Information Lifecycle Management

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Version 1.2

August 2013
INFORMATION LIFECYLCE MANAGEMENT – FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS (VERSION 1.2)

DOCUMENT HISTORY
Version Date Major Changes
1.0 November 2011 -
1.1 February 2013 Complete revision based on new template
1.2 August 2013  Fixed link to partner information center in General Question 13
 Removed “NetWeaver” from ILM solution name throughout the document

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INFORMATION LIFECYLCE MANAGEMENT – FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS (VERSION 1.2)

TABLE OF CONTENTS
1 GENERAL QUESTIONS ................................................................................................................... 4
1. What is the difference between data management and information lifecycle management (ILM)? .. 4
2. Why is it so important to understand the difference between data and information? ........................ 4
3. Isn’t ILM just a synonym for Hierarchical Storage Management System (HSM)? ............................ 4
4. Can deletion and destruction of data be used interchangeably? ...................................................... 4
5. How does SAP define ILM? ............................................................................................................... 4
6. How does SAP ILM relate to ILM? .................................................................................................... 5
7. How is SAP ILM priced? .................................................................................................................... 5
8. How can I install SAP ILM? ............................................................................................................... 5
9. Our company has been archiving for years. Do we have to replace data archiving with ILM now? . 5
10. When we implement ILM, can we still access our old ADK files as before? ..................................... 5
11. How does ECM compare to ILM, and what’s the difference? ........................................................... 5
12. How does Information Management compare to ILM, and what’s the difference? ........................... 6
13. What kind of storage system do I need for ILM? ............................................................................... 6
14. Is it possible to remove data from the storage system directly in order to destroy it?....................... 6
15. Can I transfer old archive files from former “pre-ILM” archiving sessions to the RW? ...................... 6
16. What about the archiving of BW contents? Is it covered by ILM? ..................................................... 6
17. Does ILM also cover unstructured data, such as documents and print lists? ................................... 6
18. What is the purpose of the CDE? ...................................................................................................... 7
19. Why do I need snapshots? ................................................................................................................ 7
20. Is it possible to create archive information structures based on snapshot files? .............................. 7
2 RETENTION MANAGEMENT ........................................................................................................... 7
1. Can I apply Retention Management functions to ILM-enabled archiving objects only? .................... 7
3 SYSTEM DECOMMISSIONING ........................................................................................................ 7
1. Is it possible to decommission non-SAP systems? ........................................................................... 7
2. How do I handle data from incomplete business processes? ........................................................... 7
3. Why can’t I simply use snapshots to extract all data from a legacy system? .................................... 7
4. Can I extract all the data I need with a single run of the CDE? ......................................................... 8
5. Can I extract transactional data with the CDE? ................................................................................. 8
6. What is the format of the CDE extracted files? .................................................................................. 8
7. How long does a CDE extraction last? .............................................................................................. 8
8. What is the retention period for CDE extracted sessions? ................................................................ 8
9. Do I have to run the ILM file converter for CDE sessions in the Retention Warehouse? ................. 8
10. My legacy system also contains archive files. How should I handle them? ...................................... 8
11. How can the BW component of the Retention Warehouse system be sized? .................................. 8
12. How should I size my Retention Warehouse system? ...................................................................... 8
13. How will BW queries perform if the WebDAV store contains several terabytes of data?.................. 8
14. Is it possible to use an existing BW system for Retention Warehouse? ........................................... 9
15. Why is ERP required for system decommissioning? ......................................................................... 9

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1 GENERAL QUESTIONS

1. What is the difference between data management and information lifecycle management (ILM)?

The two are closely related, but are not the same thing. The focus of data management is mainly cost related
and deals with reducing data volumes, regardless of the contents of that data. It involves four basic
approaches for keeping data volumes in check: prevention, aggregation, deletion, archiving.

