Purge Attachments

Although you can inactivate attachments you no longer need, the accumulation of attachment data places increased performance demands on your system over time, as well making it more difficult to locate specific attachments. The Attachment Purge utility permanently removes old attachments that your organization no longer needs based on the criteria you select, to facilitate efficient use of system resources, keep your system running smoothly, reduce the size of your database, and reduce the time required for backing up data.

You must run the Purge during a maintenance window to allow it to run without interruption, and all users must be logged out of the system. You can run it as often as your organization deems necessary, but you will most likely only need to run it quarterly, or monthly at most. Suspend any scheduled jobs, as they may conflict with the purge.

This utility only removes the database records of the attachments. The physical attachment files are not removed until the SAN Orphaned File Cleanup (SOFC) utility is run.

• Applied Epic On-Premises organizations must run the SAN Orphaned File Cleanup Utility manually after the purge completes. You can access it from the CentralServer/Software folder.

You must preview the purge before running it. Examine the preview document carefully to ensure that only the appropriate attachments are included, as the purge is irreversible.

If you need to exclude critical accounts or attachments from the purge for compliance or legal reasons, you can do so by selecting the Do not purge checkbox in account detail or attachment detail. You can also set expiration dates for the Do not purge designation in these detail areas, after which the account’s attachments or the individual attachment are eligible for purging. Accounts and attachments with this checkbox selected will not be purged, even if they meet purge criteria. You can verify their Do not purge status on the preview spreadsheet.

Important! Once attachments are purged, they cannot be restored to your system. It is strongly recommended that you create a full backup of your data before running this utility.

1. From Home, do one of the following:
• Click Utilities on the navigation panel.
• Click Areas > Utilities on the menubar.
• Click the down arrow next to Home on the options bar and select Utilities.

From any other area of the program, do one of the following:

• Click Home > Utilities on the menubar.
• Click the down arrow next to Home on the options bar and select Utilities.

2. Click Purge on the navigation panel or Areas > Purge on the menubar.
3. Click Attachments on the navigation panel.

Create a New Attachment Purge

To set up a new attachment purge, follow the steps below. Creating small, targeted purges that focus on just a few criteria at a time is recommended, as this makes it easier to verify that you are purging only the attachments you intend.

1. Click the Add button to the left of the Attachment Purge list.
2. Enter a Description. Make sure the description contains enough detail to distinguish this purge from others. Including the current date, as well as indicating the attachments you intend to purge, is recommended.
3. Select the purge criteria:
• Attached/Edited Date

  The Attached/Edited Date criterion is required. You must make a valid selection for this criterion before editing any other criteria. Attachments with Attached/Edited Dates within the range you select will be purged.

  Attachments are filtered based on their Last Edited dates unless they have never been edited, in which case they are filtered based on the date they were attached in Applied Epic.

  Select Purge data from and through dates from the dropdown calendars. To purge all attachments prior to your selected through date, leave Open selected in the Purge data from dropdown menu. Open is not a valid selection for the through date.

• Agency

  The purge criteria need not match all structures for an attachment associated to multiple structures to include the attachment in the purge. If you select any of the attachment’s associated structures, it will be included in the purge. By default, all Agencies are included in the purge job.

  1. To modify this criterion to purge only attachments associated to specific agencies, select Agency from the Criteria list.
  2. To exclude an agency from the purge, select the agency in the Selected list and click the up arrow button  to move it to the Available list. To include an agency in the purge, select the agency in the Available list and click the down arrow button  to move it to the Selected list. Use the double up arrow  and double down arrow  buttons to move all agencies from one list to the other.
• Branch

  The purge criteria need not match all structures for an attachment associated to multiple structures to include the attachment in the purge. If you select any of the attachment’s associated structures, it will be included in the purge. By default, all Branches are included in the purge job.

  1. To modify this criterion to purge only attachments associated to specific branches, select Branch from the Criteria list.
  2. To exclude a branch from the purge, select the branch in the Selected list and click the up arrow button  to move it to the Available list. To include a branch in the purge, select the branch in the Available list and click the down arrow button  to move it to the Selected list. Use the double up arrow  and double down arrow  buttons to move all branches from one list to the other.
• Department

  The purge criteria need not match all structures for an attachment associated to multiple structures to include the attachment in the purge. If you select any of the attachment’s associated structures, it will be included in the purge. By default, all Departments are included in the purge job.

  1. To modify this criterion to purge only attachments associated to specific departments, select Department from the Criteria list.
  2. To exclude a department from the purge, select the department in the Selected list and click the up arrow button  to move it to the Available list. To include a department in the purge, select the department in the Available list and click the down arrow button  to move it to the Selected list. Use the double up arrow  and double down arrow  buttons to move all departments from one list to the other.
• Profit Center

  The purge criteria need not match all structures for an attachment associated to multiple structures to include the attachment in the purge. If you select any of the attachment’s associated structures, it will be included in the purge. By default, all Profit Centers are included in the purge job.

