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IMPORTANT:
As a general rule, purge by date range and press ENTER for ALL on the other ranges. DO NOT press ENTER on the date range! i.e For date range, enter a reasonable starting date, possiblly 10‑20 years prior to today date to make sure all old records are included in the purging process and use the ending date as a cutoff date.
I. SUGGESTED HISTORY TO MAINTAIN
Most history files are typically maintained on the system for 10 Fiscal years. Specific files may be kept longer or shorter as noted individually below.
Please keep in mind, these are guidelines only !!! Each company must decide what is appropriate in their own circumstances. Also keep in mind individual transaction volumes, 'on‑line' history requirements, physical disk capacities, and system backup capacity. If you have very large transactions volume, you may need less than the suggested 10 years. The key is ‘what is appropriate for your company’ i.e. how far back in invoice history do you go for a reprint of an invoice compared to how far back have you re-ran an A/R to G/L Interface, or looked up old A/P vouchers?
If purging leaves a significant percentage of unused records in a history file after the night process sorts and physically removes the deleted records of a history file (i.e. greater than say 50% of total) you may want to 'adjust' the size of the file downward so that unused is 50% of total records. This will reduce the amount of physical disk space and backup capacity required for the particular file.
Once file sizes have been established and purging is made part of the regular month-end or year end procedure, file size adjustments should no longer be necessary unless transaction volumes change significantly.
Note: N/A means Not Applicable; normally these files are NEVER purged.
PAYROLL
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= Recommended history =
Employee master file N/A
Employee check history 20 Calendar years
Employee deduct/add history 20 Calendar years
Employee recurring deductions N/A
Deduction/addition master file N/A
Tax table maintenance N/A
Payroll checking N/A
ACCOUNTS RECEIVABLE
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= Recommended history =
Customer master N/A - Contact us on purging old unused customer master records.
A/R open items N/A
Sales history 10 years
Cash/Receipts history 10 years
Distribution history 8 years
Batch control 10 years
Tax zones N/A
ACCOUNTS PAYABLE
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= Recommended history =
Vendor master N/A
Vendor history 10 years
Voucher history 10 years Note: When purging from the A/P Voucher History file (Task 19 in AP), the system will check the status of the voucher to verify that unpaid vouchers are not erased from the file.
Check account N/A
A/P open items N/A
Batch control 10 years
GENERAL LEDGER N/A
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INVENTORY CONTROL See document : Delete / Purge / Erase Inventory Item Records
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ORDER PROCESSING
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= Recommended history =
Order history 10 years
Item history 10 years
Alternate ship‑to file N/A
Salesperson/Technician file N/A
Cust/Item Xref Price file N/A
Memo maintenance N/A
Lost sales maintenance 5 years
Commission maintenance N/A
PURCHASE ORDER
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= Recommended history =
Purchased Order history 10 years
Purchased Item history 10 years
Alternate order‑from addr N/A
Location/warehouse addr N/A
Item want list master N/A
Received items N/A
Shipped‑back items N/A
CUSTOMER SERVICE
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= Recommended history =
Owner master N/A
Machine/Vehicle master N/A
Service history 10 years
II. PROCEDURE FOR PURGING FILES
A. Go into the Master Files section (Tasks 17‑24.) of the various modules
B. Select the option to Erase Selected Records. (Sub-task 5)
C. When asked if you're sure that you want to erase old records, the response must be YES (in capital letters).
D. The printer screen will then appear.
If a copy of the purged (erased) records isn't needed, then change line 5 to read: Spool Rpt: NO
To see a list of purged records on the screen, change line 5 to read: Spool Rpt: PREview
If a list of purged records is to be printed, select the appropriate printer on line 1: Printer :
Note: There may be specific situations where it may be appropriate to use ranges other than date, such as: customer number or vendor number to eliminate high volumes of 'retail' or 'in‑house use' histories.