Summary- As organisations generate data at a rapid pace, there is an increasing need for managing, storing, and safeguarding data effectively. SAP ILM is a comprehensive solution that helps manage the complete lifecycle of data- from its creation until its destruction. It offers several benefits such as cost efficiency, reduced risks, simplified e-discover, data protection and compliance, and more.
The rapid rate of data volume growth is stretching the limitations of managing information throughout its lifecycle. Increasing data compliance requirements is also essential due to ever-increasing privacy and data protection rules. As a result, a comprehensive approach to managing the development, use, storage, and destruction of data is required to achieve a balance between total cost of ownership (TCO), risk, and regulatory compliance.
SAP Information Lifecycle Management (ILM) is a complete standard solution that allows businesses to manage the complete lifecycle of their data.
A brief synopsis of SAP ILM
According to SAP, information lifecycle management includes the procedures, practices, policies, and tools required to align the business value of information with the most suitable and economical IT infrastructure. This begins at the moment of data creation and continues until the data is eventually disposed.
SAP ILM is a comprehensive approach for automating data management. Using rules, data is managed efficiently throughout its lifecycle- from creation and storage to decommissioning and deletion. It aims to improve data flows, reduce legal compliance issues, and lower IT system expenses.
Fundamentally, ILM becomes an essential toolkit to manage the rising volumes of data, while ensuring compliance with data privacy laws such as the GDPR, Loi 205 in Quebec or CCPA, to name a few.
Importance of SAP ILM
Businesses require a thorough ILM strategy to be able to keep up with the rapid pace and complexity of data today. In addition, there is an increasing demand to handle outdated systems that incur in continuous administration, storage, and upkeep costs. The scale and complexity of IT system landscapes are always expanding as a result of several factors such as mergers and acquisitions, increased digital activities, as well as overall business expansion. It is exceedingly expensive to maintain several systems, many of which are probably ineffective. Moreover, implementing it does not interfere with present data archiving procedures as it is strongly integrated with the standard data management tools that come with SAP software.
SAP ILM facilitates the automation of data retention management and makes decommissioning legacy systems easier, which helps to optimise IT infrastructure. Data can be archived in formats that are searchable and easily available.
Key components of SAP ILM
Application software generate an abundance of data, which is kept there for a while before it is moved to other storage systems. Furthermore, the data remains under the ownership and control of the business application even after it has been relocated to another storage space. This indicates that ILM must not be limited to addressing just archiving. As a result, SAP ILM is built on three key components:
Data archiving
Data archiving enables organisations to move historical data from SAP database to a separate storage space. This frees up space in the production database and improves system performance. SAP ILM offers an environment for archiving data in an organised and regulated manner, which simplifies the archiving process. Organisations can streamline their data archiving process, enhance system efficiency, and save storage costs by utilising ILM, which facilitates the creation and management of archiving objects.
Retention management
This feature ensures that data is preserved for the necessary amount of time and is properly disposed of when it is not further needed or must be deleted by establishing and upholding data retention rules and policies. Likewise, it ensures data is retained until a certain period of time in case there was a legal hold. Overall, it provides businesses with the adaptability, accuracy, and automation needed to manage both internal and external policies. SAP ILM guarantees that organisations comply with regulatory obligations and reduces the threat of non-compliance penalties by automating the implementation of data retention policies.
Retention warehouse
The third component consists of different techniques for decommissioning a legacy system, even after the original system has been shut down. It offers a standardised method for removing, archiving, and extracting data from outdated systems. This guarantees that, even after legacy systems have been discontinued, organisations will be able to continue accessing historic data for reporting and analysis needs.
Benefits of SAP ILM
As data volumes expand, so does the significance of proper data management, which raises the possibility of breaching compliance regulations and drives up storage costs.
ILM offers several benefits that help to curb the aforementioned issues. Here are some of the primary benefits of SAP ILM:
Reduced risks
ILM decreases outdated and unwanted data and facilitates data management. Lowering the amount of unnecessary data reduces the chance of data loss, leaks, and coming across unwanted information. Businesses that are aware of where to look for electronically stored information also lessen the possibility that they may overlook important information when searching.
Data protection and privacy
By offering solutions for managing personal data, such as data blocking and deletion, it allows organisations to stay in compliance with data privacy and protection rules. SAP ILM guarantees that businesses can safeguard employee and consumer privacy while adhering to pertinent laws by automating these procedures.
Simplified e-discovery
It makes e-discovery easier by allowing businesses to look for and access specific data from within their SAP systems for legal or regulatory requirements. This feature cuts down the time and effort needed to find relevant information, enabling organisations to respond to data requests more quickly.
Cost efficiency
ILM can help businesses cut expenses associated with e-discovery, storage, and legal holds. Reducing digital waste increases the likelihood of locating information quickly while narrowing the scope of a company’s search. Furthermore, cutting out redundant data has a direct effect on discovery costs.
Legal hold
Organisations can use SAP ILM to put legal holds on specific data, which prohibits it from being removed or changed until the hold is removed. This function ensures that needful data is preserved for legal purposes, which is especially helpful for organisations facing legal or regulatory inquiries.
Final note
SAP ILM facilitates data management operations by addressing business requirements for data deletion, data retention, legacy system decommissioning, and legal and regulatory compliance. By leveraging the benefits of SAP ILM, organisations can enhance data management processes, optimise system performance, decrease costs, and guarantee seamless regulatory compliance. By putting it into practice, organisations can also handle and regulate data more efficiently, ultimately resulting in better decision-making.
