Purging data in SMCP

Post date: May 08, 2012 9:6:26 PM

It's important to establish a routine of periodically purging data in your system.  This keeps the database lean and more responsive, since it only needs to deal with live data, rather than historical records that aren't normally accessed.  Additionally, a smaller database minimizes the chances of corruption in the data and in backups.

The SMCP system provides several different functions in the various modules for purging data.  Generally, the recommended practice is to print the historical, older records to a file (typically a PDF file), then purge those records from your active data.  Purging should be done once a month, or once a year, as you choose, but done regularly.

Accounts Receivable:

A/R provides three main functions for clearing old data:

1) The 'AR Clear Posted Batches (1035)' function allows you to remove posted batches, up to a specified batch date.  Normally there's no need to print these first, but you might choose to do so.

2) 'AR Clear Fully Paid Transactions (1036)' allows you to remove all fully paid transactions up to a specified date.  Before removing these, you should print your 'AR Activity Report (1023)' to a file to be saved for later lookup, using the same date range which you intend to purge.

3) 'Delete inactive customers (1059)' allows you to remove inactive customers.  The 'Set inactive customers (1058)' function provides an automatic way to set inactive customers based on last transaction, etc.

Inventory Control:

I/C provides these functions for clearing historical data:

1) 'IC Clear Posted Batches (49)' allows you to clear posted batches before a selected posting date - normally you wouldn't need to save any history from the batches themselves.

2) 'IC Clear Transactions (1106)' clears several types of transactions (inventory worksheets, physical inventories, physical counts, PO's, PO receipts, PO invoices, and inventory transactions), based on a date selection.  The main screen for this function explains in detail the logic used for clearing data.  Before printing these, we recommend that you print at least the IC transaction history for the date range to a file to save for later research.

3) 'IC Clear Statistics (1107)' clears the monthly statistics on item sales, returns, etc., up to a selected year and month.  Normally, it's not critical to print these to a file first.

4) 'IC Delete Inactive Items (1098)' removes all the inactive items in inventory.  The 'IC Set Inactive Items (1097)'  provides a way to set items to inactive without having to set each one individually.  There is normally no need to save inactive item data to a file before purging.

Order Entry/System Data:

The 'SM Purge Data (51)' function allows you to purge order related data (order headers, order details, invoice audit list comments, invoices/credit notes, invoice details, pre-invoice comments, critical dates, change orders, and job cost/truck schedule records) as well as data from other tables.  All of the various purges are qualified by a date - the details of how each type of record is removed are shown on the main function screen.  Here you can also purge customer call logs, bids, sales contacts, and system log records.  If you wish to archive records in files, you can use the available listing reports for each of these.  To archive order records, print the 'SM List Order History (13)'  report to a file for the same date range which you wish to purge.  Note that this report is fairly comprehensive, but doesn't include EVERY related detail.  Review it first so you understand what you are saving.

One more note about the ''SM Purge Data (51)' function: Each purge can take a fair amount of time, so it's best to only check off one purging function at a time, wait until that one completes, then do the next.