  1. To modify this criterion to purge only attachments associated to specific profit centers, select Profit Center from the Criteria list.
  2. To exclude a profit center from the purge, select the profit center in the Selected list and click the up arrow button  to move it to the Available list. To include a profit center in the purge, select the branch in the Available list and click the down arrow button  to move it to the Selected list. Use the double up arrow  and double down arrow  buttons to move all profit centers from one list to the other.
• Accounts

  By default, all Accounts are included in the purge.

  1. To modify this criterion to purge only attachments for specific accounts, select Accounts from the Criteria list.
  2. Select an entity Type:
  • Broker
  • Client
  • Company
  • Employee
  • Finance Company
  • Other Interest
  • Vendor
  • All
  3. Opt to purge attachments for All or Selected entities of this type. If you choose Selected, specify your selections:
  1. Select the radio button to Include Selections or Exclude Selections.
  • Selecting Include selections includes all entities added to the Selected list.
  • Selecting Exclude selections excludes all entities added to the Selected list.
  2. Enter an entity’s lookup code in the Selected field or click the lookup button to locate an entity to include or exclude. Use the search bar to locate entities, select the entity in the list, and click Finish.
  3. Click the Add button to add the entity to the Selected list.
  4. To remove an account from the Selected list, click on the entity and click the Delete  button to the left of the list.
• Lines of Business

  By default, all lines of business are included in the purge.

  1. To modify this criterion to purge only attachments for specific lines of business, select Lines of Business from the Criteria list.
  2. Opt to purge attachments for All or Selected lines of business. If you choose Selected, specify your selections:
  1. Select the radio button to Include Selections or Exclude Selections.
  • Selecting Include selections includes all entities added to the Selected list.
  • Selecting Exclude selections excludes all entities to the Selected list.
  2. Select each Line to include or exclude.
  3. Click the Add button to add the line to the Selected  list.
  4. To remove a line of business from the Selected list, click on the line of business and click the Delete button to the left of the list.
• Inactive Attachments

  Select one for the following radio buttons:

  • Include: Include inactive attachments in the purge
  • Exclude: Exclude inactive attachments from the purge
  • Only: Purge only inactive attachments
4. When you have finished selecting criteria, click the Preview button to preview the purge results.
   
   Note: The purge is irreversible. Do not click the Purge button until you have previewed the results and are confident that only the intended attachments will be purged.

Preview the Purge Results

You can preview the selected purge in a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet to determine whether your selected criteria will produce the intended results.

Two spreadsheets are selected to generate by default:

• Purge Preview Summary: lists the accounts from which attachments will be purged and the number of attachments to be purged from each account
• Do Not Purge Attachments: lists the attachments and accounts flagged as Do Not Purge that will be retained when you run the utility

If necessary, you can also filter the information in these spreadsheets to create multiple versions to share with other employees before running the purge. For example, you may want particular employees to review the preview document for their own structures or for accounts with which they are familiar, or you may want to remove confidential client accounts from a version of the document that you share with employees who are not authorized to access those accounts.

After you run the purge, the Purge Preview Summary also provides a record of purged attachments.

To preview the purge and/or review the accounts and attachments excluded from the purge, do the following:

1. Click Preview.
2. The Purge Preview pop-up window displays. The Purge Preview Summary or Do Not Purge Attachments options are selected by default. Applied recommends generating both of these spreadsheets to ensure that you understand the impact of your selected criteria before continuing.
3. Click Generate Preview.
4. The spreadsheet displays. Save the file. If you selected both options, they open and must be saved separately.
5. Click Yes to open the file(s).

The following sections outline the information that displays in each spreadsheet.

Purge Preview Summary

Review the information on the following tabs:

• Parameter Page

  The Parameter Page tab summarizes your selected purge criteria. Ensure that the criteria on this page reflect your intended selections.

• Summary

  The Summary tab lists the accounts with attachments to be purged and the number of active and inactive attachments on each account to be included in the purge.

  Note: Criteria for which you selected All may display All in place of specific values.

