only reads from this table. This happens when you change partitioning, by, for example,
grouping several time periods together. this is the case, the system sets the tables used up until then for the individual
tables to read only mode.

Assignment of Tables and Files

This area shows all the archive files that have entries in the infostructure. It lists the corresponding tables where the entries
can be found. This relationship is unique. A table always contains the complete set of entries of an archive file. The system
uses this information especially for the deletion of infostructure contents.

See also:

Example: Partitioning an Infostructure

Copying of Infostructure Data

Use
You can use this function to copy data from one infostructure to another.

Similar to other standard objects in the SAP system, SAP infostructures cannot be changed without running the risk of a
modification. This also includes changes to the partitioning of SAP Infostructures. If, however, a SAP Infostructure contains data
that you want to copy, you must delete all that data and rebuild it, in order for the data to be copied to one of your own
infostructures. This procedure is possible, but, depending on the amount of data to be copied, can take a long time.

A good alternative for your purpose is the function for copying infostructure data.

Prerequisites

The prerequisites must be fulfilled so you can copy data from one infostructure to another.

The target infostructure already exists. The system only copies the data from source infostructure, not the definitions of the
data.

Both infostructures are consistent. This applies to the definition of the infostructures and for their fill status. The copying of
infostructure data is not a correction program.

The source infostructure may not have a predefined table in the partition configuration. f the source infostructure lies
within your own namespace (such as a customer-specific infostructure), you first remove this table from the configuration
of the source infostructure. After you have copied the data you can enter this table in the configuration of the target
infostructure.

The source infostructure contains all the fields of the target infostructure. In addition, all the key fields of the target
infostructure must also be key fields of the source infostructure. Note that the target infostructure may have fewer fields
than the source infostructure.

The field types of the target infostructure correspond to the field types of the source infostructure. This only applies to the
technical field types. The data elements may be different, but not the field length.

The target infostructure should be empty.

 Recommendation

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To avoid functional changes or problems when using the AS modules, we recommend that you fill the target
infostructure on the basis of the same field catalog as that of the standard infostructure that you want to copy.

Features
You can call this function from within the Archive Retrieval Configurator (transaction SARJ) by choosing Utilities Copy Data
or by executing the program AS_DATA_MOVE.

To copy the data you need to enter a Source Infostructure and a Target Infostructure.

Executing this function only takes a few seconds. It may, however, take longer, if the infostructures contain several thousand
archive files, for example. However, the runtime does not depend on the number of entries in the infostructures. After you have
executed the program, the source infostructure is empty and inactive. The target infostructure contains the data of the source
infostructure and is active if it was active before, or if the source infostructure was active.

The data transfer does not actually take place through copying, but rather by "moving" the tables. The system simply assigns the
tables of the source infostructure to the target infostructure by entering the tables of the source infostructure into the current
partitioning of the target infostructure and adjusting the status administration. For this simple moving of data to take place,
however, the above prerequisites must be fulfilled.

Example
You have an active SAP infostructure that already contains a large amount of data. This infostructure does not use partitioning and
does not have any predefined tables. You want to copy the data of an SAP infostructure to one of your own infostructures. To do
this, proceed as follows:

1. In the development or Customizing system (the system in which you make the developments and changes that are not
permitted in the productive system) you create your own infostructure. The new infostructure should look exactly like the
infostructure to be copied.

2. You make the desired changes to the new infostructure. In particular, you can configure the partitioning.

3. You transport the new infostructure into the productive system and leave it as inactive.

 Note
Make sure that during the next step no archiving session, delete session, or filling of an infostructure takes place for the
archiving object in question.

4. In the productive system, you copy the data of the SAP infostructure to the new infostructure (see above).

As a result of this procedure, the infostructures now have the following characteristics:

The SAP infostructure is The new infostructure is

Inactive Active

empty and without references to any tables. Filled for those archive files for which the SAP infostructure was
built

See also:

Example: Partitioning an Infostructure

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Example: Partitioning an Infostructure

Use
You have an infostructure that already contains a large number of entries. The related ZARIX table is becoming to large. Since the
infostructure has not been partitioned yet, you want to do so now.

You want to change the infostructure so that no more data can be written to the existing table. You also want to set up the
partitioning so that the data for the current year, the last two years, and the next three years are written to a separate table.

To do this, proceed as follows:

1. Configure partitioning in the development or Customizing system (the system in which development and changes that are
not permitted in the live system take place) as follows:

From Date Table Name

01.01.0001

01.01.2003

01.01.2004

01.01.2005

01.01.2006

01.01.2007

01.01.2008

a. You transport these settings to the live system. It does not matter whether you enter the changes to the partitioning
configuration in a transport oder or whether you transport the infostructure from somewhere else. A complete
definition of the infostructure is always sent to the target system.

b. Continue archiving in the live system as usual.

After you have transported the configuration to the live system, the partitioning of the infostructure looks like this:

From Date To Date Table Name Change Date G N

01.01.0001 31.12.9999 ZARIXBC62 X

The infostructure is not partitioned yet. Table ZARIXBC62 is already a very large database table for the existing
infostructure. As long as you do not make any new entries in the infostructure, read access is from this table only. Not until
further set up of the infostructure does the system generate a new table, which it then fills. It is ensured that the system
does not add any additional data to the old table since the configuration of the partitioning covers the entire period for
which data can be entered. After an additional archiving session, partitioning could look like this:

From Date To Date Table Name Change Date G N

01.01.2005 31.12.2005 ZARIXBC64 28.06.2005 X

01.01.0001 31.12.9999 ZARIXBC62 X

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The system has now generated database table ZARIXBC64 for the period from 01/01/2005 to 12/31/2005 that is
specified in the configuration. In 2006 the system will create the next table. Read access is possible from both tables.

You have two options for how to proceed: Either you use partitioning only for new entries to the infostructure or you ensure
that old entries are entered according to partitioning.

Partitioning for new entries only

In this case you do not need anything. New entries are written automatically to the infostructure according to
partitioning. When you delete the infostructure for older files, the system recognizes that these entries are still in the
old table ZARIXBC62. Once the infostructure is no longer set up for old files, then table ZARIXBC62 is empty and
the actual partitioning corresponds completely to the configuration.

Information from the configuration relating to the period prior to 2005 is not required for this scenario.

Partitioning for all entries

If you also want the partitioning to correspond to the configuration for the older files, you need to delete the
infostructure for all old sessions and then recreate it. In this case, the system uses the configuration entries for the
periods prior to 2005 and generates the relevant tables.

However, this procedure is usually not necessary and therefore we do not recommend it. It is necessary only if the
old table cannot be handled, even if no more new entries are made to it.

It is possible to combine both methods or to do a partial implementation.

After a conversion, you can remove empty tables that are no longer needed by deactivating the infostructure and
then immediately reactivating it. The system deletes tables that have been created unnecessarily.

Archive Retrieval Configurator

Use
The ARC allows you to create and configure information structures that are required by the Archive Information System (AS) to
execute archive searches.

Features
Creating Archive Infostructures

You use this function to create a new information structure based on application-specific field catalogs.

More information: Creating an Information Structure

Activating an Information Structure

With this, you can activate an available information structure so that during a subsequent archiving program delete phase of the
archiving object it automatically fills with data from the archive.

More information: Activating and Deactivating Information Structures

Filling Information Structures

This function allows you to fill an information structure with data from the available archives if the delete program has already
processed those archives. Normally this is not necessary because activated information structures are filled automatically during
the archiving program delete run.

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More information: Filling and Emptying Information Structures

Field Catalogs

This function enables you to create new field catalogs or change customer-specific field catalogs.

More information: Field Catalogs

Other Functions

Additional ARC functions allow you to empty, deactivate, change, display, and delete archive information structures.

Field Catalogs

Use
A field catalog includes all of the fields that can be selected when creating or maintaining an archive information structure. You can
use it to specify which fields are incorporated in the information structure, and whether they should be key fields or data fields. You
can decide whether key- or data fields should be incorporated into the information structure. The fields contained in a field catalog
are always archiving object-specific.

You can create new field catalogs and edit existing ones.

 Note
Standard catalogs, which are designed to cover most application requirements, are supplied with the standard system's archive
information system. You should therefore create your own field catalogs only if the fields contained in the standard catalogs do
not meet your requirements.

 Note
If the standard transaction in the application permits only standard SAP field catalogs, the system does not take customer-
specific field catalogs into account.

Prerequisites
You need to have some expert knowledge to use this function. For example, you should be familiar with the data model of the
archiving object up to table level.

Features
Editing Available Field Catalogs

You can change the definition of the available field catalogs, for example, by adding further source fields or changing the allocation
of data- and key fields. The procedures for creating field catalogs are applicable in this case (see below).

 Note
You must copy a standard field catalog from the SAP namespace into your own namespace before you make any changes to it,
that is, before you change it to a customer-specific catalog. All entries that begin with "SAP" belong to the SAP namespace and
you should not make changes to them.

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Creating New Field Catalogs

To create a new field catalog, you have the following options:

Use fields from a source table

Use fields from multiple source tables

For more information, see Creating Field Catalogs (One Source Table).

Deleting Field Catalogs

Before you delete a field catalog, you must first delete all of the archive information structures that use this field catalog. A
deletability check prevents the deletion of catalogs that are still in use. If you try to delete an SAP standard field catalog, the
system issues a warning message to this effect.

Creating Field Catalogs (One Source Table)

Procedure

1. In the initial screen of the Archive Retrieval Configurator (ARC), choose Environment Field Catalogs and then New
Entries.

2. Enter the name of the field catalog (it cannot begin with SAP), a description, and the archiving object for which the field
catalog is intended.

In the fields File in Index and Offset in Index, you can specify how the name of the archiving file and the offset of the data
object are included in the information structure. You can use the following values:

Values for file names

Value for file names Description

D Includes the file name as a data field. This is the minimum

value. It causes the archive file name to be entered in the
data area of the structure table.

K Includes the file name as a key field. Select this value if the
entries in the table would otherwise not be unique.

Values for the offset

Value for offset Description

D Includes the offset name as a data field. This value is

sufficient for a direct access to archived data.

K Includes the offset name as a key field. Select this value if

the entries in the table would otherwise not be unique.

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Value for offset Description

No value The offset is not included in the structure table. Choose this
setting if you do not want direct access. This allows you to
reduce the size of the structure table.

 Note
If you include the offset as a key field, you must also include the archive file as a key field, otherwise a clear distinction
between archived objects by the offset cannot be guaranteed. If an archived object, such as a sales document, has
already been clearly identified by the document number in the field catalog key, then you do not need to include the
offset in the key.

3. To perform the field assignment, first select the catalog and then the Field Selection node in the navigation area. Choose
New Entries and enter the required data.

You can choose the field number and target field yourself. The name of the target field appears in the generated
table and should have a definition that makes sense for reporting. The field number describes its position in the
information structure and serves as a sort criterion.

However, the source field must correspond with the actual field name from the source table.

The source field entered directly in the field selection is also the reference field. The data type of the relevant field in
the information structure is derived from this reference field.

The source table must be a table for which the archiving object in the information structure writes data to the
archive. These tables are maintained in the transaction AOBJ for the archiving objects.

If you mark a Key field, that field is included in the key to the structure table. A table's key fields must come at the
beginning, that is, the field numbers of the key fields must be smaller than the field numbers of the data fields.
Furthermore, the key fields must be connected, that is, no non-key fields are allowed to come between key fields.

The Mandatory Key Field checkbox is valid only for key fields. If you select this checkbox, the data record will be
included only if the relevant field in the source table is not empty.

 Note
Tables that are processed by archiving classes can also be used as source tables. However, to do so, you must create a
normed read function module for each archiving class used.

4. Save your entries.

Creating Field Catalogs (More than One Source Table)

Prerequisites
You have created a field catalog with at least one field.

You are at the field selection for the field catalog.

Context
You can add additional source fields to field catalogs. This means:

For key fields, the system establishes field similarities between the join conditions of the different source tables.

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The system can fill data fields with data from different source tables in an archive information structure.

Note the following special features:

For each source table, there must be a unique combination of fields in the key of the information structure. This means that
there can never be two data records with the same value combination within one data object.

For each key field, the system establishes the field similarity between the reference field and the additional source fields.

The system fills the information structure with archive data using an outer join based on the field combination. The system
writes a record for the data object if at least one of the source tables contains data.

When the system is filling an information structure, an incorrectly defined field catalog can cause a program termination.
Read the long text in the error message Q6234. Here you can also find a detailed example of how to create field catalogs.

The source field entered directly in the field selection is also the reference field. The data type of the relevant field in the
information structure is derived from this reference field. The fields entered in Additional Source Fields must be
compatible reference field type.

Procedure

1. Choose the field to which you want to add source fields.

2. In the navigation frame, choose the Additional Source Fields node.

3. Choose New Entries and enter the source table and the source field that are to be joined with the target field.

4. Save your entries.

Results
There is now a logical link (join) for key fields between the target field and the additional source field. When the system fills the
information structure, it moves the contents of the source fields assigned to the target field to the data fields.

Archive Explorer

Use
The Archive Explorer enables you to search for archived data and allows individual objects to be displayed from the archive.

Integration
You can go to the Archive Explorer from either the initial screen of the archive information system or from the Archive Retrieval
Configurator (choose Environment Archive Explorer ).

Prerequisites
To use Archive Explorer, you need to perform the following activities:

Create a suitable archive information structure

Activate the information structure

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Fill the information structure

Features

On the Archive Explorer selection screen, the fields appear as in the archive information structure.

In the selection screen, you can define which archived data should be read by the Archive Explorer reporting program. An object
list from the set information structure is displayed as a result of this selection, from which you can access single data objects in
the archive.

A standard viewer is available to display the data objects. Independent of the underlying archiving object, there are also
application-specific viewers. The interface used can also be used for customer-specific extensions.

Activities

Report information structure

More Information
Creating an Information Structure

Activating and Deactivating Information Structures

Filling and Emptying Information Structures

Reporting

Use
You can use this function to report from the archive information structure that was created for the selected archiving object.

Prerequisites

You have created and built the archive information structure to be reported.

Features
Depending on the selection criteria entered, the system displays an object list for the archive information structure. You display a
data object by accessing the archive directly. If an application-specific view is realized for the archiving object used, you can
choose between the technical or the application-specific presentation of the data objects.

Activities

Reporting Information Structures

More Information
Ad Hoc Reporting

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Ad Hoc Reporting

Use
You can use this function to report from the archive information structure that was created for the selected archiving object,
without this structure having to be filled first .

Prerequisites
The archive information structure to be reported has been created and activated.

Features
Depending on the selection criteria entered in the selection screen, an object is displayed for the set archive information structure.

To display a data object, the system accesses the archive directly. If an application-specific view is realized for the archiving object
used, a dialog box appears in which you can choose between the technical or the application-specific presentation of the data
object.

Unlike the standard reporting function, which requires that the archive information structure is filled with data from the archive,
the ad hoc reporting function reads directly from the archive. This enables you test archiving and report archived data that has not
yet been deleted from the database.

Activities
Report information structure

More Information
Report

Using List Variants

Use
In the Archive Explorer, you can save list variants with which you specify, for example, a selection of fields to be displayed.

Integration
You can operate the variant functions using the menu entries and function buttons of the SAP List Viewer.

Features
You can create both user-specific and cross-list variants to display the data for an archive information structure as well as the table
contents (as part of the technical view).

List Variants for Archive Information Structures

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In the display of information structure data (the first list in the Archive Explorer), list variants are stored per archive information
structure. A list variant is only valid for the archive information structure for which it was created and cannot be used for other
archive information structures.

Once an archive information structure has been changed (but has kept the same name), the related list variants can still be used.
However, a list variant can be invalidated by the change, for example, where the field displayed in the list variant has been deleted
from the archive information structure. You should therefore modify the list variants accordingly.

 Example
Example: When you display the archive information structure CO_ORDER_001, use the list variant MY_VARIANT to specify that
the fields AUFNR (Order Number) and KTEXT (Short Text) are to be displayed. You cannot use these variants for the archive
information structure CO_ORDER_002, even if both archive information structures have identical structures.

If the archive information structure CO_ORDER_001 is changed so that the fields AUFK and KTEXT no longer appear, then the
list variant MY_VARIANT can still be used. However, is pointless as no fields are displayed. You can therefore modify these
variants using the relevant function of the ALV to fit the changed archive information structure.

For the archive information structure CO_ORDER_002, you can also create a list variant called MY_VARIANT. However, this is
not identical to the list variant of the same name for CO_ORDER_001.

List Variants for Tables

The technical view for single document display is used to display the table contents for the selected data objects. You can save list
variants per table here, which are independent of the archive information structure used. A list variant created for a specific table is
only valid for this table and cannot be used for other tables. However, a list variant for a specific table is always independent of the
archive information structure used. This is also valid where the archive information structure belongs to different archiving objects.
Therefore, it does not matter which archiving object was used to archive the table entries.

 Example
Example: You are using the archiving objects SD_VBAK and PP_ORDER and the related archive information structures
SD_VBAK_001 or PP_ORDER_001. Both archiving objects contain the table COEP. To display the table COEP, save the list
variant MY_VARIANT in the Archive Explorer. In contrast to the above list variants, this variant is only assigned to the COEP
table.

You can then use MY_VARIANT to display the COEP table, and it does not matter whether you enter the Archive Explorer via
the archive information structure SD_VBAK_001 or PP_ORDER_001.

Activities

In the Archive Explorer list display, you can access the list variant functions. Choose Settings Display Variants .

More information: Documentation about the SAP List Viewer

Archive File Browser

Use
Archive File Browser (AFB) provides functions for displaying the contents of archive files. It offers a technical view of the archived
tables in much the same way as the Data Browser does for data from the database.

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Implementation Considerations
The AFB is a technical tool for data archiving administrators and anyone who needs to investigate problems with data archiving
and in archived data.

The data is only displayed in technical form, there is no business view formatting. The system structures the data from a technical
point of view according to session, file and data object. AFB ignores application-specific connections (such as logical data objects
that are composed from several technical data objects). Some archived structures (for instance COVP11) do contain the actual
data for particular database tables (for example, COEP and COBK).

Integration
You do not need to make any system settings in Customizing to be able to use the AFB.

Make sure that the user has the necessary authorizations, and that it is possible to access the archive files.

For more information, see Archive Files.

To accelerate the start of the AFB, you can set the selection of archive files for the start of the transaction.

More information: Speeding up the Start of the AFB.

Features
Displaying the Contents of Archive Files and Archiving Sessions

The AFB displays archived files. The way the data is structured corresponds to the structure in the archive. Evaluations of
archived tables together with data in the database are not offered.

More information:

Archive Files.

Displaying Data Object.

Searing for archived data

In addition to a search for archive files, a technical search for field contents is also possible in which the AFB searches for
the contents of fields in a table (similar to transaction SE16).

When making the search, the AFB always reads through the files and focuses on finding missing data. The focus on
completeness, even at the cost of poor performance.

More information:

Searching for Table Contents

Searching Efficiently for Table Entries

Constraints
The search for data in the AFB is not intended for the retrieval by end users, but for finding missing data.

When searching for data in the AFB, no index of the archived data is constructed. To do so, use the Archive Information
System.

Comparison with the Archive Information System

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Archive Information System (AS) Archive File Browser (AFB)

The main focus is on creating an index for archive files. This When searching for the contents of archive files, the AFB reads
index can be used to find archived data quickly. through the area to be searched sequentially.

Search is only possible using specific criteria (fields in info Search is possible using any fields
structures)

The index can be used by applications such as the Document No comparable interface
Relationship Browser or line item reports for cost accounting to
access archived data quickly.

To access archived data, you have to first create and activate an Access to archived data is possible immediately.
info structure. In the production system this usually involves
time and effort.

Business views, consequently also of interest to end users Technical representation of data, only of interest to
administrators

Archive Files

Definition
The AFB operates using data objects. An archive file is divided into a header and several data objects. A data object is often an
instance of the business object that corresponds to the archiving object.

 Example
For archiving object SD_VBAK the data for an individual sales order is saved in one data object. However, this type of
correspondence does not have to apply to every archiving object.

Structure
A data object always consists of exactly the data that is written to the archive by the write program between calling up the function
modules ARCHIVE_NEW_OBJECT and ARCHIVE_SAVE_OBJECT. Consequently, everything that can be read between the first and
second call up of function module ARCHIVE_GET_NEXT_OBJECT belongs to the same data object.

The AFB operates using these data objects. Except for the hex display, the AFB always displays exactly one object. During the
search, the system looks for data objects that correspond to particular criteria.

You can specify a data object by entering the archive file and the offset, or by entering the archive file and the number of the data
object. In the AFB there is always a current data object that is represented at least by the entry of archive file and offset. The
system often displays the number of the data object in addition. All displaying functions and functions for relative navigation (
Next File, Previous File, Continue) relate to the current object.

