Volume 29, No. 7 July 2017

In this Issue

Archiving Your Accounting

Database

Saving a Copy of Your Final Year End Database

Your San Diego Food Bank Donations

Missing Tables Message when Running Monthly Reports

Backups and Com-pact/Repair Database

Saving a Copy of Your Final Year End Database

After you have completed all year end activity and filed your final reports and BEFORE you roll forward to the new year or ar-

chive your database, you can set up a new folder on your network drive called FYxxxx Database. (Replace xxxx with the year of the fiscal year, i.e., FY2016.) To easily view reports from the final YE database folder, you need to also point your ODBC to that

folder. To accomplish this, do the following:

If you are using the Access version of GMS accounting, follow the instructions below. If you are using the SQL version of GMS accounting, use the SQL instructions following the Access version instructions.

Using Windows Explorer, set up a folder called FYxxxx Database. i.e. FYxxxx Database will be used in these instruc-

tions. Typically, this folder is set up on the same drive letter as your convert folder.

Copy and paste the conversion.mdb that contains your final year end data into the FYxxxx Database folder.

32 bit computers: go to Control Panel, Administrative Tools, Data Sources (ODBC).

64 bit computers: Find the file called odbcad32.exe. It should be located in the Windows\sysWOW64 folder.

Select the System DSN tab.

Continued on page 2

GMS, Inc. 10559 Metropolitan Avenue

Kensington, MD 20895

Phone: 800-933-3501

Fax: 301-933-3502

E-mail: service@gmsactg.com

Archiving Your Accounting Database (Access database users only)

Are you finding that your accounting database is processing more slowly even though you have been compacting and repairing it daily? Are reports taking more than just a minute or two to ap-pear on the screen? Do you have more than the last two fiscal years’ information in the database? You may need to “archive” your database.

“Archive” is a process in which the software will remove old records from the database based up-on the cutoff date you select. After archiving, the software will not need to sort through old infor-mation to prepare current reports, thus speeding up the processing time. Additionally, archiving will be required in order to transition to our new accounting software which will begin being re-leased this fall.

You may feel apprehensive to archive because you may need to access the older information in the future. However, don’t worry. All information may still be accessed. By following the “Saving a Copy of Your Final Year End Database” instructions listed in the below article (also avail-able in the Help Manual under General Ledger/Year End), you will still be able to log into the old fiscal year database where all of the old information will still reside. This will allow you to access the old copy of the database to look up old information, as the archive process will only affect the current database you are using.

Continued on page 3

The GMS office will be closed Tuesday, July 4th in honor of

Independence Day. We will reopen on Wednesday, July 5th for

normal business hours. Have a great holiday!

Page 2 NEWS FROM GMS A PUBLICATION FOR GMS CLIENTS VOLUME 29 NO. 7

Backups and Compact/Repair Database Accounting and RLSS

GMS has a backup utility available that allows you to easily back up and compact and repair your database. If you’re not currently using it, you may download the backup utility from our website. Please call or email the GMS office for the website password and installation instructions. Once installed, using it is very easy. You start by selecting the database you wish to backup. (This utility works for both the accounting and RLSS databases.) After the database is selected, clicking on the Compact Database button will automatically run the compact and repair. When you compact and repair, the software will remove unused bytes from your database, thereby con-suming less space on your computer PLUS it may speed up your processing time. Compact and Repair should be completed at least once per week, but can be done daily. Compact and Repair is performed on Access databases only. A Compact and Repair cannot be run on a SQL database. Your IT person should have a maintenance plan in place for SQL databases. The Backup Data-base button automatically makes a backup copy of the Access or SQL database in the folder in which the database is located.

Continued on page 4

Present versions of Software:

Accounting 1.2.308

RLSS 1.0.0.13

Saving a Copy of Your Final Year End Database Continued from page 1

Unless you have more than one database or this has been done for prior fiscal years, you should only have Convert listed in this window. Some of you may have previous

backups listed also. Click on the Add button.

From the list of drivers, double click on Microsoft Access Driver (*mdb). Once select-

ed it will return you to the ODBC Microsoft Access Setup Form.

In the Data Source Name field, type convert1. (If convert1 already exists, use con-

vert2, convert3, etc. as necessary.)

Click on Select. In the box on the right, click on the drive in which your FYxxxx Data-base folder exists and double click on it. (This will put conversion.mdb in the screen

on the left. Double click on the conversion.mdb. This will put \FYxxxx Data-base\conversion.mdb in the ODBC Microsoft Access Setup screen to the right of the

word Database. If on the F drive it should say F:\FYxxxx Database\conversion.mdb.

Click OK.

You will now be back at the System DSN tab and convert1 will be highlighted. Click on OK, close out of the Control Panel and return to the desktop.

When you log into the GMS Accounting System, from the Organization combo box, select GMS1 if your last year’s database is set up using convert1. Select GMS2 if you

set it up using convert2.

