Reasons For Archiving Financial Accounting Data

What is financial archiving? Where it is used? Why? Where is it configured in IMG?

There are both technical and legal reasons for archiving Financial Accounting data.

Archiving:
1) Reduces storage and runtime problems caused by the constant growth of transaction data.
2) Makes master data easier to manage and to keep up to date.
3) Enables data to be accessed at a later date.

You can archive data no longer required in the online system using certain standard functions. This data is then stored in archive files and deleted from the online system. For legal and commercial reasons, it is important that you are able to access archived data files online again, and the reloading function allows you to do this.

Data must meet certain conditions before it can be archived. Some of these controls are already defined in the system, for instance the fact that you cannot archive documents that contain open items. Certain other controls are user-defined.
Every archiving function can be accessed from archive management (SARA).

To reach archive management, choose:
Tools --> Administration --> Archiving or from the Accounting --> Financial Accounting --> General Ledger, Accounts
Receivable, Accounts Payable or Banks menus --> Periodic processing Archiving .

When you access archive management from these menus, the archiving object is defaulted by the system in the field Object name. Otherwise you must enter the name of the archiving object manually.

Deletion of Vendor Consignment Records

Steps for Deletion of Consignment Records:
To delete the Consignment Record, use transaction MSK2 or menu-path:
Logistics - Materials Management - Material Master - Special Stock - Vendor Consignment - Change and select the data of the record you want to be deleted.

To start the archiving:
Process, follow the menu path:
Logistics - Materials Management –Material - Master - Other - Reorganization - Special Stock – Choose to select the records to delete and
Logistics - Materials Management - Material Master - Other - Reorganization - Special Stock - Reorganize to create archive file.

Create Archive File: Consignment Record: Data selection
a) Select Action: Archive and enter a new Variant, for example: Z_CONS_SELE_01, press 'Maintain'
b) On selection screen enter the data range (Vendor, Material, etc.) you want to archive.
c) Select the 'Create Output File' if you want the selected records outputted
d) Press the green back-arrow and enter the description of this new variantt on the screen which follows.
e) Save the variantt which brings you again to the selection screen. Press green the back arrow again.
f) To start archiving process (batch-job), press the 'Start Date' button and select the time when you want to start this process. Select 'Immediate' for instant processing and press the 'Save' button on the bottom of the 'Start Time' window.
g) Select the 'Spool Parameter' button and save entries. Eventually enter a valid printer to have the result outputted.
h) You are ready now to start the process. Press the 'Start' button and monitor the success with the 'Job Overview' button
You can also go the 'fast path' by using transaction SE38, program MMREO002 for selecting the data to archive. For large data archiving, use the background jobs and run those during off-peak times. Create Archive File: Consignment Record:

Archiving process:
a) Select Action: Archive and enter a new Variant, for example: Z_CONS_ARCH_01, press 'Maintain'
b) On selection screen, select the 'Sequential Dataset' if you selected data as described in the Data Selection step, otherwise enter the material number and plant for the deletion of a single record.
c) Select the fields 'Consignment' and 'Special Stock' and Test mode, if you want to try out first.
** This applies for SAP systems prior to release 3.1H: Select also the flag called 'BATCHES'. The SAP program MMREO020 has a bug which can be worked around with this selection. Without selecting 'BATCHES', the archived records cannot be deleted. For systems with applied Hotpackages for 3.1H this workaround is not necessary
d) Press the green back-arrow and enter the description of this new variantt on the screen which follows.
e) Save the variantt which brings you again to the selection screen. Press green back arrow again.
f) To start archiving process (batch-job), press the 'Start Date' button and select the time when you want to start this process. Select 'Immediate' for instant processing and press the 'Save' button on the bottom of the 'Start Time' window.
g) Select the 'Spool Parameter' button and save entries. Eventually enter a valid printer to have the result outputted.
h) You are ready now to start the process. Press the 'Start' button and monitor the success with the 'Job Overview' button
You can also go the 'fast path' by using transaction SE38, program MMREO020 for selecting the data to archive. For large data archiving, use the background jobs and run those during off-peak times. If you run the program online, you will see a confirmation on the status bar telling 'New Archive file created:....'

Delete Archived Records: Info Record
a) Follow the menu path: Tools - Administration - Administration - Archiving
b) Select the Object Name MM_SPSTOCK for consignment / Special Stock
c) Select the menu button 'Delete'
d) Select the menu button: 'Archive Selection'
e) Click the archive created in previous step
f) Select Start Date for process and Spool Parameters for output
g) Submit selection.
h) Check status by pressing the Job Overview button

Archiving the Material Master

Transaction SARA contains all the SAP archiving objects for all the SAP R/3 applications modules. All the SAP archive functions are shown in SARA. Choose the corresponding SAP archive object, hit enter and the archive administration menu will be shown. Provided here will be an example on how to archive the SAP Material Master.

Archive a Material Master Record

When a material is no longer required in a company or plant, you can archive and delete the material master record.

You have to Flag the material master record for deletion. This is known as logical deletion.

Before a material master record can be archived and deleted, other objects (such as purchasing documents) that refer to this material must themselves be archived. You can see which objects these are and the dependencies between them in the network graphic.

If a material master record cannot be archived and deleted at a given organizational level, the reason is given in the log (for example, a purchase order exists for the material). The log also contains technical data such as the number of material master records read and the number deleted.

Some of the archive error log message :-

• Costing data exists
• Use in routing
• Use in sales and distribution
• Use in bill of material
• Delivery exists
• Costing data exists
• Info record exists
• Purchase order exists

The Archiving steps :-

Archiving object MM_MATNR for archiving material master records.

You can display the archived data, but not reload it.

To archive the material master, first goto transaction MM71.

Type in a variant name and click Maintain. (Tick the Test Mode for archive simulation).

Save the variant.

Maintain the Start date and Spool parameters and click execute.

Click Goto Job Overview to check the archive status.

To do a permanent delete, goto transaction SARA and click Delete button.

Maintain the Archive Selection, Start date and Spool parameters.

Click Test Session for testing or click execute to start the deletion program.

Click Goto Job Overview to check the delete status.

Now, if you goto MM02/MM03, you will not be able to find the record in the material master.

Archiving and Reorganization are totally different issues

Archiving is a process when you archive old master/transactional records which are not in use any more from long time. You archive those records keep on some backup device. These records can be displayed, and only Display, can never be reloaded in tables again physically.
This will free up the space in tables from those records which are not in use any more but exist in tables physically.

Reorganization basically removes deleted data from tables. During different transactions you delete some records, which are deleted virtually but not physically. Even Archive process delete those records virtually.
So you run Reorganization to free up the space consumed by deleted records.

This make the difference between the two clear.

Now about reorganization.

It depends on which OS and DB you are using.

If Oracle, SAPDBA is best tool to reorganise.

In addition to above, you can reorganise the whole database, but it takes time depending upon your database. Some times it can be more than a day or you can reorganise a table suggested in Early Watch system.

It all depends on you.