Electronic Archive Solutions Limited (e-ASL) help customers better manage SAP data, SAP disk growth, and to reduce business process costs. A key solution in our portfolio towards this goal is IBM's CommonStore for SAP.

Customers worldwide are today better managing SAP applications, SAP data, and business processes with CommonStore, some of the key solution benefits include:

• From an IT perspective, SAP customers are reducing SAP disk costs, and reducing SAP CPU processing pressures by better managing SAP data with archiving solutions,
• From a user perspective, customers are better managing their SAP data by integrating core applications and SAP information with call centres,
• Companies are gaining more affordable management of administration processes, achieved by scanning and archiving incoming documents, letters, and invoices into SAP, and integrating the incoming correspondence with SAP Accounts Receivable and Payment processes,
• From a strategic position, SAP customers are leveraging the internet to access SAP data to improve customer service and reduce business administration costs,

Content Manager CommonStore for SAP Overview

Using SAP's standard ArchiveLink interface, all CommonStore for SAP archive functions are directly available through pull down menus of the R/3 user interface (SAPGUI), thus allowing clerical workers to work in the accustomed SAP environment.

Mission critical SAP data and business documents can be archived on optical disk libraries and are accessible for the end users at any time:

• Incoming original documents (scanned images, eg. invoices, orders, etc.)
• Outgoing documents produced with SAP (eg. debit notes, delivery notices, etc.)
• Print lists (SAP reports, journals)
• Reorganisation data (SAP database objects)
• External files (PC documents, spreadsheets, drawings, graphics, etc.)

CommonStore satisfies the key requirements of SAP R/3 customers for long term storage and retrieval of vital data and documents of their R/3 system:

Moving old inactive data from the operational database to an external archive for occasional retrieval and long term storage is a SAP recommended method to trim the size of the R/3 database. IBM CommonStore with TSM is ideally suited for this purpose. Using the standard SAP ArchiveLinkT interface, R/3 can transparently exchange data with a professionally managed archive with all the reliability and automation capabilities provided by TSM, like storage hierarchies, tape libraries, optical juke boxes, etc..

Incoming documents, eg. scanned invoices, can be archived and included into the SAP Business Workflow. Thus the overall time to process business documents can be reduced and most of the paper handling can be eliminated.

With IBM CommonStore, all archive / retrieve functions can be directly invoked by the users from the respective SAP R/3 applications. Information needs to be stored only once and can be distributed electronically to all authorised users.