Management Skill #5: 

Backups and Archiving

As a manager, it is a high priority to maintain smooth daily operations. This can be achieved in part by routinely ensuring that backups and archiving are given the attention they deserve. Lets take a look at what you can do to ensure that CleanSuite is speedy and reliable at all times.

Backups

There is no worse nightmare than to have all the invoices in the system suddenly vanish! No computer is 100% reliable and accidents do sometimes happen. This is why frequent daily backups are EXTREMELY IMPORTANT! In fact, backups are far too important to rely on human intervention. The answer is automatic backups. In the event of data loss, you can simply restore the CleanSuite database from a recent automatic backup.
Here is How:

Step 1 - To set up automatic backups click on the menu File -->          Administration --> Change the backup

Step 2 - Click on the large button that says Click here to select a folder for your automatic backups. Highlight a folder for your automatic backups and click on OK.

Step 3 - In the lower right of the screen are five fields for backup times. You can enter from one to five backups a day. We recommend three. Enter them as am or pm

Remember, when you restore from your backup, everything you've done since the backup will be lost and needs to be re-entered. Having a recent backup means you won't have to re-enter as many invoices, payments etc.
Watch the video above for step by step directions. If you need the video to be displayed larger, simply click on the box to the right of the YouTube icon on the video above. Doing so will make your video full screen. To exit full screen and return to this page, press the Esc key.
The only drawback to multiple backups is that a backup can take several minutes to perform. You may not want customers waiting while the backup is being executed. To begin, you can set five backups a day. If you find they are interfering with your work, you can reduce the number or change the times.

Note: The automatic backup will not interrupt whatever you're doing. The screen must sit idle for 2 minutes before the backup will take place. For example: if you have a backup scheduled for 10 am and you're busy using the program until 10:30 am, the 10 am backup won't run until 10:32 am. 

Archiving 

After using CleanSuite for a few years, you may find customer searches are taking longer. Archiving once a year will speed up these searches.

Archiving doesn't delete the records, it just moves them out of your current database, to another folder. If you need to look at these records in the future, you can open the archived database or you can restore the archived data and bring them back into your database.

We recommend keeping the invoices for at least the full previous fiscal year and customers for the previous two years. (You never know when a customer might come back. It'll make them feel special if you still "remember" them two years after their last visit.)

When you archive invoices, you're asked to enter the date of the archive. Invoices that have been paid and picked up prior to this date will be moved to a separate database in the C:\Users\Public\CleanSuite\Data\Archive\ folder.

Note: This process can take some time, so it's advisable to let this run overnight.

Here is How:
  1. Before archiving, it's advisable to check your Inventory Report is accurate and up to date.
  2. Do a backup before doing the archive.
  3. Decide which computer you will use to perform the archive. Each time you archive, be sure to do it on the same computer. We recommend doing it on your Main computer. It will be faster and you'll always know, from year to year, where your archived data is located.
  4. Click on the menu File - Administration - Archive - Invoices. (Archive your invoices first)
  5. Type your password and press Enter
  6. Enter the archive date and press Enter.
  7. Each time you finish archiving your invoices and customers, go into Windows Computer or My Computer and copy the C:\User\Public\CleanSuite\Archive folder to a USB flash drive or other remote backup. Keep it in a safe place in case your hard drive should ever fail.
Remember: Invoices paid or picked up after this date will not be archived.

For example: An invoice created on December 28 but paid on January 4, will not archive, if your archive date is set for January 1. Although the invoice was created before the archive date, it will not be archived because it was paid after January 1st. In other words, the program archives only the invoices that have been paid and picked up prior to the selected archive date. This is why it's wise to ensure your Inventory report is accurate before running an archive.
Watch the video above for step by step directions. If you need the video to be displayed larger, simply click on the box to the right of the YouTube icon on the video above. Doing so will make your video full screen. To exit full screen and return to this page, press the Esc key.
Archiving Customers:

Note: For a customer to be archived, all their invoices must be archived. Therefore, before you archive the customers, you must archive your invoices.

  1. Click on the menu File - Administration - Archive - Customers
  2. Type your password and press Enter
  3. Enter the desired archive date.
Restoring your archived files

Generally you shouldn't need to restore from your archive. Instead, go to your main computer...

  1. Click on the menu File > Administration > Open another database.
  2. Click on the Locate button.
  3. Click on the Data and the Archive folder and click on the OK button.
  4. When it asks if you want to set this as the default database, answer No.
  5. When finished reviewing your archive files, re-open your default folder.