I recommend that you do not purge your NV1 data. I have included information below on why you should not purge and with information on how to purge if you decide to purge.
An alternative to purging your data is to create a template of your existing accounting structure without transactions and then enter opening balances as up to a date and continue from your opening balance date. Productivity disk number five contains two procedures that makes this task relatively easy. The procedures are EXPOPEN (Export Opening Balances) which allows you to choose an Opening Balance date and EXPALLTR (Export All Transactions) which allows you to choose a begin and end date of transactions to export. Once the new books are created you can /Block Import the files exported to from EXPOPEN and EXPALLTR into the new books.
I have included, information on how to create a template of your existing set of books to create a new set of books without transactions, the readme file from productivity disk number five explaining EXPOPEN and EXPALLTR.
Regards,
Martin
To Purge or Not To Purge
The following question is often asked regarding purging:
“I was thinking about purging some old transactions from
my books. Do you advise that I do so?”
The answer is no; we do not recommend that you purge. Before
explaining why, let’s first explain why NewViews provides you with
the ability to purge.
Purging was added to NewViews as a means by which to reduce the
number of transactions in a set of books, while maintaining the
correct historical balances of accounts. Without the ability to
purge, your NewViews books could only grow in size, with no option
for reducing the amount of space they consume.
Here are the usual reasons for purging:
My books are becoming very large.
Large is a relative term! If the ability to view any financial
transaction in the history of your company at a moments notice
is important to you, then a “large” set of books is necessary.
Backups take too long.
Inexpensive and reliable tape backup systems are available
that make backups quick and easy. Tape systems (that may cost
as little as $225) can backup up to 250 megabytes of data.
My hard disk is nearly full.
Given the reduction in price of hard drives over the last few
years, installing a larger or second hard drive in your system
to accommodate the size of your books is more affordable than
ever.
My bank account has thousands of transactions in it.
Starting a new bank account is easy to do:
a) Add a new bank account to your books.
b) For every open item in the old bank account, add a
transaction with the same date, reference, and
description. Each transaction added should be for the
same amount as the corresponding open transaction, but
with the opposite sign. The name of the new bank account
should be entered in the (cross-)account field.
c) Add a final transaction to the old bank account for the
amount of the reconcile balance (displayed at the top of
the account ledger), with the opposite sign. This should
bring the balance of the old bank account to zero.
d) In the new bank account, reconcile the item that was
added to correspond to the reconcile balance in the old
bank account.
Here are the reasons you should not purge:
Purging is an irreversible operation.
Once a transaction is purged, there is NO way of “unpurging”
it. We regularly receive calls from users who have purged
(both intentionally and unintentionally), asking how can they
get their purged items back. Unfortunately, they can’t!
Damaged books are difficult to repair.
If your books are damaged by a virus, hard disk failure, or
some other cause, the reorganization program supplied with
NewViews can usually correct most problems. If transactions
have not been purged from the books, the chance of success is
high because both sides of each transaction are available. If
one side is damaged or lost, it can usually be recreated based
on the information in the remaining side. When transactions
are purged, this “safety net” is not available. In addition,
the debit and credit history of a damaged account can be
rebuilt if all the transactions are present in the books. If
an account is purged, then damaged, the only record of the
historical balances is gone, and the books cannot be brought
into balance.
Daily resolution reporting is not available.
Daily resolution reporting (introduced in NewViews version
1.41a) is not possible for periods that have been purged.
If you decide to purge your books (taking into account all the
reasons it is not recommended), there is a correct method you
should follow:
1. Backup your books before you purge.
You are about to permanently remove transaction detail from
your account ledgers. As this detail may be required at a
later date (by auditors or for your own use), a safe backup is
very important. Use newly formatted diskettes (or tape) and
label the archive backup carefully. Include the date range(s)
of the transactions you intend to purged. You should also
archive a copy of the program files used with the set of
books. These backups should be stored in a fireproof safe or
off the premises.
If the purged information is ever needed, the books can be
restored to a temporary directory, and the information can be
viewed or printed. It is important to backup the program files
so that you do not get “caught” with old data files that
cannot be read by a more current version of NewViews.
2. Insure you have adequate free disk space.
Purging a single transaction affects many parts of the
DATAD.NV file, which means the DATAR.NV (recovery) file will
grow quite large while you are purging. (When purging is
complete the DATAR.NV file returns to a size of zero.) In
addition, the DATAP.NV file will grow as purged transaction
detail is written to it. For these reasons, ensure that you
have free space on your disk equal to approximately 50% of the
size of your books.
3. Expand the Odds & Ends document. Set the purge [File Output]
field to “Yes”. If you want to print a record of the purged
transactions as they are purged, set the [Printer Output]
field to “Yes” as well.
