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Active Information Managementwith SAP ILM

Active Information Managementwith SAP ILM

Especially in times of Big Data and system landscapes becoming more and more complex, data protection, data security and data archiving are much discussed topics for enterprises of all industries, particularly in the context of the General Data Protection Regulation (EU-GDPR) becoming effective as of May 25, 2018. In order to fulfill the new, enhanced provisions and requirements of the legislator in the area of data protection and archiving, advanced IT structures as well as strategic concepts will be necessary.

The new legal situation as of May 2018 reinforces the rights of all consumers with regard to their informal self-determination and requires adjustments in all business units working with personal data. Due to the increased penalties that might be imposed on enterprises in case of infringement or breach of the new EU-GDPR, effective data protection will become an important success and competition factor in your company.

The use of SAP ILM will support you in digital retention, blocking and deletion of data and documents in SAP as well as in an optimal management of live and archived data throughout its entire life cycle.

Starting efficient information management with an initial SAP ILM workshop

Do you have a complete overview in your IT infrastructure of how and where you are processing personal data in your SAP system? Do you require consulting about the functions and advantages of SAP in connection with the Information Lifecycle Management, about the prerequisites, the implementation methodology as well as the effort and the budget for such a data management project? For enterprises based in Germany, FIS offers an initial SAP ILM workshop in connection with the modules SAP FI/CO and SAP Logistics including technical check, recommendations for action and an individual offer for your company. For further information, please contact FIS directly.

In addition, FIS offers the FIS/hrd Data Information Analysis (DIA) component, a tool that supports you in the initial analysis as well as in the continuous monitoring of personal data and their retention period in the SAP HCM-system.

Your benefits with SAP ILM

  • Archive obsolete data to improve the performance of your SAP system – and, in doing so, reduce the database size as well as your administrative expenses.
  • Support the retention rules for data and information by creating separate archives based on the different data lifecycles.
  • Reduce IT management costs by combining systems and decommissioning legacy systems.
  • SAP ILM enables a clear and long-term storage of compliance audit and reporting functions for decommissioned systems.
  • Reduce the costs and the risk of legal investigations by automating data entry for law cases.

Data Protection and Data Security – why is SAP ILM recommendable?

The collection and processing of personal data is of particular importance for enterprises. The efficient and easy blocking, deletion and archiving of this sensitive data in an SAP system is very complex however, especially in a system with customer-specific enhancements. For these systems and the management of data stored here, you require an advanced solution. In this connection, you also have to bear in mind that not only the live SAP system processes personal data, but also the SAP test or quality assurance systems have to be considered.

SAP ILM (SAP Information Lifecycle Management) is a tool developed for retaining, blocking and deleting data and documents in your SAP system. By using ILM, the life cycle of SAP data can be managed in an automated way by means of rules. The tool is recommended by SAP as a supporting measure with a view to the EU-GDPR becoming effective on May 25, 2018.

The SAP module will assist you with managing the life cycle of the information stored in SAP by using the following Information Retention Management functions:

  • Determination of ILM rules: You can independently define ILM rules, e.g. storage rules and retention periods, to be able to map the legal requirements correctly in SAP and to apply these provisions to live data as well as to data already archived. According to these requirements and processes, the data can eventually be archived in an automated way.
  • Blocking of data: Data can be blocked against premature deletion if they are relevant for legal cases for instance or if they are to be blocked against access of specific SAP users or employees.
  • Deletion of data: In consideration of legal requirements or blocking due to a legal case, data can be deleted in a rule-consistent manner.

Furthermore, your data will be archived on an ILM-certified WebDAV server to guarantee the immutability of personal data and prevent premature deletion.

The three SAP ILM modules are an appropriate solution to manage your data in an automated and, as a consequence, in a simpler and more efficient way in the SAP ERP system.

Functions of SAP ILM at a glance

Information Retention Manager

By means of the Information Retention Manager, rule sets concerning the preservation and retention periods of SAP data can be created as a support for automated archiving and deletion of this electronic data. Via a certified interface, SAP can be connected to the archive in addition and the data stored here can be managed comprehensively as a consequence. Furthermore, it is possible to block or delete documents and data in the system.

  • Creation of rule sets: temporal definition of preservation rules (blocking time) and retention rules (deletion time) of data
  • ILM Store: connection of ILM to archiving system via ILM data archive or ILM-certified WebDAV interface
  • Legal Case Management: blocking of archiving files possible due to a legal case so that data concerned may also be stored beyond the retention period
  • Deletion of data: after the retention period has expired, master and movement data is automated and removed from the system in a rule-consistent manner
  • Blocking of data: (archiving) data can be blocked against the access of specific groups of persons via authorization concepts

Information Retrieval Framework

The Information Retrieval Framework is used to inform the person concerned about their personal data in the SAP system and its use and purpose.

  • Availability of information for persons authorized to obtain information: search and retrieval of personal data possible
  • All personal data entered in your system can be made available to users/customers as well as time and context of data entry
  • Personal data can be transferred to customers in a machine-readable format

Data Controller Rule Framework

  • Simplification of rule creation and maintenance concerning preservation and retention periods (e.g. rules concerning ILM objects can be created and maintained across several company codes)

Interested in SAP ILM? Request personal consulting

Request now for SAP ILM – free of charge and without any obligation!

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Further services by FIS

As a competent partner with many years of experience, FIS will be able to assist you on implementing an information management system for an effective digital retention, blocking and deletion of data and documents. With the SAP Information Lifecycle Management, FIS will help you set up the respective tools for optimized storage, management and archiving of data and documents in your SAP system. Contact the experts of FIS directly for an individual consultation or your initial workshop to get started.

Hardy Langenbacher
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"*" indicates required fields

All fields marked with * are required for ordering and processing. Your person-related data will be used by us solely for the purpose of processing your inquiry according to our data privacy statement.
This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.