Maintenance

There are two types of maintenance necessary with Prime. Which type you do depends on your role in managing Prime. The Database Administrator’s tasks are more technical. Here are some suggestions that are not exclusive. You should develop your own list. If you have a version hosted on Venture, you don’t have to worry about the Database Administrator tasks.

Database Administrator

1) Be proactive rather than reactive

It is best that you affirmatively review how things are working and insure that they are functioning properly. Don’t wait until things break.

2) Document setup and changes

This is as important for you as it is for anyone who follows you in the job. Don’t wait until it’s too late to realize you don’t remember the passwords to the hub or the SQL Management Studio.

3) Insure that SQL is installed correctly

This is difficult to do properly. If you don’t know how to do it, you should get a checklist off the internet and follow it point by point.

4) Networking and Ports and Protocols and Hubs and Permissions

This is part of insuring that SQL is installed correctly. If you don’t have these things configured correctly, you can have errors or performance problems. You might be tempted to look at CPU speed, software or user errors, when in fact the problem lies in setup.

5) Insure SQL has sufficient memory and storage space

Remember this can change as your staff and network changes. Determine the CPU, hard disk and memory needs of your server before a bottleneck occurs. There are no hard and fast rules here but articles on the internet and using the performance monitor in SQL can help.

6) Insure that full text searches are turned on for Case Notes

The search screen for case notes will not work if the full text search feature is not turned on for the cnnote field in the ClientsWCaseNotes table.

7) Setup a Maintenance Plan

Maintenance plans inside of SQL Server can automatically insure that the database is maintained and backups occur on a regular basis.

8) Backup

This is so important that it almost doesn’t need to be mentioned. However, someone always forgets. SQL Server can be backed up while in use. Does your backup software support this? Periodically check to make sure your backups work by doing a test restore. Do you have a rotation plan so that you can go back two weeks, two months or two years to restore data?

9) Pushing Out the Master Copy

Do changes to the master copy front end get pushed out smoothly and when needed? Should you change the way it is done?

10) Making sure the transaction log file is not too big

This can be taken care of through a maintenance plan. However, we still periodically have people call us with this problem. We have seen situations where the database is 150 MB big and the transaction log is 150 GB big.

11) Updates to Software

Be sure to maintain your software to eliminate both bugs and security concerns. Just remember, updates sometimes cause their own problems.

12) Checking Logs

Have you checked the network and SQL server logs recently for errors? Do you know what to look for and where they are?

Applications Administrator

1) Be proactive rather than reactive

Don’t sit and wait for problems. Periodically revisit what is going on and look to improve things. Remember that you don’t wait until the engine burns out in your car to change the oil.

2) Error Alert

Run the Error Alert from the Admin choice. Look at the bottom of the page and run the error check for all employees. Now use the two buttons that run queries that tell you:

i) What errors are being made

ii) Which users are making these errors

3) Training of New Employees

Do you have a plan for training new employees or do they just get thrown in? Do you have an office manual on using Prime? Do you periodically do refresher trainings for existing employees?

4) Managing Passwords

Remember you manage the employees’ passwords to get into Prime. Normally it is their staff number and their initials. However, if you put a value in the password field in the Smember table, it will no longer accept the initials and will require this new value.

5) Log in problems

Often this is caused by reversing the staff number and password. Make sure everything is running smoothly.

6) Setup and Office Codes

Are all the staff members in? What about new law students? Are the funding codes up to date? You need to insure that the settings are not only good when you first installed Prime, but that they reflect any changes in the office.

7) Adding New Employees

Be sure new employees get added and are given training on how to use Prime.

8) Inactivate former Employees

Although they shouldn’t be removed, did you uncheck the current employee box on the staff member intake sheet? Did you change their password so they can’t get in?

9) Master Copy is compiled and compacted

After making changes do you compile and compact the front end?

10) Make sure that custom additions are:

i) Named correctly

Begin all query names with Q, all forms with F and all Reports with R. Then follow with your program name. For example: QKCW_SeniorClientsWFSProbs

ii) Removed when no longer needed

Be sure to remove any special reports, queries, tables, etc. in the front end when finished with them. Otherwise you will never remember to and your program will begin to get sluggish as it gets bigger.

11) Periodically Check the Fifteen _Deleted Tables

Prime automatically backs up records from fifteen tables before it allows them to be removed from the main table. This is discussed under Advanced Features above. These tables should be reviewed every few months to insure that records aren’t being deleted by mistake.

12) Periodically delete duplicate or records entered in error. Time records entered by mistake and eligibility records added twice are examples of records that might need to be deleted.

13) Remove Temporary Tables from your Front End

Your front end is no place to store data. If you do it will grow large and sluggish. Also data in the front end can’t be shared with others. Remove any tables that exist there.

14) Monitor reporting needs and either build them or contact KCW for them

Are staff getting the reports and information they need and want? If not, you can build the reports they need or contact KCW to do it for you.

15) If Audit Log is turned on be sure that the table tblLog isn’t too big

We’ve come into programs and found that people had the Audit Log turned on and there were millions of records in it. Be sure if you use it, you periodically empty it if it has more than 30,000 records. Remember, it can be saved to a separate table in a different database.

16) Deal with Employee’s Basic Questions

Is there a forum for employee’s to get their questions answered? This could be emails, staff meetings, trainings, etc. Make sure that if someone has a question they know how to get it answered.

17) Document changes, customizations and new reports

Don’t wait until tomorrow to do this. My experience is that if you don’t document within a half hour of making changes, it will never get done.

18) Plan and implement features in the software

Be sure that your office uses all the features in the software that can increase the quality and quantity of your representation. If you don’t, set up a plan for using these new features and stick to it. Use the calendar built into Prime to remind yourself to follow this schedule.

Insure the front end is compiled and compacted