Data archival

Archiving helps organizations manage data growth by moving closed and cancelled cases, related child records, and incoming email messages to an archive based on defined policies and retention periods. This policy-based archival process transfers aging data into archive forms, freeing up space for new and active data.

An administrator can configure archival policies using the AR System Archive Manager Console. Case business analysts can access archived forms to create views and reports. Additionally, they can use the Do Not Archive flag to exclude sensitive cases and related email messages from being archived, ensuring that critical information is retained beyond the standard retention period.

There are 2 types of data archival:

Out of the box archival: Predefined configuration that comes out of the box for specific record definitions. You can enable, validate, and review the policy and its qualification, but cannot edit it.
Custom data archival: Custom configuration, which is available for other record definitions. You can define your own archival period and customize the qualification criteria based on your needs.

Configuring archival for cases

At Apex Global, Jonnie, the administrator, enables the archival policy for cases in BMC Helix Business Workflows using the AR System Archive Manager Console. To optimise system performance, she enabled the policy to archive closed/ cancelled case data after 730 days (2 years).

Since the system contains case records older than 2 years, this configuration results in the archival of all cases that are 2 years or older. Archiving this older data significantly improves system performance by reducing the load on active data.

Ajay, the case business analyst, identifies certain sensitive cases, such as those involving ongoing legal matters or executive-level decisions, that must be retained beyond the standard archival period. To exclude these from automatic archival, he marks them with a Do Not Archive flag. Ajay also builds views to access archived case details when needed for audits or internal reviews.

Learn more about archiving in Archiving data and Configuring and managing the archiving process.

Data archival policy overview

By default, data archival policies are disabled in BMC Helix Business Workflows. Administrators must enable them from the AR System Archival Management Console.

There are two out-of-the-box data archival policies:

BWF Case Archival Policy: Archives closed and cancelled cases.
BWF Incoming Email Message Policy: Archives incoming email messages.

Important:

In out-of-the-box archival, you cannot edit the policy to change the record age or qualification criteria. But in custom data archival, you can edit the policy to set the record age and define the qualification criteria based on your needs.

Once enabled, data is archived based on the following default criteria:

Record definition Name	Record operation	Archived record definition name	Record age (in days)	Criteria for archival	Qualification	Action taken after the archival period
Cases	Archive and delete the source record	Case_Archive	730	Modified date	(Ticket Status = "7000" OR Ticket Status = "6000") and (Do Not Archive = "No" OR Do Not Archive ="" OR Do Not Archive = $NULL$)	Export to SFTP and Delete Delete
Incoming email messages	Delete source record		90	Modified date	Status = "Success" and (Do Not Archive = "No" OR Do Not Archive ="" OR Do Not Archive = $NULL$)	NA

Before you begin

You must have AR System administrator permissions.

To enable out-of-the-box data archiving

Log in to BMC Helix ITSM.
Select Application > AR System Administration > AR System Archive Manager Console.
To enable the archival policy, from the Policy Description list, click the entry from the following options for which you want to enable data archival:
- BWF Case Archival Policy
- BWF Incoming Email Message Policy
Click Enable Policy, as shown in the following image:
(Optional) To disable the policy, click Disable Policy.
When the policy is disabled, the Custom Specified Age in Days column has a value of -1.

To enable custom data archiving

Log in to BMC Helix ITSM.
Select Application > AR System Administration > AR System Archive Manager Console.
To enable the archival policy, from the Policy Description list, click the entry from the following options for which you want to enable data archival:
- BWF Case Archival Policy
- BWF Incoming Email Message Policy
Click Enable Policy, as shown in the following image:
(Optional) To modify the qualification criteria and the number of days after which a record is archived, update the Qualification and Age in Days field as shown in the following image:
Click Apply.
(Optional) To disable the policy, click Disable Policy.
When the policy is disabled, the Custom Specified Age in Days column has a value of -1.

To export and delete archived data

After data is archived, administrators can export and delete it using the System Archive Export function. Archived data can be exported as comma-separated (.csv) files and/or permanently deleted from archive tables.

Important:

This is a common configuration available for both out-of-the-box and custom data archival.

To export archived data, go to the System Archive Export section, select the desired Operation (such as Export to SFTP and Delete), specify the Age in Days to define how old the data should be, and click Export to begin the process.

To view the archived records

You can view the archived records from BMC Helix Innovation Studio. Only applicable to cases, not email messages.

As an administrator/ case business analyst, log in to BMC Helix Innovation Studio.
On the Workspace tab, click Case Management Service.
On the Records tab, search for Case_Archive.
Click the checkbox next to Case_Archive.
Click Edit data.
A list of all the archived records is displayed, as shown in the following image:
Review the archived records and click Close.

To prevent a record from being archived

You can skip archival for special cases and incoming email messages when data needs to be retained.

As an administrator/ case BA, log in to BMC Helix Innovation Studio.
On the Workspace tab, click Case Management Service.
On the Records tab, click the checkbox next to Case. Click Edit data.
Select the case you want to exclude from the archive, then click Edit.
The Edit record window opens.
In the Edit record window, use the toggle key to enable Do Not Archive.
Click Save.