Sequence of archive files

The AFB always arranges archive files and data objects according to the same pattern. The data is sorted according to archiving
object, session and archive file key. The runs are always displayed in descending order, so that the most recent runs are at the top.

The AFB sorting rules:

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Files are arranged alphabetically in ascending order according to their archiving objects.

More recent archiving runs come before older ones

Within the sessions the files are in ascending order

Use of this sort order:

In the archive file overview

When searching in the list of the files to be searched

During the search the files are dealt with in this order

For the functions for relative navigation ( Next File, Previous File, …) this sequence is used as the basis.

Authorization checks

In addition to checking the authorization to access the archive (authorization object S_ARCHIVE), checks have been implemented
in the AFB that allow or forbid the display of archived data in a similar way as for the Data Browser (transaction SE16). This
involves the display authorization for authorization object S_TABU_DIS. The authorization to display data from a table should not
change due to it being archived. The same should apply for archived data as for data from the database.

Required authorizations for different areas

Area Prerequisite

Data Object User requires display authorization for the table to be displayed.
This means not all data is necessarily displayed for a data object
(you receive corresponding messages in the log).

If the user does not have authorization for any of the tables of the
data object, then nothing is displayed for the current data object.

Table User requires display authorization for the table. Only those tables
for which the user has authorization can be displayed.

Hex display User requires display authorization for all tables that relate to the
archiving object of the file to be displayed.

If the user lacks authorization for one or more tables then nothing
is displayed for the archive file.

Search A user can only search for the content of tables for which he or she
has authorization.

Displaying Data Objects

Context
You want to display a data object with AFB.

Procedure

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1. Expand the navigation tree in the archive files overview until you can see the key for the archive file you want.

2. By double-clicking the key of the archive file call up the first data object of this file. On the Data Object tab page, you will
see the data object with an overview of the table entries it contains.

3. Use the scroll keys to navigate to other data objects.

User Interface for the Archive File Browser

Use
The user interface is made up of the following areas:

Interface Area Description

Archive files overview Overview divided according to archiving object, session, and file.

More information: Archive Files Overview

Header information This area shows you which archive file and which data object are
displayed.

More information: Header Information

Scroll keys For navigating in the data objects and files.

More information: Navigation

Display area To display data. Here you see the content of the archive file in the
desired view. In this area you can define and execute a search.

More information: Display Area

Messages Collection of notifications and error messages that are generated.

More information: Messages

Archive Files Overview

Use
On the left side of the screen, the system displays an overview of the archive files in the form of a tree structure. The files are
grouped according to archiving object and archiving session. The files themselves are the end nodes of the tree structure.

You can set the fields displayed and also influence the quantity of archive files displayed using a filter function. You can also
determine an initial layout (including filter criteria).

For an overview of the screen areas in AFB, see User Interface.

Features
Double-click on an archive file in the overview to open a file. The first data object in this file for the current data object appears in
the display area. In the case of functions that select a data object (relative navigation, find), the system expands the archive file for
the current data object in the overview and selects it.

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You can show the following fields in the archive files overview using the layout editing:

Fields in the archive file overview

Field Description

Number Number of data objects in the archive file The system automatically
totals this number at the archiving sessions level. The total refers
only to the files in the overview; not to all of the files in the system.

If, for example, you have set the filter so that only archiving
sessions from a certain creation data are displayed, then the total
at archiving object level contains only the data objects of the files
for these sessions, and not for every file of the archiving object.

The AFB obtains the number of objects from archive

administration. When certain errors occur, you may find that these
differ from the actual number of objects in an archive file

User Name of user who started the archiving. This field remains blank on
archiving object level.

Size (MB) File size in MB, shown to three decimal places. This number is
determined from archiving administration, and may (like the
number of data objects) differ from the actual size in certain
circumstances.

The file size is totaled at the level of the sessions and archiving
objects, using the same mechanism as for the number of data
objects.

Description The texts for the relevant object are displayed depending on the
level in the tree structure:

Level

Displayed Text

Archiving Objects

Description of the Archiving Object

Archiving Sessions

Comments about the archiving session that can be entered for

some archiving objects when scheduling the write program.

Archive Files

Comments on the file that can be changed in archive

administration.

Date Creation date of the archive session or archive file.

This field remains blank on archiving object level.

Time Creation time of the archive session or archive file.

This field remains blank on archiving object level.

Activities

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Layout of the Archive Files Overview

The layout of the archive files overview contains the selection of the tree structure columns (except the hierarchy column), and
also the sequence and width of the columns. In addition you can also save the current filter criteria with the layout.

The layout editing contains the following functions:

Layout Function

Select Choose a layout already saved, with filter criteria if appropriate, and
use on the overview.

Change Change the current field selection and field sequence.

Save Save the current layout. You can choose whether you want to save
the layout user-specific or cross-user, and whether the system
should save the filter conditions with the layout.

Manage Manage the saved layouts. In particular, you can delete a layout and
select a layout as a default. The effect of the default is that when
you next start the AFB, this layout is used automatically, together
with any filter conditions.

Filter in the archive file overview

The AFB loads certain data to the main memory for each file that is displayed in the overview. Consequently, the time taken to
start the transaction and also the memory usage depend very much on how many archive files are being processed. You can use
filters to influence this quantity.

To change the current filter criteria, choose Set Filter.... You can choose any field that is displayed in the overview as a filter
criterion, this includes the archiving object, session, or file key. The system always uses all criteria directly for the selection of the
archive files. This means that both the creation date and time relate only to the archive files. The Name field refers only to the
comments for the archive file. File size and number of objects refers to the number of archive files, and not to the totals at higher
levels.

It is possible to save the filter criteria when you save a layout. When you choose a layout or start a transaction with a predefined
layout, the system uses the related filter.

For more information, see Speeding up the Start of the AFB.

Header Information

Use
The header information contains the current data object. For an overview of the screen areas in AFB, see User Interface.

Features
In the header information, you can place the cursor directly on a particular data object within an archive file.

Header Information Fields

Field Description and Notes

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Archive File Archive file for the current data object

This archive file is also expanded and selected in the archive file
overview unless this selection has been changed manually or you
are currently evaluating a background search and the hit is not
located within an archive file from the overview.

Data Object The number of the current data object within its archive file

This field usually displays a value between one and the number of
data objects in the archive file. In the Hex Display, you may also
find data object number 0 (zero). Then the beginning of the archive
file is displayed. If you enter the offset of a data object directly in
the field Offset, then Unknown appears in the Data Object field.
The field is ready for input as soon as a data object has been
selected for the first time.

 Note
You should note that direct entry can entail a long runtime, as
the archive file may be read sequentially.

From Number of data objects in the archive file

Offset Offset of the current data object

To find a data object as quickly as possible, enter a value in the

Offset field.

 Note
Note that if you enter the offset direct, the functions Previous
Data Object and Next Data Object can no longer be used.

Display Area

Use
The AFB offers three different views in the display area of the current data object or the archive file currently being displayed.

The Data Object view represents all of the tables entries for the data object.

The Table view represents an individual table of the archiving object.

The Hex Display represents the content of the archive file in a highly technical form without additional formatting.

For an overview of the screen areas in AFB, see User Interface.

Features
Data Object

In the Data Object view, the system formats the archive file content in such a way that the content of all table entries for the
current data object is visible. The table entries are displayed in the same form as they are found in the archive. You receive a list
where the table name is in the first field, followed by the content of the relevant entry formatted as a character string.

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The list is displayed using the SAP List Viewer and offers its standard functions.

 Note
Note that the standard functions of the SAP List Viewer refer only to the current data object. A search is then made using only
the data of the current data object.

For the display, the system formats every table entry as an individual character string. This means special attributes for the
individual fields are lost. You may find that a table is too wide to be displayed in its entirety. By double-clicking you can obtain field-
by-field formatting of the corresponding record.

 Note
If you want a different format for a particular table, select an entry for the required table and switch to the Table view. The
system then automatically displays all entries for this table from the current data object.

The table entries are displayed in this view in the same order as they were written to the archive, unless the data was saved using
archiving classes. Data for archiving classes is displayed with the other data for the current data object in accordance with the
entries that were not saved using archiving classes.

Table

The Table view displays the entries for the current data object that relate to a particular table. The data is formatted field-by-field.
The view of the table is similar to that of the Data Browser (transaction SE16).

The list is displayed using the SAP List Viewer and offers its standard functions.

 Note
Note that the standard functions of the SAP List Viewer refer only to the current data object. A search is then made using only
the data of the current data object.

In the Table Name field, you enter the name of the table for which you want to see the entries. You will usually find this field has
already been defined if you have already selected a data object.

You can use the input help to receive a selection of all tables that are archived with the archiving object for the current file. In the
event that no data object has been selected, you receive all tables for all archiving objects in the archive file overview. If you enter
the table directly, you have to choose data release to refresh to list.

 Note
Choose Settings Technical Field Names or Field Labels to switch between the display of technical names and field labels,
as required. This affects all parts of the AFB in which field labels occur, for example, in a search.

Depending on the view with which you previously looked at the current data object, the table name is predefined as follows:

· In the Data Object view, one entry is usually selected. The table for this entry is displayed with the Table view.

· The search switches automatically to the Table view at the first hit. The table, which is also used in the search criteria, is
displayed.

· In all other cases, the table name is predefined in such a way that the table is suitable for the archiving object of the current data
object. If the table no longer matches the archiving object through navigation to a data object for a different archiving object, then
the system selects a new table.

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If you branch from the Table view to the search but have not yet selected a table for the search criteria, the system automatically
transfers the table being displayed.

Hex Display

The system presents the content of the archive file in raw format in the hex display,

 Note
This view is particularly useful if you want to look at the archive file header, or if the file is defective and this is the only way you
are able to display it.

The data in the file is represented in hex format (00 to FF for every byte). In the first column you see the offset in the archive file for
the first byte in each line. 32 bytes then follow in every line, in eight groups each having four bytes. In the area on the right, you can
see the equivalents in plain text. The respective character coding is taken into account (including unicode). This means it is
possible that only 16 characters (for example) relate to the 32 bytes As the data in the archive file is present in compressed form,
the header can only be recognized from the plain text representation at the beginning of the archive file. It is not possible to
recognize the data itself this way.

The part of the archive file that is displayed is determined by the offset and the number of displayed bytes. The system uses the
offset displayed in the header information. In this way, all navigation functions can also be used for the hex display.

 Note
The hex display recognizes the data object with the number 0 that represents the beginning of the file.

You can enter the number of bytes displayed in the Area Displayed field on the Hex Display tab page.

Analysis of Defective Files

You can use the hex display to analyze defective files that you are not able to display with the other views. To do this, you have to
have detailed and extensive knowledge of the structure of the archive files. The hex display bypasses the usual mechanism for
accessing files (meaning the function modules for the ADK). However, no files can be analyzed this way that are found in the
archive store ( SAP ArchiveLink).

Messages

Use
Each message or error message that is generated during a session with the Archive File Browser is collected in a log in the lower
area of the AFB. For an overview of the screen areas in AFB, see User Interface.

 Example
Examples of errors include error messages when accessing archive files or the message at the end of the search.

Features
The messages are displayed in the log as a list, with the latest message at the top.

Log Line Fields

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Field Meaning

Type Severity of the Message

Message Context Information about the archive file relating to the message

If the message cannot be assigned directly to an archive file, then

the action which triggered the message is displayed.

Message Text Message short text

Long Text Icon indicating whether or not there is a long text for the message

 Note
You can read the long text of a message by double-clicking the message.

 Note
Use Delete Messages to delete all of the messages collected up to that point from the list (and from the memory).

Navigation in the Archive File Browser

Use
The Archive File Browser offer an overview of archive files and data objects. More information: User interface

Features
The the fields in the Header Information, the Archive File Overview and the scroll keys give you various options for navigating in
archive files and outside of archive files. You can combine some of these options.

Opening Archive Files

Double-click on an archive file in the overview to open a file. The first data object in this file for the current data object appears in
the display area.

Various methods for selecting a file:

By double-clicking on an archive file key, this file is selected

By double-clicking on a session, the first file in the session is selected

By double-clicking on an archiving object, the first file of the latest session that appears in the overview is selected

System actions depending on the view selected

Tab page before double-click Result

Documentation or search The system selects the first data object in the Data Object view.

Data object or table The system selects the first data object , no change to the view.

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Hex display The display starts with the beginning (data object 0, offset 0) of the
selected archive file, no change to the view.

Scroll keys

You will find the scroll keys for the relative navigation between the archive file overview and the display area.

 Note
The first data object of an archive file means in the case of the hex display the data object number 0 (zero), that is, the start of
the archive file. With every other view the first data object literally means the very first data object in the archive file.

Navigation using Scroll Keys

Scroll Keys Features

First File The system highlights the first data object of the first file.

Previous File The system highlights the first data object of the file that is in the
overview in front of the file for the current data object.

Previous Data Object The system highlights the data object that is in front of the current
data object.

In the event the current data object is the first data object in the
archive file, the system highlights the last data object of the
previous archive file.

 Caution
Note that this procedure can be time-consuming, as it may be
necessary to read the entire archive file in sequence.

 Recommendation
This function is not recommended if you are entering an offset
direct.

Next Data Object The system highlights the data object that is in front of the current
data object.

If the current data object is already the last data object of the
archive file or the archive file cannot be accessed, the system
highlights the first data object in the following archive file.

 Recommendation
This function is not recommended if you are entering an offset
direct.

Next File The system highlights the first data object of the next archive file in
the overview.

Last File The system highlights the first data object of the last archive file in
the overview.

Continue Search The system determines the next hit in the search.

 Note
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This button is only active if you have started either a search or
the background search report.

Searching for Table Contents

Use
You can use the search for table contents to search archive files. You search for data objects that meet specific criteria. These are
selection criteria for a specific table.

The system searches the files sequentially and displays the data objects. If you want to search larger archive files or a large
number of files, you can execute the search in the background.

Features

You have the option of performing the search online or scheduling the search query as a background job and evaluating the result
at a subsequent stage.

For more information, see Searching for Table Contents Online and Searching for Table Contents in the Background.

Activities
If you search using Search or Start Search, the system searches for the selected files in the order in which they are displayed in
the archive files overview. The system only searches through files that could actually contain the table from the selection criteria.
The system obtains this information from the definition of the archiving objects, and not direct from the archive files.

Once the system has found a matching data object, it switches to the view Table and displays the table entries from the search
criteria, meaning it displays all entries for the data object, and not just those that match the selection.

At this point you can switch to the other views, and use all of the other navigation options.

By choosing Continue Search, you can continue the search. Using this function you can do a complete search through each of the
files you want to search, in succession.

 Note
When the system finds a matching data object, it only switches to the view Talle if you are not already in one of the other views
Data Object, Table or Hex Display.

Search Procedure

The system checks whether the file for the current data object is in the search area. If this is the case, the system continues the
search with the next data object. If the current data object is the last in its file, the system continues with the first data object of
the next file in the search area.

If the current file is not in the search area, the system continues with the next file that is found in the search area. The next file in
this case is determined by the sequence in the archive file overview.

When carrying on with a search, the current search criteria are always used, and these may differ from the search criteria at the
start of the search.

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 Note
You can navigate freely between two search steps as necessary, and also change the search area and search criteria.

If the system has reached the end of the search area, it generates a corresponding message and deactivates the Continue Search
function. It makes no difference whether the end of the search area was actually reached by the search or by any of the other
navigation functions.

Searching Online for Table Contents

Procedure

1. In the Archive File Browser, you find the area Files to be Searched on the tab page Search on the top left of the screen. Drag
the files to be searched from the archive files overview to this area by drag and drop.

 Note
Check that the Search Mode defined is Online Search.

For more information about the area Files to be Searched, see Areas Covered by the Search.

2. In the Search Criteria area, select the table whose fields you want to use for the search. You can enter the table directly or
use Other Table.

For more information about the area Search Criteria, see Areas Covered by the Search.

3. Choose Field Selection to define the fields for the search.

4. Enter the values that you want to use for the search.

5. Choose Start Search to start the search.

The system starts searching through the selected files. The search stops with the first hit. The system automatically
switches to the Table tab page and displays the contents of the table that you specified in the search criteria.

 Note
The Find Next button is activated.

6. Choose Find Next.

The system now resumes the search with the current data object. You can repeat this process until the search reaches the
end of the search area. The system then displays a corresponding message.

Searching for Table Contents in the Background

Context
You may find the online search is often unsuitable for searching through several or large archive files, and it is better to run time-
intensive processes in the background. The Archive File Browser gives you the option of saving your search requests, processing
them in the background, and evaluating the results later.

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 Recommendation
Finding table contents in the background should only be used for ad hoc search requests. If you regularly need to access
archived data quickly, you are recommended to use the Archive Information System.

Procedure

1. Determine which files you want to search and the search criteria. For more information, see Searching for Table Contents
Online.

2. On the Search tab page, you choose Save for Background Search.

3. In the following dialog box, enter a unique text as the search description. You will later need to use this text to identify your
search.

The system saves your search request. The selection of files to be searched and the search criteria all belong to the search
request. In addition, a new entry appears in the Search Mode area bearing the description you entered.

4. Schedule program ASAFBSEARCH in the background using transaction SA38.

Program ASAFBSEARCH processes all pending search requests. All files are always read through completely. The program
determines all hits.

5. Once the program has finished, start the AFB using transaction AS_AFB.

6. Select a search request and choose Load Search Results.

Results
The system loads the search area, the search criteria and the results of your search. The result covers both the hit list and any
messages that are generated.

 Note
Both the search area and the search criteria can no longer be changed or are no longer ready for input. The Search Mode
switches from Online Search to Background Search Report.

As with the online search, you can navigate in the search result using Start Search and Continue Search. The system functions in
the same way as with the search in dialog mode, except that you are unable to change the search.

 Note
If you want to exit the results of the background search report in order to enter a new search, switch to the Search tab page and
choose Online Search in the Search Mode area.

Messages when searching in the background

The system saves any messages that are generated along with the search results. Error messages may occur during the search.
For example, if archive files cannot be accessed or are corrupted. These messages are displayed in the course of the background
search report, just as for the online search.

Search Areas
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Use
Files to be Searched

In this search area, you define which files are to be searched. The files are represented as a list of archive file keys. The sequence of
the files corresponds to the display in the archive files overview. The search is made in the archive files overview from top to
bottom. Only those files that are located in the search area are searched.

 Caution
You should note that if you remove files from this area before you choose Cont. Search, these files are no longer included in the
new search.

You can transfer additional files from the archive files overview using drag and drop. If you use an archiving session or archiving
object in the search area instead of individual files, then all archive files that are in the overview under this session or object are
included in the area to be searched.

Search Criteria

In this search area, you define which table contents you want to search for in the archive files. It is only ever possible to search for
the contents of an individual table. You either enter this table direct or select it using Another Table. Only those tables matching
the archiving objects of the files to be searched are offered. If you have not yet defined any files to be searched, then all tables for
all archiving objects from the archive file overview are used. When you choose a new table, the system automatically proposes the
first ten fields of this table as the selection criteria. You can change this selection using Field Selection. You can select a maximum
of 75 fields.

More Information

Search Mode

Search Mode

Use
In the search mode area, you determine using the Online Search and Background Search Report functions which database the
system chooses for the Start Search and Cont. Search (Continue Search) functions.

Online Search: the system searches through the archive files direct.

Background Search Report: the system evaluates the results of a background search previously carried out.

To switch between the two options, choose Load Search Results.

Load Search Results: You want to choose the results of a background search and make them available for the evaluation. To
do this, the list of the files to be searched and the search criteria stored with the search request are downloaded and
displayed.

 Note
If results for the search request downloaded are already available, the system changes the search mode to Background
Search Report, and changes are not possible. If no results are available, the system changes the mode to Online Search
and changes to both the search area and search criteria are possible.

To start the search report, choose Start Search.

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Change of Search Mode to Online Search

When you change the search mode from Background Search Report to Online Search the search results are discarded for the
time being, and you can change the search area and criteria.

 Note
If you have already started the background search report, the function Cont. Search continues to be active. You can use this
function to find the next hit online. However, the files are searched and not the result of the background search.

Change of Search Mode to

Background Search Report For a manual change from Online Search to Background Search Report you must have at least one
search request with results. Only in this case can you switch to Background Search Report.

If a previously completed search request has already been downloaded, the system uses this. Otherwise the system selects the
completed search request that is uppermost in the list.

List of Search Requests

The list of search requests contains the possible search requests and informs you which of these requests has already been
processed by search program ASAFBSEARCH.

List of Functions for Search Requests

Function Description

Save for Background Search For more information, see Searching for Table Contents in the
Background.

Load Search Results For more information, see Searching for Table Contents in the
Background.

Refresh To download the search requests again. The selection representing

the processing status is updated.

