Anne:
We went live with our conversion from a legacy mainframe application to
SAP Customer Information System about one year ago. Several things had
to happen for the data (and "records") to function correctly. For
example:
1. Data cleansing. A huge task. While we applied retention to the
mainframe data over the years, there were still a large number of issues
that came to light with duplicate data, incorrect data, impossible data,
and so on. Took about 1 year to cleanse the data so it matched well
enough to convert to SAP.
2. Event trigger. The event trigger for applying retention under the
legacy system was the date an account terminated. With the SAP system,
however, an "account" is something different and it behaves differently.
We had to bring in a third party consultant to develop programming to
identify and apply retention to the data in order to "archive" it over
to the SAN without complications with processing dead ends or loops.
For it to work, we actually keep the data the appropriate number of
years past the event trigger and then apply the archiving programs. We
keep the archived data a short time on the SAN before purging.
3. Definition of record. In order to apply retention, we had to
redefine "record" to match how SAP works. Instead of single records,
SAP CIS has multiple pointers to various tables that make an account.
These are referred to as "objects." We redefined "record" for this data
to equal "object" as defined in the SAP system. We therefore apply the
retention to the appropriate objects. Several objects make up what we
use to call an account.
You have quite a job ahead of you if you are converting a number of
legacy systems to SAP. I would suggest you get on the implementation
team and make sure you understand exactly what functionality was
purchased. Not all SAP systems come with easy to apply "archiving."
Most implementers of large systems (not just SAP) prefer not to have to
purge anything .... ever, because of the interaction of the data and
tables and functionality. Most of the systems are "out of the box"
designed to rely on the data always being there.
Ginny Jones
(Virginia A. Jones, CRM, FAI)
Records Manager
Information Technology Division
Newport News Dept. of Public Utilities
Newport News, VA
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-----Original Message-----
From: Records Management Program [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On
Behalf Of Anne Merwin
Sent: Monday, October 06, 2008 8:41 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: [RM] Legacy migration to SAP
Hello ListServ Members,
I need your assistance please. Our company, through acquisitions, has
many, many legacy business planning & control systems (BPCS) and
applications that now require migration into SAP, or archiving for
continued storage. These multitude of systems, I have been told, are
costing us +/-$4M per year and we want to shut them down. The data in
these systems must be kept as needed for research, litigation, etc, in
an
appropriate manner and maintain the ability to apply retention rules and
legal holds. As I am relatively new to RM and have never handled a
project of this magnitude, I will be the first to admit that I don't
know
enough to know what I don't know. I've searched the archives but was
unable to locate what I think I am looking for.
My question to the group is what type of questions do I need answered or
information gathered from my people in order to create a bid packet to
perform this type of migration. Or to even talk intelligently to vendors
on the subject.
Vendor feedback welcome, but please do not contact me to be put on "our
list" of potential vendors.
Regards,
Anne Merwin
Corporate Records Coordinator
Huntsman International LLC
10003 Woodloch Forest Drive, #8036
The Woodlands, TX 77380
Tel: (281) 719-4022
Fax: (281) 719-4045
Cell: (713) 775-6586
[log in to unmask]
For additional information on Huntsman's Document Management Program
visit
our webpage on the Huntsman iLink under Shared Services / Legal /
Records
Retention
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