SAP Data Archiving is the SAP
supported method for data archiving in SAP enterprise systems. SAP Data
Archiving enables the user to keep the size of sensitive enterprise database
under control. Archiving capabilities in SAP R/3 are provided across all modules
by a built-in, centralized component (SAP ADK, Archive Development Kit) and
add-on components such as ArchiveLink. Both these components deal with SAP data
in form of special objects, known as Archiving Objects.
This paper discusses in detail
the basic process used by Archive Development Kit (ADK) and ArchiveLink for data
archiving. But before understanding ADK, it is important to understand the
concept of Archiving objects.
Archiving Objects
Archiving objects are the
essential ingredients for archiving SAP data. An archiving object can be defined
as a logical unit, which is obtained from SAP data objects. When data objects
are combined on the basis of requirements, a business object is formed, which
then can be archived.
Archiving objects instruct
the SAP archiving system to get the right tables when archiving specific R/3
business objects. They are defined using tranjection AOBJ.
The archiving objects are defined
for different modules of a SAP system. For example, financial accounting
documents are archived via the archiving object FI_DOCUMNT, which comprises the
document header, company-code-dependent postings, change documents, SAPscript
texts and other elements. Some archiving objects with their basic functionality
are listed in the table below.
Archiving Object
Type of Archiving Object
Details
SD_AGREEM
Sales and Distribution
Through this you can
archive arrangements and the associated conditions
W_PROMO
Retail
Using this object you can
remove old promotion data from your system
MM_EKKO
Material Management
Using this object you can
archive purchasing documents
SD_VBRK
Sales and Distribution
Using this object you can
archive customer billing documents
FI_DOCUMNT
Finance
Using this object you can
archive credit memo documents
PP_ORDER
Production
Using this object you can
archive production orders
Each archiving object has
automated associated methods. The table given below describes these methods in
brief. These methods are the functions or subroutines, which work with archived
objects.
Access Type
Method
Description
ALL
ARCHIVE_OPEN_FOR_WRITE
Open archive file for
writing.
ARCHIVE_OPEN_FOR_READ
Open archive file for
reading
ARCHIVE_OPEN_FOR_MOVE
Open archive file to
reload.
ARCHIVE_OPEN_FOR_DELETE
Open archive file to
delete.
ARCHIVE_CLOSE_FILE
Close all archive files
Write access
ARCHIVE_NEW_OBJECT
Get new data object
ARCHIVE_SAVE_OBJECT
Write data object from
data container to the archive file.
Read access
ARCHIVE_GET_NEXT_OBJECT
Read next data object
into the data container from the archive file.
