Share your Success!

[lmuerth]

When I have selected a crystal report to list our 401k contributions each pay period, the report takes forever to download.  Each time I process the report it takes longer and longer.  It now takes over 10 minutes.  I thought it might automatically clear out some of the data at the start of the new year, but I was mistaken.  Do you know how I can clear out some of the records so the report does not take so long to process?

Libby

[bpoole]

Depends on the table used as the source for your report.  Most 401(k) reporting reports that I have created have required that I go back to the perpetual history file to get the  relevant information that I need for proper calculations.  Depending on the number of employees you have and the amount of history you have in the table, that file can get pretty large.

There is a method for purging the data under the period end processing.  Don't forget to make a back up before you purge, just in case you purge something you did not know you needed.

Many times I have had to extract the data into SQL Express to perform the calculations and reporting in a reasonable amount of run time.

[DFeller]

I typically do NOT recommend purging the perpetual history file as there is a lot of good information there.  I would think that the issue with the report is how it was constructed or the joins or what it's doing.

Dawn

[mjpolk]

Let begin by, welcome aboard and enjoy the cruise.

Has your system had the sort files and keys rebuilt recently?  This is one of the 1st places I start when I'm having performance issues.  Another place to check is that your antivirus is not scanning your MAS files.

In the future You should post in a category which better describes the module/area you are the issue. You will get better more timely responses.

[bpoole]

I agree with Dawn.  Avoid purging the history if you can. If you do ever need it again, putting it back together from a back up and marrying it with current history can be more costly than addressing your slow reporting now.

Let us know:

How many EE's do you have?

How long have you been running payroll in MAS?

What is your pay cycle? (weekly, monthly, etc)

[lmuerth]

Thanks for the information.  Seems like a difference of opinion regarding purging payroll history or not.  I have 140 employees, run biweekly payroll and we have been using MAS since approximately 2005.  I did check back and feel like a purge was done at the end of 2007.  Since we keep backup, the records from before then are accessible. I feel like a test of whether purging would work would be to save MAS in a temporary file, purge payroll history see if there is a difference in the processing of my report.  Does that sound like a safe plan?

[DFeller]

If you use data file display and maintenance on the PR_22 and PR_23 files, you will get record counts on these files.  I cannot believe they would be that high, leading me to believe that it is the report design that is the issue.

Can you see what files the report is using and how are they linked?  What are the report options?

Dawn

[lmuerth]

Thanks everyone, I have a plan.  Sorry I posted in the wrong area, this is only the second time posting.  Both have been very helpful.  That is my success story!

[IBPIT]

 I recommend the following post to help get even more out of the forums.

http://community.sagemas.com/sagemas/board/message?board.id=DistMfg_GenBiz&thread.id=37

Message Edited by IBPIT on 02-25-2010 01:48 PM

[Rsmcnamara]

Crystal Reports that have to slog through alot of data do better if you narrow down the data it's looking at in the first place by filtering at the Report / Selection level.  In this case, I would set it as check date > 12/31/2009 for example.