To be able to implement an ILM strategy you need a good data management strategy as a basis. ILM tries to
achieve a good balance between TCO, risk, and legal compliance. So in addition to managing data volumes,
ILM also manages data retention requirements, including such things as the final destruction of information.
ILM is the sum of all of these measures. With regard to the origin of the data ILM covers both live systems
and legacy systems. For legacy systems ILM provides methods and tools to extract data from a system to be
decommissioned, and move it to the Retention Warehouse, where it can be accessed in case of reporting
needs.
2. Why is it so important to understand the difference between data and information?

Data is the physical representation of information in any form. It could be a piece of paper containing
information or a data unit in a computer system. Data is a technical concept, while information is an abstract
notion. The importance of distinguishing between the two in the context of ILM becomes apparent when you
consider the following two notions:

Information can be stored redundantly as different data. Disposing of data does not necessarily mean that
you have lost or destroyed information. In an ILM strategy it is not sufficient to simply delete data. You have
to think about the information you want to destroy and then delete all the necessary data carrying that
information. This is also key in trying to interpret legal requirements. Often times a law will dictate that you
destroy data after a certain number of years (e.g. employee data). What is really meant, though, is that you
are to destroy the information about that person.
3. Isn’t ILM just a synonym for Hierarchical Storage Management System (HSM)?

No, at the beginning, ILM was strongly driven by the storage industry and often used as a synonym for HSM.
This would be a very narrow definition of ILM. Although ILM is partially made possible through technological
innovation, it is a holistic approach to managing complex relationships and requirements on information. It is
a mixture of processes, strategy, and technology, which are all used together to manage information across
its entire lifecycle. Since data is commonly born in a business application, ILM should start there, at the
birthplace. Likewise, since the end of the information lifecycle often takes place in a storage system, ILM
should also span this realm. ILM means from cradle to grave, from application to storage system.
4. Can deletion and destruction of data be used interchangeably?

No, in the context of ILM deletion and destruction are two different concepts. When we talk about the
deletion of data, we mean the physical deletion of a technical unit in the system. When we talk about the final
destruction of information, we mean the deletion of all data records and their references, so that certain
information or its existence can never be traced again. For example, when data is archived, it is written to the
file system and then deleted from the database. It can still be accessed and viewed in its archived state. The
final destruction of this information would mean deleting the archive file and all references to it and copies of
it in the system, including change documents, related messages, etc. Final destruction may also involve the
deletion of this information in the Business Information Warehouse.
5. How does SAP define ILM?

ILM is comprised of the policies, processes, practices, and tools used to align the business value of
information with the most appropriate and cost effective IT infrastructure from the time information is
conceived through its final disposition. Information is aligned with business processes through management
of policies and service levels associated with applications, metadata, information, and data.

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Much of ILM happens outside the system and has to do with communication between the different
departments in your organization. The good news is that many of the processes involved in ILM are
becoming more automated and are increasingly being supported through new technological developments.

As a matter of fact, ILM cannot work on its own, it needs support through suitable products and tools. The
ILM solution from SAP comprises dedicated products that address all aspects of ILM: structured and
unstructured data, data from live and legacy systems, and from SAP and non-SAP systems.

6. How does SAP ILM relate to ILM?

SAP Information Lifecycle Management (SAP ILM) is the core product within SAP’s solutions for information
lifecycle management. It has been designed to support your ILM strategy based on the well-established SAP
data archiving (ADK) technology used by the majority of SAP customers for the efficient management of their
data volumes. Depending on the required ILM scenario, SAP ILM may be combined with other SAP
products, such as SAP Data Archiving by OpenText, SAP Document Access by OpenText, SAP Data
Services, or SAP Landscape Transformation. These products complement SAP ILM and together increase
the overall reach and power of the ILM solution of SAP.

7. How is SAP ILM priced?

SAP ILM can be purchased in two variants, depending on the scenario in which it is used: ILM for retention
management (to be used in live application systems), and ILM for legacy system decommissioning (using the
Retention Warehouse, RW, for storing the legacy data). In the first scenario the license fee is calculated
based on the database size of the live SAP system. In the second scenario the pricing is based on the
number of decommissioned systems (SAP and non-SAP).

