Reduce SAP Data Growth & Unlock Faster SAP Performance

Optimise performance and compliance with SAP Archiving solutions

SAP Archiving & Data Lifecycle Management

As SAP environments grow, historical data can impact system performance, increase infrastructure costs and complicate upgrade projects.

SAP Archiving is a structured data lifecycle strategy that moves aged business data into secure long-term storage while keeping it accessible for reporting, compliance and audit purposes.

At FAIR, we help organisations optimise SAP performance, strengthen compliance and support future-ready SAP environments through SAP Archiving, ILM and OpenText solutions.

Why SAP Archiving Matters for Modern SAP Environments

FAIR helps organisations optimise SAP performance, reduce infrastructure costs and strengthen long-term compliance through structured SAP Archiving strategies.
Faster SAP performance through database optimisation

Smaller Database, Faster SAP

Removing historical data from active SAP tables helps improve system responsiveness, accelerate queries and reduce processing pressure across the SAP landscape.

Reduced SAP infrastructure and storage costs

Reduced Infrastructure Cost

Move cold data into secure archive storage environments to reduce long-term database, infrastructure and storage-related operational costs.

SAP data retention and compliance management

Regulatory Compliance

Support audit, legal hold and retention requirements through structured SAP data lifecycle governance and controlled archiving policies.

SAP S/4HANA upgrade and migration readiness

Upgrade Readiness

Prepare leaner SAP environments that simplify S/4HANA upgrades, reduce migration complexity and support faster transformation initiatives.

Continuous access to archived SAP business data

Operational Continuity

Keep archived business data accessible for reporting, audit and operational requirements without impacting live SAP system performance.

SAP RISE and cloud storage optimisation

RISE & Cloud Optimisation

Optimise long-term storage consumption and support leaner SAP environments across RISE with SAP and cloud infrastructures.

SAP Archiving Solutions for Modern SAP Landscapes

FAIR delivers SAP-native and enterprise archiving solutions designed to support performance optimisation, compliance and long-term data lifecycle management.
SAP SARA (Standard Archiving)

Reduce database footprint and improve SAP performance with SAP-native archiving designed for rapid optimisation and low-risk implementation.

SAP SARA standard archiving for database optimisation and SAP performance improvement
SAP ILM (Information Lifecycle Management)

Strengthen governance and compliance with automated retention management, legal hold capabilities and policy-driven lifecycle controls.

SAP Information Lifecycle Management for compliance, retention and data governance
OpenText (Enterprise Core Archive)

Enable scalable enterprise archiving across SAP and non-SAP environments with unified governance and long-term document retention capabilities.

OpenText enterprise archive for document management and long-term data retention

Delivered Outcomes from Real SAP Archiving Engagements

FAIR’s SAP Archiving capability is backed by real project experience across performance optimisation, compliance and long-term SAP data lifecycle management initiatives.

FAIR partnered with CSR to design a scalable archiving strategy for its SAP S/4HANA Transportation Management and Extended Warehouse Management environment operating under RISE with SAP. As data volumes continued to grow, the organisation faced increasing HANA storage consumption, rising infrastructure costs and greater pressure to establish a structured approach to data retention and compliance.

FAIR evaluated SAP SARA, SAP ILM, and OpenText archiving options through a weighted assessment framework, enabling CSR to select the optimal strategy, develop target-state architectures, and establish a governance framework aligned with business, compliance, and long-term objectives.

Strategic Outcomes Delivered

  • Defined a roadmap to reduce database growth and storage costs

  • Established the foundation for improved SAP performance and stability

  • Designed a compliance-ready data lifecycle management framework

  • Developed a scalable and future-ready archiving strategy

See How CSR Designed a Future-Ready SAP Archiving Strategy

FAIR partnered with Golding to optimise its SAP ECC environment through a structured SAP SARA archiving program designed to reduce database growth, improve system performance and align data retention practices with business and compliance requirements. As historical transactional and master data continued to accumulate, the organisation faced increasing storage demands, longer maintenance activities and growing pressure to manage information more effectively.

Using a SAP-native archiving approach, FAIR identified archiving opportunities across multiple business areas, implemented controlled archiving processes and validated ongoing access to historical data while maintaining compliance requirements.

  • Achieved approximately a 15% reduction in database size

  • Improved application responsiveness and batch performance

  • Reduced backup and system maintenance effort

  • Established a repeatable SAP archiving framework across the landscape

See How Golding Reduced SAP Database Size by 15%

How FAIR Delivers Successful SAP Archiving Programs

Every SAP environment has unique performance, compliance and data retention requirements. FAIR works with organisations to assess their current landscape, identify archiving opportunities and implement the most effective strategy using SAP SARA, SAP ILM or OpenText solutions.
SAP data assessment and archiving analysis

Assess & Analyse

Evaluate database growth, identify archiving candidates and understand compliance obligations to establish a clear foundation for long-term SAP data management.

SAP archiving strategy and roadmap planning

Define the Right Strategy

Determine the most suitable archiving approach based on performance goals, retention requirements, infrastructure considerations and future SAP roadmap priorities.

SAP archiving implementation and governance controls

Implement & Govern

Deploy archiving solutions, establish retention policies and implement governance controls while maintaining secure and compliant access to historical business information.

Continuous SAP data lifecycle optimisation

Optimise & Evolve

Support ongoing performance improvements, compliance objectives and future transformation initiatives through continuous data lifecycle management.

FAQs About SAP Archiving & Data Lifecycle Management

Find answers to common questions about SAP Archiving, SAP ILM, OpenText and long-term SAP data lifecycle management.
How do I know if my SAP environment needs archiving?

Common indicators include increasing database growth, slower system performance, rising infrastructure costs, lengthy backup windows and challenges preparing for SAP upgrades or S/4HANA transformation projects. An archiving assessment can identify opportunities to optimise performance and manage long-term data growth more effectively.

Will SAP Archiving improve system performance?
Yes. Removing historical data from active SAP tables can reduce database size, improve query performance, accelerate batch processing and enhance overall system responsiveness. The impact depends on the volume and type of data archived, as well as the existing system landscape.
Which archiving approach is right for my organisation: SAP SARA, SAP ILM or OpenText?

The right approach depends on your business objectives, compliance requirements and SAP landscape. SAP SARA is typically used for standard SAP archiving, SAP ILM supports advanced retention and legal hold requirements, and OpenText is suited to enterprise document and content archiving. FAIR helps organisations evaluate the most suitable strategy based on their specific needs.

How can SAP Archiving support S/4HANA and RISE with SAP initiatives?

Archiving helps reduce historical data volumes before migration or transformation projects, resulting in leaner systems, reduced project complexity and improved upgrade readiness. It also supports long-term governance and storage optimisation in RISE with SAP environments.

How does FAIR help organisations build a successful SAP Archiving strategy?
FAIR works with organisations to assess data growth, identify archiving opportunities, define retention requirements and design a practical archiving roadmap. Our team helps align performance optimisation, compliance obligations and long-term SAP transformation objectives through SAP SARA, SAP ILM and OpenText solutions.

Ready to Optimise Your SAP Environment?

Whether you're looking to reduce SAP data growth, improve system performance, strengthen compliance or prepare for future SAP initiatives, our experts can help identify the right archiving strategy for your environment.

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