Delete Entry To delete search requests You can delete completed requests and
requests not yet processed.

Searching Efficiently for Table Entries

Context
You can use the Archive File Browser to always include all files that exist in the system in the search area, define the search criteria
and then choose Start Search. Using this procedure it can be a long time before you get a result. As a rule, the maximum runtime
of a dialog step is limited, meaning that in many cases you may not actually get a result.

The following options are available depending on the situation:

Use the Archive Information System

User entries prior to archiving

Restrict search area

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Search in the background

Procedure

Use the Archive Information System

In many systems in which archiving takes place, the Archive Information System is also active. Any info structures that have
been created should also be used here. In this situation, the Archive Information System essentially offers more efficient
access to archived data than the Archive File Browser. The prerequisite for this is that the appropriate archive information
structures are available and have been constructed.

User Entries Prior to Archiving

In archive administration (transaction SARA) you can see which selection criteria were used at the start of an archive
session. To see how the archiving was started, choose the context menu (right mouse button) for the user entries made for
an archiving session. You can often use this information to identify which table entries could be contained in the files for the
session. You should then only search through files that could also contain the data.

Restrict Search Area

You do not have to make the system search through all of the available archive files. You can for example only select archive
files for sessions that match the user entries. If a time restriction is possible, you should set an appropriate filter in the
overview of the archive files before including the archive files in the search area.

Search in the Background

Perform the search in the background, particularly if you are interested in more than the first hit.

Example
For more information, see Examples of Efficient Working with the AFB.

Using Archive File Browser Efficiently

Use
The following examples and explanations should assist you in using the Archive File Browser efficiently.

You want to find a data object in an archive file.

More information: Finding Data Object in Archive File (Example)

You want to find a data object with a specific offset in an archive file.

More information: Finding Data Object with Offset in Archive File (Example)

During the search you want to skip several data objects or an archive file.

More information: Skipping Data Objects or an Archive File (Example)

You want to speed up the start of the Archive File Browser.

More information: Accelerate Start of Archive File Browser

You want to analyze corrupted files.

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More information: Analyze Corrupted Files

You want to view the header data of the archive file.

More information: Displaying Header Data of the Archive File

Finding Data Object in Archive File (Example)

Use
You want to find data object 17 in archive file 003755-001BC_SFLIGHT as quickly as possible.

Procedure

1. Choose Find above the archive files overview.

2. In the following dialog box, enter the file key 003755-001BC_SFLIGHT. If the system does not find the file, check the filter
settings in the archive files overview.

3. Double-click the file key 003755-001BC_SFLIGHT.

4. Enter the number of the data object, in this case 17, in the Data Object field and choose data release.

Result
The system reads archive file 003755-001BC_SFLIGHT up to the 17th data object, and displays this in the Data Object view. From
there you can then navigate to other views or to other data objects.

Finding Data Object with Offset in Archive File (Example)

Use
This example shows you the fastest way to find the data object with offset 301451 in Archive File 003755-001BC_SFLIGHT in the
Archive File Browser.

Procedure
1. In the archive file overview, choose Find.

2. In the dialog box, enter the file key 003755-001BC_SFLIGHT.

If the system does not find the file, check the filter settings in the archive files overview.

3. Double-click file key 003755-001BC_SFLIGHT.

4. In the Offset field, enter 301451 and confirm your entry.

Result
The system displays the data object with this offset, or you receive an error message if no data object begins with this offset.

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Skipping Data Objects or an Archive File (Example)

Use
You establish that during the search, meaning you have chosen Start Search or Continue Search, that although hits may occur in
the next 10 data objects or within the current file, they are of no interest to you, so you want use the normal navigation to skip
them.

Procedure

Area that you want to skip Procedure

10 data objects Add 10 to the current data object number and enter the result in
the Data Object field.

An archive file Choose Next File

You can also choose the next file in the overview by double-clicking, or if you are in the online search, delete the current file from
the search area.

 Note
Make sure that the current data object is not included in the search with the Continue Search. If the current data object has not
been selected through the search, you have to check yourself whether it meets your selection criteria, or you must go back one
data object before you choose Continue Search.

Accelerate Start of Archive File Browser

Context
When you start the Archive File Browser, loading the archive file overview in particular can be very time-consuming. We therefore
recommend creating a filter for the overview and defining this as a default setting.

Procedure

1. Having started the AFB, select the filter function over the archive files overview. Choose fields that significantly restrict the
search, such as the number of the archiving session or the creation date.

2. Choose Save Layout... in the drop-down menu for editing the layout of the archive files overview. Check that Filter
Conditions is selected.

3. Enter a name and a description for the layout. Save the layout.

4. Choose Manage Layout... and select your layout as a default setting.

Results

When you next start the Archive File Browser,only those archive files that match the filter will be included in the overview.

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 Note
While you are working with the AFB, you can change the filter criteria at any time if you want to work with other archive files.

Analyze Corrupted Files

Use
In the Archive File Browser, you can use the Hex display to analyze corrupted archive files.

Procedure
In the archive file overview, select the corrupted file by double clicking it. The AFB attempts to read the first data object from the
file and display this in the Data Object view.

This is either successful or the system displays the corresponding error messages in the log according to the type of error
involved. You can toggle to the Hex display and analyze the file in all cases. To analyze the file, you require a good understanding of
the structure of archive files.

 Note
You cannot make corrections to the archive file using the Archive File Browser.

Displaying Header Data of the Archive File

Use
You want to display the header data of an archive file in the Archive File Browser.

Procedure
Switch to the hex display. In the archive file overview, select the the required archive file.

Result

The system displays the header data of the archive file on the right-hand side of the screen.

Table Analysis

Use
You use the table analysis to distribute the table entries to the selected fields. A table analysis counts the table entries and assigns
the number of entries found to the selected field values (for example, organizational units or periods) You use Analysis Variants to
determine the fields for the table analysis.

Integration

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The analysis of the contents of a table is often necessary in the data archiving environment.

Features
You can use the table analysis to analyze the distribution of table entries to the selected fields. For more information, see
Performing Table Analysis.

To perform a table analysis, you always need an analysis variant. For more information, see Analysis Variant.

You can supplement a table you would like to include in an analysis with virtual fields. For more information, see Virtual
Fields.

You have multiple options for monitoring the space table analyses use on the database. For more information, see
Reorganizing Table Analysis.

In addition you can display or delete analysis variants, and display analyses performed in the background.

Activities

Transactions used within table analysis

Function Transaction Code

Table Analysis TAANA

Analysis Variant TAANA_AV

Virtual Fields TAANA_VF

Example
Table BKPF contains document headers for financial accounting. Each document is assigned to a company code. By using table
analysis you can identify how many entries relate to a particular company code.

Performing Table Analysis

Procedure
Analyzing Individual Tables

1. Using transaction TAANA you can access the screen Table Analysis: Administration.

2. Choose Table Analysis Execute .A dialog box appears.

3. Enter the name of the table. Depending on this table, the system offers the analysis variants available for selection in the
input help for the Analysis Variant field.

4. Select at least one analysis variant, or else create one.

 Note
The system offers analysis variant DEFAULT for every table. This variant contains no fields. Therefore it determines the
total number of entries in the client in which it is performed.

If an adequate analysis variant does not exist, the following options are available for creating analysis variants:

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To create an ad hoc analysis variant specifically for a current table analyses, use Ad Hoc Variant. This variant is not
saved on the database, and is available only for the table analysis that you are currently scheduling. For more
information, see Creating an Ad Hoc Analysis Variant.

Use the transaction TAANA_AV to create an analysis variant. It is saved to the database and you can use it multiple
times. For more information, see Creating Analysis Variant.

5. If you want to restrict the number of records to be analyzed, choose Data Selection. The Data Selection for Table <Name>
window appears.

Enter the criteria with which you want to restrict the selection. By default, the system suggests the fields that are either
part of the table's primary key or are defined for secondary indexes. If necessary, you can add additional fields to the
selection by choosing New Field Selection. You can also restrict the number of entries to be analyzed using Maximum
Number of Entries. Save your entries.

 Note
While selecting the data, and later, when displaying the result, you can use the options in the Settings menu to switch
between technical field names and field labels.

6. Select the desired type of process control and choose Continue.

 Recommendation
To improve performance, we suggest analyzing large tables in the background, not online.

7. Specify a start time for background processing. Save your entries. When you perform the analysis online, it is started
immediately.

The table and analysis variant you selected for analysis are displayed on the left side of the screen.

 Note
While the table analysis is being performed, you can Refresh the current data.

8. Double-click the table analysis on the left side of the screen to display it.

The table analyses on the left side of the screen are sorted by table name, name, analysis variant, and time of analysis.

The result of the analysis is displaed on the right of the screen. If you restricted the number of records to be analyzed
before the analysis, the Data Selection button is displayed. You can use this button to display the values of the selection
restrictions that applied for the selected analysis.

Analyzing Multiple Table in One Step

If you want to analyze multiple tables in one step, proceed as follows:

1. Use transaction SA38 to start program TAAN_PROCESS_MULTIPLE. A selection screen appears.

 Recommendation
To improve performance, we suggest analyzing large tables in the background, not online (transaction SA38, Program
Execute in Background ).

2. Enter the table you want to analyze.

3. Enter the relevant analysis variant and start the program.

Use transaction TAANA to view the results of the table analysis (see above).

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Result
The various field values with the number of related table entries in the evaluation are displayed in accordance with the analysis
variant you selected. The list is sorted in descending order by number of table entries.

Reorganizing Table Analysis

Procedure
You have several options for monitoring and regulating the space table analyses use on the database.

Reorganizing Table Analyses

Reorganization Options Description

Retain most recent table analysis for each table and analysis The system only retains the latest analysis with the status
variant Completed for each table and analysis variant and deletes all other
table analyses.

Exception:

Analyses with the status Scheduled as Background Job and In

Process are retained.

Delete table analyses that were performed before a certain date. All of the analyses performed before a specified date are deleted.
The reference date is the start date of the analysis.

Refresh table analyses that were performed before a certain date. All of the analyses performed before a specified date are deleted. A
new analysis for the relevant table is performed using the same
analysis variant.

We recommend reorganizing table analyses regularly (choose Utilities Reorganize Analyses... ), since the results of all table
analyses are saved in the database tables (TAAN*), and may use up a considerable amount of space .

Analysis variants have been provided to enable you to determine the space used by the analyses. The usage of space is specified
as the number of table rows in table TAAN_DATA. You can find most of the information about analyses you have performed in this
table.

Analysis variants for determining space usage

Analysis Variant Meaning

TAANA_ANALYSE_BY_OBJECT Space usage for each table and analysis variant

TAANA_ANALYSE_BY_DATE Space usage for each month and year in which you have performed
analyses

Analysis Variant

Use

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To perform a table analysis, you always need an analysis variant. This relates to only one table and describes which fields are to be
analyzed.

Depending on the usage type there are two kinds of analysis variant available:

To create an analysis variant for future table analyses, use transaction TAANA_AV. The definition of this variant is saved on
the database, and can be used for future table analyses.

To create an ad hoc analysis variant for currently scheduled table analyses, use transaction TAANA. The definition of this
variant is not saved on the database, and as a result is only available for the table analysis that you are currently scheduling.

Features
Creating an analysis variant

For information on analysis variants that you can also use for future table analyses, see Creating an Analysis Variant.

For information on analysis variants that you can only use for currently scheduled table analyses, see Creating an Ad
hoc Analysis Variant.

Displaying an Analysis Variant

In transaction TAANA_AV, you can find on the left hand side of the screen a list of all the analysis variants created, sorted by
table names. To display an analysis variant, double-click on it. The analysis variant is then displayed on the right side of the
screen.

Deleting an Analysis Variant

To delete an analysis variant, display the variant you want to delete on the right side of the screen. Choose Edit Delete
.

Creating Analysis Variants

Context

To perform a table analysis, you always need an analysis variant. This relates to only one table and describes which fields are to be
analyzed.

The system saves the analysis variant to the database; it can then be used for future table analyses.

Procedure

1. With the transaction:

TAANA_AV or alternatively

Starting from the table analysis (transaction TAANA), choose Environment Analysis Variant

to go to the change mode for analysis variants for the table analysis.

2. Choose Edit New Entries and enter the name of the table for which you want to create an analysis variant.

3. Enter the name of the analysis variant that is in your namespace.

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4. Choose Fields. The system offers you all table fields for selection.

 Note
The system first displays the fields contained in the ABAP Dictionary (DDIC). Then it displays the virtual fields defined in
the table analysis.

 Note
An analysis variant should contain as few field as possible (three to four fields). You should only choose fields with a low
selectivity, meaning with few characteristic values. Fields having high selectivity, for example document numbers, mean
that the results list for a table analysis is unduly long, which both reduces its usefulness and also takes up too much
space in the database.

5. Select the relevant fields or create virtual fields if necessary. For more information, see Virtual Fields.

6. Save the analysis variant.

Results
The new analysis variant is displayed on the left-hand side of the screen.

Creating an Ad Hoc Analysis Variant

Context

An ad hoc analysis variant is only available for the currently scheduled table analyses. The definition of this variant is not saved on
the database, and therefore is available only for the table analysis you are currently scheduling.

Procedure

1. With transaction TAANA you can access the screen Table Analysis:. Administration.

2. Choose Table Analysis Execute . A dialog box appears.

3. Enter the table name.

4. Choose the input help for the Analysis Variant.

5. In the dialog box Analysis Variants: Selection, choose Ad-Hoc Variant.

6. Select the fields for the analysis variant.

7. Choose Continue.

Alternatively, you can restrict the analysis to part of a table field, for example, to perform an aggregation on the year for
date fields. To do this, you use the DDIC definition of the table you want to analyze to specify the fields you want to
aggregate as subfields, and to specify the offset and length required. Enter the values in the offset and length subfields, for
example, offset = 0, length = 4 if you want an aggregation over the year for a date field.

 Note
You can only specify subfields for fields with ABAP types C (text field), N (numeric text field), D (date field), T (time
field), and P (packed number). With type P this function is particularly useful for fields containing timestamps (DDIC

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data type TIMESTAMP or TIMESTAMPL). The standard format of these timestamps is "yyyymmddhhmmss" or
"yyyymmddhhmmss.sssssss", whereby the year can be aggregated (subfield length 4) or the month of the year
(subfield length 6).

8. Apply the analysis variant.

 Note
You do not need a transport request for the ad hoc variant.

Virtual Fields

Use

Virtual fields enable you to perform the following analyses within table analysis:

Analyze one part of a table field

 Example
The table contains a date field, and you would like to examine the distribution of the data across the year.

Analysis with a field that is not contained in the table to be analyzed but whose value can be determined from either the
available table fields or, if necessary, from other tables.

 Example
The table does not contain a field naming the archiving object that can be used for archiving a data record.

Within table analysis you can create as many virtual fields as you require for each table. Such fields are treated in the same way as
all other table fields. Virtual fields are not shown with separate IDs in transactions TAANA and TAANA_AV.

All of the virtual fields you have already created for the relevant table are available for analysis variants or ad hoc variants.

For more information, see Analysis Variant and Performing Table Analysis.

Features
Create virtual field

For more information, see Creating Virtual Fields.

Displaying Virtual Field: All virtual fields you have created are listed in the left screen area, sorted according to table name.
To display a field in the right screen area, double-click on it.

Deleting a Virtual Field: Proceed as detailed under "Displaying a virtual field" and choose Edit Delete .

Creating Virtual Fields

Procedure

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1. The following alternative access options are available:

Enter the transaction TAANA_VF.

Enter transaction TAANA and choose Environment Virtual Fields .

Enter transaction TAANA_AV and choose Environment Virtual Fields .

2. Choose Edit New Entries and enter the name of the table for which you want to create virtual fields.

3. Enter a name for the new field. Make sure it is within your namespace.

4. Enter the data for the value determination, and technical attributes of the field.

5. Save your entries.

Data Archiving in SAP NetWeaver AS

The following table shows the archiving objects provided:

Objects in SAP NetWeaver Application Server Archiving Object

User changes US_USER

Authorization changes US_AUTH

Profile changes US_PROF

Work items WORKITEM

IDocs IDOC

Table changes BC_DBLOGS

Link Entries ArchiveLink ARCHIVELNK

Archive administration data BC_ARCHIVE

Change documents CHANGEDOCU

SAP product PRODUCT_MD

Archiving User and Authorization Changes (BC-ADM-SEC)

Archiving User and Authorization Changes (BC-ADM-SEC)

You can archive change documents of the following types that are generated in the course of user and authorization maintenance:

Users: Changes in assigned authorizations and other characteristics; changes in passwords

In transaction SU01 (user maintenance), choose the menu entry Environment → Archive and Read.

Profile: All changes

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In transaction SU02 (profile maintenance), choose the menu entry Environment → Archive and Read.

Authorizations: All changes

In transaction SU03 (authorization maintenance), choose the menu entry Environment → Archive and Read.

Archiving User Change Records (BC-ADM-SEC)

You can archive change records for the following changes to user master records:

Authorization changes and changes to other user characteristics

Changes to user passwords

Object Definition
The archiving object US_USER is used to archive password change records from table USH04. The object US_PASS archives
records of changes to user master records other than password changes. In this way, for example, changes in the authorizations in
a user master record are recorded. These recordings are stored in the USH02 table.

Technical Information
Unless you are archiving a large number of change records, an archiving run should have no significant effect on the performance
of your system. The user change records require the following memory space (uncompressed):

US_PASS password change records: 300 bytes

US_USER user change records: 100 bytes

Dependencies
When you archive user change records, it does not have any effect on other archivable data. There are no particular dependencies
or relationships between user change records and other archivable data.

You can use the archiving objects US_PASS and US_USER within the framework of Information Lifecycle Management. To be able
to do this, you must activate the related business functions. The system then shows the ILM Actions group box. Using these
actions, you can, for example, run archiving during which the system evaluates the retention periods entered in Information
Retention Manager. You can also create snapshots (copies) of data, and you can delete data that does not meet your criteria.

Space Criteria and Storage Duration

We recommend a storage duration of 10 years for all user and authorization change records.

Change records are archived according to the date that you specify. All records older than the date specified are archived. Old
archives are not automatically deleted.

Log
The log files generated by archiving and deleting records are stored in the SAP spool system. The archiving log records the number
of change records archived. The delete log lists the change records that were deleted after the archiving session.

Creating an Archive File

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Choose Tools → Administration → User Maintenance.Then choose Users,followed byEnvironment → Archive and Read, and then
the required archiving function.

The archiving function calls the standard archiving interface, where the correct archiving object is already specified.

You need only specify (or create) an appropriate report variant, specify the start time and printing specifications for the
background processing of the report, and schedule the report with Create job.

See also the documentation on the archiving procedure in general. You will find this documentation in the first section of this
document.

Executing the Deletion Program

You must explicitly delete archived records after an archiving session has been successfully completed. Be sure to check the
archiving log to be sure that the archiving session has been completed successfully. Also, be sure that you specify the same date
for the deletion program. Otherwise, too many or too few change records will be deleted.

Archiving Authorization Change Records (BC-ADM-SEC)

You can archive change records for all changes to authorizations.

Object Definition
The archiving object US_AUTH is used to archive change records for changes to authorizations from table USH12.

Technical Information
Unless you are archiving a large number of change records, an archiving run should have no significant effect on the performance
of your system. An authorization change record requires about 100 bytes (uncompressed).

Dependencies
Archiving authorization change records does not have any effect on other archivable data. There are no particular dependencies or
relationships between authorization change records and other archivable data.

You can use the archiving object US_AUTH within the framework of Information Lifecycle Management. To be able to do this, you
must activate the related business functions. The system then shows the ILM Actions group box. Using these actions, you can, for
example, run archiving during which the system evaluates the retention periods entered in Information Retention Manager. You can
also create snapshots (copies) of data, and you can delete data that does not meet your criteria.

Space Criteria and Storage Duration

We recommend a storage duration of 10 years for all user and authorization change records.

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Change records are archived according to the date that you specify. All records older than the date specified are archived. Old
archives are not automatically deleted.

Log
The log files generated by archiving and deleting records are stored in the SAP spool system. The archiving log records the number
of change records archived. The delete log lists the change records that were deleted after the archiving session.

Creating an Archive File

Choose Tools → Administration → User Maintenance.Then choose Manual Maintenance → Edit Authorizations Manually
(transaction SU03), followed by Utilities Archive and Read, and choose the archiving function.

The archiving function calls the standard archiving interface, where the correct archiving object is already specified.

You need only specify (or create) an appropriate report variant, specify the start time and printing specifications for the
background processing of the report, and schedule the report with Create job.

See also the documentation on the archiving procedure in general. You will find this documentation in the first section of this
document.

Executing the Deletion Program

You must explicitly delete archived records after an archiving session has been successfully completed. Be sure to check the
archiving log to be sure that the archiving session has been completed successfully. Also, be sure that you specify the same date
for the deletion program. Otherwise, too many or too few change records will be deleted.

