In order to ensure the accuracy of your data, there are a number of steps that can be followed on a regular basis to maintain your system.
Performing these simple maintenance tasks will help prevent anomalies that might arise in your stock and customer records. This is particularly important in systems where a number of users simultaneously edit Stock Items and perform administration tasks.
Housekeeping
A number of options are available in the housekeeping list that we recommend you use to keep your ProfiitPlus/Alchemii system healthy. Note that some of these tasks are best to be run on a “quiet” system (i.e. outside of your regular business hours).
It is recommended that the first five menu options be run regularly for most businesses. Often these processes will run through without actually needing to change or refresh anything – but it’s a quick and easy way for you to ensure everything is in check.
Recalculate Committed Stock
This function will review all open (unposted) Sales Invoices and Jobcards and update the current Committed quantity for each Stock Item if needed. You can run this weekly, monthly, or just as required.
Recalculate Reserved Stock (available in v4.97 and newer)
This function will review all open Sales orders and Backorders and update the current Reserved quantity for each Stock Item. You can run this weekly, monthly, or just as required.
Recalculate On-Order Quantities
This function will review all open (unfulfilled) Purchase Orders and update the current On Order quantity for each Stock Item. It’s a good idea to run this before you generate your automated orders or enter any large Purchase Orders.
Record Current Stock Valuation
This function will take a “snapshot” of the current quantity and value of all stock on hand (for all stock locations). This can be useful for auditing purposes and is recommended to be run at the end of each month and/or the end of each financial year. Please note: run this outside of trading hours.
Recalculate Customer Balances
Customer accounts within the Accounts Receivable module contain detailed information about invoices, credits, payments, and all other transactions on that account. In other areas of the system, a much simpler account balance “sum” is used to quickly and efficiently display just the current total outstanding balance of the account. Occasionally this can become out of sync with Accounts Receivable and needs to be refreshed.
This function is used to update any Customer account balances that have become out of sync. It is recommended to use this each month before your statement run.
Additional Housekeeping
Note: The next two processes would be used rarely, if at all, on most systems.
Data Compactor
Compacting data reduces the complexity of stored information. We highly recommend that you backup your data before running this process!
Re-Build Indices
This function re-builds the indexes of a selected table or all tables in the database. This is not normally required as part of your regular maintenance. Please speak to your Foresiight support consultant before running this process!
Please Note: Data Compactor and Re-build Indices don’t need to be performed as part of normal maintenance. Only use these facilities where absolutely necessary or if instructed to by your Support Consultant.
What else can I do?
There are a range of other functions that can help with maintaining a healthy system and a healthy business.
Stock Maintenance
For example, take a look at the following reports under the Stock menu in the Administration module and consider if this should be part of your regular maintenance routine:
- Stock Exception Report
- Negative Stock On Hand Report
- Cross-references Exception Report
Archiving & Purging
Archiving or purging old and disused data is an important part of keeping your system in good shape and performing well. This is particularly important when your business has been running on the system for many years.
Check out this post for more information: Archiving & Purging
Ask Us How
Every business is unique and uses the system in different ways. In some cases these processes should be run every week, for others monthly is fine or simply ad-hoc when required. Please speak to your Foresiight support consultant for some general advice, or book in a Consultancy session with one of our specialists for advice specific to your business.