[RetailEdge Moderator]

Routine RetailEdge Maintenance

Over time RetailEdge performance can appear to degrade for a number of reasons. Before you run out and buy a new computer here are some things to try.

Verify and Rebuild Tables

Database tables that store your data can be damaged by premature shutdowns, electrical surges and power outages.

Do you Have an Uninterruptible Power Supply (UPS) on your System?

This damage can cause certain RetailEdge functions (e.g., searches and lookups) to work slowly. To verify your tables choose Verify Tables from the Tools menu. If you want to rebuild your tables and skip the verification process, press Ctrl-Alt-R (Repair) and select the table or tables you want to repair.

Optimize Tables and Defragment Disks

How and where the data is stored on your hard drive can effect how long it takes for your computer to access the data. Optimizing a table will remove free space from a table and organize the data more efficiently. To Optimize your data choose Optimize Tables from the Tools menu. After you optimize your tables in RetailEdge, it can also help to run Windows Disk Defragmenter.

Purge Log Files

There are some files that can be purged quarterly or even more frequently. These files track deleted items, edits and changes and can be used to troubleshoot problems if they occur. Purging these files is a good way to reduce the disk space used by these files and your backup file size. To purge log files choose Log Files from the Tools|Purge menu item.

Purge Customer and Inventory Data

There are a number of RetailEdge users that keep 5 and 10 years of data. This can be a large amount of data depending on the type of business and the number of locations you have. Although RetailEdge can handle large databases, this amount of information will effect how long it takes to perform lookups and run reports. If you don't need it, purge it. The RetailEdge Help file and Manual has detailed information about how to purge data from your system and how each purge works.

Back Up Your Data

Every year we hear from customers who have had a computer crash or a fire, theft, etc. but have not backed up their data. You should be performing a RetailEdge backup every night and getting this backup off site. Just place your backup onto a USB key (thumb drive, memory stick) and remove it from your store at night. Or you can put it in a directory on your computer that is sent to an off-site backup service. There are many inexpensive services that do this and can automate the process. To backup your RetailEdge data choose Backup from the Tools|Backup menu item.