Archiving Profile Change Records (BC-ADM-SEC)

You can archive change records for all changes to profiles.

Object Definition
The archiving object US_PROF is used to archive change records for changes to authorization profiles from table USH10.

Technical Information
Unless you are archiving a large number of change records, an archiving run should have no significant effect on the performance
of your system. A profile change record requires between 0.5 and 1 KB (uncompressed).

Dependencies
Archiving profile change records does not have any effect on other archivable data. There are no particular dependencies or
relationships between profile change records and other archivable data.

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You can use the archiving object US_PROF within the framework of Information Lifecycle Management. To be able to do this, you
must activate the related business functions. The system then shows the ILM Actions group box. Using these actions, you can, for
example, run archiving during which the system evaluates the retention periods entered in Information Retention Manager. You can
also create snapshots (copies) of data, and you can delete data that does not meet your criteria.

Space Criteria and Storage Duration

We recommend a storage duration of 10 years for all user and authorization change records.

Change records are archived according to the date that you specify. All records older than the date specified are archived. Old
archives are not automatically deleted.

Log
The log files generated by archiving and deleting records are stored in the SAP spool system. The archiving log records the number
of change records archived. The delete log lists the change records that were deleted after the archiving session.

Creating an Archive File

Choose Tools → Administration → User Maintenance.Then choose Manual Maintenance →Edit Authorizations
Manually(transaction code SU03), followed by Utilities → Archive and Read, and choose the archiving function.

The archiving function calls the standard archiving interface, where the correct archiving object is already specified.

You need only specify (or create) an appropriate report variant, specify the start time and printing specifications for the
background processing of the report, and schedule the report with Create job.

See also the documentation on the archiving procedure in general. You will find this documentation in the first section of this
document.

Executing the Deletion Program

You must explicitly delete archived records after an archiving session has been successfully completed. Be sure to check the
archiving log to be sure that the archiving session has been completed successfully. Also, be sure that you specify the same date
for the deletion program. Otherwise, too many or too few change records will be deleted.

Archiving Work Items

Definition

Archiving object WORKITEM for archiving and deleting work items.

Use

Archiving Work Items

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The system archives all data (not including runtime data) that belongs to a work item. You can display archived work items, but you
cannot reload them into a system.

You can only archive completed workflow work items. This involves archiving all work items that are dependent on this workflow
work item as well. A work item that depends on superordinate work items cannot be archived on its own.

You archive log data, workflow manager data, dependent work items and work item attachments (for example, graphics files).

The other objects in the container of a work item are archived only as references. They are not deleted.

Criteria for the Permissibility of Archiving

You can only archive those work items that have one of the following statuses:

Completed (COMPLETED)

The execution of the work item is completed.

Logically deleted (CANCELLED)

Execution of the work item is no longer useful or required for the workflow logic.

Structure
Archive Work Items

Choose Tools → Business Workflow or Development → Workflow and then Administration → Workflow Runtime→ Reorganization
→ Archive Work Item. For more information about the archiving procedure, see Executing Archiving.

To define the required variants, use the following selection criteria. This determines which work items to archive:

Work item ID (work item number)

Task ID

Actual agent of the work item

Searches only through the work item’s the header data. To search through all of the tables in the Work Item Repository,
select Repository Search.

Date when the work item was created

Date when the work item was completed

Deleting Archived Work Items

Choose Tools → Business Workflow or Development → Workflow and then Administration → Workflow Runtime→ Reorganization
→ Archive Work Item. For more information about the archiving procedure, see Executing Archiving.

You can specify whether the deletion program started after archiving is to run in test mode. You specify whether or not the deletion
program is started at all in the general Customizing settings for Archiving.

To directly Delete Work Items that have not been archived, choose Tools → Business Workflow or Development → Workflow and
then Administration → Workflow Runtime → Reorganization → Delete Work Item. For performance reasons, use the report
RSWWCIDE for container anchors (Type C work items).

 Note
If you want to delete work items that meet the archiving criteria but that you do not want to archive, you should nevertheless
archive them, as it is better performance-wise to use the delete program of the archiving object WORKITEM than to delete the

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work items directly. Carry out the archiving procedure and then delete the archive file containing the archived work items
manually in the file system.

Displaying Archived Work Items

Choose Tools → Business Workflow or Development → Workflow and then Administration → Workflow Runtime→ Reorganization
→ Archive Work Item. For more information about the archiving procedure, see Executing Archiving.

If you choose Evaluate, the report RSWWARCR is used for reading and displaying archived work items.

 Note
This report is only intended to be a template for your own customer-specific report, since the data selection from the archive
and the subsequent data formatting is generally customer-specific. The customer-specific adaptations are made after the
function module SWW_WI_LIST_ARCHIVED_READ is called.

Displaying Archived Work Items for an Object

The display of an archived work item is useful, for example, of you want to use the archive to determine the workflow followed to
release a specific document.

To display archived work items specific to an object, use the Archive Information System). The system automatically determines
the archive that contains the archived data. Otherwise you need to know the archive.

To use the archive information system, activate the archive information structure

SAP_O_2_WI_001. For more information, see Using the Archive Information System.

To display archived work items for an object, choose Tools → Business Workflow or Development → Workflow and then
Administration → Workflow Runtime→ Reorganization → Display Workflows from Archive. You can determine the archived
workflows for a given object.

The display is in the form of a restricted workflow log, without detailed data.

Note on the archive information structure

We recommend using the archive information structure SAP_O_2_WI_001. This is required if you use ABAP classes or XML objects.
If you are using only BOR objects, and are already using archive information structure SAP_BO_2_WI_001, you can continue to use
it. However, we recommend that you switch to the extended archive information structure SAP_O_2_WI_001.

To do this, you proceed as follows:

1. In transaction SARI, activate archive information structure SAP_BO_2_WI_001.

As a result, both archive information structures are available at the same time.

2. Fill the new structure for the available archive files in the Status Management of transaction SARI.

3. In transaction SARI, deactivate archive information structure SAP_BO_2_WI_001.

4. In Customizing of transaction SARI, delete the archive information structure SAP_BO_2_WI_001.

Integration
You specify technical values for the archiving session, such as name, path and maximum archive file size, as well as the settings for
the delete program, in Customizing for Archiving.

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Archiving IDocs

Use

IDocs are stored in several database tables. To keep these tables (and the access times) small (to reduce the database load)
without losing any IDocs, you can archive the IDocs at the operating system level. These archives can then be moved to external
storage media, such as disks (using ArchiveLink) or magnetic tape.

Prerequisites
In Customizing, you specify where the archive files are located physically (that is, which storage media are used). For more
information, see Cross-Application Components (CA) -> Archiving Application Data -> Introduction to Data Archiving ->
Customizing.

Activities
Displaying or changing the archivable status

When can I archive IDocs?

Archiving functions for IDocs

How are IDocs written to and read from archive files?

 Caution
Make sure that you do not archive IDocs that may still be needed by the application.

Deleting Links with IDocs

When do I delete IDoc links (for example, with application documents?

Archiving: Technical Realization

How does archiving work from a technical perspective?

More Information
Archiving Application Data

General archiving information

Displaying or Changing the Archivable Status

Context
Certain IDoc statuses are classified as archivable in the standard system, whilst others are not. You can display or change this
classification.

 Note
The current status of an IDoc must be archivable before the IDoc can be archived.

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Procedure
1. Choose the ALE Customizing transaction SALE Set Up System Monitoring IDoc Status Display Edit IDoc Status
Values (WE47) .

2. To change entries, choose .

3. Select the required status. By double-clicking you can call a detail screen, in which you can display or change the
archivability.

4. By using or you can display or change all statuses one after another.

Archiving Functions for IDocs

Use
Data is usually archived via the central transaction SARA. In the case of IDocs, the corresponding tables are addressed via the
archiving object IDOC.

Integration
Various processing methods are assigned to the IDOC archiving class: In the standard system, therefore, IDocs can be:

Archived

Deleted from the database

Reloaded from an archive: On the initial screen, choose Goto Reload

 Example
All of the IDocs generated by sales orders (message type ORDERS, IDoc inbound processing) in the month of January
are to be archived and subsequently deleted from the database tables. To do this, choose the "Archive" processing
method in the standard system and enter a time period and message type as report variants.

In addition, you can display the following:

Archive

Several IDocs are usually archived in one archive or archiving session, that is, the IDocs are grouped together in one
session. An archiving session is complete when the IDocs have been deleted from the database tables and exist only as
archive files.

The IDoc numbers of one or several archives or archive files

The IDocs (that is, control record, data- and status records) of one or several archives

IDocs from archives, that contain certain character strings (IDoc search)

This function is not a method of the IDOC archiving object, but rather an IDoc interface monitoring tool and hence only
available from the initial node.

Activities
You can also access the central transaction SARA by choosing Tools Administration Administration Data Archiving . Here
you enter the archiving object IDOC. When you select 'enter' the methods entered above are displayed for selection.

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In object-specific Customizing, you can define the maximum size of the archive files and that the table entries are to be be deleted
from the database immediately after the archive files have been generated. With large datasets this can improve the performance.

In the standard system, the IDocs are selected for archiving according to certain criteria, for example the time at which the IDocs
were last changed (new status record). You can also define your own selection criteria. For more information, see subsection
Archiving:Technical Implementation

Archiving and Deleting IDocs

Prerequisites
The IDocs to be archived have an archivable status.

Procedure
1. Go to the central archiving transaction with SAP Menu Administration System Administration Administration
Data Archiving (transaction code SARA) . If necessary, check the object-specific Customizing:

Here, for example, you can set the indicator "detailed statement" in the variant to the deletion program: If required, this can
be entered in the archiving log of each individual IDoc which is archived. However, this can lead to very large logs which do
not necessarily contain useful information.

2. Enter the archiving object IDOC and choose the required action, here .

A warning will be displayed if some of the archiving sessions for the archiving object IDoc are still incomplete. You can
ignore the warning but you then run the risk of possibly archiving some IDocs twice.

3. Define the start date of the archiving session and the spool parameters (print output).

The traffic lights should now be green, indicating that these parameters have been maintained. Please note that you can set
the archiving mode for the print output to Store Only and therefore avoid printing every individual archiving log. Enter the
object type IDOC as the attachment parameter and use the F4 Help to select a suitable document type for the object type.
Also enter a free text as additional information for the archiving report.

4. Choose to create a report variant. As selection parameters, enter the message type and a time period within which the
IDocs received their last, current status.

 Note
You can specify whether you want to perform this variant as a Test run or Production run, in the Process Flow segment
on the selection parameter screen. If you choose Test, you get statistics of the processed IDocs. For a detailed log, select
Detailed Log.

Choose and save your variant.

5. Return to the archiving screen and choose .

If you selected immediately as the start date in step 3, the message New archiving job was generated is displayed in the
message bar at the bottom of the screen.

6. You can check whether your archiving session is complete by selecting Job overview. If you choose Administration, an
overview of the completed and incomplete archiving runs is then displayed. If IDocs which match your selection parameters
were found in the database tables, your archiving session is displayed as a folder full of archive files.

7. If not defined differently in object-specific Customizing, your IDocs are still located in the database after archiving, that is,
your archiving session is incomplete. To delete the IDocs, you must schedule a deletion job with the appropriate variant.

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Choose the archive file from which the IDocs are to be deleted from the database.

Listing IDoc Numbers in Archive

Procedure

1. Choose Evaluate in the initial screen of the central archiving transaction.

2. Choose Execute.

The system displays the complete archiving sessions.

3. Select one or several sessions or files contained within and confirm your selection.

A list of IDocs from the archive files selected is displayed. As well as the IDoc number, the "logical" message, for example, is
output (output fields of report RSXARCR).

IDoc Search

Use
Users should be able to find IDocs not only by means of the address information or control information in the control record but
also according to the business data they contain. Questions like the following example should also be able to be answered: "Which
IDocs contain purchase orders for my material XY?"

The IDoc search function can be used to answer such questions. You can search for IDocs both in the database and in archive files.

Features

The function searches for character strings, that is, you must enter the value of a segment field as it appears in the field itself
(avoiding full stops and commas whenever possible).

You can enter a maximum of two values in two segment fields as selection criteria. If two values are entered, both must be present
in the IDoc in the corresponding segment fields for the IDoc to be included in the list of results (normal AND link in selection
fields).

You can also choose to only give the value instead of the segment field. This means that all data records (more precisely: the field
SDATA in the data records) are searched for in a non-structured manner in the character string, that is to say, the character string
which is found may span several segment fields.

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If you select Quick Search mode, the search can be limited to a maximum of one hit in each IDoc, that is, the system terminates
the search in the current IDoc after one hit.

The search can and should also be restricted by entering additional search criteria which require values from the control record (in
the same way as the other monitoring programs): creation time, partner and message, direction, and so on.

Activities
1. Choose transaction WE09 ( SAP Menu Tools IDoc Interface/ALE Administration Services IDoc Search by
Contents WE09 ).

2. Choose the Data Source button to specify whether you want to search for IDocs from the database or the archive (or both) .

3. If you have set the Archive flag, you can select files using the archive information system or manually.

 Note
To be able to search in the archive information system, you must have

Deleted the IDocs from the database (complete archiving session)

Created an archive info structure in the central transaction SARA

4. Specify all available selection parameters, to restrict the IDoc search as far as possible.

Archiving: Technical Implementation

Use
The IDoc archiving tools were developed with the Archive Development Kit ( ADK), which supports object-oriented programming
methods. This has led to the use of archiving object IDOC, which contains the necessary database tables and the archiving class
IDOC, which has the function modules required for processing.

The archiving object IDOC is accessed "from outside" using reports which (indirectly) call the ADK function modules. The selection
parameters for these reports are configured in the variant maintenance function for the central archiving transaction. The ADK
function modules, in turn, use the function modules from archiving class IDOC to access the database tables. The figure below
illustrates this object-oriented structure.

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All the function modules in the archiving class IDOC belong to the function group EDIA. This function group also includes the
function modules which the archiving programs use to call the ADK functions.

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 Caution
In computer literature, data and the corresponding functions are sometimes combined in classes (for example, in C++). As you
can see, the term "class", as used here, refers to the "archiving object" which contains the data (the lines in the database table),
as well as the "archiving class" IDOC, which contains the corresponding functions.

The reports supplied with the standard system can be used as sample reports to write your own reports with selection parameters
which meet your requirements. For more information about standard reports, see Archiving: Descriptions of Standard Reports.

Authorizations for IDoc Archiving

Use

 Note
You need only the general archiving authorization.

Archiving: Descriptions of Standard Reports

Use

The following section contains information about the initial reports and the function module which they call from the function
group EDIA. This function module, in turn, calls the ADK standard class function modules. The reports are addressed by the central
archiving transaction SARA.

In order to address programs through the central archiving transaction SARA, you must replace the standard reports with the
programs in transaction AOBJ.

Name Description Selection Parameters

RSEXARCA Writes IDocs to the archive.

Time at which the control record
Calls EDI_ARCHIVE_IDOCS. was last changed

Uses the subroutine Time of IDoc creation

INITIALIZE_STATUS_QUALITY
Current status
(function group EDIA) to check whether the
IDocs can be archived. Logical message

Direction

IDoc number

Partner

RSEXARCD Deletes archived IDocs from the database. Archive files from incomplete archiving
sessions
Calls EDI_DELETE_ARCHIVED_IDOCS.

RSEXARCR Reads IDocs from an archive. Archive files from complete archiving
sessions
Calls EDI_READ_IDOC _ARCHIVE. Displays
the following control record fields for each
IDoc:

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Logical message

Status

Date and time at which the control

record for the IDoc was last
changed

Direction

IDoc number

RSEXARCL Retrieves IDocs from the archive into the Archive files from complete archiving
database. Calls EDI_RELOAD_IDOC sessions
_ARCHIVE. Checks for client or IDoc
number conflicts via
IS_RELOADING_POSSIBLE (subroutine for
function group EDIA). Writes the new status
"35" for outbound IDocs, "71" for inbound
IDocs ("reloaded"). "Detailed statement"
indicator as for RSEXARCA.

RSEXARCI Creates index in table EDIDOCINDX. Calls None: Reads the archive files of the IDOC
ADK function module directly. object class.

RSEXARCJ Removes index in table EDIDOCINDX. Calls Date up to which the indexes should be
ADK function module directly. deleted.

Number of records after which a database

COMMIT should be transmitted.

Database Tables

Use

Definition

The IDOC archiving object for archiving IDocs consists of the following IDoc database tables:

Table Description

EDIDC Contains the IDoc control record

EDID4 Contains the IDoc data records

EDIDS Contains the IDoc data records

Deleting Links with IDocs

Context
As the IDoc number increases, not only the data records table gets bigger. The tables which contain links with application
documents, for example, also get bigger and from time to time should be emptied of obsolete entries.

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 Note
IDocs links are always archived with them.

Procedure

1. Start the program RSRLDREL.

2. Enter a suitable end date.

The end date is suitable if all links that were generated before are no longer needed. For example, if you have already
archived and deleted all IDocs before this date and the application documents are also archived, you no longer need the
corresponding links (exception: Application documents and IDocs are to be retrieved from the archive into the SAP
System).

3. Select Selection by link type and enter a link type. Also refer to the table below.

Alternatively, you can do the selection by object/role. If, for example, you want to delete all links with standard orders, then
you should make your selections according to object type BUS2032 (standard order) in the function APPLOBJ.

If you want to delete the following links... Then select the link type...

Application document with outbound IDoc IDC0

Inbound IDoc with application document IDC1

Outbound IDoc with application document in the target system IDC9

Inbound IDoc with application document from the upstream IDCB

system

Inbound IDoc with communication IDocs in distributed systems IDC2

Copy of an IDoc with its original IDC3 (inbound), IDC7 (outbound)

Inbound IDoc with outbound IDoc from the upstream system IDC4

IDoc with TID ( port type tRFC, ALE audit). Does not work with IDC8 (inbound), IDCA (outbound)
deletion criterion. Both objects not available.

Outbound IDoc with reference IDoc (type IDCREF01) IDRF

You want to delete links last. Choose Both objects not available. If now, for example, only the application document
is available, you can actually display the numbers of the linked IDocs from the document, but no longer the IDocs
themselves.

 Note
This option does not work for links with TIDs (for ALE audit) although they appear to be there.

You want to delete the links if at least one of the two objects is no longer there (option One object not available).
Then, for example, you can no longer display the numbers of IDocs that have already been deleted from an
application document.

You generally want to delete all links that meet the other selection criteria. Select Without existence check.

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You can perform a test run. Then the system only notifies you of the number of links that meet the selection criteria,
but does not delete them.

Data Aging for IDocs

The data aging object BC_IDOC supports data aging (see also Data Aging).

Use

IDocs are stored on the database in the tables EDIDC (control records), EDID4 (data records), and EDIDS (status records). To
relieve the working memory, IDocs can be moved from the HOT area to the COLD area depending on their status and time. This
procedure is called Data Aging for IDocs. The moved IDocs are still visible in the system, they can be deleted or archived but can
no longer be changed or processed. The aging object BC_IDOC contains the tables EDID4 (data records) and EDIDS (status
records).

Prerequisites
Your database must support data aging. Note the following in particular:

Prerequisites for Data Aging

Activities
1. Determining the Status

IDocs that are in a currently archivable status can be moved to the COLD area. You should check your IDocs for this
(Displaying or Changing the Archivable Status). IDocs that can still be processed are excluded from data aging. This affects
the following IDoc status values:

64 IDoc is ready to be transferred to the application

66 IDoc waiting for predecessor IDoc (serialization)

51 Application documentation not posted

75 IDoc is in the inbound queue

69 IDoc was edited

2. Maintaining the Residence Times

Only IDocs that were not changed or edited in the last 14 days are taken into consideration for data aging when using
standard settings. If, however, you want to use longer or shorter times, for example, for specific message types or partners,
use transaction Residence Times for Message Types or Partners (WEIDOCDAAG).

You can store different times for the following key fields:

Message type

IDoc Type

Enhancement

Sender or receiver report

Partner type

Partner number

Direction (inbound or outbound)

A more specific entry overwrites a less specific entry.

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Example

Table Field Example 1 Example 2

Message type ORDERS ORDERS

IDoc Type ORDERS04

Enhancement

Partner port MYREMOTE

Partner type

Partner number

Direction

Residence time 3 12

The example above shows the following case:

IDocs with the message type ORDERS should be taken into consideration for a data aging run after just 3 days (Example 1). In
contrast to this rule, IDocs of partner port MYREMOTE (sent as ORDERS04) are left in the HOT area for 12 days (Example 2).