  • AccountType
  • AccountLookupCode
  • AccountName
  • ActiveCount: Number of active attachments to be purged for the account.
  • InactiveCount: Number of inactive attachments to be purged for the account. This column is omitted if you selected Exclude for the Inactive Attachments criterion.
  • AttachmentCount: Total number of attachments to be purged for the account.
  • DoNotPurgeCount: Total number of attachments (that otherwise meet the purge criteria) to be retained after the purge.
  • ConfidentialClient: This column displays Yes for any Confidential Client accounts to be included in the purge. If you are sharing this spreadsheet with other users, you may want to save a copy that omits the confidential client data for employees who do not have access to it.
  • DoNotPurge: This column displays Yes for any account on which the Do not purge checkbox is selected in account detail. No attachments for accounts with a Yes value will be purged. The attachment counts listed for these accounts are purely informational. If this column is marked Yes in error and the account’s attachments should be purged, deselect the Do not purge checkbox in account detail and rerun the Preview before performing the purge.
• Structure

  The Structure tab displays the same information as the Summary tab, with the following additional columns.

  Note: Criteria for which you selected All may display All in place of specific values.

  • AgencyCode
  • AgencyName
  • BranchCode
  • BranchName
  • DepartmentCode
  • DepartmentName
  • ProfitCenterCode
  • ProfitCenterName
• Servicing Roles

  The Servicing Roles tab displays the same information as the Summary tab, along with up to 20 Servicing Roles for each account.

Do Not Purge Attachments

Review the information on the following tabs:

• Parameter Page

  The Parameter Page tab summarizes your purge criteria. Ensure that the criteria reflect your selections.

• Do Not Purge Attachments

  The Do Not Purge Attachments tab lists the accounts with attachments set to Do Not Purge.

  • AccountType
  • AccountLookupCode
  • AccountName
  • AttachDesc: The attachment Description
  • AttachedDate: Date the file was attached to the account
  • DNPExpiration: Date the Do not purge designation will be removed from the attachment and the attachment will be eligible for purging
  • Inactive: Displays Yes for any inactive attachment

1. After reviewing the spreadsheets, edit the purge criteria as needed:
1. Select the purge in the Attachment Purge list.
2. Click the Edit button  to the left of the list.
3. To modify the criteria, follow the instructions in step 3 of the Create a New Attachment Purge section above.
4. Click the Preview button to generate a new preview spreadsheet listing the accounts to be included in the purge based on your updated criteria. Review this spreadsheet carefully before continuing.

Running the Purge

Once you have previewed the purge and any updates to the purge criteria, you may run the purge. Running the purge will lock all users out of Applied Epic until the purge is complete.

To run the purge, do the following:

1. Select the purge in the Attachment Purge list.
2. Click the Edit button to the left of the list.
3. Click the Purge button.

After the purge is complete, any reports that include attachments you have purged will display blanks in their place. Purged attachments will not display on reports using Invoice Quality Check or on activities to which they were associated.

If you are hosting Applied Epic on premises, you must run the SAN Orphaned File Cleanup utility to remove the physical attachment files from your servers. No additional action is necessary for Applied Epic Cloud users, as this utility will run automatically.

Additional Purge Actions

Previewing a purge saves it to the Attachment Purge list. Purges in the list have one of the following statuses, depending on the actions performed on them:

• Previewed: The preview spreadsheet has been saved or opened.
• Successful: The purge completed without error.
• Cancelled: The purge was cancelled before any items were purged.
• Failed: The purge failed due to errors.
• Partially Successful: The purge was started and some attachments were purged, but the job did not complete.

You can perform the following additional actions from the Attachment Purge list.

• Edit a Purge

  You can edit a Previewed purge to modify its Description or criteria. If you modify criteria, preview the purge again before running it.

  1. Select the purge.
  2. Click the Edit button  to the left of the list.
  3. Revise the Description if necessary.
  4. To modify the criteria, follow the instructions in step 3 of the Create a New Attachment Purge section above.
  5. Click the Preview button to generate a new preview spreadsheet listing the accounts to be included in the purge based on your updated criteria. Review this spreadsheet carefully before continuing.
• Copy Purge Criteria

  If you need to create a purge with similar criteria to an existing purge, you can save time by copying the purge criteria to a new purge and then modifying them as necessary.

  1. Select the purge.
  2. Click Actions > Copy Purge Criteria on the options bar or menubar.
  3. Enter a Description for the new purge.
  4. To modify the criteria, follow the instructions in step 3 of the Create a New Attachment Purge section above.
  5. Click the Preview button to generate a new preview spreadsheet listing the accounts to be included in the purge based on your updated criteria. Review this spreadsheet carefully before continuing.
• Delete a Purge

  Only Previewed purges can be deleted. Once you have run a purge, you cannot delete it from the list.

  1. Select the purge.
  2. Click the Delete button  to the left of the list.
  3. You are prompted to confirm the deletion. Click Yes.
• Print a list of Purges
  1. Click the Print button to the left of the list.
  2. The Print window displays. Print this list as you would any other document.