In the SAP world, migrating documents from one repository to another can seem like an overwhelming task. However, moving this content to use M365/SharePoint Online as the external content storage system is straightforward if you have a document migration strategy. In our last post of this series, we mentioned the two major migration strategies, and today we start with the easiest one: using standard SAP-provided tools to migrate content between repositories.
Standard SAP® Software Document Migration Tools
Utilizing standard migration tools is available when you would like to migrate content using SAP-provided reports or programs. There are reports available out of the box in SAP® Software ERP that can be used depending on the type of the document as well as the scale of documents for migration.
There are two major types of attachments that use distinct programs for migration:
- SAPOFFICE (a.k.a. GOS attachments)
- ArchiveLink attachments
Using these has apparent benefits, such as automatically updating the internal linking tables used in the ERP system. Running these reports involves specifying the source and target content repositories. The application server then does all the lifting necessary to migrate the document files and update the internal links.
When to Use Standard Migration Tools
This method is ideal in most cases for several reasons. First, there is no custom code needed; the migration programs are available directly from SAP. The reports can be run as background jobs, which is recommended for reporting/audit purposes. Finally, these tools are fully supported by SAP.
By default, SAP® Software ERP is designed to store unstructured content in the same database as the structured data (transaction data). In smaller organizations where this has been done, the standard SAP content migration tooling is recommended as this is the easiest way to retrieve the content from where it is stored. In these cases, the scale of stored content is usually well within the limits handled by these tools.
When Not to Use Standard Migration Tools
Using standardized migration tools is less ideal past a certain scale, so it is not recommended for extremely large content repositories. The error reporting and handling is rudimentary, and in some cases, the job may need to be rerun from the start if errors are encountered.
If you are interested in more information about the standard SAP tool, here are links to support notes for their usage:
- Migration of ArchiveLink Documents: https://launchpad.support.sap.com/#/notes/1043676
- Tools for GOS and DMS migrations:
As organizations increasingly become more integrated and utilize Microsoft 365 SharePoint Online across the enterprise, they will want to connect the ERP to SharePoint for document storage. This is easily facilitated by our platform, Gimmal Link, although often the question of how to get existing content migrated comes up.
In the next post, we will discuss the more difficult case of moving from a legacy ECM system and how to handle the complexities common in those migrations.