ERP data archiving – a critical analysis

ERP (enterprise resource planning) systems run on top of database systems, like Oracle, SQL Server and DB2. The longer these systems are in place within organizations the larger the databases are. Some sources estimate that corporate databases double or triple in size every year. As these databases grow, performance, the time it takes to complete transactions, is adversely affected. This implies that limiting the amount of data stored on an ERP system is an essential element of proper storage and data management. However, removing data from an ERP system can be a complex and risky task. Archiving ERP data is an area of academic and professional research that has had minimal attention. This paper examines the issues and provides insight into solutions associated with archiving ERP data. The issues are explored by summarizing the limited background and research in the archiving area, followed by an overview of the methodology used to arrive at the case study approach used to gather the data. Case data are presented from three different large corporate environments and the results of the data are used to recommend an archiving strategy that other companies can follow. A discussion of the implications of the proposed archiving strategy for future use and research concludes the paper.