Archiving Table Change Logs (BC-DWB-CUS)

Definition

The archiving object BC_DBLOGS is used for archiving Customizing table change logs. The SAP system logs Customizing table
changes if:

1. The Log Data Changes checkbox has been selected in the technical settings for the table.

2. Logging is active.

 Note
Logging can be activated and deactivated for a particular client using the profile parameter rec/client.

Use

We recommend that you archive the change logs periodically, for example, quarterly or annually.

Structure

The logs are saved in the table DBTABLOG. The archiving object archives this table only.

The following functions are available for BC_DBLOGS:

Function/Program Assignment

Function Program

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Write BC_DBLOGS_WRI

Delete RSLDARCH02

Read RSLDARCH03 (for the entire archiving session)

BC_DBLOGS_READ_AR_BY_INDEX

 Caution
Archiving automatically generates a comment in the
archiving session management entry. This comment
contains the time period that was archived. Do not
delete this text.

Read

For a read by program RSLDARCH03, the archive contents are

output in the form of a print list. You can evaluate and print the
table logs using the IMG Log (transaction SCU3).

For a read by program BC_DBLOGS_READ_AR_BY_INDEX, the

results are output in the form of an ALV Grid. Under Extras, you can
choose the data source from which the data is read. The options
that are available depend on whether you call the program in
archive management (transaction SARA) or in the ABAP Editor
(transaction SE38). Using the ABAP Editor, you can specify
whether the data is read from the database or from the archive. If
you choose to access the archive, then you can either select the
archived data manually, or you can read the data from the Archive
Information System based on an index. The prerequisite for reading
the data from the Archive Information System is that you have
activated the info structure SAP_BC_DBLOGS in transaction SARI.
This info structure is filled automatically after each archiving run.
However, you can also generate it explicitly in transaction SARI.

Integration

This archiving object does not depend on any other archiving

objects.

Log entries are archived independently of the client.

You can use the archiving object BC_DBLOGS within the framework
of Information Lifecycle Management. To be able to do this, you
must activate the related business functions. The system then
shows the ILM Actions group box. Using these actions, you can, for
example, run archiving during which the system evaluates the
retention periods entered in Information Retention Manager. You
can also create snapshots (copies) of data, and you can delete data
that does not meet your criteria.

Technical Data (BC-BEW-CTL)

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Technical Data (BC-BEW-CTL)

An internal run-time analysis run in a highly-loaded development system showed that ca 100.000 log entries are archived in an
hour.

Variant Settings for Archiving (BC-DWB-CUS)

Use
Archiving checklist

Features
In the change logs, you specify which time interval is archived. You must specify the date and time of the beginning and end of the
time interval.

The system shows the ILM Actions group box if you are using the archiving object in Information Lifecycle Management and have
fulfilled the prerequisites for this (for example, you have activated the corresponding business functions). You can use these
actions to archive data during which, for example, the retention periods entered in the Information Retention Manager can be
evaluated. Additionally, you can create snapshots (copies) of data or destroy data that matches the requirements.

Under Log Settings you can specify the type of log (a complete detailed log or a partial log) and the type of log output. You can also
enter a comment for the archiving session. For more information, see Logs.

Archiving Object-Specific Customizing (BC-DWB-CUS)

Archiving Object-Specific Customizing (BC-DWB-CUS)

Use

Archiving Object-Specific Customizing

Activities

A data object is defined as 1.000 table entries for the object BC_DBLOGS for the input field Maximum no. of data objects in the
group box Archive file size.

By contrast, the Commit counter in the group box Deletion program settings refers to table entries not data objects.

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Archiving Link Entries (BC-SRV-ARL)

Archiving Link Entries (BC-SRV-ARL)

Definition

The archiving object ARCHIVELNK is used to archive ArchiveLink link entries.

Use

A link entry is a unique reference from a document stored in an external storage system (using ArchiveLink) to a business object
generated in the SAP application component.

To create the link between the business objects in the SAP application and the documents in the external storage system, you
must carry out the following administrative tasks in the SAP System:

Definition of document types

Definition of storage systems

Assignment of document types and object types to storage systems and link tables

The business object is assigned to the corresponding stored document in the link table in the database.

You can specify an expiry date for each link entry. When the expiry date is reached, you can archive the link entry/entries and
delete them from the database using the ADK archiving transaction.

Structure

When you implement the archiving object ARCHIVELNK , data from the various ArchiveLink link tables is archived. For information
on table names and the number and names of link entries, choose Tools → Business Documents, → Miscellaneous → Stored
Documents → Stored documents → Expiry date → Display or Analyze.

The following functions are available for ARCHIVELNK :

Action Report

Archive OAARCH04

Delete OAARCH06

Reading OAARCH05

To call the transaction for archiving link entries, choose Tools → Administration → Administration → Archiving .

Application Customizing (BC-SRV-ARL)

Use
As well as basic Customizing for archiving, you must make settings in ArchiveLink basic Customizing for the generation of link
entries:

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Maintain document types and classes

Maintain storage systems

Maintain links and link tables

You must also define retention times for the link entries.

Features
ArchiveLink Basic Customizing

For information about ArchiveLink Customizing, see Basic Customizing. You can also find the IMG activities for ArchiveLink in the
Implementation Guide (IMG), under SAP Web Application Server → Basis Services → ArchiveLink → Basic Customizing.

Retention Times for Link Entries

You should maintain retention times when you maintain the links. The retention period is the number of months after which a link
entry for a stored document can be removed from the link table.

Activities
For more information on setting or changing the retention period, see Setting Retention Periods (BC-SRV-ARL).

Setting Retention Periods (BC-SRV-ARL)

Setting Retention Periods (BC-SRV-ARL)

1. Choose Links, and enter the required retention period in months in the field Retention period.

2. Choose Tools → Business Documents → Miscellaneous → Stored Documents → Stored documents → Expiry date →
Change

3. Enter the required business object.

4. Enter the corresponding document type.

5. Specify whether or not it is a test run.

6. If it is a test run, a list of all the link entries with the newly calculated expiry date is displayed.

To change the expiry date, you need administration authorization for ArchiveLink (see Authorizations).

7. Choose Program → Execute.

A message confirming that the deletion date has been re-calculated is displayed.

Archiving Archive Administration Data (BC-CCM-ADK)

Definition
You can use archiving object BC_ARCHIVE to archive and delete archive administration data.

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Use
You can use this archiving object to store information about archiving sessions that were selected for archiving in the management
of archiving objects.

Structure
Tables

The archiving object BC_ARCHIVE consists of the following tables, from which data is archived and deleted (valid for both ADK and
XML archiving objects):

Table Description

ADMI_RUN Header data for archiving sessions

ADMI_FILES Archive files for archiving sessions

ADMI_VARIA Content of archiving program variant

ADMI_SKIP Address of data objects that should be skipped

<Info-Tab> Archive file info table for an archiving object

ADMI_XRUN Archive files for archiving sessions of XML archiving objects

ADMI_XDOCS Resources (XML Archiving)

In addition, the archiving object uses the archiving class TEXT, which covers the following tables:

Table Table name

STXB SAPscript: Texts in non-SAPscript format

STXH STXD SAPscript text-file header

STXL STXD SAPscript text-file lines

Programs

BC_ARCHIVEis shipped with the following programs:

Program Function

BC_ARCHIVE_PRE Preprocessing

RSAADMAR Write

RSAADMLO Delete

RSAADMRL Reload

See also:

Archive Administration Data (BC-CCM-ADK)

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Reloading Data

Variant Settings for Preprocessing (BC-CCM-ADK)

Use
You can use this program to set the To Be Archived indicator for several archiving sessions through mass processing. The program
can process archiving sessions for ADK and XML archiving objects.

Features
Selection Criteria

Under Archiving Sessions you can restrict the sessions to be marked using the following criteria:

Archiving Session

Number of the archiving session

Archiving Object

Archiving object to which the session belongs

Further Selection Criteria

Under Further Selection Criteria you can use additional criteria to further restrict your selection:

Date of Archiving Session

Creation date of the archiving session

Started by

User that started the archiving session

Additional Selection Criteria for ADK Archiving Objects

For ADK archiving objects you can enter the following additional selection criteria:

Stored in Archive System

Of the selected sessions, the program only marks those sessions for archiving, for which all archive files have been stored in
the storage system.

Sessions without Accessible Files

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Of the selected sessions the program only marks those sessions for archiving for which no archive files are accessible in
the file system and for which no archive file has been stored in the storage system.

Additional Selection Criteria for XML Archiving Objects

For XML archiving objects you can enter the following additional selection criteria:

Sessions without Accessible Resources

Of the selected sessions the program only marks those sessions for archiving for which no accessible resources exist.

Additional Settings

The Processing Control, Log Options, and Archiving Session Note settings are standard settings that also apply to archiving
objects. For more information see the general archiving documentation under Variant Maintenance for Archiving Jobs.

See also:

Archiving Archive Administration Data (BC-CCM-ADK)

Variant Settings for Writing (BC-CCM-ADK)

Use

When you schedule the write program you must enter an already existing variant or create a new one. The variant contains
selection criteria for the administration data that you want to archive.

Features

Further Selection Criteria

Here you can enter criteria to select the data to be archived. The selection can take place using the client and the archiving object.

Additional Settings

The processing options, the log options, and the archiving session note are standard settings that also apply to other archiving
objects. For more information see the general archiving documentation under Variant Maintenance for Archiving Jobs.

See also:

Archiving Archive Administration Data (BC-CCM-ADK)

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Variant Settings for Reloading (BC-CCM-ADK)

Use
You can use this function to reload archive administration data that was archived using archiving object BC_ARCHIVE back to the
database.

Prerequisites
Archiving sessions must exist for which the delete program ran in production mode.

Features
Further Selection Criteria

Here you can select the data to be reloaded. You can make your selection based on Client or Archiving Object.

Additional Settings

The Processing Options, the Log Options, and the Log Output option are standard settings that are also valid for other archiving
objects. For more information see the general documentation under Variant Maintenance for Archiving Jobs.

Activities
After you have reloaded the data, the system removes the To Be Archived indicator, so that the reloaded information is displayed
directly in Archive Administration (Archive Administration, Management Action). The system does not create a new archiving
session during reloading. Instead, the archiving session for which the data was reloaded remains in Archive Administration under
Completed Archiving Sessions and can still be evaluated there.

After reloading has been completed, the system issues a list of reloaded administration data.

See also:

Archiving Archive Administration Data (BC-CCM-ADK)

Reloading Data

Archive Administration Data (BC-CCM-ADK)

Setting the To Be ArchivedIndicator

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Before you can archive the administration data of archiving sessions, you must indicate that these sessions are ready to be
archived. You have two options for setting this indicator:

manually (for individual sessions)

automatically (for several sessions; mass processing)

Setting the To Be Archived Indicator Manually

1. Call Archive Administration (transaction SARA) and enter the archiving object for which you want to archive administration
data.

2. Choose Management to display the relevant administration data.

3. Double click the desired archiving session and in the dialog box that appears choose the change mode.

4. Choose the To Be Archived indicator. Sessions for which you set the indicator in this manner appear subsequently as
Archiving Sessions Marked for Deletion in Archive Administration.

Setting the To Be Archived Indicator Automatically

If you want to archive the administration data of several archiving sessions, it is recommended that you set the To Be Archived
indicator automatically through the preprocessing program. The program can process archiving sessions of ADK and XML
archiving objects. You can select the archiving sessions to be archived in the selection screen of the preprocessing program, see
Variant Settings for Preprocessing (BC-CCM-ADK).

Archiving the Administration Data

In Archive Administration enter the archiving object BC_ARCHIVE and schedule archiving as usual.

 Caution
You can only archive administration data if no further jobs exist for the selected sessions. This means that there may not be any
entries left in the job overview of the archiving object.

Result

The archiving session you started writes the selected session information to one archive and deletes it from the database (whether
or not the data is deleted depends on the Customizing settings for the automatic start of the delete program, and the variant you
chose). The new archiving session then appears in the archive administration data of BC_ARCHIVE.

Archiving Change Documents (BC-SRV-ASF-CHD)

Background
Application programs write change documents for statutory or technical reasons. They must sometimes be retained for a long
time. Documents which no longer require direct access can be archived, to reduce the database load. They are then saved in these
archives for the statutory or technically-required period.

Technical Implementation

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The archiving tools for change documents were developed with the Archive Development Kit (ADK), which supports object-
oriented programming methods. This refers to the archiving object CHANGEDOCU that contains the required database tables and
the archiving class CHANGEDOCU with the function modules to process them. If you want to access the archiving object
CHANGEDOCU, you have to use a report. All of the function modules in the CHANGEDOCU archiving class belong to the SCD5
function group. This function group also includes the function modules which the archiving programs use to call the ADK
functions.

Database tables
The CHANGEDOCU archiving object for archiving change documents contains the following database tables:

Table Description

CDKEYTAB Virtual table with the object key (only in archive, not in database)

CDHDR Change document header in the database

CDPOS Change document items in the database

CDPOS_UID Change document item key per table, if it is > 70 characters.

CDPOS-TBAKEY contains the UID for this entry.

CDPOS_STR The change document item for STRING fields in CDPOS-TBAKEY

then contains the UID for this entry.

Authorizations
If you want to archive, you need authorization for:

Archiving in general

For more information, see User Authorization Checks

Integration

You can display archived change documents with the Archive Explorer (transaction SARE).

To display each table in archiving object CHANGEDOCU using the Archive Information System, you need an information structure
based on the standard field catalog SAP_CHANGEDOCU1 delivered by SAP. The information structure must be set up and active.

For more information about information structures, see also Using the Archive Information System.

Variant Settings for Writing (BC-SRV-ASF-CHD)

Use

When you schedule the write program you must enter an already existing variant or create a new one. The variant contains
selection criteria for the change documents that you want to archive.

Features

Selecting Documents

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In the Change Documents frame, you can select the documents you want to archive based on the following criteria:

Change doc. Object

Name of the change document whose entries are to be archived, such as ADRESSE

Object value

Value assigned to the change document object, such as BC010000002852

Further Selection Criteria

Here you can further restrict the set of documents to be archived:

From Date

Date as of which the change was executed

To Date

Date up to which the change was executed

From Time

Time as of which the change was executed

To Time

Time until the change was executed

Transaction code

Name of the transaction in which the change took place

Changed by (User Name)

Name of the user, who made the changes

Additional Settings

The processing options, the log options, and the archiving session note are standard settings that also apply to other archiving
objects. For more information see the general archiving documentation under Variant Maintenance for Archiving Jobs.

See also:

Creating Archive Files

Descriptions of Standard Reports

Use
This is an overview of the archiving programs to write, read, delete and reload change document data.

 Caution
These programs only archive the change document data. Connections to master data arh lost.

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If you want to archive the change document data with its master data, the developers of these archiving objects must put the
archiving class CHANGEDOCU in their archiving object.

CHANGEDOCU_WRI Change documents: Write program

CHANGEDOCU_DEL Change documents: Deletion program

CHANGEDOCU_READ Read selected change documents from the database or from the
archive

CHANGEDOCU_REL Change documents: Reload program

RSSCD7AR Change documents - Write program

CHANGEDOCU_WRI

The data for the archive object CHANGEDOCU is written from the database into the archive.

You can specify the following selection parameters:

Change document object

(CDHDR-OBJECTCLAS e.g. MATERIAL)

Object value

CDHDR- OBJECTID e.g. 000000000000004711)

From Date

To Date

From Time (HH:MM:SS)

From Time (HH:MM:SS)

Transaction Code

User name of changer

In the flow control, choose:

Test mode

(No archiving - only simulation and output of the statistics)

Production Mode

(actual archiving)

In the detail log, you can choose:

No detail log

No success messages

Complete

In the log output, you can choose:

List

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Application log

List and application log

You can enter a name for this archiving session, in the archiving session notes.

CHANGEDOCU_DEL

Deletes the change documents from the tables CDHDR, CDPOS, CDPOS_UID (from SAP Basis Release 6.20), CDPOS_STR (from
SAP Basis Release 7.0), which were archived in a selected archive.

Flow Control:

Test mode

(no deletion from DB - simulation and output of statistics)

Production Mode

(Delete from DB)

CHANGEDOCU_READ

Displays the change documents from the tables CDHDR, CDPOS, CDPOS_UID (from SAP Basis Release 6.10), CDPOS_STR (from
SAP Basis Release 7.0), which were archived in a selected archive, or saved in the database.

There are two ways to selecta a data source:

Database

Archive

Selection of archived change documents:

Change document object

(CDHDR-OBJECTCLAS e.g. MATERIAL)

Object value

(CDHDR- OBJECTID e.g. 000000000000004712)

Transaction Code

User name of changer

Time restriction:

From Date

To Date

From Time (HH:MM:SS)

From Time (HH:MM:SS)

Changed document caused by:

User

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Transaction Code

CHANGEDOCU_REL

Reads the archived data in selected archives and writes it (fills the chabge document data) in the database tables CDHDR, CDPOS,
CDPOS_UID, CDPOS_STR. Duplicate entries are prevented.

You select the archives from among those offered. (Your archiving session names are useful here).

Archiving Long Text Logs (BC-SRV-ASF-AT)

Definition
Archiving of logged long texts with the archiving object S_AUT_LTXT.

 Note
The archiving object LO_CHVW has been revised within the framework of a project to standardize and optimize data archiving.
You can use the standardized archiving object by activating the business function Data Archiving: Standardization of Archiving
Objects (DA_ARCHOBJ_STANDARD_1). For more information see Data Archiving: Standardization of Archiving Objects or refer
to the business function documentation in the Switch Framework (transaction SFW5).

Use
A complete archiving cycle has the following 3 main steps:

Executing the preprocessing program:

The data to be archived is prepared for the write program.

Generating the archive files:

With the help of the write program, the long texts to be archived are sequentially written to newly generated archive files.
Note that archiving is client-dependent.

Executing the deletion program:

Once the long texts to be archived have been completely written to the archive files, the deletion program removes them
from the database. For security reasons, the system first reads the archived data, and does not start the deletion run until
this read operation has been completed successfully.

 Recommendation
SAP recommends that you perform the Delete Long Text Logs function (program S_AUT_DEL) prior to the start of archiving.
As a result, you ensure that irrelevant data records are not archived.

You should reload archived data into the database only in exceptional circumstances. For example, it may be necessary to reload
data if you discovered immediately after archiving that too much or the wrong data was archived. This data should be reloaded as
soon as possible after archiving has been carried out.

 Caution
After a release upgrade or code page switch, a reload of archived long texts may lead to a loss of data, and therefore must not
be carried out.

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The reload program cannot be started if data of a non-archived preprocessing program exists. If necessary, discard this data
using the program S_AUT_ARCH_UNDO.

When you reload archived data, note that active info structures for the reloaded archive files must be manually deconstructed
(transaction SARI Status ).

The archiving programs use the Codepage information to format the data. A different data conversion may be required depending
on the current code page at the time of long text logging.

 Caution
If you changed the code page of the systems (for example as a result of an upgrade from SAP R/3 4.6C to SAP ERP including a
switchover to a two-byte Unicode code page), you have to record in the system the time at which this code page switch took
place. Specifying the wrong code page may result in loss of data.

You record the change in the code page in Customizing under SAP NetWeaver Application Server System Administration
Evaluation of Table Changes Document Code Page Migrations .

Structure

The archiving object S_AUT_LTXT archives the following tables:

AUT_D_STXH_ARCH

AUT_D_STXL_ARCH

The following programs are available for the archiving object:

Function Program:

Preprocessing S_AUT_ARCH_PRE

Write S_AUT_ARCH_WRI

Delete S_AUT_ARCH_DEL

Reload (to be run in exceptional cases only) S_AUT_ARCH_REL

Variant Settings for the Preprocessing Program (BC-SRV-ASF-

AT)

Use
The preprocessing program prepares the long text data for the write program, in order to save time during the writing of the
archive files.

Features
On the selection screen of the preprocessing program, you can enter an end date for archiving in the Long Text Logs area. All the
long texts that were created up to this date are prepared for archiving.

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 Caution
This date must be in the past. In addition, it cannot fall in a period for which long texts were already archived.

You can enter a package size in the Options area. This defines the intervals (measured in number of long texts) in which changed
data is permanently stored on the database. If the packet size is too high, the program may terminate. The optimal value depends
on the configuration of your database system. The default value in the system is 1000.

Information on the other general selection options is available under Variant Maintenance for Archiving Jobs.

If data exists that resulted from a previous preprocessing program, but was not archived, the preprocessing program cannot be
restarted. A restart of the preprocessing program is only possible once this data has been removed from the system. This can be
done either by ending the archiving cycle that was started (write program and deletion program), or by discarding the data of the
preprocessing program using program S_AUT_ARCH_UNDO.

Variant Settings for the Write Program (BC-SRV-ASF-AT)

Use
The write program writes the long texts to archive files.

Prerequisites

It is essential that the preprocessing program has been completely finished before the write program is run.

Features
On the selection screen of the write program, you can choose between test and production mode in the Processing Options area.

