APOS Storage Center is a full-client solution that provides comprehensive, rules-based backup, and archive functionality for SAP BusinessObjects. You can use Storage Center in online mode, offline mode, or both to balance disk space, performance and audit requirements.

Back up not only BI report objects, but also other types of system and information objects, such as dashboards (Xcelsius), documents, and Infospaces. Instances are archived as information at a point in time.

Manage the document lifecycle with complete backup and archive functionality in both online and offline modes to balance disk space and performance.

In online storage, the archived documents of record remain within your SAP BusinessObjects system, but are invisible to standard queries, saving processing power for the information that is of primary importance to your analysts.

Offline storage moves archived documents of record to a separate location while maintaining their integrity in relation to your BI system, saving you both processing power and storage space.

In online archiving, APOS Storage Centerallows you to change the status of specific report instances inside SAP BusinessObjects so that they do not appear on the normal History screen. You can authorize specific users to move instances from 'Active' to 'Online Archive' or the reverse.

Archiving limits the number of document instances the system has to search through, improving response times. Online Archived report instances are not loaded by SAP BusinessObjects. For this reason, these instances cannot be viewed from the Online Archive. The main benefits of online archiving are:

• The regular history screen has fewer instances, loads faster and generally improves the end-user experience.
• The SAP BusinessObjects system's performance is improved.

Offline archiving copies selected report instances to an external file location (with or without format conversion) and then deletes them from SAP BusinessObjects. APOS Storage Centeralso allows an administrator to restore these instances to their original location, or to a new location.

Offline archiving both improves performance and saves storage space. Managing storage space is extremely important for migration preparation. It helps you reduce the volume of data to be migrated.
Offline archiving also creates a neutral format copy for long time storage.

APOS Storage Center gives you the choice of archiving instances in standard or LCMBIAR methods, or in both simultaneously. Using the LCMBIAR method allows you to save security settings along with the instances.

APOS Storage Centeralso allows an administrator to manually move online or offline archived instances from one folder to a different location within SAP BusinessObjects. This capability is useful when you wish to keep a group of instances in the system but not in their current folder.

With this method, every object and instance is backed up to an individual LCMBAIR file and can be restored individually. However, they can only be restored to their original locations and not to a different folder, and they can only be backed up to their original formats.

A far more flexible alternative to the SAP BusinessObjects Recycle Bin, selectively restore content without the need for any system downtime. Safeguard data privacy with selective restore of individual document instances to a location of your choice for audit or other review requirements.

APOS Storage Center allows you to retrieve and restore an individual object or instance from its back up or archive repository, allowing quick and easy response to scenarios where content has been changed or deleted and has resulted in unintentional system damage. Whether you archive using online or offline modes, APOS Storage Center allows selective restore of your BI documents, in both their native format, and in neutral formats, and to both their original location and to a location of your choice.

Selective restore to a new location helps you safeguard data privacy, because you control who has access to the restore location. This capability is very useful in the case of internal and external audit requests or other types of investigation.

Archiving, restoring, and migrating documents using neutral formats allows you to achieve and maintain regulatory compliance by preserving "document-of-record" integrity throughout the documents' lifecycle.

APOS Storage Center allows you to back up, archive, and restore not only BI reports and instances, but also other types of information objects, such as dashboards (Xcelsius), office documents, and Infospaces.

In SAP BusinessObjects BI 4.2, SAP introduced the Recycle Bin, which allows administrators to restore accidentally deleted content to Public Folders, typically within a 30-day window after the deletion. (Note that the system only starts to retain deleted items after the Recycle Bin has been activated. That is, you cannot activate the Recycle Bin and retrieve items that were deleted prior to the date on which you activated the feature.) While this feature is a useful addition to BI 4.2, it does not meet the needs for report versioning and selective restore that are provided by APOS Storage Center.

The Recycle Bin works for a number of "Oops!" moments when a report is accidentally deleted, but it does not allow you to restore earlier versions of a report to reverse changes you have made. Because APOS Storage Center backs up with versioning, it allows you to retrieve an earlier version of the report, without the changes made to the current version.

Storage Center's extract and export features maintain document of record integrity for the migration process. The ability to export to other formats can be crucial, because changes in the environment can make it impossible to restore the original document instance. Storage Center allows administrators to restore the original, the exported version, or both.

The versioning provided by APOS Storage Center is invaluable, because Web Intelligence reports can be changed easily by users. Storage Center provides an intelligent means to purge Webis while retaining retrievable versions, and enabling regulatory compliance.

Formal report development goes through development, QA, and production cycles. If you lose a report object, you can easily restore it from an earlier development or QA cycle. However, Web Intelligence report development is far more ad hoc: they are designed and built by users, often with quick and frequent iteration. APOS Storage Center gives you the ability to back up report versions, ensuring reporting continuity.

APOS Storage Center allows you to retrieve and restore an individual object or instance from its back up or archive repository, allowing quick and easy response to scenarios where content has been changed or deleted and has resulted in unintentional system damage. Whether you archive using online or offline modes, APOS Storage Center allows selective restore of your BI documents, in both their native format, and in neutral formats, and to both their original location and to a location of your choice.

Selective restore to a new location helps you safeguard data privacy, because you control who has access to the restore location. This capability is very useful in the case of internal and external audit requests or other types of investigation.

Archiving, restoring, and migrating documents using neutral formats allows you to achieve and maintain regulatory compliance by preserving "document-of-record" integrity throughout the documents' lifecycle.

APOS Storage Center allows you to back up, archive, and restore not only BI reports and instances, but also other types of information objects, such as dashboards (Xcelsius), office documents, and Infospaces.

In SAP BusinessObjects BI 4.2, SAP introduced the Recycle Bin, which allows administrators to restore accidentally deleted content to Public Folders, typically within a 30-day window after the deletion. (Note that the system only starts to retain deleted items after the Recycle Bin has been activated. That is, you cannot activate the Recycle Bin and retrieve items that were deleted prior to the date on which you activated the feature.) While this feature is a useful addition to BI 4.2, it does not meet the needs for report versioning and selective restore that are provided by APOS Storage Center.

The Recycle Bin works for a number of "Oops!" moments when a report is accidentally deleted, but it does not allow you to restore earlier versions of a report to reverse changes you have made. Because APOS Storage Center backs up with versioning, it allows you to retrieve an earlier version of the report, without the changes made to the current version.

Storage Center's extract and export features maintain document of record integrity for the migration process. The ability to export to other formats can be crucial, because changes in the environment can make it impossible to restore the original document instance. Storage Center allows administrators to restore the original, the exported version, or both.

APOS Storage Center gives you the flexibility to promote reports to your choice of locations, with or without a folder structure, and with your choice of instance and backup options.

APOS Storage Center provides the ability to archive not just universes, reports, and instances, but all object types within your SAP BI system, which means that you can use APOS Storage Center to replicate an entire deployment, including user groups and all security settings. Using the LCMBIAR archive method, the whole system can be archived, then restored to a new environment.