Kyano Housekeeping

All data in SAP® systems requires efficient data management of no-value data in order to keep SAP® ERP, BW, and CRM systems clean and productive. OutBoard Housekeeping helps to:

• shrink SAP database by deleting unnecessary/temporary data

• speed up system performance

• regularly and automatically handle data trash

• monitor and schedule all housekeeping processes from one central place for all systems

Open Shrinks SAP database	Open Speeds up performance	Open Automation supports less effort	Open Reduced operational costs

Open Shrinks SAP database	Open Speeds up performance	Open Automation supports less effort	Open Reduced operational costs

What is SAP Housekeeping?

SAP housekeeping is a set of regular activities that handle various aged temporary SAP data by purging, archiving, compressing, or buffering. The goal of housekeeping is to keep the operational costs low and ensure that the system performance is stable.

SAP temporary data and its impact

Data generated by SAP systems daily that loses the value quickly after its creation is called temporary data. Examples of temporary data are:

• PSA & Changelogs

• Application Log (BALDAT)

• IDOCs (EDID4)

• Spool (TST03)

• Office attachments (SOFFCONT1)

• Table logs (DBTABLOG)

• RFC logs

• Process Chain Logs

• Batch Log

• Alert Management Data (SARLT*)

• and many more...

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Keeping aged temporary data in SAP landscapes has a critical impact on operations. Data after its end of purpose is no-value data. Often SAP systems are polluted with no-value data and typically consume as much as 35% of the overall system size (typical for SAP BW systems).

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SNP OutBoard Housekeeping software is delivered as a set of ABAP transports that can be installed in the landscape within a day or a week. Because more than 60 housekeeping activities are pre-delivered, the housekeeping can start right away. Compared to other solutions for the deletion of temporary data, where different tools and reports are spread over different places and technologies, OutBoard Housekeeping offers significantly better deployment time.

RecycleBin is a unique feature of OutBoard Housekeeping. Similarly to Windows or Mac provides additional safety when purging data. It allows using more aggressive thresholds, which result in more data to be deleted, improved performance impact, and safer deletion. Deleted data is compressed and stored in the recycle bin for a chosen period of time, and only then deleted automatically. While the data is in the recycle bin, users can retrieve the data at any time and use them if needed.

A holistic solution for SAP Housekeeping activities. It encapsulates all into one framework for central housekeeping and documentation, pre-delivered deletion, archiving, and compression activities for complex SAP landscapes. Therefore, it can be used for clean-up of non-value data in SAP BW, ERP, ISU, CRM, and all other NetWeaver-based SAP landscapes and supports clean-up in complex Development, Quality, and Production environments.

SNP OutBoard Housekeeping supports a time set up for an initial clean-up and ongoing deletion of non-value data. Dashboards in SAP GUI, SAP Fiori, and email alerting reduce the effort for ongoing operations of SAP Housekeeping to a minimum.

SNP is regularly updating the best practice of SAP housekeeping by updating and extending the scope of OUTBOARD HOUSEKEEPING. Therefore, the customer is no longer responsible for spending effort on investigating the newest SAP notes and recommendations in this area.

SNP OutBoard Housekeeping is a proven solution. Being recognized by Gartner makes SNP the perfect combination of both the solution and the consulting provider for SAP Housekeeping.

Architecture

The architecture of OutBoard Housekeeping supports one-time setup and central scheduling of data retention in the complete SAP landscape. This is thanks to architecture that allows mass processing in the setup, execution, and monitoring of all housekeeping activities across your SAP® landscape (ERP, BW, CRM, etc.) from one central cockpit. Often the central cockpit is the Solution Manager, but it does not necessarily need to be.