If the write program of the archiving object is executed in test mode, the system only simulates the archiving in accordance with
the selection criteria you entered. An archive file is not created. You receive statistics on the table entries that would have been
written to the archive in production mode, as well as the size and number of archive files that would have been created.

In production mode of the write program for the archiving object, the system creates archive files in accordance with your
selection criteria. You receive statistics on the table entries that were written to the archive, as well as the size and number of
archive files that were created.

In addition, you can enter a comment on the archiving run, which for example contains information about the archived periods.
This comment appears at the following points:

In the overview of archiving runs in archive administration (transaction SARA). It can also be changed here.

During manual selection of archive files (e.g. evaluation programs). Here it facilitates selection of the archive files.

If you are using the archiving object within the framework of Information Lifecycle Management and the prerequisites for this are
satisfied (such as activation of the associated business functions), the ILM Actions frame is also shown. With the aid of these
actions, you can carry out an archiving in which the retention periods defined in the Information Retention Manager are
evaluated. Furthermore, you can make snapshots (copies) of data or destroy data that satisfies the appropriate criteria.

More Information
Variant Maintenance for Archiving Jobs
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Variant Settings for the Deletion Program (BC-SRV-ASF-AT)

Use
Once the data objects have been written to the archive files, they are deleted from the database.

Features
It is essential that the write program has been completely finished before the deletion program is run. Here, you can schedule the
deletion program per archive file. You can do this manually or automatically. While the write program is running, you are not able to
start the deletion program.

 Note
In the Implementation Guide, you can enter specifications regarding the running of the deletion program for the archiving
object under SAP NetWeaver Application Server System Administration Data Archiving Archiving-Object-Specific
Customizing .

As in the write program, on the selection screen of the deletion program, you can choose between test and production mode in the
Processing Options area.

If you execute the deletion program of the archiving object in test mode, data is not deleted from the database; the deletion is only
simulated. You receive statistics on the table entries that would have been deleted from the database in production mode.

If you execute the deletion program of the archiving object in production mode, the archived data is deleted from the database. You
receive statistics about the deleted table entries.

Tracking Details for Archiving

Use

If you want to track details of the archiving, you can use the transaction S_AUT10 in enhancement mode to carry out an evaluation
of the logs of the table AUT_D_ARCH_HIST.

Prerequisites

In the standard system, logging is not active for AUT_D_ARCH_HIST. If you want to use this function, you must use the
transaction S_AUT01 to activate table logging for the table AUT_D_ARCH_HIST.

Features
In the evaluation of the table logs, you get the following detailed information:

Selection data of the preprocessing program (what data was included in this run)

Status of the archiving run: Empty (does not contain any data), Preprocessing Program Executed, Deletion Program
Executed or Reload Program Executed

Number of the archiving run in the Archive Development Kit (ADK)

Date/Time/User who ran the preprocessing, write, or deletion program or the program S_AUT_ARCH_UNDO

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Evaluating Archived Long Texts

Use
You can display the archived long texts using the Archive Explorer of the Archive Information System. You can also access archived
texts directly from the transaction S_AUT10.

Prerequisites
For you to be able to carry out evaluation using the Archive Explorer, at least one archive info structure must be active and fully set
up.

Features
Archive Explorer

SAP supplies the archive info structure SAP_S_AUT_LTXT as the minimum instance of an archive info structure. For the archiving
object S_AUT_LTXT, the field catalog SAP_S_AUT_LTXT is available. On the basis of this, you can create your own info
structures, if you want to select further fields.

If the archive info structure was not active at the time of archiving, you must set it up manually (in the transaction SARI under
Status).

For the evaluation of referenced long texts, there must be no period for which data exists on the database that is followed by a
period for which data is archived. The program determines the long text on the basis of the data in the archive. Under these
conditions, it cannot be guaranteed that the displayed texts are correct. For example, the system could display a long text that
resulted from a later change, because this is the next available change in the archive. Archive the reloaded period again, or take
organizational measures to ensure that the reference target of a long text does not fall within the reloaded period.

Direct Access

In enhancement mode of the transaction S_AUT10, under Long Text Logs you can directly access the archived long texts. To do so,
specify that the system is to read from the archive when you choose the data source. You will find further information on the
transaction S_AUT10 under Evaluation of Logged Data.

Table COEP

Definition
A table used to store CO object, line items.

Use
The procedure described here provides an aid to dealing with the table COEP if it grows too quickly or if there are data quantity
problems within the table.

Structure
Often CO objects are mentioned in connection with cost accounting data, whereby these could be any object that produces data in
cost accounting (CO data). Examples of these are cost centers, internal orders, sales document items (items in sales orders), cost
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objects, production orders, and so on.

Central elements are the master record, totals records and line items.

The master record is stored in different tables, depending on the respective application. The master records concerned can be
found in the following tables:

Table

Internal orders AUFK

sales document items VBAP, VBAK

The master records contain, for example, a short text to the object and organizational data, such as controlling area, company
code and plant. The object currency is often also stored in the master record or is derived from information in the master record.

Totals records and line items in cost accounting are stored in the same tables for all applications. The totals for the primary costs,
for example, are all stored in table COSP regardless of whether they belong to a cost center or a sales order.

Characteristics of an object

Orders, sales document items or cost centers can be described as object types.

The connection of an object to its CO data is given by the general object number (OBJNR field in the CO tables, such as COEP-
OBJNR). This field provides you with information about the object type and, if needed, about the object key (such as the order
number).

Integration
To analyze table COEP and determine the appropriate archiving object to use, proceed as follows:

1. Carry out a table analysis using the programs RARCCOA1 and RARCCOA2. For more information see table analysis using
the programs RARCCOA1 and RARCCOA2.

2. Check the possibilities you have for avoiding data. Does a line item summarization come into question and/or can you
deactivate the reconciliation objects? For more information, see data avoidance.

3. Determine the appropriate archiving object that suits your requirements. To help you decide, ask yourself the following
questions:

Which archiving objects are already being used or are planned?

What is to be archived using the archiving object CO ITEM?

What can be archived using the archiving object CO ALLO ST?

For more information, see determining archiving objects.

Table Analysis Using the Programs RARCCOA1 and RARCCOA2

Use
The programs RARCCOA1 and RARCCOA2 help you choose the archiving object to be used to remove certain CO data. These
programs count the number of entries in the CO tables (COEP, COSP, ...) and assign them uniquely to an archiving object. A list is
then displayed detailing the quantity of data that exists for each object type, controlling area and fiscal year.
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Procedure
1. Check (for example using transaction SA38) whether the programs RARCOOA1 and RARCCOA2 exist in your system. If
they are not in your system, you can import them as described in SAP note 138688.

2. Execute program RARCCOA1. On the CO Table Analysis - Generate Data Extract selection screen, select at least the table
COEP.

As the program looks at all the table entries, this can take some time. It could be advisable to schedule the program as a batch job.
The program generates a data extract, it does not display a list. It is difficult to estimate how long the program can run. Experience
has shown that it can run 5 hours for 80 million COEP entries.

If you have a test system that is an exact copy of your productive system, you should execute the program in the test system. It is
of no matter if the data is not exactly up-to-date, as long as it is not more than two months old. More accurate statements can only
be made on the basis of the productive system.

 Note

For Oracle databases we recommend that you run the program at a time when as few postings as possible are being carried
out, otherwise it might lead to error ORA-1555. If this error occurs, you should reschedule the program. The second time it
generally runs without any errors.

1. Analyze the data using program RARCCOA2. Start this program in dialog. It reads the dataset generated by program
RARCCOA1 and presents it correspondingly. This program has a runtime of only a few seconds.

Result
A list is displayed in which the archiving objects that could archive data from CO tables are listed with the number of entries
contained in these tables. The archiving objects listed represent certain object types (or object category or applications). You
should not use this list to decide which archiving object to use, as the system, for example, can not decide how long data is
required. First carry out data avoidance and then determine the archiving objects .

Data Avoidance

Use
It is usually far more efficient to avoid accumulating large amounts of data than to archive these large amounts of data.

 Note

For the COEP table you can use the line item summarization. This does not have an immediate effect on the dataset as it only
affects future postings and old documents are not adjusted. For more information, see the SAP note 147766.

You can not use the line item summarization if you are using transfer prices.

Selected fields no longer appear in the line item report as a result of the line item summarization.

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Prerequisites
Before you attempt data avoidance, you should carry out a table analysis using the programs RARCCOA1 and RARCCOA2 . For
more information about which archiving object comes into question to meet your requirements, see table COEP .

Procedure
To find out which summarization would have the greatest effect, proceed as follows:

1. Determine how many entries in the table COEP have the value "COIN" in the VRGANG field. Only these line items can be
summarized. If only a small percentage of the COEP entries are COIN entries, a document summarization is not very useful.

2.

In the COBK-SUMBZ field you can see how many lines each document has. The line item summarization reduces the
number of document lines not the number of documents. We only recommend this you do this if the value in the COBK-
SUMBZ field is very high.

3. In the table COBK, determine how many entries for each AWTYP field value. Ignore "AWTYP initial". Note the values in the
AWTYP field for which there are the most entries. These entries are the interesting reference operations for the line item
summarization.

4. Use the program RARCCOA2 to determine the object types for which there is the most data. You can adjust the list in such
a way, that the data is totaled per object type and not per archiving object. (The object type comes under Type in the list).
The two-character code for the object type (such as AO, OR, KS) is interesting for the line item summarization.

5. Read SAP note 147766 and enter the appropriate entries using transaction OKBI. If possible select all those fields that you
do not really need in the CO line item report.

 Note

Ensure that you can branch to the source document from the CO line item report. You can access the complete information in
the source document.

Result
You can use these analyses to go directly to determining archiving objects .

Determining Archiving Objects

Prerequisites
Before you continue with this procedure, you should first have carried out data avoidance and then table analysis using the
programs RARCCOA1 and RARCCOA2. For more information about the process, see Table COEP.

Context
Using table analysis, you can determine which archiving objects can be used to archive COEP entries.

Procedure

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1. Only examine those archiving objects that cover the largest amount of data. As a general rule, two or three archiving objects
will cover 90% of the data.

2. You may already be using one of these objects. If this is the case, proceed as follows:

a. Archive your data using this object, then repeat table analysis. Execute program RARCCOA1 again. Much less data
should now appear in the list produced by RARCCOA2.

b. If the list produced by RARCCOA2 for this object still contains a large amount of data, you should try to extend
archiving with this object. For example, reduce the residence times or extend the selection criteria. You should, of
course, consult with the departments concerned before doing so.

c. If the previous step did not produce any significant reduction, and if you no longer require the CO line items for the
respective object type, designate the object type for CO_ITEM archiving.

For more information, see Archiving CO Line Items (CO).

3. You may be planning to carry out archiving for one of the objects (still) being examined. You should try to prioritize this with
a view to the dataset in table COEP. It would probably be more effort to use CO_ITEM in addition.

4. If the archiving object CO_COSTCTR appears in the list with an appreciable amount of data, you should also consider the
archiving object CO_ALLO_ST. Proceed as follows:

a. Start program RARCCOAA. It is advisable to execute this program in the background at a time when system activity
is low.

b. The program generates a list of entries in the tables COEP and COEJ that belong to allocation documents which
have been completely reversed. If an appreciable number of entries is displayed, you should use the archiving object
CO_ALLO_ST.

You can use CO_ALLO_ST in real time without problems. The archived documents are reversed documents from cost
accounting and are no longer of import. Such documents are created when assessments, distributions, and so on are
repeated.

5. If a significant number of entries still appears in the RARCCOA2 list, or if you designated object types (see above) to be
archived with CO_ITEM, you should now use the archiving object CO_ITEM. Create a list of object types to be archived
using CO_ITEM. You can use the RARCCOA2 list and cross out everything that has already been dealt with by other
archiving objects.

Archiving CO Line Items (CO)

Definition

Archiving object CO_ITEM for archiving cost accounting line items. Totals records are not archived.

Use
For every transaction that includes a controlling object ( for example, order, cost center), the system automatically stores a CO line
item as a document. These line items exist in addition to the settlement or financial accounting documents.

When CO objects are archived, the CO line items belonging to the object are also archived. Hence, there is usually no need to
explicitly archive CO line items. However, if you are running out of space in tables COEP or COBK, for example, in long-running
orders, you can use archiving object CO_ITEM to archive CO line items explicitly.

The table analysis of table COEP provides guidance for selecting a suitable archiving object. For more information, see Table COEP
.

Constraints

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The system does not archive CO line items that meet the following conditions:

CO line items that are down payments (value types 12, 58, 59, 61, 63)

CO line items for parked documents (value type 60)

CO line items for investment measures with line item settlement

CO line items of the current period or future actual period

CO line items of the current period or future planned financial year

CO line items that were distributed using ALE

In the system in which the document was recorded, line items distributed usingALEare not archived. You can delete these
line items with report RKADELIT. In theSAPmenu, choose Accounting Controlling Cost Element
Accounting,thenEnvironment ALE Delete ALP Line Items.

The copies in the respective receiving system are archived.

 Note
Local Currency Changeover

We recommend that you do not archive line items of the current fiscal year before the local currency changeover.

Instead of CO_ITEM, we recommend selecting those CO objects whose line items are supposed to be archived.
CO_ITEM archives CO line items across all CO applications. By selecting specific CO objects, you can keep the runtime
of the local currency changeover to a minimum.

 Example
If you only want to archive cost center or order line items, you can also use the objects CO_COSTCTR (cost centers – all
data), CO_ORDER (overhead cost orders), PP_ORDER (production orders) and SD_VBAK (sales documents) as
alternatives to archiving object CO_ITEM. You also use these objects to archive the respective line items.

Structure
Programs

CO_ITEM has the following programs:

Program Function

CO_ITEM_ WRI Write

CO_ITEM_ DEL Delete

 Note
To analyze the CO_ITEM archive files, you can use all actual CO line item reports.

The write program supports the ADK interruption function, which allows you to interrupt the write phase and restart it at a later
point in time. For more information about this function, see Interrupting and Continuing Archiving Sessions .

The delete program comes with the standard variants SAP &PROD (production mode) and SAP &TEST (test mode). During the
write and delete sessions, the system produces regular progress messages in the job log and online in the status line. For

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information about which messages are possible and what they mean, see the “explanation of the messages” section in SAP Note
613707.

When the archive is generated, the CO period lock is set for all periods from which CO line items were archived. This prevents
accidental postings to these periods.

To call up CO line item archiving, in the SAP menu, choose Accounting Controlling Cost Element
Accounting,thenEnvironment Archiving CO Line Items.

Displaying Individual Objects UsingSAPAS

Archiving object CO_ITEM comes with a standard business view. Line item report KSB5 is called. To display individual objects
for the archiving object CO_ITEM using Archive Information System you require an information structure that has been created
based on the standard field catalogs SAP _CO_ITEM_001 or SAP _CO_ITEM_002 . The information structure must be active and
filled.

 Recommendation
Use information structure SAP _CO_ITEM_001, which is supplied in the standard system.

For more information about information structures, see Using the Archive Information System .

Integration
To determine which archiving objects also archive CO line items, choose Tools CCMS , then DBAdministration Data
Archiving and enter COEPin Object for Table .

You can use archiving object CO_ITEM in the context of Information Lifecycle Management . You must have set up the relevant
business functions to do this. The system then also shows the ILM Actions frame. You can use these actions to carry out archiving,
for example, where the retention periods stored in the Information Retention Manager can be evaluated. Additionally, you can
create snapshots (copies) of data or destroy data that matches the requirements. For more information, see ILM Enhancements in
Data Archiving in the ILM Actions in the Archiving Program section.

The Object Types

In the context of data archiving for cost accounting tables (such as COEP) we recommend analyzing the utilized object types. The
object type is encoded in the first two characters of the object number. The object number is located in field OBJNR, the object
type is therefore, for example, in COEP-OBJNR(2). The translation of these two characters into a short text is located in table
TBO01. Analysis programs such as RARCCOA1 or RARCCOA2 compare the different object types to the number of corresponding
entries.

In addition to the usual cost accounting object types such as cost centers ( KST , KS ) or orders ( AUF , OR ), the reconciliation
object ( ABS , AO) object type often appears here. These reconciliation objects often account for a significant portion of the table
entries. You can archive the line items for the reconciliation objects with archiving object CO_ITEM. To be able to decide which of
these line items are supposed to be archived, it should be clear how these reconciliation objects and their line items are created
and for what purpose they are required.

The creation and use of the reconciliation objects varies depending on the type of reconciliation object. Table ONRAO contains this
type in field AOTYP. There are four different reconciliation object types:

The reconciliation objects of type 01 (profitability analysis) are the main contributors to the volume of data (in table COEP). Types
02 (sales and operations planning) and 03 (long-term planning) only contain planning data. They do not contribute to table COEP.
Type 04 (financial data CO) is only of historical relevance and does not have any data in the cost accounting tables.

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Profitability analysis (AOTYP 01)

Reconciliation objects of type 01 are always created if a profitability segment should be created but account-based profitability
analysis is not active.

For each posting relevant to cost accounting, there must be a corresponding entry in cost accounting. Otherwise, cost accounting
would not be complete in itself. All postings to G/L accounts that are revenue or cost elements as well as postings to profitability
analysis and to a profit center are relevant to cost accounting. A corresponding entry in cost accounting implies that there must be
at least one update to a totals record (this suffices for planned postings) or even to a line item (for actual postings). However, this
data is always attached to a cost accounting object (CO object). For normal cost accounting postings, this object exists anyway. In
that case it is, for example, a cost center or an order. But some postings do not have an object of this type. In this case, a
reconciliation object is required.

The following cases occur:

Revenue postings to center Revenue on cost centers can only be updated statistically. Posting a revenue account usually
requires a CO object that can carry revenue. Such objects are, for example, revenue-carrying orders or a profitability
segment in account-based profitability analysis. However, this system can derive such an object itself. If account-based
profitability analysis is active, the revenue is usually posted to a profitability segment (object type ERG, EO). Otherwise,
there are no profitability segments (as CO objects) and the posting is made to a reconciliation object (object type ABS ,
AO).

Revenue posting to a profit center Specifying a profit center does not suffice for a posting since this is not a real cost
accounting posting. A real posting to a CO object must also be generated here. If this is not specified explicitly and account-
based profitability analysis is not active, reconciliation objects are also updated here.

Postings to profitability analysis

If cost-accounting profitability analysis is active but account-based profitability analysis is not, a posting is also made to a
reconciliation object at the time of the posting to profitability analysis. This happens particularly frequently due to invoices
or settlement to profitability analysis (calculation of profits).Due to the posting to a reconciliation object (instead of the
activation of account-based profitability analysis), the totals records that are generated are usually much more aggregated.
In the other case (account-based profitability analysis is also active), a results object is generated (object type ERG, EO) but
no reconciliation object.

Hence, we do not recommend activating account-based profitability analysis only to avoid reconciliation objects.

The relationship between reconciliation ledger and reconciliation object

You can use the reconciliation ledger to check the reconciliation between FI and CO. The reconciliation ledger saves own data for
this purpose. This reconciliation ledger data is not the same as the reconciliation objects. The reconciliation ledger data is stored in
tables similar to special ledgers (FI-SL).

The reconciliation ledger can only be updated if there is also a posting to a CO object. The reconciliation ledger records, among
other things, under which object type the respective posting was made. This can also be a reconciliation object (object type ABS ,
AO).

In the reports of the reconciliation ledger (for example, if there are differences) you can double-click to branch to the
corresponding cost accounting documents (line item report). From there, you can navigate further, for example, to the display of
the respective corresponding invoice. You can analyze the origin of each detected deviation. Without reconciliation objects, this
verification would not be possible for all postings. In that case, there would also be no CO line items for the postings described
above (revenue postings to cost center and so on).

The reconciliation ledger can be posted subsequently provided that a document exists for each posting relevant to cost
accounting. That is why you also need reconciliation objects for the cases described above.

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The reconciliation ledger does not generate any reconciliation objects; it only reads from reconciliation objects. Reconciliation
postings for cross-company code postings in cost accounting. This does not affect actual cost accounting. Cost accounting is
already reconciled because the postings always remain within a controlling area.

Sales and operations planning, long-term planning (AOTYP 02, 03)

When planning data is copied from SOP planning (logistics) to cost (center) accounting, planned activity allocations are generated.
That means that only plan data is generated. In contrast to this, postings for AOTYP 01 are actual data.

The copied planning is the planning of an activity provision (planning) of cost centers for production orders. The production orders
(actual: recipients who accept the service) do not yet exist in this phase. Hence, cost accounting requires other objects that accept
the service. The activity input is therefore posted at the plant and profit center level on reconciliation objects. (“100 machine hours
for plant 0001, profit center 42”).

The system only creates line items if the writing of plan line items is active. You find the corresponding setting in the plan version.

