1. The Daily Purge procedure uses a list of herds that were closed on the Records Editor workstation to remove those herds from all LabSystem workstations. Current versions of the LabSystem configured to auto-transfer over a network do the daily purge procedure automatically. Otherwise, the daily purge process must be done using a diskette as part of daily procedures as described below.
2. Since the daily purge might not always be completed there is also a Manual Purge procedure that should be done at least every two weeks.
These are two separate procedures that must both be done to keep the LabSystem running well.
Daily Purge Using a Purge Diskette
This section applies only to non-networked LabSystem installations where diskettes are used to transfer data between workstations.
End of Day
On the Records Editor workstation only: When you have finished closing herds for the day you must create a Purge List diskette. This diskette will contain a list of all of the herds closed during the day. This procedure is required for the Purge files procedure you do at the start of day.
To create the Purge List diskette:
1. From the Lab System's Main Menu go to 4. Records editor.
2. At the records editor menu, press T for Transfer.
3. From the Transfer menu select Unload then select Purge List.
4. Insert the Purge List diskette and follow the instructions on the screen.
After you are done making the Purge disk you can exit the Lab System. Put the Purge List diskette in an agreed on location where anyone doing the start of day procedures can find it.
You may reuse the same diskette for the Purge List every day provided the Purge files procedure has been completed on all LabSystem workstations first. Since all diskettes wear out eventually, you should replace the diskette occasionally. Replace the diskette immediately if there are errors reported during the purge process. When replacing the diskette, if the diskette is not pre-formatted, you must format it before the LabSystem can write to it. Label the new diskette "Purge List" to keep it separate from transfer or backup diskettes.
Start of Day
This requires the Purge List diskette made at the end of the previous workday.
1. Go to the Main Menu in the Lab System and select 5. Purge files.
2. Insert the Purge List diskette.
3. Follow the instructions on the screen to complete the purge process.
Repeat this procedure on all LabSystem workstations in the lab and in the office.
Manual Purge
This section applies to all LabSystem installations.
Every week or two you should run a Manual Purge on all of the Lab System workstations. This procedure will remove any old records from the data files that were not removed by the Daily Purge. Also, run a Manual Purge immediately if the LabSystem fails with an error message saying that there are no more job (sequence) numbers available.
To run the Manual Purge:
1.
From the LabSystem Main Menu select 7. Utilities menu.
2. From the Utilities Menu select 2. Manual Purge.
3. You will be asked if you want to do a manual purge. Press Y for yes.
4. The program will then ask "Delete records dated before:" and a default date will be displayed. This date should be several weeks prior to today's date. If the date is correct then press [Enter]. If the date is wrong you can type in a date or press [Esc] to exit the Manual Purge. If you enter a date, make sure it is at least several days in the past, otherwise jobs that have not completed yet might be purged.
5. The program will then ask "...or dated after:" and a default date of tomorrow's date will be displayed. If the date displayed is not tomorrow's date then correct it. If the date is correct then press [Enter].
6.
The program will now start looking for records in the data files that should be deleted. When the program finds a record that should be deleted it will ask you if you want to delete the record. Press Y (yes) to delete just the record shown. You can also press A for All to delete all records that match the specified dates (Ctrl+Enter does the same thing). This is quicker than answering yes for each record.
7. When the program has finished with one data file it will stop and rebuild the index file for that data file before moving on to the next one. When the program is done purging the records it will display the Purge Statistics. This tells you how many records were deleted from each file. The lab component data files have many records for each herd so the number may look higher than you might expect.
Press [Enter] to return to the Main Menu.
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