Note: If your agency currently has an IT person on staff, you can ask him or her change

the login information on the GMS Accounting System login screen to identify which fiscal

year you are logging into. To accomplish this, everyone will need to be logged out of

GMS. The IT Person will need to go into your current conversion.mdb file located in your

\convert directory. Go into Tables, and locate tblCompanies. Double click to open the

table. Once in the table they may see under the Company column GMS1 and GMS2. De-

pending on which directory you have selected in the process above (convert1 or con-

vert2), you can change GMS1 or GMS2 in this table to FYxxxx. Once the table has been

changed, they may exit the table and exit the database. Now when you log into the

GMS Accounting System you will see FYxxxx instead of GMS1 or GMS2.

Note: If you have previously used all lines on the table, simply add a new line at the

bottom of the table and enter the appropriate information on the blank line.

Continued on page 3

Missing Tables Message

when Running Monthly

Reports

Some GMS clients have had prob-

lems with tables missing from

their database when running

month end reports. These are

temporary tables and don’t con-

tain any information but are

used to create certain re-

ports. We believe the problem

is due to MS Access and Window

10 machines. Until Microsoft

resolves this issue, we suggest

you compact and repair your

database on the actual server

that your database resides on

instead of using the GMS backup

utility or opening the database

in Access on your workstation.

Please make sure MS Access is

installed on your server.

THANK YOU!!!!

We would like to send a big

thank you to all of our

clients and attendees of the

GMS Summit 2017 for their

generous contributions to

the San Diego Food Bank.

During our summit in San

Diego, we were able to

provide over 6000 meals to

hungry San Diegans.

Together we make a

difference!

Page 3 NEWS FROM GMS A PUBLICATION FOR GMS CLIENTS VOLUME 29 NO. 7

Archiving Your Accounting Database

continued from page 1

The archiving process allows you to select which records will be ar-chived and the cutoff date that will be used. Only two or more fiscal years before your current fiscal year are available to be archived. Your archiving selections are:

Monthly Processing: records will be deleted from the tables used for the General Ledger, Prior Year budgets and amounts, journal entries, accounts receivable and cash receipt batches, cost allocation, timesheets, and expense reimbursements.

Payroll and 1099 Information: records will be deleted from the tables used for voucher and cash disburse-ment batches, prior year payroll, retirement, workers comp and weeks worked.

Inactive General Ledger/Element Codes: inactive gen-eral ledger codes will be deleted provided they are not set up in Fixed Assets and are not code 50000. General ledger codes or elements that still exist in tables after the cut-off date that relate to General Ledger, Cost Allo-cation, Budgets/Prior Year or Class setup will not be

deleted.

Inactive Vendors: Inactive vendors will be deleted if they have no existing vouchers associated with them.

Terminated Employees: terminated employees that were not paid in the current year will be deleted from tables related to employee files, timesheets, worker’s comp, retirement, payroll adjustments, prior year state tax analysis and payroll information, weeks worked, personnel history and prior year cost allocation.

Inactive Customers: inactive customers will be deleted from tables related to customers, Accounts Receivable Invoices, and Cash Receipts.

Disposed Fixed Assets: fixed asset that have been dis-posed will be deleted from tables related to inventory, location and depreciation history, and funding sources.

Completed Purchase Orders: completed Purchase Or-ders will be deleted from the tables related to purchase orders.

For more information regarding the Archiving process, please consult your Help Manual under Tools/Archive Database. An excellent time to archive is at the start of each new fiscal year after you’ve made a backup of your database and rolled forward into the new year.

Saving a Copy of Your Final Year End Database Continued from page 2 Instructions to be followed for the SQL

version of GMS Accounting:

Note: Attaching the Database is to be done on the server. The DSN setup is done on each individual workstation. Step 1 – Copy the database to a new

folder

Make a backup of your current da-

tabase using the Database Utility. Make sure to select the current da-

tabase you intend to send to GMS (conversionSQL) typically in the

convert folder. Click on Backup Da-tabase and save in the convert fold-

er. If for some reason you do not have access to the Database Utility,

please contact your IT staff for as-

sistance in making the backup for you and name it conversionSQL-

BU.bak.

Step 2 - Attach the database to SQL Server

1. Click on Start/Programs/Microsoft SQL

Server/ Enterprise Manager.

2. On the left panel under Console Root

you will see Microsoft SQL Servers. Click

on Microsoft SQL Servers and you will see SQL Server Group. Click on the Plus

mark to the left of SQL Server Group and you will see (local) (Windows NT)

3. Click on (local)(Windows NT). 4. Right Click on Databases and choose

New Database. Type FYxxxxData-baseSQL in the Name Box. The data-

base name must include "SQL" some-

where in it and cannot have any spaces in the name.

Click on the second tab - Data Files.

Expand the Location column and make sure you know where the

data files are stored.

5. Click OK. It may take a cou-

ple minutes to create the database.

6. Once it’s done, you will see FYxxxxDatabaseSQL on the

list of databases. Right click on FYxxxxDatabaseSQL and

highlight All Tasks and choose Restore Database.

Restore Database form will appear. The name

should be FYxxxxData-baseSQL. Do not change it.