For more details, please contact your SAP sales representative.

8. How can I install SAP ILM?

SAP ILM does not need to be installed on its own. Rather, it comes as a part of SAP NetWeaver, which itself
is the basis for the SAP Business Suite. Therefore, in order to use SAP ILM in your ERP system you simply
have to activate the ILM business function in the Switch Framework. This applies for both ILM scenarios,
retention management and system decommissioning. For the latter additional ILM business functions have
to be activated depending on the release. For more information on installing SAP ILM, see SAP Note
1648883 (for SAP ILM 7.03).

9. Our company has been archiving for years. Do we have to replace data archiving with ILM now?

No, ILM is not a product that replaces data archiving. Rather, data archiving is an important part of any ILM
strategy. If you have an established data archiving strategy in place, you already have a very good basis for
ILM. You can start from there and gradually work your way towards a full-fledged ILM strategy, by beginning
to set up retention rules using ILM policy management, for example.

10. When we implement ILM, can we still access our old ADK files as before?

With regard to classic data archiving based on ADK nothing has changed through ILM. Data archiving as
well as the retrieval of the archived date is still possible as before without ILM functionality. However, you
have the option of integrating your old ADK files into the ILM concept if necessary.

11. How does ECM compare to ILM, and what’s the difference?

Enterprise Content Management (ECM) includes Document Management, management of incoming

documents (scan), management of outgoing documents (print), Records Management, Web Content
Management, E-Mail Management, Case Management, Collaboration Management, and Enterprise Search.
ECM contains the storage of unstructured data, here the term “archiving” is often used in this area, but
please do not confuse it with SAP data archiving (archiving of structured data).

ILM includes capabilities for managing the retention of structured data as well as unstructured data. With
unstructured data we mean ArchiveLink documents attached to the structured data, e.g. scanned invoices

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for financial documents, and print lists. Apart from such attachments and print lists ILM is not intended for
managing the retention of other types of unstructured data.

12. How does Information Management compare to ILM, and what’s the difference?

Information Management (IM, formerly called Enterprise Information Management, EIM) must be seen in a
much broader context than ILM. IM is a framework designed to turn enterprise information (in many cases
scattered throughout the organization) into a strategic asset. IM solutions create, cleanse, integrate,
manage, govern, and archive structured and unstructured data. They enable enterprise data warehouse
management, master data management, data integration and quality management, information lifecycle
management, and enterprise content management. ILM is part of the IM framework, with a primary focus on
the efficient and legally compliant management of mass data along its life cycle. This includes structured and
unstructured data, data from live and legacy systems, and data from SAP and non-SAP systems.

13. What kind of storage system do I need for ILM?

To use ILM functions you need to store your structured data, e.g. transactional data, on a WebDAV storage
system that is certified according to the WebDAV storage interface certification for SAP ILM BC-ILM 3.0 or
2.0. For a full list of certified solutions please see
http://www.sap.com/partners/directories/SearchSolution.epx (in SAP-Defined Integration Scenarios, search
for BC-ILM 3.0 or 2.0). Your unstructured data, such as ArchiveLink documents and print lists, can remain on
the original ArchiveLink storage system.

14. Is it possible to remove data from the storage system directly in order to destroy it?

No. With ILM data is only archived if there is a reason for doing so. This reason is represented by the
retention rule(s), upon which the system calculates the expiration date. If no active retention rules exist, it is
not possible to move the data to the WebDAV store. Once moved to the store data can only be destroyed in
accordance with the associated rule(s), that is if the expiration date has been reached. Most ILM-aware
storage solutions guarantee the integrity and authenticity of the data contained, therefore circumventing the
retention rules and simply deleting the data is not possible.

