Ineffective Chris21 database management will result in a database that will grow very large over time. On its own, the size of the database is not a big issue due to the ease of assigning more disk space. After all, the IT department can increase disk space at little cost. The key issues with a database that is growing out of control are:

1. Inefficient database related procedures, such as upgrades and backups.
2. Increased risk of data corruption as individual files become extremely large.

As mentioned, there are two distinct processes in Chris21 that are used to perform database management tasks; housekeeping and archiving. This blog will focus on housekeeping.

Chris21 Database Management – Housekeeping in Chris21

Effective Chris21 database management should include regular housekeeping. If you are not aware of the housekeeping processes in Chris21 have a look at the Background Administrator (FLM) form. This is where you will find all of the general housekeeping functionality that is available to you.

The Background Administrator form is used to maintain the file repository in Chris21. It does this by removing the expired records that you specify. Hence, it is a very effective process for reducing the size of the files that make up the file repository. This is especially noteworthy because the file repository can grow very quickly if left unattended.

What is the File Repository?

The file repository can be broken down to three specific functions. Each of these functions uses its own file and together these three files make up the file repository. These functions and corresponding files are:

• Report repository. The output will be stored on the file called CHFRD.DAT whenever a Chris21 user runs a report. You may already be familiar with the Report Output feature as this is where you go to retrieve a report when it has completed running. By default the system will store each report for 31 days. With many users running reports this file can very quickly become very large.

• File repository. This is similar to the report output but rather it stores files. They include any files that appear on the Files tab of the Report Output window. This information is stored on the CHFRF.DAT file.

• Attachment repository. Attachments in Chris21 are stored in this file. This information is stored on the CHFRA.DAT file. This file can become very large if you attach many documents in Chris21.

The Chris21 system DAT directory stores these files. Therefore, as the report repository files grow so too does the size of your Chris21 database.

I recommend that you run Chris21 Housekeeping processes on a regular basis. Files that become excessively large run the risk of becoming corrupted. Especially relevant is the impact of a corrupt file on the attachment repository. This is because you may lose access to all of the attachments that you have created.

The most efficient way to manage the file repository is to set your parameters on the Background Administrator and then schedule the process to run on a regular basis. See my blog about Scheduling Reports if you’re not sure how to do this.

Configuring the Background Administrator form

The screenshot above shows an example of the settings you could apply to the Background Administrator process. Furthermore, you can schedule this process to run automatically according to the time and date you select. As a result, the Background Administrator process requires no manual intervention to run.

Please note: To recover disk space you must rebuild the repository files. This is a process that your Chris21 administrator will need to perform. The rebuild process actually deletes the data, thus reducing the size of the repository files. For more information about this see my blog Chris21 Archiving – Don’t Forget This Critical Step.

Review the results of your settings by looking at the size of the CHFRD.DAT file after the Background Administrator process has run. You will see that the file has significantly reduced in size.

Use the Background Administrator (FLM) form to ensure the file repository is kept at a manageable size. As a result of running this process, you will achieve effective Chris21 database management.

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This topic is one for the Chris21 administrators. You may not be aware of the Chris21 housekeeping functionality and how it can assist you to maintain your database. Have a look at the Background Administrator (FLM) form to see the housekeeping functionality that is available to you.

 Strictly speaking, Chris21 housekeeping includes archiving. However, this blog is just concerned with the features of the Background Administrator form. For more information about archiving, see my blog Chris21 Archiving – the Pros and Cons.

The Background Administrator form is used to maintain the size of the file repository in Chirs21. It does this by removing the expired records that you specify. This is very important as the file repository can grow quickly if left unattended.

What is the File Repository?

The file repository is used by Chris21 to store the report output that is created whenever a user runs a report from the Report Designer. If you look at your report output you will see a list of reports you have previously run. By default the system will store report output for 31 days. You can imagine how much the file repository will grow if you have a large number of users running reports!

The other purpose of the file repository is to store the attachments that users add to records in Chris21.

You can find the file repository in your system’s DAT directory. Look for the file called CHFRD. When you find this file you may be surprised at how large it is. It is commonly the largest file in the DAT directory.

The most efficient way to manage the file repository is to set your parameters on the Background Administrator and then schedule the process to run on a regular basis. See my blog about Scheduling Reports if you’re not sure how to do this.

Once you have set up your schedule the process will run automatically at the time and date you have specified. Review the results of your settings by looking at the size of the CHFRD file after the Background Administrator process has run. Bear in mind that you can always go back and tweak your settings if the file repository is still too large.

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Archiving is part of the role of Chris21 housekeeping and essentially means selecting data that can be removed from the database but retained for future reference. The main reason you would do this is to reduce the size of your Chris21 database. This in turn will make it quicker and easier to back up your database and also during upgrades. I discuss this in more detail in my blog Chris21 Archiving – the Pros and Cons.

