By default, the retirement job archives all attachments that are stored in the SAP database and in an external file system or storage system. If attachments are in a storage system, then archive link must be available. The job creates a folder in the staging location for each business object ID that includes attachments. The folder stores all attachments for the business object ID. You specify the staging location in the source connection. The job uses the following naming convention to create the folders:

<SAP client number>_<business object ID>

The job downloads all attachments for the business objects to the corresponding business object ID folder. The job downloads the attachments in the original file format and uses a gzip utility to compress the attachments. The attachments are stored in .gz format.

For attachments that are stored in the SAP database, the retirement job uses an ABAP import command to decode the attachments before the job downloads the attachments. The SAP database stores attachments in an encoded SAP format that are only readable in the SAP application layer. The job uses the SAP application layer to decode the attachments so you can read the attachments after you retire the SAP application.

For attachments that are stored in a file system, the job downloads the attachments from the external file system or storage to the staging location. Optionally, you can configure the attachment entity to keep attachments in the original location.

After the job creates the folder for the business object ID, the job appends the business object number as a prefix to the attachment name. The prefix ensures that attachment has a unique identifier and can be associated with the correct business object.

The job uses the following naming convention for the downloaded attachment names:

<business object number>_<attachment name>.<file type>.gz

After you run the retirement job, you choose the final storage destination for the attachments. You can keep the attachments in the staging file system, move the attachments to another file system, or move the attachments to the Data Vault. There is no further compression of the attachments regardless of the final storage destination.