15. Can I transfer old archive files from former “pre-ILM” archiving sessions to the Retention
Warehouse?

Yes. Using the ILM file converter, every ADK file that was created prior to the ILM implementation can be
converted to ILM because the ADK file format has not changed. The only point you need to consider is that
compared to older releases the content of several archiving objects has changed. As a prerequisite for the
conversion an active ILM retention rule must exist.

16. What about the archiving of BW contents? Is it covered by ILM?

No. ILM does not offer a new functionality in this area. For data reduction within BW nearline storage
systems are used.

However, using the solution ILM Retention Management Storage Option for SAP Sybase IQ, you can store
your archiving indices and archive files on Sybase IQ. In combination with the storage of analytical data from
the SAP NetWeaver® Business Warehouse (SAP NetWeaver BW) application via SAP NetWeaver BW’s
near-line storage interface, you can consolidate your storage infrastructure on a single platform and thus
reduce the complexity of your system landscape and the associated costs.

17. Does ILM also cover unstructured data, such as documents and print lists?

Yes, ILM covers both structured and unstructured data. Documents and print lists belong to the second
category. Within an ILM storage system archived documents appear via ArchiveLink as references. The
original documents remain physically on the ArchiveLink storage system and do not need to be transferred to
the ILM store.

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18. What is the purpose of the CDE?

The Context Data Extractor (CDE) is a tool used during system decommissioning that enables the customer
to extract context information (master data, customizing data, meta data) from the legacy system in order to
complement the information contained in standard archiving objects. The data extracted with the CDE is
stored in snapshots files.

19. Why do I need snapshots?

A snapshot is a copy of data from the database created by running an ILM enhanced archiving object (for
transactional data) or by running the CDE (for context data). If an archiving object is run in snapshot mode,
no archivability checks take place. Also the data is not deleted from the database as in regular data
archiving. Snapshots are typically used during system decommissioning to extract data from still open
business processes from the system to be decommissioned.

20. Is it possible to create archive information structures based on snapshot files?

No, snapshots are not indexed. The corresponding original data remains in the database.

2 RETENTION MANAGEMENT

1. Can I apply Retention Management functions to ILM-enabled archiving objects only?

Yes. In order to be used in an ILM context archiving objects require some specific adaptation. We call this
ILM enablement. For example, the write program must be changed to include the ILM actions “Destroy” and
“Snapshot”, which are not available for classic archiving objects. For a list of ILM-enabled archiving objects
for SAP ILM 7.03, refer to SAP Note 1494347.

3 SYSTEM DECOMMISSIONING

1. Is it possible to decommission non-SAP systems?

Yes. Using specialized tools, such as SAP Data Services and SAP Landscape Transformation and the CDE
features of SAP ILM it is possible to extract data from non-SAP systems, map it to SAP or custom structures,
and convert it into ADK files. These files have the same structure as archive files created from native SAP
data. Once the data from the non-SAP system is processed, it can be used in the ILM Retention Warehouse
in a similar way as native SAP data. As non-SAP systems usually differ very much from SAP systems, expert
consulting services accompany the decommissioning process to ensure a successful project.

2. How do I handle data from incomplete business processes?

The new concept of snapshots is intended for open objects, where the corresponding business processes
are not completed (e.g. orders that are still open).

3. Why can’t I simply use snapshots to extract all data from a legacy system?

Snapshots are a simple way of extracting data from a system, since no archivability checks are performed.
So why not use this function to extract the entire data set of a system, particularly if the system will be shut
down anyway?

The answer has to do with the nature of snapshots. In contrast to standard archiving objects designed for
archiving business-complete data, snapshots are intended for archiving data from business processes that
are still open for any reason. However, due to the special character of snapshots (remember: snapshots
archive business-incomplete data that does not have a final status, such as “complete”) it is not possible to
calculate the expiration date as for business-complete data. Therefore, in the ILM store snapshots are stored
with an "unknown" expiration date set. If you need to destroy a snapshot, for example, because a newer

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snapshot exists, you can do so by setting the expiration date manually to a specific date in the future (This
function is available as of SAP ILM 7.03.) Please note, however, that this will always be a manual process
reserved for the exceptional case of snapshots or other data without time relevance. Therefore, archiving
business-complete data as snapshots does not make sense, although technically possible.

