Process Archiving in SAP Process Orchestration

SAP Process Orchestration is a single, integrated solution for building and running end-to-end business processes across both SAP and non-SAP environments.

In SAP Business Process Management, Process Instances that have been completed and not required by businesses for any audit purposes should be deleted from time to time.

The frequency of this archiving procedure varies from business to business based on a few factors.

1. The number of process instances and task instances started per day
2. The typical duration of a process instance
3. The number of users assigned to a task role.
   (if using a UME group or role, then the number of users assigned)

Effects of archiving

What can you expect when process instances are archived?

The process instances marked for archiving will be removed from the BPM database and archived to a location as configured by the administrator.  Corresponding entries will be created in the DAS tables for the archived instances.

As expected, Process Archiving improves the overall performance of the system. It keeps the database compact with fewer process instances.

SAP Process Orchestration uses the SAP NetWeaver XML DAS framework for archiving.  Additional information can be found here.

Archiving guidelines

SAP recommends that you follow these guidelines to facilitate the maintenance of the archives over a period of time.

• Create a new collection before each upgrade of the solution
  • Logon to NetWeaver Administrator and navigate to Image may be NSFW.
    Clik here to view. Operations Image may be NSFW.
    Clik here to view.Data and Databases Image may be NSFW.
    Clik here to view.Java Archiving Cockpit Image may be NSFW.
    Clik here to view.HierarchyImage may be NSFW.
    Clik here to view.
  • Choose the bpm_proc Archiving set from the Show Archiving Set dropdown.
  • Click the Create Collection button on the toolbar and provide an appropriate name.
• You may also want to create a new collection at the beginning of every calendar/fiscal year as appropriate.
• If the number of process instances grow exponentially in your organization, it is recommended to create a new collection every quarter.

Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.

By following the above guidelines, it is extremely simple to perform housekeeping activities on the archives.

Deleting archived instances

The deletion of the archived instances can be accomplished easily via the Java Archiving Cockpit.

If you want to delete the archived instances from a particular fiscal year for example, you could follow these simple steps:

• Logon to SAP NetWeaver Administrator
• Launch the Java Archiving Cockpit application by choosing Image may be NSFW.
  Clik here to view. Operations Image may be NSFW.
  Clik here to view.Data and Databases Image may be NSFW.
  Clik here to view.Java Archiving Cockpit Image may be NSFW.
  Clik here to view.
• Navigate to the  Image may be NSFW.
  Clik here to view.Hierarchy tab
• Expand the bpm_proc node and select the appropriate collection (The same as the one that you created for that fiscal year)
• Click the ‘Delete collection’ button on the toolbar of the Java Archiving Cockpit

Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.

This keeps the archives from growing to a few gigabytes.  Businesses might prefer to store a couple of years’ worth of archived content for audit purposes.  You may also want to adhere the audit guidelines of your business accordingly.  Other archived content can be deleted in this manner, provided you organized the collections in an orderly manner before starting the archiving process.

References / Related content

[1] Process Archiving in SAP Business Process Management

[2] SAP Help documentation for archiving Process Data

[3] SAP Help documentation for the Java Archiving Cockpit

[4] Administration of XML Data archiving