Archive Accounting FAQ

What is Archive Accounting?

The Archive Accounting utility permanently moves old transaction data on which you no longer need to perform work to a different part of your system, where it remains accessible in a read-only state but no longer impacts system performance. Archiving this data enables your system to use resources more efficiently.

What are the benefits of running Archive Accounting?

• Reduction in overall database size
• Faster overall system performance
• Faster reporting
• Fewer timeout errors when loading screens or running searches

When the archive finishes, does anything else need to be done?

After archiving, run the SQL Utilities to Rebuild Indexes and Update Statistics. These SQL Utilities run automatically on Sundays for Applied Cloud customers, so archiving on a Saturday is recommended.

Can I tell which transactions will be archived without actually archiving them?

Not at this time.

Which transactions can I archive?

A transaction is considered eligible to archive if it meets the following criteria:

• The most recent activity is at least two years prior to the current accounting month. At least two years of transactions must remain in Applied Epic.
• The transaction is within a finalized accounting month.
• The transaction has a closed Receivable.
• The transaction has a closed or blank Company Payable on its detail line for all company splits.
• The transaction has a closed or blank Government Payable on its detail line for all company splits.
• If the transaction is billed to a policy, the policy is expired as of the date the archive is run.
• The transaction is not a pending transaction.
• The transaction is not a payment transaction that has not yet been processed.
• The transaction is not part of a suspended myEpic workflow.
• All related transactions also meet these criteria (e.g. Apply Credits to Debits and Late Charges). If a related transaction has a later accounting month, for example, the entire group is ineligible to be archived.

Is the archived data removed from my production system?

No. The Archive utility retains these records but makes them available for reference purposes only. The database decreases in size, improving performance in the many areas of Applied Epic that access transaction data.  

What improvements will I see in my system once transactions have been archived?

Archiving transactions will decrease memory usage and improve processing time throughout your Applied Epic system. The degree of improvement will vary, depending on the amount of data you archive. Archiving transactions you no longer need to work on enables Epic to search for and access data more quickly and efficiently.

Can I rerun Archive for a period I have already archived?

Yes. You may want to rerun the utility to archive any items that did not meet the archive criteria initially (for example, transactions that were open but have since been closed).

What if Archive is interrupted and does not complete?

You can restart it from Procedures > Job Management > Jobs. The job will restart from the beginning, rather than resuming from the point at which it was interrupted.

Will scheduled jobs run during Archive?

Yes, if they have not been suspended. For this reason, it is important to suspend any scheduled jobs before running Archive, as they may interfere with it.

Can I tell whether Archive was successful and what data was archived?

Yes. In Utilities > Archive, select the Archive in the list and click the Edit button to see its details (Table, Row Count, Archive Checksum, and Production Checksum).

What happens if a user tries to log in during Archive?

Archive turns on User Lockout, which prevents users from logging in to the system while the utility is running. However, users with Allow login during lockout security access will still be able to log in. Depending on what they are doing in the system, their actions may cause some or all of the archive to fail. Notify anyone who has this security access to remain out of the system until Archive is complete.

Can the Archive job be cancelled?

Yes, but cancelling the utility will not restore any transactions that have already been archived.

Can I restore archived data?

No. Once data is archived, it cannot be restored to your system for additional work, although it will be viewable for reference.

Can archived data be reported on?

Not at this time.

How can I find a transaction after it has been archived?

You can locate archived transactions in any Transactions list in the system using the Archived search filter (otherwise, they are excluded from these lists by default). You can view all details for these transactions, but you cannot edit them.

How can I tell whether a client has archived data?

There is no visual indicator showing that an account contains archived data. However, you can locate any archived transactions in an account’s Transactions list using the Archived search filter.

Which other areas of Applied Epic can be archived?

At this time, none. If there is another area of your system that would benefit from archive functionality, visit the Applied Product Advisory Community to recommend that it be considered for inclusion in a future Applied Epic release.