How Often Should I Purge?

If you are a small to average sized distributor, you probably only need to purge every two to three years. Many feel that they do not need data that is more than two years old because there are printed copies for those rare times when they need to be referenced. Larger distributors (over 1000 invoices daily) may need to purge more often depending on system resources.

 

Which Files Should I Purge?

NECS recommends purging all 7 of the history files. This will ensure the date range of historical data is consistent with each other. You may want to purge only the larger files (for example, the invoice detail file). By only purging the invoice detail file you will still be able to reference all of the invoice totals, which is stored in the invoice header file. You can check the size of the files using the Windows Explorer to decide which files are too large and need to be purged. You can leave the data in the other files. For instance, the invoice header file contains only a single record for each invoice, making it much smaller than the detail file, which contains a record for every line item.

 

What happens to my historical data?

Every time you close a month, the data get deleted from the current monthly files and moved into history files as well as a special file called the Summary File (ARSUMRY.DBF). The Summary File maintains a historical breakdown of items sold, customer sales, and vendor purchases made every month. This file can contain many years of data in a small format and will never be purged.