Archive-system-independent archive-type objects

Abstract

This disclosure provides various embodiments for archiving a business object. At least one particular business object is identified for archiving. The particular business object has associated data including type data corresponding to a business object type of the at least one particular business object, structured business data, and unstructured attachment data. At least one archive-type object is created corresponding to the particular business object by enriching the unstructured attachment data with type-specific metadata including data identifying at least one attribute of the business object type. The archive-type object is archive-system-independent. The at least one archive-type object is exported to at least one archiving system for storage in at least one memory device of the archiving system.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A computer-implemented method of archiving at least one business object, the method comprising:
 identifying at least one particular business object for archiving, the at least one particular business object having associated data including:
 type data corresponding to a business object type of the at least one particular business object, 
 structured business data, and 
 unstructured attachment data; 
   creating at least one archive-type object corresponding to the at least one particular business object by enriching the unstructured attachment data with type-specific metadata including data identifying at least one attribute of the business object type; and   exporting the at least one archive-type object to at least one archiving system for storage in at least one memory device of the archiving system,   wherein the at least one archive-type object is archive-system-independent.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the archiving system is a remote, third-party archiving system. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the at least one particular business object is a business object of an enterprise software system. 
     
     
         4 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein
 the at least one particular business object is related to at least one other business object of a type different from the business object type of the at least one particular business object, and   the type-specific metadata identifies the at least one other business object.   
     
     
         5 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the type-specific metadata includes data identifying the structured business data and referencing a location where at least a portion of the structured business data can be accessed. 
     
     
         6 . The method of  claim 5 , wherein the location is remote from the at least one archiving system. 
     
     
         7 . The method of  claim 6 , wherein the location is another archiving system storing an archived version of the portion of the structured business data. 
     
     
         8 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the type-specific metadata includes snapshot data of the structured business data, the snapshot data including fields parsable by the at least one archiving system. 
     
     
         9 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein the snapshot data includes flattened business data including at least a portion of the structured business data. 
     
     
         10 . The method of  claim 8 , wherein the snapshot data identifies at least one other business object related to the at least one particular business object, the other business object having a business object type different from the business type of the at least one particular business object. 
     
     
         11 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the business object type of the at least one particular business object is a first business object type, the method further comprising:
 identifying at least one second business object for archiving, the at least one second business object having associated data including:
 type data corresponding to a second business object type of the at least one second business object, 
 second structured business data, and 
 second unstructured attachment data; 
   creating at least one second archive-type object corresponding to the at least one second business object by enriching the second unstructured attachment data with second type-specific metadata including data identifying at least one attribute of the second business object type; and   exporting the at least one second archive-type object to at least one archiving system.   
     
     
         12 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein the first business object type is different than the second business object type and the archiving system can identify that the first archive-type object is associated with the first business object type and that the second archive-type object is associated with a second business object type. 
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 11 , wherein the second archive-type object is exported to an archiving system other than the at least one archiving system storing the first archive-type object. 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 1 , wherein the at least one archive-type object is exported to at least one archiving system through an enterprise content management interface. 
     
     
         15 . An article comprising a machine-readable storage device storing instructions operable to cause at least one machine to perform operations comprising:
 identifying at least one particular business object for archiving, the at least one particular business object having associated data including:
 type data corresponding to a business object type of the at least one particular business object, 
 structured business data, and 
 unstructured attachment data; 
   creating at least one archive-type object corresponding to the at least one particular business object by enriching the unstructured attachment data with type-specific metadata including data identifying at least one attribute of the business object type; and   exporting the at least one archive-type object to a remote, third-party archiving system for storage in at least one memory device of the archiving system,   wherein the at least one archive-type object is archive-system-independent.   
     
     
         16 . A computer-implemented method comprising:
 receiving a request, at a data archiving system from a remote computing device, relating to at least one particular business object originally created by a data processing system distinct from the data archiving system;   identifying at least one particular archive-type object in a plurality of archive-system-independent archive-type data objects stored in the data archiving system, the at least one archive-type object corresponding to the at least one particular business object and including unstructured attachment data and type-specific metadata including data identifying at least one attribute of a business object type of the at least one particular business object;   identifying the business object type of the at least one particular business object; and   transmitting a message to the remote computing device, responsive to the request, the message including metadata values of the type-specific metadata and indicating at least one type-specific attribute of business object data of the at least one particular business object.   
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 16  further comprising transmitting the identified at least one archive-type object to the remote computing device for use by the remote computing device in rebuilding at least a portion of the at least one particular business object using the type-specific metadata. 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 16  further comprising:
 receiving a second request from a second computing device, relating to the at least one particular business object; and 
 transmitting a second message to the remote computing device, responsive to the second request, the second message including second metadata values of the type-specific metadata and indicating at least one second, type-specific attribute of business object data of the at least one particular business object. 
 
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 16 , wherein
 the request includes at least one search query term, including a search query term identifying the business object type of the at least one particular business object, and   the at least one particular archive-type object is identified based at least in part on the at least one search query term.   
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 16 , wherein the message includes the at least one particular archive-type object in response to the request. 
     
     
         21 . A computer-implemented method comprising:
 transmitting a request, to a data archiving system, for an archived version of at least one particular business object, wherein the at least one particular business object included:
 type data corresponding to a business object type of the at least one particular business object, 
 structured business data, and 
 unstructured attachment data; 
   receiving, in response to the request, at least one archive-type data object corresponding to the at least on particular business object, the archive-type data object including:
 the unstructured attachment data and 
 type-specific metadata including data identifying at least one attribute of the business object type of the at least one particular business object; and 
   using the type-specific metadata to rebuild at least some of the structured business data of the at least one particular business object.   
     
     
         22 . The method of  claim 21 , further comprising using the structured business data in a business software transaction. 
     
     
         23 . The method of  claim 21 , wherein the type-specific metadata further includes at least a portion of the structured business data. 
     
     
         24 . The method of  claim 21 , wherein the type-specific metadata is used to rebuild a reconstructed version of the at least one particular business object, the reconstructed version of the at least one particular business object including:
 the unstructured attachment data, and   at least a portion of the unstructured attachment data.