Modernizing data archiving in your ERP system

In today’s system landscape, the creation of data is accelerating at an ever-increasing speed. The problem? Companies don’t know how to manage superfluous data.

The answer? Archiving.

Archiving is the practice of analyzing, moving or removing redundant data from your Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system. Data can either be placed into separate storage drives, which can be called upon if ever needed or even completely deleted altogether. If a client’s ERP system isn’t running as efficiently as it used to, we often find they could benefit from archiving. Moving unused records out of your ERP system should optimize the performance of your queries and reduce the overall footprint of your environment.

Reasons to archive your data

Data archiving is often an afterthought for many companies, but there are several reasons why companies should archive their data and do it regularly:

• Data storage management: The most common reason for archiving data is to get rid of unused transactional data in the production database for performance and sizing reasons. Your company can save money in IT expenditure for both primary and backup storages as well as increase the speed of your business software, like that of IFS Applications™. A faster system should, in turn, increase productivity and free up space on your primary storage for the data you use.
• Compliance and legislation: Companies operating within regulated industries are more than often held responsible for managing records. This practice is to keep up with both legislation and compliance standards. If your business adheres to any other industry regulations, especially regarding the storage of data, then archiving is a must.
• Increased security: Keeping old or unused data on high-traffic servers, even with the proper access controls in place, increases the surface of a potential attack on your business. Removing unused data from general access and placing it onto a separate storage tier or device, reduces the risk and potential impact of data loss or theft while maintaining the integrity of all that data for as long as it is needed.

Seeing the benefits of archiving

By first analyzing your database Baker Tilly Digital can quickly identify the areas of your system that may require modifications. From there, we discuss our findings with the client and adapt our proposals to your requirements, incorporating any exclusions as required. For example, we can remove all historic invoices created before a specified date pertaining to a company that is no longer part of your business, excluding any inter-group invoices. By scheduling your archiving practices and regularly keeping only the records you need, your company can maintain a faster system., automate the process of building the archive jobs, saving staff days and potentially even weeks’ worth of work.

We’ve led and implemented IFS Applications archiving strategies for companies of all sizes across several different industries. To learn how Baker Tilly Digital can help your business navigate the archive process, contact us.