The customer has been using SAP to support its administrative processes for over 25 years. This results in a multitude of documents and data that must be reliably stored for specified periods of time in accordance with legal and organizational requirements and—after the retention period has expired—that must be deleted just as reliably. These are not only SAP documents such as accounting documents and special archiving objects from the SAP Public Sector Management module, but also personal items such as time records, sick notes, and salary statements for state employees. As a rule, these documents are stored in the databases belonging to the SAP systems. In older architectures with SAP R/3, these include Oracle databases, while in the new SAP S/4HANA systems, they are HANA in-memory databases.
In order to relieve the pressure on SAP systems, the customer decided to set up a separate archiving solution for data and documents. This archiving solution was to be available as SaaS and usable for both the older R/3 and the modern SAP S/4HANA systems. At the same time, the system also had to meet data protection and compliance requirements due to the confidentiality of the stored data.
Over 25 years ago, with the help of T-Systems, the state established a modern, SAP-based budget management system for standardized state budget management and controlling. As part of this project, the enterprise content management (ECM) system ImageMaster from T-Systems was also introduced. Today, more than 82 SAP systems from all of the state's ministries, including sub-organizations, universities, and state enterprises, are connected to this central archiving system. ImageMaster uses the SAP-certified ArchiveLink and Information Lifecycle Management (ILM) interfaces for connection purposes, which ensure the transfer of SAP-specific content to the ECM system and transparent access by SAP. Currently, documents that have exceeded the defined document-specific residence time in the SAP systems of 36 to 72 months are transferred. This makes SAP application management easier and reduces the database load, thereby reducing performance losses. With audit-proof storage in accordance with legal retention guidelines and timely deletion, compliance is uniformly guaranteed across all SAP systems. The SAP ILM interface also ensures compliance with the data protection requirements of the GDPR for documents containing personal data.
T-Systems not only supported the introduction of ImageMaster with consulting and implementation services, but also operates the archiving solution as part of SAP support for the German federal state.
With ImageMaster, we have been providing the customer with a reliable archiving solution for over 25 years that ensures compliance and is continuously developed over time.
Thomas Günther, Product Manager ImageMaster at T-Systems
With ImageMaster, the customer has a standardized solution for the audit-proof storage of a wide variety of archiving objects from the various SAP systems of the state administration. The ECM system enables comprehensive, standardized management of data and documents and also supports the authorities in complying with legal and operational storage and deletion requirements. Operation by T-Systems ensures that the necessary service levels are met.
At the same time, data archiving outside SAP contributes to a reduction in the total cost of ownership of the SAP database. The process efficiency and productivity of the SAP systems are maintained, as the systems access documents directly in the archiving system. All in all, ImageMaster has been covering all technological and functional customer requirements for over 25 years and also provides the necessary functions and interfaces for future scenarios such as SAP S/4HANA.
