{"id":254656,"date":"2025-10-31T12:19:30","date_gmt":"2025-10-31T11:19:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/arcana-solutions.com\/?p=254656"},"modified":"2025-10-31T13:15:57","modified_gmt":"2025-10-31T12:15:57","slug":"sap-public-cloud-legally-compliant-without-an-archiving-system","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/arcana-solutions.com\/en\/sap-public-cloud-legally-compliant-without-an-archiving-system\/","title":{"rendered":"SAP Public Cloud: Legally Compliant Without an Archiving System?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Digital processes need more than modern technology.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The SAP Public Cloud represents a new standard in the ERP world: lean, scalable, and quickly implemented. But despite all its innovation, one aspect is often overlooked: the long-term, legally compliant storage of documents and data.<\/p>\n<p>As modern as digital records like invoices or contracts may be, they are subject to strict retention requirements. Complete, audit-proof, and legally compliant archiving is not optional \u2013 it is mandatory.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Audit-proof vs. Legally compliant \u2013 What\u2019s the difference?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>In everyday use, these terms are often treated as synonyms. However, in practice, they are clearly different:<\/p>\n<ul data-spread=\"false\">\n<li><strong>Audit-proof<\/strong> means the data is technically immutable. Once archived, documents must not be altered \u2013 or only with full logging.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Legally compliant<\/strong> refers to legal correctness: the way data is captured, processed, and stored must meet regulations such as GDPR or local tax laws.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Only when both are met is a company truly secure in case of an audit or legal dispute.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Archiving with SAP \u2013 Why It\u2019s Not Automatically Covered<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>SAP distinguishes between data archiving (for performance) and document archiving (for compliance). The latter concerns original business documents like invoices, order confirmations, or emails.<\/p>\n<p>While SAP provides interfaces \u2013 such as ArchiveLink or CMIS \u2013 it does <strong>not<\/strong> include a GoBD-compliant archiving system. This means:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><strong>The responsibility for compliant storage lies with the company.<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>This is a real risk that is often underestimated \u2013 especially in Public Cloud environments.<\/p>\n<p><strong>ILM and Deletion Periods \u2013 Deleting Requires Planning Too<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>SAP Information Lifecycle Management (ILM) can manage retention and deletion periods. This is not only a legal requirement \u2013 e.g., under GDPR or commercial law \u2013 but also a key part of data protection and system hygiene.<\/p>\n<p>However, ILM alone is not enough: Without an integrated archiving system that supports both storage and rule-based deletion, the strategy remains incomplete.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The SAP Public Cloud Needs a Third-Party Archive<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>A common misconception: \u201cThe cloud takes care of it.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>But SAP Public Cloud does not store documents using WORM principles (Write Once, Read Many). Nor does it automatically fulfill requirements for tax audits (e.g., GoBD access standards).<\/p>\n<p>Only by integrating an external cloud archive \u2013 such as the one from arcana solutions \u2013 does a modern SAP landscape become truly audit- and legally compliant. CMIS handles the technical integration, the archive ensures long-term availability and immutability.<\/p>\n<p><strong>E-Invoicing Requirement from 2027 \u2013 The Next Milestone<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Starting in 2027, e-invoicing becomes mandatory for large companies, and by 2028 for all. Every e-invoice is subject to the same strict archiving rules as paper documents.<\/p>\n<p>In the SAP Public Cloud and Business Technology Platform (BTP), CMIS is the standard interface. The arcana solutions cloud archive is fully aligned with it \u2013 including GoBD and GDPR compliance.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Lift &amp; Shift or Native Cloud \u2013 Setting the Strategic Direction<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Many companies move existing archive solutions 1:1 to the cloud (\u201cLift &amp; Shift\u201d). While easy to implement, this approach brings legacy challenges: high costs, limited scalability, and minimal automation.<\/p>\n<p>A <strong>natively cloud-capable<\/strong> solution like arcana\u2019s offers a different path:<\/p>\n<ul data-spread=\"false\">\n<li>Automated deployment in the SAP customer tenant<\/li>\n<li>Dynamic scaling<\/li>\n<li>No infrastructure overhead<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Conclusion: If you\u2019re going SAP Public Cloud, archiving must be part of the strategy \u2013 not an afterthought.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Trust Through Technology \u2013 How Secure Archiving Works<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>A modern cloud archive needs clear mechanisms:<\/p>\n<ul data-spread=\"false\">\n<li>WORM-based storage<\/li>\n<li>End-to-end encryption<\/li>\n<li>Granular access control<\/li>\n<li>Full audit logs<\/li>\n<li>Long-term readability (e.g., PDF\/A)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The arcana solutions archive meets these standards \u2013 standardized, audit-proof, and future-ready.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Data Sovereignty? Remains with the Customer.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>A commonly overlooked point: In the Public Cloud, access to archived data remains under company control. Permissions are managed in the SAP system \u2013 not the archive.<\/p>\n<p>That means: <strong>Privacy, transparency, and compliance stay in your hands.<\/strong><\/p>\n<div contenteditable=\"false\">\n<hr \/>\n<\/div>\n<p><strong>Conclusion: Plan early. Decide wisely.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>SAP Public Cloud is a modern platform \u2013 but not an all-in-one solution for compliant archiving. Those who want to be safe should plan the appropriate archiving system from the start.<\/p>\n<p>A native cloud archive like the one from arcana solutions enhances SAP Public Cloud where it matters: in long-term availability, audit integrity, and compliance.<\/p>\n<p>Whether you&#8217;re just starting or already live \u2013 we&#8217;re here to help.<\/p>\n<p><em>By Tanja Fischer (Cpro INDUSTRY), Bernhard Morell and Fabian Keller (arcana solutions)<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Digital processes need more than modern technology. The SAP Public Cloud represents a new standard in the ERP world: lean, scalable, and quickly implemented. But despite all its innovation, one aspect is often overlooked: the long-term, legally compliant storage of documents and data. As modern as digital records like invoices or contracts may be, they [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"featured_media":254652,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","itunes_episode_number":"","itunes_title":"","itunes_season_number":"","itunes_episode_type":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"dipi_cpt_category":[],"class_list":["post-254656","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-unkategorisiert"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/arcana-solutions.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/254656","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/arcana-solutions.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/arcana-solutions.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arcana-solutions.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arcana-solutions.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=254656"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/arcana-solutions.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/254656\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":254657,"href":"https:\/\/arcana-solutions.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/254656\/revisions\/254657"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arcana-solutions.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/254652"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arcana-solutions.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=254656"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arcana-solutions.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=254656"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arcana-solutions.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=254656"},{"taxonomy":"dipi_cpt_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arcana-solutions.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/dipi_cpt_category?post=254656"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}