How data archiving changes when you move from ECC to S/4HANA

Native Storage Extension (NSE): HANA NSE allows organisations to designate specific data as "warm," moving it from expensive in-memory storage to disk-based storage within HANA. This provides a middle tier between fully active data and archived data, reducing memory consumption without removing data from the database entirely.

Multi-temperature data management: Building on NSE, S/4HANA supports a tiered approach to data storage: hot (in-memory, frequently accessed), warm (disk-based within HANA, occasionally accessed), and cold (archived to external storage, rarely accessed). This tiered model was not natively available in ECC and represents a significant evolution in S/4HANA data archiving strategy.

Enhanced ILM capabilities: SAP Information Lifecycle Management features have been extended in S/4HANA to support more sophisticated retention management, automated policy enforcement, and integration with GDPR compliance requirements. Organisations already using ILM in ECC will find expanded functionality, whilst those new to ILM have a more mature starting point for archiving in S/4HANA.

What organisations must change

Given these differences, organisations moving from ECC to S/4HANA should take the following steps to ensure effective S/4HANA data archiving:

1. Reassess archiving scope and objects. Do not carry forward ECC archiving configurations without reviewing their relevance in S/4HANA's simplified data model.
2. Evaluate NSE opportunities. Identify data sets that are accessed infrequently but do not yet warrant full archiving, and consider moving them to warm storage through HANA NSE.
3. Update retention policies. Align data retention rules with S/4HANA's enhanced ILM capabilities and current regulatory requirements.
4. Review HANA database management practices. Establish monitoring for memory consumption, data growth trends, and archiving effectiveness to maintain ongoing control.
5. Train archiving teams. Ensure that staff responsible for data archiving understand the differences between ECC vs S/4HANA archiving and can operate effectively in the new environment.

Failing to adapt archiving strategies can lead to significant cost overruns and performance issues. Organisations that achieved lean databases in ECC will find those gains eroded if their approach is not updated for S/4HANA's different architecture and data structures.

Conclusion

S/4HANA data archiving is not simply a continuation of what organisations did in ECC. The in-memory architecture, simplified data models, and new capabilities like NSE and enhanced ILM create a fundamentally different landscape for HANA database management. Organisations that recognise these differences and adapt their strategies accordingly will maintain better control over costs, performance, and compliance. Those that attempt to replicate their ECC approach unchanged risk escalating expenses and diminished system performance. The organisations that approach archiving in S/4HANA with proper planning and expert guidance will be best positioned to unlock the full benefits that the platform promises.

Teams that want a structured way to run this reassessment can use TJC Group's Archiving Sessions Cockpit (ASC), which plans, schedules and documents SAP archiving sessions from one place, in ECC before the move and in S/4HANA after it.

Frequently asked questions

Can I use the same archiving objects in S/4HANA that I used in ECC?