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Typical reasons why customers are not doing housekeeping

Everyone knows housekeeping should be done, but according to our research in over 150 SAP BW systems, only a low percentage of customers are housekeeping their SAP systems to their fullest extent. These are the typical reasons for that:

1. UNCLEAR RESPONSIBILITIES "Know one knows who is responsible"

Take statistics tables as an example, in which SAP BW creates vast amounts of data, the responsibility for many of these tables is spread between the Basis and Applications and Operations team. Ultimately whose responsibility for these tables can be unclear as there is potential for all these teams to be assigned for the cleanup of the tables. The simple approach would be to create housekeeping rules jointly; therefore input is needed from all involved parties. Assign the responsibility for the running of the tasks to one team as part of their regular activities. This will ensure clarity as to which team is accountable and should make time, regardless of other projects/tasks that are deemed a higher priority. This brings us to the next point.

2. LOW VISIBILITY IN THE ORGANISATION "Customers don't know how much potential they have"

Over other projects housekeeping will always have a “low priority” as the end-user of the system who are mostly running queries, often the view is taken that housekeeping does not directly impact or generate value for the end-user. However, the best way to gain visibility and lead to a housekeeping project is to gather the data and provide projections as to consequences, both performance-wise but mostly cost-wise for not having a housekept system. In our analysis, we often see a housekeeping potential of 30 % of the system size! That is quite some cost.

3. NO RESOURCES "I have no time for this"

Cleaning up is usually very resource-intensive, so even with a cost-saving, the business case for cleaning up the system can be not good enough, especially when good housekeeping practices should be done on a regular basis. This can often be a catch 22 situation because at the same time if no clean-up is performed, this will lead to an unnecessary increase in system size and can impact the performance of the system.

4. TOOLS SPREAD OUT IN THE SYSTEM "It is complicated, due to a lot of tools are in place"

Now we’re going to explore some of the more technical reasons that stand in the way of housekeeping an SAP (BW) system. Earlier in the post, we mention that housekeeping can be resource-intensive. One of the main reasons for this is the housekeeping tools provided as standard are spread out within the system. To show an example of what I am referring to, click on the this link. This is a list provided by SAP for a before HANA migration system cleanup for an SAP BW system. As you can see, all the tasks use their own program that needs to be started individually and would need to run in every system. In addition, if you are not familiar with the program, and unsure as to what data will be affected or what the expected runtime is, in this situation, I am sure you will be very hesitant to run it. For such cases, a central repository of documentation would help give good indication, or expectation as to what the tasks do, and recommendations for running the task.

5. NOT ENOUGH FUNCTIONALITY "I would delete it but I cannot"

Our analysis often shows large PSA and ChangeLog tables. Our general recommendation is of course: DELETE IT!  (at least all data older than 14 days) But, deleting all data in PSA and ChangeLogs is not always possible because the source system may be too unreliable, or the data model requires you to keep the data. For most systems there is no near-line storage for archiving in place, which allows for moving the data to a write-optimized DSO and  “nearline storage” old data, so limiting the available options for the data to (1) keep it or (2) delete it. This dilemma applies to many areas, where the only options available are to keep it and delete it. Not all data can be deleted, but you cannot just keep all data.  If the data is kept, a solution to accommodate this would be to compress the data and minimize the storage space required, but is it feasible to just keep all data, especially the temporary type, that offers little or no value.

6. TOO HIGH RISK "Business does not want to delete any data"

A combination of factors, whether it is budgetary or functionality may lead to a lack of storage space, a point where the only option is to delete. If forced down this path with limited understanding will become a high-risk scenario because how can you ever be sure, you are not deleting too much? The best way to mitigate this is to become proactive to build up your understanding of how to housekeep your systems rather than take the reactive approach to housekeep. A line needs to be drawn and a strategy made as to what to keep and what/ when to delete.

7. NO TRANSPARENCY IN THE SYSTEM "I have no clue if housekeeping is done and to which extend - there is no documentation available"

The final point, as you’ve seen, the standard tools for housekeeping, factor in that housekeeping should be performed system by system and on a regular basis. Unfortunately, there is no central space where housekeeping can be trackedand progress monitored provides no transparency. Central management for housekeeping is the key for increased transparency, reducing effort drivers, running all tasks, and reducing the risk of deleting data that should not have been.

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Many SAP tables contain temporary data, data that lose value quickly after its creation.
Often these tables grow rapidly because data after the end of purpose is not handled properly and regularly.
Sometimes because people are reluctant to delete any data.