4. On the Home document, mark a block of reports that contain
accounts you want to purge. Alternatively, mark a block of
accounts on a specific report to purge selected accounts.
5. Issue the command /Go RunProc. Choose the PURGE procedure from
the select box.
6. Set the [Purge begin date] and [End date] fields on the prompt
to include the date range of transactions you want to purge.
Set [Account view] field to the view from which the
transactions should be purged (normally the ledger view). To
purge all transactions, regardless of whether they are open or
closed, set the [Purge open items] field to “Yes”. To purge
only reconciled (closed) transactions, set this field to “No”.
Press [F5] to begin purging.
After you have purged, you will notice that account balances on
reports have not changed, but that transactions have been removed
from the accounts. The sum of all transactions purged from an
account becomes the opening balance shown in the account header,
which maintains the correct account balance.
Purging alone does not reduce the size of your DATAD.NV file.
However, space within the file that was used by the purged
transactions will be used for new transactions as they are
added. This means that your books will remain at their current size
until this space is used up. To actually reduce the size of your
books after purging, they must be reorganized.
Making a Copy of Your Books Without Transactions
Making a copy of your books without transactions is a two step
process. The first step is to make a “template” of your books. A
template is simply a set of small files that contain all of the non-
financial information in you books (accounts, reports, procedures,
etc.) The second step is to use the “Make Books” program on the
NewViews menu to create a set of books using the template.
Making a Template of Your Books
In the following instructions an example will be given in which:
The original books are in a directory called GENERAL
The template we will create will be called MASTER
1 – You must be “out at DOS”. This means you must have shut both
your NewViews books and the NewViews shell. (You cannot use
the NewViews Dos Command for this procedure.)
2 – Log onto the drive that contains your NewViews program files
(usually C:) by typing the drive letter followed by a colon.
For example:
C: [Enter] (if NewViews programs are on C:)
E: [Enter] (if NewViews programs are on E:)
3 – Use the DOS CHDIR (or CD) command to make the NewViews
program directory the current directory. For example:
CD NV [Enter] (if NewView programs are in NV)
CD PROGNV [Enter] (if NewView programs are in PROGNV)
3 – Type the following command:
NVREORG {name of books} /TEMPLATE:{name of template} [Enter]
For {name of books} substitute directory name that contains the
books you wish to make the template from.
For {name of template} enter in any name you wish provided
it is a valid DOS name (ie eight or less characters in length
and has no spaces in the name.)
Example:
NVREORG GENERAL /TEMPLATE:MASTER
4 – The program will create the template which can take anywhere from
a few minutes to several hours depending on the size of your
books.
Making a Set of Books From a Template
Once a template has been created, you can make a set of books from
the template by selecting the “Make Books” option from the NewViews
shell.
In the following instructions an example will be given in which:
The template for the new books is called MASTER
The new books to be created will be in a directory called NEWBOOKS
The fiscal year end of the new books will be Mar 31,1996
1 – Run NewViews by typing NV [Enter]
2 – Select “Make Books” from the menu.
3 – Select the template you want to use to make the books (MASTER in
this example).
4 – When prompted, enter the name for the new set of books. When
entering the name, insure you type in the name AFTER the
C:NV in the prompt (or its equivalent). For this example the
name would be: C:NVNEWBOOKS
5 – When prompted, enter the fiscal year end for the new set of
books. Fiscal year ending dates are typed in using the format
ddmmyyyy and must include the century (ie 31121995). Fiscal
year ending dates must be at the end of a month. In this example
you would type: 31031996
6 – The new books will be created. When finished, they will contain
everything from the original books except for the transactions (or
purged history if there was any in the original books.)
The EXPOPEN Procedure
EXPOPEN is designed to aid in the creation of a new set of books based
upon an existing set of books. The procedure exports opening entries
in the form of journal entries from the “old” set of books for import
into the “new” set of books. The entries include any combination of:
– Ending account balances
– Historical account balances
– Open items
– Budget amounts
The exported file is imported into the new books using the |Block
Import Command.
Running EXPOPEN
EXPOPEN may be run from any of three locations:
1 A block of reports on the Home document. Balances andor
transactions andor budget amounts from all accounts in the
blocked reports will be exported.
2 A block of accounts on a report Setup or Analysis view. Balances
andor transactions andor budget amounts from all accounts in
the block will be exported.
3 Any view of a posting account. Balances andor transactions
andor budget amounts from the account will be exported.
Exporting Balances
To export the account balances from the old books, mark all the
reports on the Home document in a block and run the EXPOPEN procedure.
Fill in the prompt as shown:
Balance date [* ]
Export account balances [Yes]
Export history [Yes]
Debits & Credits [** ]
Export open items (Y,N,R) [Reconcile]
Export budget amounts [Yes]
Destination journal [OE ]
Export file name [OPENBAL ]
Append [No ]
* Usually set to the end of the current month
** As desired
Press [F5] to begin the export.