4. Can I extract all the data I need with a single run of the CDE?

The only limitation is that you can extract one single fiscal year per CDE run. If you select more than one
application component, the CDE will generate a different archiving session for each of them.

5. Can I extract transactional data with the CDE?

Yes, in principle you can extract the content of every table using the CDE. However, CDE was primarily built
for extracting context data, such as Customizing or master data. Extracting transactional data with the CDE
would require manual steps, for instance, for the selection and the provisioning of the data.

6. What is the format of the CDE extracted files?

The files created as a result of running the CDE are in standard ADK format.

7. How long does a CDE extraction last?

It depends on the amount of data to be extracted, some application components can be extracted in a few
seconds, others may require some hours.

8. What is the retention period for CDE extracted sessions?

As is the case for snapshots, the retention period is set to “unknown

9. Do I have to run the ILM file converter for CDE sessions in the Retention Warehouse?

Yes, once the retention rules are set you have to run the ILM file conversion for each CDE extracted session.
The ILM conversion has to run even for sessions without routing criterion, so that they are assigned to the
correct URI in the WebDAV hierarchy.

10. My legacy system also contains archive files. How should I handle them?

If existing archives (from a non-ILM SAP system) are to be transferred to the Retention Warehouse, the first
step is to migrate the administrative data of the corresponding archiving session. The next step is to convert
the existing archive files with the ILM conversion tool based on the ILM rules (defined in the Retention
Warehouse system) into ILM-compatible ADK files.

11. How can the BW component of the Retention Warehouse system be sized?

This depends on several factors, e.g. the peak loads or data loads. For more information, see “Sizing SAP
NetWeaver Information Lifecycle Management – Sizing SAP NetWeaver BW” on the SAP Service
Marketplace.

12. How should I size my Retention Warehouse system?

The Retention Warehouse system is not the central system used for reporting in an SAP environment. Its
use is reserved for reporting on data taken over from legacy systems. Reports are only started on demand in
case of an audit. As a start configuration, e.g. for pilot projects, you can select an entry-level ERP server
(with at least 8 CPUs, 8 GB RAM, 320 GB disk space). For productive (live) environments, however, we
recommend at least 16 CPUs, 16 GB RAM, and 500 GB disk space. For more information, see “Sizing
Guidelines: Sizing SAP NetWeaver Information Lifecycle Management” on the SAP Service Marketplace.

13. How will BW queries perform if the WebDAV store contains several terabytes of data?

When running a query in the Retention Warehouse, for example, in case of tax audit, you would only load
data to the BW that is relevant for this particular audit. Therefore, the amount of processed data is typically

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rather small. The overall size of the WebDAV store does not affect the performance of the queries. After the
audit is over, you would simply purge the BW structures (created from archived data) to relieve the BW.

14. Is it possible to use an existing BW system for Retention Warehouse?

Yes. However, we recommend to use a dedicated BW system for the Retention Warehouse. The main
reason is that it is not a good idea to have live and legacy data mixed in the same BW system, although this
is technically possible. Also, the times of peak usage of the BW system are unpredictable (on a long term
perspective). Therefore, restrictions in the defined SLA for other BW business processes on the same
system are necessary.

15. Why is ERP required for system decommissioning? Would NetWeaver plus BW or NetWeaver
alone not be sufficient?

No. The correct interpretation of the application data in the Retention Warehouse does not only require the
data itself, but also certain application-specific logic from the ERP system that cannot be copied to the
Retention Warehouse in a generic way. When an ERP system is used, this logic is already available.

Another reason why ERP is needed has to do with the unpacking of downloaded archive files. This unpack
process partially needs application-specific coding (archiving classes for ADK files of older SAP R/3
releases), that is available in ERP, but not in SAP NetWeaver.

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