The adoption of ERP applications such as SAP and Oracle means that over several years, data grows and these volumes become increasingly difficult to manage. Costs escalate as resource requirements increase.
To address these issues, many organisations are seeking archiving solutions. Joe Rios, Content Management Consultant at Bateleur Software, says business issues such as compliance are also driving the adoption of archiving solutions.
"An archiving strategy should address the regular archiving, deletion and table reorganisation of structured, relational data," he says. "While this is essential for optimal system performance and faster response times, the real benefits are derived from the re-use of archived data in the new document server or repository."
Once archived, copies of original mission-critical documents, forms, letters, reports, diagrams and other business documents can be readily retrieved. These documents can be viewed online, distributed internally to users, or e-mailed to customers. Business processes are improved by extending the functionality and performance of ERP systems, as original documents are speedily retrieved and allow immediate customer response. Employees have a unified view of business-critical information and are able to take action faster, make better decisions, collaborate and operate more efficiently. Content statements, invoices and forms are available at the fingertips of customer support representatives, or can be delivered directly to customers and partners via the Internet.
According to Rios, the Mobius ViewDirect TCM for SAP solution enables archiving, distribution and seamless viewing of both SAP and non-SAP documents, using a single Web-based interface. Bateleur Software is the official South African representative of Mobius Management Systems, the predominant provider of total content management (TCM) solutions.
"The Mobius repository is built on a content repository that supports all enterprise content - in any format, from any source - and makes it available for real-time Web delivery and to support business processes," he says.
Mobius ViewDirect TCM for SAP archives the SAP R/3, R/3 Enterprise, mySAP Business Suite and SAP Enterprise Portal Environment. It fully supports all major SAP archiving scenarios including data archiving to reduce table size and improve performance; image archiving of incoming and outgoing documents to eliminate paper and support SAP Business Workflow; and print list archiving to avoid report regeneration. It is SAP-certified to integrate with SAP ArchiveLink, SAP Web Application Server (Web AS), HTTP Content Server and Java.
In addition, Mobius was the first enterprise content management vendor SAP-certified `Powered by SAP NetWeaver`, ensuring that ViewDirect TCM works seamlessly with the SAP Web AS to find related business information in real-time.
The Mobius document repository, optimised for unstructured data types such as documents, assists with regulatory issues such as compliance. Documents and reports are stored in their original format, while records management and information lifecycle management are supported through customer-definable retention periods.
"Archived documents and print lists can be distributed electronically, giving employees greater access to enterprise system information. Reports do not have to be regenerated by SAP for each user request - it doesn`t tax the production system and provides an exact copy of the original. Non-SAP users can get SAP data reports without being licensed as SAP users," Rios points out.
"Real cost savings are achieved, not only by reducing IT resource requirements, but by providing significant reductions in paper handling and copying. Our customers have enjoyed further reductions in operating costs, as filing and storage costs are also reduced."
Mobius enables employees, customers and business partners to search, view, download and print documents, reports and images in any format without resorting to physical filing cabinets, logging on to a separate application and without leaving the SAP environment.
Share