The prompt settings shown above will export the history, balances, open
items (from accounts that are reconciled) and budget amounts from all the
posting accounts in the books, up to the specified Balance date. (If
transaction activity after the balance date is required, the EXPALLTR
procedure may be used to export all the transactions from the old books
as well.) When the resulting file is imported into a new set of books,
the balances of all reports for all periods (up to the balance date)
and types will be the same as the old books, and the open view of all
reconcile accounts will show the same items and balances.
The procedure may be also be run on different blocks and the prompt
options modified to export varying combinations of information as
desired.
Importing Balances
Importing the file created with EXPOPEN into the new books is quite
simple. However you must check the following before proceeding:
1 If you have exported balances, history, or open items, ensure the
destination journal named in the EXPOPEN prompt exists in the new
books. Also create any other journals the EXPOPEN procedure
reported as being necessary.
2 All accounts from which balances, history, open items, or budget
amounts were exported must exist in the new books. If an account
does not exist the import will fail with the error “Account XXXXX
does not exist.”
To import the file, open the new books and, from anywhere in the books
issue the command |Block Import. In the “File to import” prompt, enter
the file name you used in the EXPOPEN prompt.
EXPOPEN Prompt Fields
Balance Date
Enter the period ending date that account balances will be drawn from.
The date can be the ending date of any historical period in the
current set of books up to and including the current fiscal year end.
Valid historical period ending dates are:
a) The end of any month in the current fiscal year
b) The end of any month in the prior fiscal year
c) The end of any year in the 8 years prior to b)
For example, if the current fiscal year end of the books is Dec 31,97,
the following dates could be used as the “Balance date”:
Current Prior Prior
Fiscal Year Fiscal Year Periods
Dec 31,97 Dec 31,96 Dec 31,95
Nov 30,97 Nov 30,96 Dec 31,94
Oct 31,97 Oct 31,96 Dec 31,93
Sep 30,97 Sep 30,96 Dec 31,92
Aug 31,97 Aug 31,96 Dec 31,91
Jul 31,97 Jul 31,96 Dec 31,90
Jun 30,97 Jun 30,96 Dec 31,89
May 31,97 May 31,96 Dec 31,88
Apr 30,97 Apr 30,96
Mar 31,97 Mar 31,96
Feb 28,97 Feb 29,96
Jan 31,97 Jan 31,96
Export Account Balances
To export the balances of the selected accounts, set this option to
“Yes”. For each account that has a nonzero balance on the balance date
entered, a journal entry will be exported containing the balance of
the account on the balance date.
Export History
Set to “Yes” to have all historical balances of the selected accounts
exported. Set to “No” if all you want is the ending balance of the
account as of the balance date.
It is recommended that this option be set to “Yes” so that the new
books will contain historical balances which enable comparisons
between current and past periods on report Analysis views.
Note: This option is relevant only if the [Export account balances]
choice is set to “Yes”.
Debits & Credits
Set to “Yes” if you want the procedure to export the account balances
as two items, one for the debits to the account and one for credits.
Set to “No” to export a single item that combines both debits and
credits.
Note: This option is relevant only if the [Export account balances]
choice is set to “Yes”.
Export Open Items
Set to “Yes” to export entries representing the open items in all
accounts in the block. Set to “No” to exclude all open items. Set to
“Reconcile” to export the open items from “reconcile” accounts only.
Reconcile accounts are identified by examining the Reconcile date
(date of last item that has been reconciled) in the header of each
account. Using the setting “Reconcile”, the following rules apply:
– If the account Reconcile date is zero, then no items in the
account have been reconciled, and no open items are exported.
– If the account Reconcile date is not zero, then 1 or more
items in the account have been closed (reconciled), and all
remaining open (unreconciled) items are exported.
Using the “Reconcile” option will ensure that the open items from
accounts such as supplier and customer accounts are exported. The
result in the new books will be customer and supplier account open
views that match the original books properly.
The only potential problem with this option is if you have any
accounts that are not normally reconciled, but have closed items in
them. For example, suppose you have an expense account with 5,000
entries in it, and that someone reconciled 1 of the items at some time
in the past. Since the Reconcile date in the expense account header is
not zero (it will have the date of the reconciled item) the remaining
4,999 items will be exported. The new books will then contain
thousands of transactions that you were not expecting.
To overcome this problem, you can do the following before running
EXPOPEN:
– On a report setup view, set the Begin date to 000 00,00 and
the End date to your fiscal year end. Set the Type to “X” (for
Closed amounts.)
– Scan down the report noting account balances that are not
0.00. Ignore total accounts. Any posting accounts with a
nonzero balance contain reconciled transactions.
– If you find an account that is not an account that open items
should be exported from (such as a revenue or expense
account,) |Document Expand into the account and change the
Reconcile date in the header to 000 00,00 by cursoring to the
date and typing “0”.
