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Preventative Maintenance Procedures

This document describes preventative maintenance procedures for monitoring your Escape database to ensure that it is healthy, and that users are correctly using the system. A checklist of tasks is included to facilitate performing the maintenance.

NOTE: For details on any of the procedures described here, see the Escape System Manager Guide.

Proactive System Management

Escape is a business critical application. As such, you must ensure that the software and database are protected against network crashes by including as much fault tolerance on your network as possible. This includes good backup procedures and a solid disaster recovery plan. You can be proactive in dealing with system problems by monitoring the integrity of the Escape database, using the tasks and procedures described below.

Preventative Maintenance Tasks

Following is a list of preventative maintenance tasks that you need to perform to ensure that your Escape system is healthy. Each task is followed by comments relating to the task. All of the utility programs required to complete the tasks are found in the \ESCAPE\UTIL folder.

NOTE: Many of the listed tasks require that users NOT be in the program, which is noted by a comment to lock the system down. You can do this either by using the Escape lock procedure at sign-on or via your network.

Review LOGFILE

Review the system LOGFILE, found in the \ESCAPE\COMMON folder. This can be done when users are in the system. In fact, you may want to scan the file several times a day when you have new users, to ensure that workstation setup is correct and that they understand use of the system.

Please view the Logfile FYI for examples of what to look for.

Rename LOGFILE

As users work in Escape, the information is written to the file indefinitely, making reviewing it a daunting task when you have to wade through several years' worth of now useless information! The best way to keep the file under control is to MOVE it once a month to the \ESCAPE\LOGFILES folder (you may need to create this directory). Then rename the file by adding the month as the extension, i.e., LOGFILE.JAN, LOGFILE.FEB. A new LOGFILE will be automatically created in the \ESCAPE\COMMON directory.

Review .DMP Files

A file with an extension of .DMP is created or added to by Escape whenever a fatal error occurs for a user. These files can be found in each Escape data directory, the one written to depends on which module the user is in or what task they were performing when the error occurs. The .DMP file should describe the error, the file that encountered the error, and list the files open when the error occurred.

NOTE: On Windows NT networks, erroneous "Invalid Data File" errors may occur. This is a result of file locking problems under NT. If the .DMP file reports this error, but the user was able to sign back in and complete their task, then the data file is not corrupted, and the error was erroneous.

Run FIXUSERS.EXE Utility

FIXUSERS.EXE is a utility program that deletes stranded database entries related to concurrent file usage within the system. Lock down the system before running this utility.

NOTE: Remember to add the syntax to create the utility's logfile. Please view the Fixusers FYI for complete instructions.

Run SCANJE.EXE Utility

SCANJE.EXE is a utility program that doesn't "fix" anything, but does create an error log that should be used as a guide to research potential problems. The system does NOT need to be locked down before running SCANJE.EXE.

The steps to running this utility are located in Section III, Troubleshooting of the the Escape Setup and Maintenance Guide.

Run SCANJDTL.EXE Utility

SCANJDTL is a utility program that does not "fix" anything, but does create an error log that should be used as a guide to research potential problems. The system does NOT need to be locked down before running SCANJDTL.EXE.

The steps to running this utility are located in in Section III, Troubleshooting of the the Escape Setup and Maintenance Guide.

Run FIXACCTS Utility

FIXACCTS is a utility available through the Chart module that reads through the journal entry files, then corrects any account balance and transaction entries for all accounts. Lock down the system before running this utility.

The steps to running this utility are outlined in Section III, Troubleshooting of the Escape Setup and Maintenance Guide.

Run FINRPTS.EXE Utility

FINRPTS.EXE is a utility program that runs trial balance, balance sheet and income statement reports in an offline and batch mode. Review the reports to verify that your system is in balance.

Please see the Batch Processing Reports FYI for complete instructions.

CSRT ACCT*.DAT Files

Using the CSRT.EXE key repair utility, rebuild the keys for the ACCT*.DAT files in the current fiscal year directory. You must lock down the system, and ensure that no users have the ACCTS*.DAT files open before proceeding.

NOTE: Make a backup of ACCT*.DAT files before running CSRT.EXE.

Run CHKACCTS.EXE Utility

CHKACCTS.EXE is a utility program that verifies relationships between accounts and their index files, within a fiscal year.

Please view the CHKACCTS Utility FYI for complete instructions.

CSRT REQS.DAT File

Using the CSRT.EXE key repair utility, rebuild the keys for the REQS.DAT file. You must lock down the system, and ensure that no users have the REQS.DAT file open before proceeding.

NOTE: Make a backup of REQS.DAT before running CSRT.EXE.

CSRT PSL.DAT File

This task is only for Personnel/Payroll module customers. Using the CSRT.EXE key repair utility, rebuild the keys for the PSL.DAT file. Be sure to RETAIN DELETIONS. You must lock down the system, and ensure that no users have the PSL.DAT file open before proceeding.

NOTE: Make a backup of PSL.DAT before running CSRT.EXE.

Preventative Maintenance Checklist

Suggested frequencies are for average size organizations, under normal operating conditions. If your organization is large, your Escape database is large, or you have been experiencing system problems, you may wish to increase frequency. Also, you may wish to monitor usage via the LOG and .DMP files when you have new or temporary users accessing the system.

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