How to archive your data properly

When you archive data in Chris21 the process will produce a file containing your archived data. You can then move this file to another location on your file server for safe keeping. Upon completion of this task it would appear that the job is done and you have successfully reduced the size of your database. But this is not the case. There is a separate process that you must complete to make sure you have recovered this disk space.

Note: this is a job for your database administrator as it involves running a process on the Chris21 server.

As an example, let’s say you have archived your file repository. This will archive data from the CHFRD.DAT file. An archive file will be created and saved in your Chris21 system DAT directory. You then move this archive file to another location. It’s important to note however that the size of the CHFRD.DAT file remains the same because the archive process only copied the data. To recover disk space, use the VUTIL utility in Chris21 to rebuild the file. The rebuild process deletes the data that was archived, thus reducing the size of the CHFRD.DAT file.

To run the VUTIL utility, logon to the server and open the Command Prompt. Switch to the drive where the Chris21 system is located and change to the relevant DAT directory.

Note: Prior to running the VUTIL utility, check the size of the DAT file to be rebuilt. Use this information to confirm the rebuild was successful after the process has been run.

Enter the Rebuild command. The command shown above will rebuild the CHFRD.DAT file.

The rebuild process may take a few minutes, depending on the size of the file. When the process is complete, you will be prompted to replace the original file with the new one. Enter ‘y’ at the prompt and press the Enter key.

Check the size of the file that was rebuilt. It should now be smaller than prior to the process being run.

To successfully complete your Chris21 archiving process make sure your database administrator has completed the job by running the VUTIL process. This will ensure your Chris21 system is properly archived and you will reap the benefits of a well maintained database.

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If you don’t then you’re probably in the majority. In my experience many organisations perform little or no archiving from their Chris21 system.

The problem is that it’s not in everyone’s interest. System administrators will usually be all in favour of archiving because they can see the benefits of reducing and managing space on their servers. But those who actually use Chris21 will see things differently. They will want as much data as possible to be readily available.

So should you archive you Chris21 database?

The short answer, from an organisational point of view, is yes you should. Over time your database can grow very large, especially if you have in excess of 1000 employees. Even if you have a relatively small employee list, your database can still grow quickly if you are using some of the HR components of Chris21, such as Training and Development.

As administrators will know, the more you let your database grow the longer it will take to perform certain functions, such as backups and upgrades.

From the user’s perspective, while you may think that archiving means you lose ready access to historical data (and this is true), there are some good reasons to do it.

Here are some of the benefits when regular Chris21 archiving is performed:

• Better system performance. You may find that as your database gets bigger and bigger certain tasks will take longer, such as reporting and some aspects of payroll processing.
• Backups will be quicker.
• If you use one of the database options (SQL or Oracle) you will find that moving your database to or from Vision/SQL/Oracle will be much quicker.
• Upgrades will be quicker.

Yes, these are predominantly benefits for the administrators, however as a user you will be involved in some of these functions to some extent, therefore you will benefit. The question is – do the pros outweigh the cons? 

From the users point of view the answer is usually no, hence I see a lot of clients who do little or no Chris21 archiving. The user is mostly concerned with quick and easy access to all the information that has been historically stored in the database. Regular archiving will make things more difficult for users.

A user could legitimately claim the following disadvantages of archiving their Chris21 data:

• Archived data is more difficult to access. For instance, if you run a report that spans the archived period, this information will not be available. Likewise, if you look up the information directly from Chris21 it may not be present.
• There will be version compatibility issues if you want to access data that was archived prior to your most recent upgrade. In this case you will need a compatible version of Chris21 so that the archive can be restored. This can be an involved process and can take time.
• Difficulty determining what to archive and how much. There are various options for archiving, such as pay history, auditing, and terminated staff. It’s hard for a user to know what is safe to archive and how far back they should archive without adversely affecting day to day operations.
• Difficulty running the actual archive processes. This is usually an administrator task, therefore this will have to be scheduled and probably out of normal work hours when users aren’t logged on.

What’s the best solution?

As you can see, there are two areas of the organisation that will have differing views on Chris21 archiving – administrators and users. The best solution is to find some middle ground that works for both groups. Archiving and other general housekeeping should be done and the tools are there in Chris21 to help you to do it.

My suggestion is to agree on the amount of data to be archived. As an example you could suggest greater than two years of pay history, or greater that six months of audit data. This could be done on a quarterly basis to maintain your database at an acceptable size.

You will need to ensure that the administrator keeps a version of the Chris21 software that matches the archived data so that it can be easily retrieve if needed. Or at the very least, have a process in place so that an earlier version of the software can be installed when required.

If you carefully choose how far back you begin your archive, you shouldn’t be greatly impacted. When you think about it, having two years of pay history in the database will usually be sufficient. If you do find this too restrictive you can always restructure this to leave more data in the database.

I hope this helps you to make an informed decision about your Chris21 archiving. If you already archive leave a comment and let me and the other readers know how well it’s working for you.

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