Data pile-up threatens SAP software users

Lynda Kershaw, Macro 4 marketing manager, says the problems arise because users are failing to remove temporary or historical data from their SAP databases. "We've been analysing the databases of UK SAP users as part of a free health check service and we're finding that their BASIS modules, which typically contain temporary data such as message logs, spool files and workflows, hold the second highest volume of data. Only the finance and control module, which is normally the core of any SAP system, was found to contain more," explains Kershaw. IT teams are supposed to remove BASIS data as part of regular housekeeping, but in around 60% of cases, it was left to pile up over many years, she says. The problem is not only one of more data, more system load, but also higher data storage costs, longer downtime and disruption – because it takes longer to backup the system and restore in the event of failure. Also, software upgrades will take longer, simply because there is more data to migrate. Macro 4 says it has undertaken 122 database health checks over the last 18 months, and that the other significant finding was that 50—70% of content on most SAP databases is historical data that could be removed from the live SAP system. "As well as problems with BASIS data, we found that people are hanging on to a lot of historical data, such as invoice and payroll data, that no longer needs to be on the system," comments Nick Parkin, technical director at Macro 4 partner, Proceed, the data archiving specialist. "When customers let their database accumulate too much old data, we find they're hit with performance problems, such as slower response times and timeouts on queries, as well as batch runs and backups taking longer and becoming harder to schedule."