Object type sales document item (VBP)

You can use report VBELN_SET_GENERATE with which you can generate sets for the respective sales order number for sales
orders (object type VBP).

During archiving with archiving object CO_ITEM, you can then enter a set to delimit the data to be archived. Report
VBELN_SET_GENERATE automatically generates a set for sales orders. Once you have executed the program, you can use the new
set in the Group or Set field in the archiving of CO line items.

See also:

Dependencies (CO)

The Archiving Object

Tables and Archiving Objects

Archiving Procedure

Application Customizing (CO)

Use
In addition to the basic Customizing for Archiving, you also have to specify the residence times for the write program.

Features
Residence Times for CO Line Item Archiving

The write program archives the CO line items for all objects for which you specify a residence time. It does not process CO line
items for object types that you have explicitly excluded from archiving.

Activities
You can find the Customizing activities for archiving object CO_ITEM in the IMG under Controlling General Archiving Prepare
archiving for CO line items.

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See also:

Maintaining Application Customizing (CO)

Maintaining Application Customizing (CO)

Maintaining Residence Times for CO Line Items

1. Choose New entries to enter new residence times for CO line items, or change the existing entries.

2. Create at least one entry for each object type you want to archive. All entries are optional, except for the object type.

For orders (except for sales orders), you can specify the order type as a subobject type.

If you would like to distinguish between objects in different controlling areas, enter the desired controlling area in the COAr
column.

If you would like to distinguish between plan and actual line items, enter the desired abbreviation in the Val. type cat.
column.

1. To exclude individual lines from archiving, select the Do not archive column.

 Example

You want to archive CO line items for orders, but not for the order type "FERT". To achieve this, you need to make two entries:

Archive line items for orders except for order type "FERT"

Type SubObjType COAr Val. type cat. Do not archive

ORD

ORD FERT X

1. Enter the number of residence periods for each line.

Each CO line item is archived once the corresponding number of residence periods has expired after the posting period. This does
not include special periods. Documents posted in special periods are assigned to the last period of the fiscal year.

 Example

You specified a residence time of six periods for cost objects (COB). Archiving takes place in April 1998. For a fiscal year with 12
months as posting periods, the last posting period from which a document can be archived is September 1997.

The periods omitted are October, November and December 1997 as well as January, February and March 1998. Documents
from October 1997 are not archived.

In the actual, you can archive CO line items by period, but only annually in the plan.

1. If you only want to archive entire fiscal years, select the FYear complete column.

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 Example

For six residence periods, you can only archive a complete fiscal year six months after the fiscal year has ended. This means
from period seven of the following fiscal year.

1. Save your entries.

For more information on Customizing, see the IMG for Controlling under Controlling: General Archiving Archiving CO Line
Items.

Variant Settings for Archiving (CO)

Use
You can enter selection criteria for the CO_ITEM archiving object in the archiving program variant. The system checks these
criteria as well as those in customizing (see Application Customizing (CO) ).

Features
Document Selection Criteria

If the values that you entered are different to those in customizing, the system takes the entries in customizing and those in the
variant maintenance as selection criteria. If the criteria you entered exclude themselves, the system starts the archiving process
but no data is archived.

With CO line items you can use the following selection criteria:

Controlling area

Object type

Only for the “Order” object type: Sub-object type

Group or Set

Further Restrictions

Under Restrictions you can further restrict the selection of the documents to be archived by using the following criteria:

To posting period

To Fiscal Year

Value types (all, plan only, all except plan)

Processing Options

You can start your archiving session in test mode or in production mode . In the test mode, the archiving session is only simulated,
meaning that no archive files are actually created, nor is data deleted from the database.

In production mode the program creates archive files based on your selection criteria and other archiving-object-specific checks. If
in archiving-object-specific customizing you activated the automatic start of the delete program, you can also set the indicator
Delete with Test Variant . If this indicator is set the delete program of the archiving object is started with the test mode variant
entered in archiving-object-specific customizing.
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Detail Log

You can use this indicator to determine whether during the execution of the write program a compact or detail log is produced. The
detail log contains the information found in the compact log, plus all the objects that were processed including the corresponding
messages.

Archiving Session Note

In this field you can enter a short text describing the archiving session, for identification purposes and searching in archive
management.

See also:

Log (CO)

Runtimes (CO)
Tests were run which archived CO line items without deleting the data from the database. The following statistics were found:

Write to archive: 10 minutes for 50,000 CO line items

File size: 2.3 MB

This data should be regarded as an example. The test was carried out in a development system at a time of moderate system
workload.

Dependencies (CO)
When you use the CO_ITEM archiving object, you need to make various checks. You need to do this before specifying the residence
times for the objects you wish to archive. You should also consider the interaction with other areas in the SAP system.

Line item reports

Drilldown to line item reports, and navigation to line item reports no longer function. You can, however, start line item
reports explicitly.

Resource-related billing

When you archive the CO line items with the archiving object CO_ITEM, table AD01SRCARC is evaluated. The archiving
program makes sure that no CO line items are archived before the residence time entered in the tables for Line Items:
Actual Costs and Line Items Statistical Key Figures has expired.

 Note
When considering the residence times, the archiving object CO_ITEM does not differentiate between actual costs and
statistical key figures. If a residence time is entered for both sources, the maximum is used for actual costs and for
statistical key figures. However, if a residence time is only entered for one of the sources, this is used for both sources.

The residence times entered in AD01SRCARC interact with the residence times of archiving object CO_ITEM (transaction
and table ARCU_COIT1) such that if there is any doubt, less line items are archived. The system always uses the maximum
residence time.

 Recommendation

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To avoid misunderstandings, the residence times entered in both tables should be as synchronized as possible.

For more information, see the Implementation Guide of the project system under Revenues and Result Integration with
Sales Documents (SD) Offer Creation and Billing for Projects Residence Times for DIP Sources.

Interest calculation

 Note
For totals record interest calculation, the following applies: Interest is usually calculated on the basis of the line items of
the previous four periods. You therefore should not archive data unless it is older than four periods.

Do not archive any line items that may still require interest calculation. Note that the system cannot check whether you
wish to execute an interest calculation at a later date.

For investment projects (WBS elements with investment profile), interest is calculated on the basis of CO line items.
Consequently, you cannot archive the CO line items before you have archived the WBS element (in other words, not with
CO_ITEM).

For all other projects or orders on projects, the system only needs all the CO line items for the first interest calculation
run. Otherwise, it always requires you to have all the CO line items for the current fiscal year in your system.

 Example
You first posted data to an order for a project in period 12/1997. Note the following examples:

In period 2/1998 you calculate interest for the first time. If you have already archived the CO line items from
12/1997, interest is only calculated for the periods after 1/1998. This leads to incorrect values.

If you already calculated interest in 12/1997, all the CO line items after 1/1998 need to stay in the system, as this
is the start of a new fiscal year.

This is assuming that the fiscal year is set the same as the calendar year.

Documents in Financial Accounting (FI)

CO line items are mainly created when you post documents in FI. The system ignores these FI documents when archiving
and deleting the CO line items. If required, match the residence times of the FI documents to the residence time for CO line
items.

Investment measures

You should not delete line items for investment measures with line item settlement before each object (in other words, not
with CO_ITEM). The archiving program ensures that this cannot happen. Nevertheless, you should explicitly select the Do
not archive indicator for the corresponding order types to improve performance. For more information, see Maintain
Application Customizing (CO).

Overhead costing, cost center accruals

During archived periods, you cannot repeat or reverse the overhead costing or the cost center accrual for objects that you
archive for CO line items.

You can no longer recalculate transaction-based overhead in an archived period.

Profit Center Accounting

It is no longer possible to display the original documents once these have been archived and deleted. Subsequent postings
are also no longer possible. This is for the same reason as in the Special Purpose Ledger (see below).

Subsequent posting to special ledgers in Financial Accounting.

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When you archive CO line items for a period, the system locks it. Subsequent posting is not a CO business transaction.
Therefore the system does not lock the subsequent posting programs. This means that errors always arise if you try to post
data subsequently to periods for which you already archived the CO line items.

Subsequent posting in the reconciliation ledger

In this case, the reconciliation ledger is the same as the Special Purpose Ledger (FI-SL). You especially require the line
items for reconciliation objects (object number begins with AO) for subsequent posting of the Reconciliation Ledger. If you
already completed archiving but executed subsequent postings for the corresponding periods, then the reconciliation
ledger is not complete.

Periodic repostings, assessment, distribution, indirect activity allocation

When you repeat or reverse allocations, the system has to read the corresponding CO line items. If any are missing, the
allocation program takes note of this to avoid errors. Reposting and reallocating line items is no longer possible once you
have archived the CO line items.

Plan revaluation

You cannot repeat plan revaluation for periods that have already been archived.

Log (CO)

Use
In addition to the central overview of archive files, you can find additional important information about the archived line items in
the log.

Function
The log contains the following information:

Number of table entries per table and archive file

If you selected Log by document :

A list of the archived documents sorted by objects (such as cost centers or orders)

Archive Access with CO Line Item Reports

You can access the archives using the following line item reports from Cost Accounting:

Transaction Description

KSB1 Cost centers (actual)

KSBP Cost centers (plan)

KKCS Cost objects (actual)

KOB1 Orders: Actual

CPB1 Processes: Actual

KVBI Sales orders: Actual

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KSB5 Documents: Actual

KABP Documents: Plan

Selection of Data Source

When you run the selected reports, via Extras Data Source , you can display a dialog box where you can define how you
want to access the archived data. Choose whether you only want to access the database, only the archive, or both.

If you select access via the archive, you have the following options:

Use the archive information system

If you select this option, the system uses the selection criteria to automatically determine which data has to be read from the
archive. You do not have to make any further entries. The system automatically determines the corresponding archiving object.
The system ignores any archiving object that you enter.

To use the archive information system, you have to fulfill the following prerequisites: Settings in the Archive Information System .

Select files manually

If you select this option, you have to select the archive files to be evaluated manually. To do so, select an archiving object
dependent on the report.

 Note

With the archiving object CO_ITEM, you can archive the CO line items of all object types.

Reports and their archiving objects

Report Archiving Object

KSB1 CO_COSTCTR, CO_CCTR_EP, CO_CCTR_ID, CO_ITEM

KSBP CO_COSTCTR, CO_CCTR_EP, CO_CCTR_PL, CO_ITEM

KKCS CO_KSTRG, CO_ITEM

KOB1 CO_ORDER, PP_ORDER, PR_ORDER, PM_ORDER, CO_ITEM

CPB1 CO_PROCESS, CO_ITEM

KVBI CO_ITEM

KSB5 All archiving objects that archive COEP

KABP All archiving objects that archive COEJ

 Note

For transactions KSB5 and KABP, all of the archiving objects that archive the cost accounting line items are valid. Using
transaction DB15, you can find out which these are. You can evaluate all archiving objects that archive entries for COEP with
transaction KSB5 (as for table COEJ and KABP).

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Archiving Settlement Documents (CO)

Definition
You can use the CO_KABR archiving object to archive settlement documents independently of the corresponding settlement
senders. Settlement documents are created during settlement of orders, WBS elements, sales orders and cost objects as well as
during settlement of assets under construction.

Structure
The system ensures that the settlement documents are archived and deleted by period, starting with the earliest settlement
period. This means that you must archive all or none of the documents for a settlement sender and a settlement period. Note also
that the settlement documents for a settlement period are only archived if the settlement documents for the previous periods
have already been settled or are being settled in this run.

Plan settlement documents: The system archives all documents belonging to a settlement sender by fiscal year and not by period.
The fiscal year replaces the settlement period. This means that either all or no settlement documents from a fiscal year for one
settlement sender are archived.

Selection Criteria

You can use the following selection criteria for the CO_KABR archiving object.

Controlling area

Object type, settlement sender: Here, you can specify the object types for which you want to archive settlement
documents.

Latest posting date: Settlement documents with posting dates after this date are not archived.

In addition to the selection conditions that you specify, the system also checks each settlement document to ensure that its
residence time has expired. For more information, see Checks (CO) .

See also:

Concepts

Runtimes (CO)

Checks (CO)

Application Customizing (CO)

Log (CO)

How to Use Archiving

Create Archive Files

Call Archive Session Management

Runtimes (CO)
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Archiving Object CO_KABR

1,000 total settlement documents in the AUAK, AUAB, AUA0, AUAS, and AUAV tables and 2000 entries in the AUAA and AUAI
tables were archived in a test.

The test produced the following results:

Write to archive: 5 minutes

Delete data: 8 minutes

Size of database: c.1,063,000 bytes (uncompressed)

File size: 1.1 MB

This data should be regarded as an example. The tests were conducted when the system was at its busiest.

Checks (CO)
Archiving Object CO_KABR

The system only archives settlement documents if their residence time has expired. You enter the residence time in the settlement
profile. To do so, choose Actual postings Settlement Maintain settlement profile in customizing. You can find the
settlement profile for a settlement sender in the settlement parameters for the settlement rule.

Note that the residence time only starts from the posting date. The posting date is usually the last day of the period that you are
settling.

See also: CO - Settlement

Application Customizing (CO)

Use

Note: when selecting the residence time, you can no longer reverse a settlement if the settlement documents created have been
deleted.

Activities

In customizing for Overhead Cost Orders, enter the residence time for the settlement documents under Actual postings
Settlement Maintain settlement profile .

Log (CO)
If you have selected Log per document in the variant for archiving object CO_KABR, the SAP system outputs all documents with
their document numbers.

The log informs you which archived data objects have been deleted. This is because CO_KABR generally deletes all archived data.

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Archiving Line Items and Totals Records of the Reconciliation

Ledger (CO- CEL )

Definition
Archiving object CO_ CEL _ RCL for archiving line items and totals records of the reconciliation ledger in the Cost Element Ledger.

 Note
This archiving object was revised in the course of a project to standardize and optimize data archiving. You can use the
standardized archiving object by activating the business function Data Archiving: Standardization of Archiving Objects
(technical name DA_ARCHOBJ_STANDARD_1). For more information, see the business function documentation in the Switch
Framework (transaction SFW5) in Data Archiving: Standardization of Archiving Objects .

Use
You can use archiving object CO_ CEL _ RCL to archive totals records and line items of the reconciliation ledger together. It is not
possible to archive line items separately.

You can read the archived data with the supplied reports (see Application Customizing (CO-CEL) ).

You can use archiving object CO_ CEL _ RCL to archive the data of the following database tables:

COFIP Plan line items for the reconciliation ledger

COFIS Actual line items for the reconciliation ledger

COFIT Totals records for the reconciliation ledger

Displaying Individual Objects UsingSAPAS

To display individual objects for archiving object CO_ CEL _ RCL using SAP AS you require an information structure that has been
created based on the standard field catalog SAP _CO_ RCL _001 . The information structure must be active and filled.

Recommendation

Use information structure SAP _CO_ RCL _001, which is supplied in the standard system.

For more information about the Archive Information System, see theSAPLibrary documentation inCross-Application
Components CA – Archiving Application Data CA – Cross Application Components Introduction to Data Archiving
Archive Information System (SAPAS).

For more information about information structures, see Using the Archive Information System .

Application Customizing (CO-CEL)

Use

You wish to assign report groups (RW/RP) that were already created, read transactions or reports (ABAP) to the archiving object
for the reconciliation ledger (CO_CEL_RCL). This enables you to execute the read tools from the archiving environment directly.

Activities

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You can find the customizing activities for the archiving object CO_CEL_RCL in the IMG, under Cost and Revenue Element
Accounting Archiving Define report groups and read programs.

Archiving-Object-Specific Customizing (CO-CEL)

Use

Before you start the archiving program, you must maintain various settings, such as the size or the archive file, as well as variants
for the test run and productive run of the deletion program.

Features
Archive Files

You must specify the size of the archive files in megabytes and the maximum number of data objects. SAP recommends a value of
between 10 and 100 megabytes and between 10 and 100 data objects.

Variants for the Deletion Program

You have to enter variants for the test run and the production run of the deletion program.

 Caution

Check that the Test run indicator is not active in the variants for the productive run. If Test run is active, the system does not
delete the archived records from the database.

You must also ensure that Test run is active in the variants for the test run of the deletion program.

Commit Counters

The commit counter determines the number of data objects that are processed before the program sends a commit to the
database. SAP recommends a value of between 10 and 100. This value has a direct effect on system performance.

Activities
To make customizing settings for the archiving object CO_CEL_RCL, choose Environment Archiving Reconciliation ledger
Create archive in Cost and Revenue Element Accounting.

Choose Customizing . In the dialog box, choose Technical settings under Arch.-object-specific Customizing and enter the
following technical settings:

Size of the archive file

Size in MB

Maximum number of data objects

Archive System Link

Document type

Deletion program settings

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Variants for the deletion program test run

Variants for the deletion program productive run

Commit counters

Variant Settings for Archiving (CO-CEL)

Use

You can enter selection criteria for the archiving object CO_CEL_RCL for the archiving run, which specify the data to be archived.

Features

You can use the following selection criteria to define selection variants for archiving line items and totals records for the
reconciliation ledger:

Company code (from - to)

Fiscal year (from - to)

You can make the following flow control settings:

Combination list only

The system does not execute any archiving. It displays a list of the Customizing combinations, which are available under the
current parametrization. Only the transaction data for these customizing combinations would be archived by the system if you
executed an archiving run.

Test run

The system simulates archiving. It does not create an archive, nor does it delete any data from the database. The system displays
statistics on the table entries that would be archived during an archiving run.

Archiving without database changes

The system creates an archive, but does not delete archived data from the database.

Archiving with database changes

The system creates an archive, and deletes the archived data from the database.

 Caution

Before you start the archiving, you must maintain the following values for the archiving object in Customizing:

Size of the archive file

Size in MB

Maximum number of data objects

Archive System Link

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Document type

Deletion program settings

Variants for the deletion program test run

Variants for the deletion program productive run

Commit counters

For more information on settings for object-specific archiving, see: Archiving-Specific Customizing (CO-CEL) .

Variant Settings for Reloading (CO-CEL)

Use

You can reload the archive contents into the system as often as you require. You can reload the following:

Line items only

Totals records only

Line items and totals records

The SAP system does not indicate whether the archive, or parts of it, have already been reloaded.

You also have read access to archived data, meaning that you can read plan or actual line items as well as the totals record
files. You can go to the corresponding line items from the totals records.

Variant Settings for Evaluation (CO-CEL)

You can evaluate the archived totals records and line items from the reconciliation ledger in the background or online. The
following read programs are available:

RGUCOFIP

Plan line items for the reconciliation ledger

RGUCOFIS

Actual line items for the reconciliation ledger

RGUCOFIT

Totals records for the reconciliation ledger

For evaluation in the background, you can create variants, in which you select the data to be evaluated and the data sources. You
can use existing archives or the database as data sources. The selection criteria include the general selection conditions (such as,
ledger, version, company code, and fiscal year). They also include the restrictions for document characteristics (such as, by
document number or reference document number).

 Example

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You want to list all the archived data for the object type Cost center, object class Production and controlling area 0001 from the
fiscal years 1990 to 1996.

Select the Archive data source and an archive file.

Enter the following selections:

Fiscal year: 1990 to 1996

Object type: CCT (cost center)

Object class: Production

Controlling area: 0001

$BACK$ Archiving Cost Center Data (CO-OM-CCA)

This section describes how to archive transaction and master data in Cost Center Accounting

Concepts

Archiving Line Items (CO-OM-CCA)

Archiving Totals Records (CO-OM-CCA)

Archiving Master Data (CO-OM-CCA)

Archiving Fully Reversed Documents (CO-OM-CCA)

Archiving Dependencies (CO-OM-CCA)

Technical Data (CO-OM-CCA)

Special Features Relevant to Application (CO-OM-CCA)

How to Use Archiving

Creating Archive Files

Reloading Archived Data

Calling Archiving Session Management

Other Archiving Objects

You can archive funds commitment with the FM_FUNRES archiving object. Choose Environment Archiving Funds
reservation from the Cost Center Accounting menu .

For more information, see

Archiving Earmarked Funds (FI-FM ).

Archiving Cost Center - Line Items (CO-OM-CCA)

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Definition
Actual line items and plan line items in Cost Center Accounting are archived and deleted from the database using archiving object
CO_ITEM.

Use
Note the following when archiving line items:

Plan line items

The period values for the planned periods are stored for the whole fiscal year in the same data record in the database.
Therefore, you must archive the entire record. The SAP System thus ignores any entered period selection during archiving
of plan line items. This means that the system may archive more plan line items than you specified.

Defined and executed plan allocations (assessments, distributions, periodic repostings, and indirect activity allocations) as
well as plan revaluations cannot be repeated after plan line items are archived.

Actual line items

Unlike plan line items, actual line items are stored for each period in individual records in the database. You can delimit
them by periods (for example, only one period or one period interval).

