Archiving functions are available in SchoolLeader that allow the user to 'archive' old and unused data, while keeping their current database 'clean' and running efficiently. In this chapter, you will learn about the archiving functions, as well as the difference between the Primary Database and the Archived Database.
There are two types of databases within the SchoolLeader Childcare Center Management System:
Primary
Databases: contains
the active data.
There will be one active database for each school being managed. If
you are managing multiple schools from one location, then each school
will have their own database.
Archive Databases:
contains
the historical data.
There can be multiple archive databases for each primary database.
These databases together provide access to all current active data as well as all historical data from past years.
The Primary Database is defined as your current active database. There can be many Primary Databases on any one system, however only one database can be modified at a time.
For example, if you are a corporate office that manages 5 schools from a centralized location, then there would be 5 primary databases defined. From within FrontDesk Manager, you can switch between each school's database easily and quickly.
The Primary Database is the initial database that is opened when you start SchoolLeader. It will be set to the database that was last used by FrontDesk Manager.
An Archive Database is a Read-only copy of a prior Primary Database and is typically created for two reasons:
to cleanup the Primary database and thus improve performance
to take a snapshot of the Primary Database at a given point in time for historical reference
You can create and maintain more than one Archive database and they can be created at any time interval necessary. Typically, you will want to create Archives that coincide with your businesses Fiscal Calendar so you will have one Archive Database for each complete Fiscal Year. Although Archive Databases can be created at more frequent intervals than yearly, such a practice will make it difficult to compile Fiscal reports for accounting purposes if the year is divided across separate databases.
Some typical benefits of archiving your data rather than simply deleting the data are:
Ability to go back and check on the payment activity for a Primary Guardian from a previous year
Be able to print a Year-To-Date Payment Statement from a previous year for a Guardian's Tax records
To reproduce A/R reports from past years for a Government Tax Audit
To access an archived database from FrontDesk Manager, click on FILE | OPEN off the Main System Menu. Specify which archive to open and then click on 'Start Selected Archive'.
This process allows you to either create a new ARCHIVE Database from your current PRIMARY Database or delete an existing ARCHIVE database. Before performing an archive, it is highly recommended that you take a manual backup of your database.
To execute the process press the MAINTAIN DATABASE ARCHIVE button from the main DBSupport window.
You will be presented with the following window, which displays your current Archive databases and two buttons to either create a new Archive or delete an existing one.
Deleting an Archive database can be accomplished by highlighting the Archive you want to delete and pressing DELETE ARCHIVE button. Remember that deleting an Archive Database is permanent so be SURE you have no further need for its data before executing the delete request.
Creating an Archive is slightly more complicated and is the subject of the remainder of this Topic. It is important to realize that Archive databases serves two basic purposes for your business operations:
They create a separate "Archive" version of the current Primary Database for future historical reference and backup.
They also allow you to "Clean up" the current Primary Database of unneeded or aged data to improve performance without permanently losing access to that data.
Since the Primary database is used for your regular daily operations and is considered your "active" database, it is always best to keep this database as small and concise as possible to improve performance. This Archive process is your opportunity to move older data from prior Fiscal Years out of the Primary Database and to make room for new activity for the coming year. Keeping the information in the Archive version of the database makes it available for future retrieval if necessary.
To initiate the process to create an Archive Database press the CREATE ARCHIVE button. The Create Archive Database window will be displayed as shown below. This window consists of a series of "Archiving options" which you can turn on or off to control the extent of the purging that occurs on the Primary Database. These options control how the PRIMARY database is cleaned up AFTER it has been archived.
Remember: the archive database is created BEFORE the purging occurs and therefore those processes do not affect its contents. In other words, when you create an archive database it is actually a "snapshot" of your Primary Database as it was before you began the process. The purging and cleanup process will modify your Primary Database only AFTER the Archive version is created.
Type a text description of the Archive database you are about to create. Make it descriptive enough so you can easily identify it in the future.
When you have made all your selections for the purge procedure then you can press this button to begin the process.
This option allows you to cleanup your subledger and its transaction details. Every A/R accounting event that occurs in SchoolLeader is recorded in your A/R subledger. Over time this can increase the size of your database to significant levels and ultimately effect it's performance. To combat this effect you will periodically want to archive historical accounting data. Specify the Year and Accounting Period you would like to become your FIRST period in the current PRIMARY database after the purge. All data before this period will be removed from the subledger and will only be available from the Archive Database.
If you want to remove ALL accounting subledger information from your Primary database, set the accounting period to be 1 number greater than the last accounting period defined. For example, if you want to delete ALL A/R subledger activity for 2001, then set your accounting period to be 53 if you are running a weekly fiscal calendar, or 13 if you are running a monthly fiscal calendar.
There are two things to consider when purging Accounting activity.
It is not recommended that you remove partial Fiscal Years from the database. Perform the purge in complete Fiscal Years. This will make it easier to perform financial reports later on for this historical data.
Don't remove Fiscal data too soon. You will want to reference previous years data often until probably mid year of the following Fiscal year. This is especially true until tax time occurs in April. For this reason it is probably best to NOT perform any purges until mid-year.
This option allows you to cleanup you're A/P Subledger and its transaction details. It's functionality is the same as the A/R Ledger step described above.
This option allows you to delete any students who are no longer active in your school prior to a specific date. This feature can be helpful in reducing the growing size of your Student Folders and works in conjunction with the next purge option regarding Guardians to help cleanup entire families from your database.
It is recommended that you leave disenrolled students in your system and not "Delete" them from the Student Folder's "Delete" button immediately after they are disenrolled. Disenrolled students often re-enroll and you will unnecessarily be creating Folders again. Instead use this purge feature to cleanup old Folders of students who were disenrolled long ago and who are unlikely to return.
This option allows you to delete any Guardians who are not associated with any Students (Enrolled or not Enrolled).
This step is executed AFTER the previous step which purges disenrolled students. Therefore, it will take care of removing any Guardians and Guardian Relations which were only associated to these newly deleted Students.
Although it is recommended that you leave disenrolled students in your database for some period of time, it is advantageous to remove all "secondary" guardians still associated with these disenrolled students to help reduce your number of Guardian Folders. Keeping disenrolled students and their primary guardian may be all that is necessary to keep, while grandparents and friends are no longer relevant. This option will perform that cleanup for you.
This option will search all your Guardian and Student Folders to verify that each rate in the Recurring Fee Table is currently being used. Any rates that it finds are completely inactive will be removed from the Recurring Fee Table.
This option will search all your Student Folders to verify that each activity defined in the Activity Folders is currently being used. Any activities that are completely unused will be removed.
This option will search your entire subledger looking for any subaccounts defined in your Chart Of Accounts which are no longer being used. If it finds any subaccount without current transaction activity, the subaccount will be deleted.
This step is executed after it has purged Subledger activity from your designated starting period. Therefore, any accounts which are NO LONGER used after the purge will be removed.
This option will remove all currently recorded Batch Deposits which are associated with Accounting Periods that were deleted in the steps before this. The Batch numbers will remain in sequence however the details of those batches will be removed from the Deposit Batch Manager.
Attendance transaction details consume a large amount of space in your database. This option allows you to purge attendance activity older than a given number of months. It will purge both Student and Employee attendance using the same age criteria.