The following screenshot shows how to prevent a case from being archived:

Archival for case extension fields

In version 25.4, case extension fields are archived out-of-the-box (OOTB). No additional configuration is required from customers.

When customers upgrade from a version older than 25.4 to 25.4, and they already have case extension fields configured in the older version, manual configuration is still required after the upgrade to enable archiving. This involves the following steps:

The archiving configuration for Case Extension Fields includes:

Turn on the Enabled toggle key to activate archiving.
Set the Record Operation to Archive and delete source record.
Check the Include Attachments option to ensure attachments are archived along with the records.
Specify the Archive Record Definition Name as Case Extension Fields_Archive.

The following screenshot shows the fields that must be configured to enable archiving for case extension fields:

What is archived

The table below lists all the record definitions for which archiving is enabled out of the box:

Bundle name	Record definition name	Archival record definition name
Case-lib	com.bmc.dsm.case-lib:Case	Case_Archive
	com.bmc.dsm.case-lib:Case Ticket Associations	Case Ticket Associations_Archive
	com.bmc.dsm.case-lib:Case Helix GPT Response	Case Helix GPT Response_Archive
	com.bmc.dsm.case-lib:Case KA Auto Response Association	Case KA Auto Response Association_Archive
	com.bmc.dsm.case-lib:Case Watchlist	Case Watchlist_Archive
	com.bmc.dsm.case-lib:Case Audit	Case Audit_Archive
hrsm-lib	com.bmc.dsm.hrsm-lib:Onboarding Request	Onboarding Request_Archive
	com.bmc.dsm.hrsm-lib:Offboarding Request	Offboarding Request_Archive
	com.bmc.dsm.hrsm-lib:Offboarding - Exit Interview Response	Offboarding - Exit Interview Response_Archive
	com.bmc.dsm.hrsm-lib:Offboarding - Onboarding Survey	Onboarding Survey_Archive
	com.bmc.dsm.hrsm-lib:Offboarding Request Audit(?)	Offboarding Request Audit_Archive
	com.bmc.dsm.hrsm-lib:Onboarding Request Audit(?)	Onboarding Request Audit_Archive
Notification	com.bmc.dsm.notification-lib:Watchlist Recipients	Watchlist Recipients_Archive
SLM	com.bmc.dsm.slm-lib:Measurement	Measurement_Archive
	com.bmc.dsm.slm-lib:Measurement Audit	Measurement_Archive
	com.bmc.dsm.slm-lib:TeamMeasurement	TeamMeasurement_Archive
	com.bmc.dsm.slm-lib:Overall SLA Status	Overall SLA Status_Archive
Social	com.bmc.dsm.social-lib:SCL_Posts	SCL_Posts_Archive
Ticketing	com.bmc.dsm.ticketing-lib:DynamicData	DynamicData_Archive
	com.bmc.dsm.ticketing-lib:DynamicData Questions	DynamicData Questions_Archive
	com.bmc.dsm.ticketing-lib:Ticket Reminder Schedules	Ticket Reminder Schedules_Archive
	com.bmc.dsm.ticketing-lib:Ticket Checklist Item	Ticket Checklist Item_Archive
	com.bmc.dsm.ticketing-lib:Evidence	Evidence_Archive
	com.bmc.dsm.ticketing-lib:Ticket Asset Association	Ticket Asset Association_Archive
	com.bmc.dsm.ticketing-lib:Ticket Metrics	Ticket Metrics_Archive
Task	com.bmc.dsm.task-lib:Task	Task_Archive
	com.bmc.dsm.task-lib:Task Registry	Task Registry_Archive
	com.bmc.dsm.task-lib:Task Audit	Task Audit_Archive
Email Lib	com.bmc.dsm.email-lib:BWF Incoming Email Messages	BWF Incoming Email Messages_Archive
	com.bmc.dsm.email-lib:Audit - BWF Incoming Email Messages	Audit - BWF Incoming Email Messages_Archive
Attachment lib	com.bmc.dsm.attachment-service-lib:Attachment	Attachment_Archive
Shared Services	com.bmc.dsm.shared-services-lib:Automated Status Transition Data Management

FAQ

The following FAQs provide you with information about the archiving process:

What should I do if the archival job fails or doesn’t run as scheduled?

If the archival job fails or doesn’t run as scheduled, check the AR Archive logs, identify the root cause, and manually rerun the job.

Why are some cases not being archived even though they meet the criteria?

Some specific cases may not be archived due to customizations that intentionally prevent their deletion or archival.

Why is the archived data missing attachments?

Make sure that the Include attachments option is selected during the archival configuration.

What happens if a record is marked for archival, but its related child records are missing?

Suppose a record is marked for archival, but its related child records are missing. In that case, the archival may fail or be incomplete. Track the issue using AR Archive logs to identify and resolve dependencies.

Can I archive Knowledge Articles?

No, archiving of Knowledge Articles is not supported.