There are three options un-der Restore: Databases,

Filegroup or Files. You need to choose

“From Device”. Click on Select Device button.

7. Choose Restore Devices form will ap-

pear. “Restore from:” is defaulted to Disk. You need to click the Add button.

Find the file name FYxxxxDatabaseSQL and click on Ok.

8. You will see the file is listed under De-

vice Name in the list box. Click on Ok to close it. And you are back on Restore

Database form.

Continued on page 4

“Sometimes I like to treat myself at work and just do one thing at a time.” ~Unknown

Page 4 NEWS FROM GMS A PUBLICATION FOR GMS CLIENTS VOLUME 29 NO. 7

Saving a Copy of Your Final Year End Database Continued from page 3 9. Click on the second tab - Options.

10. Check Force restore over existing data-

base option. 11. Under “Restore Database Files as:” the

second column “Move to physical file name” check the file path. If this file

path is different than the location you checked before when you first created

the database, you need to change the file path to match that path. You want

to move this backup file into the loca-

tion where the database was first creat-ed.

12. Click on the OK button and it will show the progress of restoring. You will get

the message that the database has been restored successfully - or other

messages telling you if there is a prob-lem.

(If you have more than one SQL Server database you need to repeat the above

steps again using a different database name.) Step 3 - Point your database selec-

tions to the database on each individ-ual workstation

1. 2 bit computers: go to Control Panel, Administrative Tools, Data Sources

(ODBC).

64 bit computers: Find the file called

odbcad32.exe. It should be in the Win-dows\sysWOW64 folder.

2. Select Systems DSN tab. 3. Select Add. From the list of drivers,

click SQL Server. Click Finish. 4. This will bring you to Create New Data

Source to SQL Server Form. 5. In the Name field, type Convert1. You

can leave the description blank or enter

anything you want to describe the da-tabase. In the Server: field enter your

SQL Server Name. (If installing on a single Work station, choose local)

Click on Next button.

6. There are 2 options to connect. One is

using windows NT login ID and the

other is using SQL Server Login ID. If you don’t have SQL Server Login ID

check “With Windows NT authentica-tion using the network login ID”. Other-

wise check “With SQL Server authenti-cation using a login ID and password

entered by the user”. Enter the user name and password. Also make sure

“Connect to SQL Server to obtain de-fault settings for additional configura-tion options” is checked. Click on Next.

7. Check the box “Change the default da-tabase to”. It will be defaulted to mas-

ter. Choose FYxxxxDatabaseSQL from the combo box. Do not change any

other default settings on this page. Click Next.

8. Don’t change anything on the next

screen and click on Finish button. You need to click on Test Data Source but-

ton. If you get TESTS COMPLETED SUCCESSFULLY then you are done.

Note 1: If your agency currently has an IT person on staff, you can have him or her change the login information on the GMS Accounting System login screen to identify what fiscal year you are logging into. To accomplish this, everyone will need to be out of GMS. The IT Person will need to go into your current conversionSQL file. Open tblCompanies in Enterprise Manager. Once in the table they may see under the Compa-ny column GMS1 and GMS2. Depending on which directory you have selected in the process above (convert1 or convert2), you can change GMS1 and GMS2 in this table to FYxxxx. Once the table has been changed, you may exit the table and exit Enterprise Manager. Now when you log into the GMS Accounting System you will see FYxxxx in-stead of GMS1 or GMS2. Note 2: If your agency anticipates access-ing this database in the future, you will need to update this database with the GMS Accounting Revisions as they are released. You will want to continue updating the copy of the previous year’s database for as long as you intend to access it for report purpos-es to ensure compatibility between the da-tabase and the program.

Backups and Compact/Repair Database Continued from page 2 It is important to understand that no one can be logged into the GMS database while either of these steps is run from the shortcut on the desktop. Also, please be aware that the backup defaults to the same folder in which the conversion.mdb or rlss.mdb is located. If you want the backup to be on your local hard drive or another location, you will need to browse to that location before clicking on Save. Al-so, consider security of the drive you are placing the backup in. Your accounting backup will contain all employee and vendor identifying information. RLSS backups contain all loan information. You will want to limit access to these backups. In addition, it is important that you understand that the automatic backup feature does not replace any other backup procedures such as nightly tapes, burning a cd, copying to a flash drive, etc. For account-ing databases, it also does not replace the recommended before and after payroll backup process. It is recommended that you continue to follow the Payroll Processing menu, making both the Before Payroll Backup and After Payroll Backup from there. We cannot emphasize enough the importance and necessity, in addi-tion to performing the compact and repair and backup, to make cer-tain that another means of backing up is in place. The backup util-ity stores a copy of your database in the same location as your current database, unless you have changed the default to an alternate location.

Should you be saving copy of your database to the same drive as your current database and this drive fail, you would not have a backup to restore. In addition, if the drive were to crash, you may not only need to replace the computer, but also then need to recreate the data. This can be a significant loss of staff time. Therefore, it is imperative that you are also backing up to an external source and regularly confirm-ing that this backup is functioning properly.