Defined and executed actual allocations (assessments, distributions, periodic repostings, and indirect activity allocations)
cannot be repeated for the archived periods.

 Note
The number of cost center master records that you can archive can be greater than the number of objects. This is
because there is always an artificial master record for cost centers that the system writes to the archive using the SAP-
ARCINF key.

For more information about the selection criteria and process control for CO_ITEM see Variant Settings for Archiving (CO) in the
section about archiving CO line items.

Restrictions

The system does not archive CO line items for parked documents (value type 60).

Accessing Archived Data

 Note
Before SAP ECC 5.0 cost center line items were archived with archiving objects CO_CCTR_ID (actual data), CO_CCTR_PL
(planning data) or CO_COSTCTR (all data). You can still access existing archive files that were created with these archiving
objects.

We recommend that you use the normal CO line item reports, such as transaction KSB1, to evaluate CO_ITEM archives. You can
configure line item reports so that they automatically access archived data, without any further user interaction. We also
recommend this procedure for line items archived with CO_CCTR_ID, CO_CCTR_PL or CO_COSTCTR. For more information, see
SAP Note 521604.

To evaluate the CO_CCTR_ID, CO_CCTR_PL and CO_COSTCTR archives you can use the logical databases CIK, CPK or CRK. For
archiving object CO_ITEM a logical database does not exist. If you are already running your own reports on the aforementioned
logical databases, we recommend that you switch to standard line items reports.

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To display individual objects for the archiving object CO_ITEM using the Archive Information System you require an information
structure that has been created based on the standard field catalogs SAP_CO_ITEM_001 or SAP_CO_ITEM_002 delivered by SAP.
The information structure must be activated and set up.

See also:

Using the Archive Information System

Archiving CO Line Items (CO)

Archiving Cost Center – Totals Records (CO-OM-CCA)

Definition
Archiving object CO_TOTAL is used to archive planning and actual totals records from Cost Center Accounting and delete these
from the database.

 Note
You can use archiving object CO_TOTAL in Information Lifecycle Management. You must have activated the corresponding
business functions to do this. The system then also shows the ILM Actions group box. You can use these actions to carry out
archiving, for example, where the retention periods stored in the Information Retention Manager can be evaluated. Additionally,
you can create snapshots (copies) of data or destroy data that matches the requirements. For more information, see ILM
Enhancements for Data Archiving, ILM Actions in the Write Program.

Use
Archiving object CO_TOTAL archives entries from tables COSP, COSS, COSL, COSR, COST, COSB and COOI, which fulfill the
following conditions:

The entries belong to cost centers or to a combination of cost center and activity type. From a technical viewpoint, these
are entries where the field OBJNR begins with "KS" or "KL".

The records meet the selection criteria. For more information about selection criteria, see below.

Moreover, the records are only archived if for the corresponding fiscal year (and all previous years) there are no more line items left
for the corresponding cost center. These line items should have been archived first, with archiving object CO_ITEM. Plan line items
are ignored in this check.

 Note
To avoid any inconsistencies, archiving object CO_TOTAL sets a period lock for the archived fiscal years during archiving. This
means that you will not be able to post any more data to these periods.

Selection criteria

You can use the following selection criteria to archive totals records with archiving object CO_TOTAL:

Controlling area

Here you enter for which controlling area you want to archive data. Remember that the information you entered in
controlling area must match the information in the field Group or Set. Moreover, it may depend on the controlling area

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which fiscal year is the current year. This means that the exact meaning of the To Fiscal Year field also depends on the
controlling area. If you have doubts, start the archiving session only for one controlling area.

Object type

The object type is not incorporated and preset to “KST” for cost center. The field was included so that the archiving object
could be expanded to other object types later.

Although only “KST” is explicitly visible on the selection screen, activity type records (object type "LEI") are also archived.

Cost Center Group or Set

Here you can determine a node in the standard hierarchy. Then only cost centers from this part of the standard hierarchy
are processed. For more information about this field, see the input help. Note, however, that only the cost center
information for CO_TOTAL is relevant.

To Fiscal Year

Here you determine up to which fiscal year the data should be archived. The write program checks for every cost center up
to which fiscal year transaction data still exists in the system. In other words, the fiscal year up to which data is actually
archived can differ from one cost center to another. However, totals records that are younger than the fiscal year entered is
never archived.

You receive a warning message if you enter a fiscal year that is too current. Generally it only makes sense to archive totals
records up to the fiscal year that comes before the most recently completed fiscal year. For example, in the fiscal year 2002
you can enter fiscal years up to the year 2000 in the To Fiscal Year field.

Value types

The value type category was included in the selection screen so that an expansion to include planning data would be
possible later. This field is hard coded and cannot be changed.

For information about Process Control, Detail Log and Archiving Session Note, see Variant Settings for Archiving (CO) in the
section on CO line items. This information is also valid for the archiving of totals records in cost center accounting.

Accessing Archived Data

 Note
Before SAP ECC 5.0 cost center totals records were archived with archiving objects CO_CCTR_ID (actual data), CO_CCTR_PL
(planning data) or CO_COSTCTR (all data). You can still access existing archive files that were created with these archiving
objects.

To access the CO_TOTAL archives you can use the standard field catalog SAP_CO_TOTAL_01 and the infostructure with the same
name for the archive information system.

You can also access CO_TOTAL archives via the data source dialog box from the report writer reports in cost center accounting.

To evaluate the CO_CCTR_ID, CO_CCTR_PL and CO_COSTCTR archives you can use the logical databases CIK, CPK or CRK. For
archiving object CO_TOTAL a logical database does not exist. If you are already running your own reports on the aforementioned
logical databases, we recommend that you switch to standard line items reports.

See also:

Archive Information System

Cost Center Archiving – Master Data (CO-OM-CCA)

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Definition
The cost center accounting master data is archived using archiving object CO_CCMAST and deleted from the database.

Use

You only archive cost center masters for cleanup. When only the amounts of data are analyzed, the cost center master data usually
does not matter. You should check in advance whether the cost center master data is actually supposed to be archived or whether
it should rather stay in the database.

CO_CCMAST archives entries from tables CSKS, CSKT, CSSL, COSC, COKA, and COKL. The entries from tables COKA and COKL
are only archived if they belong to cost centers, that is, if field OBJNR starts with “KS” or “KL”. Change documents and long texts
are also written to the archive. However, this data is only deleted if the entire cost center is deleted.

If a cost center is archived in its entire remaining validity period, the corresponding budget planning is also archived.

In some cases, there is additional data for updating in the material master for the activity type records (CSSL). The data is also
archived.

Furthermore, the master data of a cost center is only archived if the corresponding fiscal year (and all preceding fiscal years) no
longer contain(s) any transaction data for this cost center. The line items and totals records should therefore be archived using
CO_ITEM or CO_TOTAL beforehand.

If you specify a to fiscal year on the selection screen where this fiscal year (or those preceding it) still has transaction data for
certain cost centers, the master data of these cost centers is archived only to the most recent fiscal year for which there is no
more transaction data.

You can use archiving object CO_CCMAST in the context of Information Lifecycle Management . You must have set up the relevant
business functions to do this. The system then also shows the ILM Actions frame. You can use these actions to carry out archiving,
for example, where the retention periods stored in the Information Retention Manager can be evaluated. Additionally, you can
create snapshots (copies) of data or destroy data that matches the requirements. For more information, see ILM Enhancements in
Data Archiving in the ILM Actions in the Archiving Program section.

Selection Criteria

The following selection criteria apply for archiving the master data for cost centers with archiving object CO_CCMAST.

Controlling Area

This is where you specify for which controlling areas you want to archive. Note that the information about the controlling
area should match the information in the Group or Set field. In addition, it can depend on the controlling area which fiscal
year is the current one. Hence, the exact meaning of the To Fiscal Year field also depends on the controlling area. If in
doubt, start archiving only for a single controlling area.

Cost Center Group

If you fill this field, only cost centers that belong to the group are processed. For example, you can specify a node of the
standard hierarchy here. Only cost centers of this part of the hierarchy are processed then.

To Fiscal Year

This is where you specify to which fiscal year the data is to be archived. The archiving program checks for each cost center
to which fiscal year transaction data is still available. That is, the fiscal year until which data is actually archived can be
different for each cost center. However, master data that is more recent than the specified fiscal year is not archived under
any circumstances.

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For information about process control, the detailed log, and the note on the archiving run, see the section on CO line items in
Variant Settings for Archiving (CO) . This information also applies to the archiving of cost center data.

Accessing Archived Data

 Note
Before SAP ECC 5.0, master data for cost centers could be activated with archiving object CO_COSTCTR. Access to existing
archive files that were created with this archiving object is still possible.

For access to the archives for CO_CCMAST, field catalog SAP _COCCMAST001 and an information structure of the same name
were provided for the archive information system.

Logical database CRK is available for analyzing CO_COSTCTR archives. There is no logical database for archiving object
CO_CCMAST. If you are already using your own reports based on logical database CRK , we recommend switching to standard line
item reports.

See also:

Archive Information System

Archiving Fully Reversed Documents (CO-OM-CCA)

Definition
Archiving object CO_ALLO_ST is used to archive and delete all allocations (assessments, distributions, periodic reposting, and
indirect activity allocations) that have been fully reversed.

 Note
This archiving object was revised in the course of a project to standardize and optimize data archiving. You can use the
standardized archiving object by activating the business function Data Archiving: Standardization of Archiving Objects
(technical name DA_ARCHOBJ_STANDARD_1). For more information, see the business function documentation in the Switch
Framework (transaction SFW5) in Data Archiving: Standardization of Archiving Objects .

 Note
You can use this archiving object in Information Lifecycle Management . You must have activated the corresponding business
functions to do this. The system then also shows the ILM Actions group box. You can use these actions to carry out archiving,
for example, where the retention periods stored in the Information Retention Manager can be evaluated. Additionally, you can
create snapshots (copies) of data or destroy data that matches the requirements. For more information, see ILM
Enhancements for Data Archiving , ILM Actions in the Write Program .

Use
If the allocations are repeated frequently, this results in a large volume of data, in particular in the planned distribution. This
archiving object allows you to "clean up" without any adverse effects on the functions in the SAP system.

In the case of a complete reversal, the corresponding documents (original document and reversal document) and document items
are removed from the database.

You can limit the selection to one or more cycles.

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The table analysis of table COEP helps you to select a suitable archiving object. For more information, see Table COEP .

Selection Criteria

The following selection criteria apply to CO_ALLO_ST:

You must enter the controlling area.

You can enter the cycle.

You can enter the fiscal year.

If you do not limit the fiscal year and/or cycle, the selection is not restricted either.

Structure
Displaying Individual Objects Using SAP AS

To display the line items for archiving object CO_ALLO_ST using SAP AS you require an information structure that has been
created based on the standard field catalog SAP_ALLO_ST_001. The information structure must be active and configured
correctly.

For more information about information structures, seeUsing the Archive Information System .

For more information about the Archive Information System, see SAP Library underCross-Application Components CA -
Archiving Application Data Introduction to Data Archiving Archive Information System (SAP AS).

Special Features Relevant to Application (CO-OM-CCA)

Reloading data into the database is not supported. Therefore, you should only archive data when you are sure that you no longer
need it.

Technical Data (CO-OM-CCA)

Due to the complex structure of the archiving objects, it is not possible to estimate the runtimes or storage capacity required for
archiving.

The record lengths of the individual logical database segments are found in the ABAP Dictionary. The number of records per
segment in your system depends on various factors:

Number of postings in external accounting (document sizes) to cost centers

How many of the Cost Center Accounting functions you use

If you do not use all the functions, some of the tables for the cost centers will remain empty. Furthermore, the data volume
for the individual functions can be quite different. Plan distribution, for example, generates much more data than other
functions.

The data volume of the cost centers themselves will probably vary greatly as well.

Archiving Dependencies (CO-OM-CCA)

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Use
Archiving in Cost Center Accounting can be performed independently of other archiving programs.

There are no system-controlled residence times for cost centers.

In general, the data remains in the system as long as the component needs it for postings and evaluations.

Archiving objects CO_ITEM, CO_TOTAL, and CO_CCMAST:

You can archive all data only after the end of the fiscal year. If you need the data for comparison with the data from the next
fiscal year, the data must remain in the system for an additional year.

Except for version 000, versions no longer required can be archived and deleted at any time.

 Note
Version 000 may not be archived during the current fiscal year.

Archiving object CO_ALLO_ST:

If you repeated the allocations often, you can use this archiving object at any time to reduce the amount of data stored.

More Information
Network Graphic

Archiving Internal Orders (CO-OM-OPA)

You use archiving object CO_ORDER to archive or delete internal orders with the corresponding transaction data.

 Note
This archiving object was revised in the course of a project to standardize and optimize data archiving. You can use the
standardized archiving object by activating the business function Data Archiving: Standardization of Archiving Objects
(technical name DA_ARCHOBJ_STANDARD_1). For more information, see the business function documentation in the Switch
Framework (transaction SFW5) in Data Archiving: Standardization of Archiving Objects .

Concepts

Application Customizing (CO-OM-OPA)

Dependencies (CO-OM-OPA)

Authorizations (CO-OM-OPA)

Log (CO-OM-OPA)

Checks (CO-OM-OPA)

Terms (CO-OM-OPA)

Using Archiving

Creating Archive Files

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Accessing Archiving Management

Additional Archiving Objects

You can use archiving object PP_ORDER to perform the archiving of production orders in production planning and control. Choose
Logistics Production Shop Floor Control,thenTools Archiving Orders.

See also:Production Orders (PP-SFC)

You can archive funds commitment with archiving objectFM_FUNRES. In the internal order menu, choose Environment
Archiving Funds Commitment.

See also: Archiving Funds Commitment (FI-FM ).

Archiving Orders with Transaction Data (CO-OM-OPA)

For internal orders, you use the CO_ORDER archiving object to archive and delete all master and transaction data that fulfill
specified conditions.

 Note
This archiving object was revised in the course of a project to standardize and optimize data archiving. You can use the
standardized archiving object by activating the business function Data Archiving: Standardization of Archiving Objects
(technical name DA_ARCHOBJ_STANDARD_1). For more information, see the business function documentation in the Switch
Framework (transaction SFW5) in Data Archiving: Standardization of Archiving Objects .

 Note
You can use this archiving object in Information Lifecycle Management . You must have activated the corresponding business
functions to do this. The system then also shows the ILM Actions group box. You can use these actions to carry out archiving,
for example, where the retention periods stored in the Information Retention Manager can be evaluated. Additionally, you can
create snapshots (copies) of data or destroy data that matches the requirements. For more information, see ILM
Enhancements for Data Archiving , ILM Actions in the Write Program .

Selection Criteria
The following selection criteria apply to the CO_ORDER archiving object:

Controlling area

Order type

Order number

An order can only be archived if:

It meets the selection criteria

It has one of the following order categories:

01 Internal order (Controlling)

02 Accrual order (Controlling)

03 Model order (Controlling)

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04 CO Production order

05 Production cost collectors, repetitive manufacturing

06 QM orders

Its deletion indicator is set

Its residence time 2 is expired

For more information about deletion indicators and residence times, see Checks for Internal Orders (CO-OM-OPA) .

Displaying Individual Objects Using SAP AS

A business view for archiving object CO_ORDER is delivered as standard. To display individual objects for archiving object
CO_ORDER using SAP AS you require an information structure that has been created based on the standard field catalog
SAP_CO_ORDER001 . The information structure must be active and configured correctly.

Recommendation

Use the information structure SAP_CO_ORDER001 delivered as standard.

For more information about information structures, see Using the Archive Information System .

For more information about the Archive Information System, see SAP Library underCross-Application Components CA -
Archiving Application Data CA - Cross-Application Functions Introduction to Data Archiving Archive Information System
(SAP AS).

Starting the Read Program (CO-OM-PA)

Archiving object CO_ORDER

To call the Archive Management initial screen choose Environment Archiving Orders . Here you can display the
master data list for orders to be archived by choosing Analyze and then Execute . From this list, you can go to the master
data display, to a summary report, and a line item report.

Some of the summary and line item reports in the information system can also read data from the archive. The following
are examples of summary reports:

List: Cost elements by orders

Orders: Actual/Plan/Variance

Orders: Breakdown by partner

Orders: Breakdown by period

List: Orders

The following are examples of line item reports:

Orders: Actual line items

Controlling documents: Actual costs

In the SARA transaction, you can go to the master data list and the reports from the information system by choosing Analyze .

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You can use the ODK logical database to write your own reports.

Run Times for Internal Orders (CO-OM-OPA)

The CO_ORDER archiving object

1,000 total orders in the AUFK, CDHDR, CDPOS, COBRA, COBRB, COSP, COSPD, COSS, COEP, COBK tables were archived in a
test..

The test produced the following results:

Write archive: 8.5 minutes

Delete archive: 8 minutes

Size of database: approx. 5,052,000 bytes (uncompressed)

File size: 1.4 MB

The data is only intended as an example. The tests were conducted when the system was at its busiest.

It is hard to estimate runtimes and storage requirements for archiving Internal Orders data because the structures are so complex.
Runtimes depend on the settings in Customizing and the functions used in the application component. If, for example, you have
the classification active with many characteristics, this will have consequences for runtimes and storage requirements.

The CO_KABR archiving object

1,000 total settlement documents in the AUAK, AUAB, AUA0, AUAS, and AUAV tables and 200 entries in table AUAA and AUAI were
archived in a test..

The test produced the following results:

Write archive: 5 minutes

Delete archive: 8 minutes

Size of database: approx. 1,063,000 bytes (uncompressed)

File size: 1.1 MB

Checks for Internal Orders (CO-OM-OPA)

Because the create archive program only selects orders that can be deleted, the criteria for deleting data is the same as for
archiving data.

Internal orders have a deletion flag and a deletion indicator. Both are set by task functions.

Setting and deleting the deletion flag

You activate or reset the deletion flag for an internal order in the master data maintenance. If you set the deletion flag, the system
checks whether the order can be deleted. Normally, you can only set the deletion flag if the order balance is zero. The following are
exceptions:

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Statistical orders

Orders for which the settlement profile is set up so that the actual costs are not to be settled or do not require settlement.

Setting the deletion indicator

Before you can set the deletion indicator, you need to set the delete flag. Residence time one must also have expired. You cannot
reverse the deletion indicator once it is set.

You can set both the deletion flag and the deletion indicator in mass processing. In the Internal Orders menu, choose Tools
Archiving Orders and then Preparation.

This process only archives orders for which the deletion indicator is set and for which residence time two has expired.

Both the residence times are part of the order type. You can change them in the implementation guide for internal orders by
choosing Order Master Data Define Order Types.

Authorizations (CO-OM-OPA)
To archive internal orders, you require the authorizations described in Authorization Checks .

You also require the following authorizations:

Authorization Object Authorization

K_AUFK_ART Activity = *

K_ORDER Authorization Check Actions = *

To access the archive evaluation, you also need the authorizations for displaying the master data and, where appropriate, for the
information system.

Archiving Log (CO-OM-OPA)

Definition

Information about the archiving files produced during archiving.

Structure
For each archive file, the log shows the number of objects archived and the number of tables entries archived in the tables
involved. If no entries from a particular table were archived, that table does not appear at all in the log.

The standard log does not contain information on whether the data objects archived were deleted, as CO ORDER or CO KABR
delete virtually all data.

If you set the Log per order indicator in the variant for the CO_ORDER archiving object, the log also includes the orders numbers
and descriptions.

If you set the Log per document indicator in the variant for the CO_KABR archiving object, the standard log also shows all
documents with their document numbers.

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Dependencies (CO-OM-OPA)
You can archive internal orders independently of other archiving programs.

Settlement documents for internal orders are automatically archived when you archive using the CO_ORDER archiving object.
However, the system does not check the residence time for the settlement documents, as it does not process settlement
documents without orders.

 Note

If you want to ensure that settlement documents are stored in separate archive files, you should choose the residence times for
internal orders and settlement documents so that the total of order residence time 1 and 2 is greater than the residence time
for the settlement documents. You should also archive the settlement documents before archiving the internal orders.

See also:

The Network Graphic

Application Customizing (CO-OM-OPA)

Use
For information on the general settings you must enter to be able to execute archiving runs, see Customizing: Overview . You must
also maintain the residence periods for the objects to be archived. As you cannot reload the archived internal orders, you should
take the following safety precautions.

Archiving object CO_ORDER

Set the residence period, so that the deletion flag can only be set when no more changes should be made to the orders and
archiving is only to occur when you no longer need the orders.

Archiving object CO_KABR

Note that during the selection of the residence period, you can no longer reverse a settlement if the settlement documents created
have been deleted.

Activities
Go to the implementation guide for overhead cost orders and enter the residence periods for:

Internal orders under Order master data Define order types .

Settlement documents under Actual postings Settlement Maintain settlement profile .

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