Repeat the above on all reports that contain accounts from which open
items should not be exported from.
Export Budget Amounts
Set to “Yes” to export the budget amounts set for the accounts
selected.
Note: If all other export options are set to “No”, then the
destination journal name in this prompt is not required and no
journal is necessary in the new books for the import to be
performed.
Destination Journal
Enter the name of the journal into which the balances will be imported
in the NEW books. (This field is not required if you are just
exporting budget amounts.) The journal name you enter:
1 Must exist in the “new” set of books. (Or must be created
before importing the file produced by this procedure.)
2 Have a credit normal balance
Depending on the size of the books and the export options chosen, the
number of entries exported can become very large. This can be a
problem due to NewViews’ limit of 65,000 transactions in any one
account ledger. For this reason, EXPOPEN will automatically change the
name of the destination journal every 60,000 transactions by appending
a suffix to the journal name. If this occurs while exporting, you will
be notified of the new journal(s) that must be added to the new books.
Journal Report
Enter the name of the report in THESE books that contain your
journals. Press [F3] to pick the name of the report from a select box.
If your journal accounts are not all on one report, you may leave this
field blank and enter a list of the journals names on the Notes view
of the EXPOPEN procedure (one journal name per line.)
The names of your journal accounts are used to determine when the
procedure is operating on a journal account. The only difference in
the operation of the procedure on a journal is that historical debits
& credits will not be exported if the debits equal the credits. If you
are exporting history using the debits & credits option, and you want
the debits & credits of journals exported, then leave this field blank
and do not enter a list of journals on the Notes of the procedure.
Export File Name
Enter the name (which may include a path) for the export file. Any
name may be entered provided it adheres to the file naming conventions
of the operating system and the path (if entered) must be a valid
directory path.
Append
Set to “Yes” to append the entries to the export file should it exist
already. Set to “No” to start a new file.
If you are building an export file by running the procedure more than
once from various blocks of reports or accounts, then you should do
the following:
– Set Append to “No” for the first export.
– Set Append to “Yes” for all subsequent exports.
In this way, a new file will be created for the first block, and
subsequent exports will be appended to the end of the file.
The EXPALLTR Procedure
EXPALLTR EXPorts ALL TRansactions from a set of books for a specified
period. The transactions are exported to a file in keystroke format
that must be imported using the |Block Import command. The exporting
method insures that:
– All transactions are exported only once
– The order of journal entries (if used) is preserved
– Distribution Notes views are preserved
– Item and cross item reconcile states are preserved
EXPALLTR is intended to be used to export the transaction activity
after the balance date used in the EXPOPEN procedure.
Running EXPALLTR
Before running EXPALLTR, you must ensure the following:
1 Your current Edit date (as set on the Odds & Ends document)
must be before the begin date of the period from which you
will be exporting transactions.
2 The Edit Reconcile option on the NewViews menu must be set to
“On” for the procedure to operate correctly.
EXPALLTR runs from anywhere in your books. Fill in the begin and end
date of the period you wish to export, your journal report name (if
used), and the export file name. ALL transactions in your books for
the specified period will be exported to the file.
Exporting From Books That Have Been Purged
EXPALLTR should not be used to export from a period from which any
transactions have been purged. If the procedure encounters
transactions where the cross-item has been purged, an error message
will be displayed, but the transaction will be exported and the
procedure will continue. The books the file is imported into will then
contain an item in the purged account that was purged from the
original books, and the balance of the account may be incorrect.
If you have purged your books you are STRONGLY advised not to export
for periods that have been purged. If you receive the error message
stating cross-items were purged you should run the procedure again
advancing the begin date to a period that has not been purged. If this
warning is ignored there is no way of ensuring the accounts in the
resulting books will have the correct balances.
EXPALLTR Prompt Fields
Begin & End Date
The Begin and End dates define the period from which transactions will
be exported. You may choose any date range provided that there have
been no purging of any accounts in that period.
Dates may be entered using the DDMMYYYY format, or by choosing them
from a pop-up calendar by pressing [F3].
Journal Report
Enter the name of the report (in these books) that contain your
journals. Press [F3] to pick the name of the report from a select box.
If you do not use journals, this field may be left blank.
If your journal accounts are not all on one report, you may leave this
field blank and enter a list of the journals names on the Notes view
of the EXPALLTR procedure (one journal name per line.)
If you use journals, the journal report or account names are required
to insure that the exact order of journal entries is preserved.
Export File Name
Enter the name (which may include a path) for the export file. Any
name may be entered provided it adheres to the file naming conventions
of the operating system and the path (if entered) must be a valid
directory path.
Append
Set to “Yes” to append the entries to the export file should it exist
already. Set to “No” to start a new file.
