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Millions of documents in an Azure storage account are not an archive as long as nobody can search them. The CaRD Workspace for Azure puts a search interface directly on the storage — no connector, no SAP S/4HANA®, and nothing in the holdings is changed. So you can switch off the expensive legacy system and still answer any question.
Many organisations pay maintenance, licences and operating costs year after year for an archive system that nothing new flows into any more. It is kept alive purely so something can be retrieved in an audit. That single task is the most expensive one.
A maintenance contract, server operation, operating system updates, in-house expertise to retain — for a system used perhaps three times a month.
Migrating is quick — but storage in itself is not a search. Without an interface the holdings remain a large, silent pile of files.
What is required is a traceable selection with evidence — not proof that the old program still starts. That is exactly what the export with its manifest delivers.
Upload, change and delete simply do not exist in the product, and the operating access is set up as read-only. Holdings nobody can reach are half of every retention discussion won.
The product brings no schema: it reads the existing metadata and offers facets from it. Whatever your source system left behind becomes searchable — even if it was a third-party archive.
Text comes from the document itself first; the costly text recognition only runs over the pages where there would otherwise be nothing to find. And without full text everything else keeps working completely.
All hits as a ZIP with the structure preserved, plus a manifest with a checksum per document, the filter used, the user and the time. Every export is logged; the right to do it is separate.
Rules on the metadata decide who sees which slice — everywhere: in results, in navigation and even in the field suggestions. Without a matching role somebody sees nothing, rather than accidentally everything.
Sign-in via Microsoft Entra ID — or through a built-in user management, if you do not want to set up a platform just for archive access. The visibility rules apply either way.
Retention periods of ten years and more bind the content, not the software. Yet in many organisations the legacy system simply keeps running, because nobody knows how to reach the content once it is switched off.
The Workspace reverses the order: first the ability to answer is established on the storage, then the legacy system can go. Schema-neutral means the Workspace does not care which product left the holdings behind.
That sentence has kept many legacy systems alive well past their own end of life. Periods do not expire together: as long as a single document is still subject to retention, the entire system stays up.
The period applies to the document. Once the content sits somewhere you can find it and hand it over with evidence, the legacy system becomes dispensable — years earlier.
No. The Workspace for Azure reads the storage account directly and needs no SAP system for it. The documents may originate from SAP S/4HANA Public Cloud, private cloud, RISE with SAP, S/4HANA on-premise or SAP ECC — all that matters for searching is that they sit in the storage account. That is precisely what makes it the tool for retiring a legacy archive.
A search interface that works directly on an Azure storage account — with no connector, no SAP and without changing anything in the holdings. You search, view and export whatever sits in the storage.
For any document holdings in Azure that nobody can currently search. The most common case is retiring a legacy archive: after migration the content sits in the storage account, the old system is switched off — and suddenly the ability to answer questions is gone. That is exactly what the Workspace restores, without keeping the legacy system alive.
No. The Workspace for Azure works on the storage on its own. It is fully compatible with our connectors — if your holdings come from there, everything fits — but it works just as well over holdings left behind by an entirely different system.
No, and that is deliberately not switchable: read-only is enforced. There is no upload, no change and no delete in the product; the operating access is set up as read-only, and a warning appears at start-up if it would carry more rights than necessary.
From the holdings themselves. It reads the existing metadata and tags and offers facets from them — it brings no schema and demands none. Whatever fields your source system left behind become searchable; it does not need to know where the data came from.
Yes, optionally. Text is obtained in stages: first from the document itself, then — only where there is none — via text recognition. So the expensive stage does not run over every page, only over those that need it. Importantly, everything else works fully without full text — navigation, facets, metadata search and export.
You search, check the result and download all hits as a ZIP — with the folder structure preserved and a manifest recording a checksum per document, the filter used, the user and the time. Every export is logged, and the right to do it is separate.
Through rules on the metadata, per role. Whatever somebody may not see appears nowhere — not in results, not in navigation, not even in the field suggestions of the search. Without a matching role a user sees nothing, rather than accidentally everything.
No. Alongside sign-in via Entra ID there is a built-in user management — the route for organisations that do not want to set up an identity platform just for archive access. Roles and attributes for the visibility rules work either way.
We quote per customer — by size of holdings, number of users and operating model. Request an individual quote; we are happy to show you a no-obligation live demo first.
Tell us where your archived documents live today and who has to be able to reach them.
