Can someone please answer my questions specifically:

1. Although it is advised by Softrak to never run Adagio on the server (which we don't), would it makes sense in this case since you explain the problem as being network related, to delete customers from the server machine so that it read/writes without errors?

2. If the answer is No to #1, is there ANY safe way in Adagio to delete customers and inventory items without corrupting data?

For over a year now, DataCare keeps changing one of our active inventory item to ZERO whenever we run the program. Re:
Although it is advised by Softrak to never run Adagio on the server (which we don't), would it makes sense in this case since you explain the problem as being network related, to delete customers from the server machine so that it read/writes without errors?

Is the above statement truth? Do Not run Adagio on the server.

Hi Susan

Deleting from the server would make no difference - I haven't read the whole thread up above but I don't think anyone would claim that these errors are network related.

The absolute safest way to "delete" customers and items without corrupting data is to use the customer number or item number change add-on by Dakota Software (www.dakotasoftware.com), and merge what you want to delete into a dummy customer or item set up for that purpose. You can import a list from Excel, which makes the whole process rather smooth.

The only caveat is that I would recommend creating multiple dummy items, one for each unit of measure used.

When you use this add-on, it flows through the whole database, including modules such as SalesAnalysis and SalesCQ that normal deletion doesn't look at.

Steve

Hi Steve,

I appreciate your response and have heard about Dakota Software from previous posts. I have to question however why we need to buy 3rd party software when all we want to do is delete a few customers that have no activity for a long period and are no longer in business. Why does Adagio Receivables have a "Delete" button if it corrups the data? I'm not refering to the kind of error that might give a warning that the customer code is not valid when calling up an old invoice. We are experiencing full blown data corruption to the receivables database affecting multiple accounts unrelated to the customers who were deleted. Is the only technical software answer to this problem to either a) leave the customers on your database forever or b) buy 3rd party software? Does it seem reasonable using this very advanced accounting package that we can't delete customers or inventory items even though the feature is there?

Hi Susan,

Firstly, let's not intertwine too many threads here.

Deleting a customer, regardless of where that action is performed, should not result in some other customer being deleted, or shipto addresses for another customer being deleted. This will only happen if the index is damaged - and this condition is the first thing checked when doing an integrity check. If you ever see such behaviour, and the integrity check is clean, then please bring it to our attention immediately. (Of course, it has to be repeatable, and that can be a challenge.) So, the answer to your first question is "No" - there is no requirement to only delete customers from the server. (and as mentioned before - we don't think it's a good idea to be running any applications (Word, Excel, Explorer, Adagio - anything) on the "server" - especially given how inexpensive hardware is these days.

The integrity does not check order and/or invoices in OrderEntry that have been moved to history so "corrupt" is perhaps too strong a word. Steve's suggestion of using the item and customer number changers to "merge together" items you no longer want to see is the best approach.

FWIW - it's not clear what behaviour people would like to see when they are trying to delete customers and inventory items. I think that the item number changers provide the functionality that most people would like.

You should always be able to delete customers and inventory items without a file problem. The question is what to do about the complaints that the integrity check generates when it discovers an order that refers to that deleted item.

Fong: Nobody should be running any applications on your server (see earlier paragraph). It's a false economy.

Hi Andrew,

Thanks for your response. In reference to your statement, "You should always be able to delete customers and inventory items without a file problem", please advise how we can achieve that. Whenever we try it, we experience a damaged index.

Hi Susan,

Can you try the following?

• Make sure all your data passes the integrity check "clean".
• Make a backup of your data.
• Delete a customer or item (whichever seems to cause the problem).
• Immediately do another integrity check and see if any of the indexes are damaged.

If you end up with a damaged index, then I'd like a copy of the data to see if the problem is repeatable here (hopefully it won't be).

I know this is inconvenient, but this will be the only way to track down what it going on.

Thanks for your patience.

Hi Andrew,

Thanks for the idea.. I will try this as soon as possible. I'll need find some more customers that need to be deleted and do it on a weekend or after hours. Maybe I can just add a few dummy accounts and then delete them one at a time followed with integrity checks.

Re-reading the post, I realized that it isn't clear that we need a copy of the data PRIOR to the deletion (the one that damages the index), and a note about which customer/item you deleted.

Sorry if there was any confusion.

Oh I see.. I'm running out of time to work on these things but will see if I can get a chance to try this out.