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Archiving

The average veterinary practice accumulates approximately 15 - 20 Mb of disk storage per year. In some practices this is exceeded while in others possibly only 2 Mb is used a year. Usage can also vary considerably from year to year, and even from month to month, within the same practice. The figure for disk usage varies so much from practice to practice that it is almost impossible to determine if/when the disk will fill up.

While we know the sizes of the files contained in the veterinary software many practices are installing other software packages on the system and then forgetting about them e.g. games, spreadsheets, utilities etc. In many cases archiving is not needed. There may be files/programs on the hard disk that are no longer used but taking up disk space. Even within the vet system, you may have installed the diary module for instance or have written old letters in the text editor which are now no longer in use. These files/programs should be removed. If you are unsure of what is contained in any specific file we are only too happy to advise you.

There are two methods of archiving:

  1. Full archive - Clients who meet various criteria e.g. where the animal is dead, or has not been seen for X months, or the animal is over a certain age etc., can be removed from the hard disk.
  2. Partial archive - Clients may have their records shortened. The records still remain on the hard disk but they cannot be accessed in the normal way. This has 2 main advantages: The archived records can still be accessed but now by a different method.
The following points should be noted: Archiving clients from the hard disk is performed in various steps using options on the archiving menu and on the validation menu. If required, steps can be missed out (depending on hard disk space) and certain parts of the archiving procedure can be spread out over a period of time.

Chapter contents

  • Archiving: general outline
  • Archiving Menu
  • Partial Archive - Details
  • Step by step procedure for archiving
  • Disk fragmentation

    • Archiving: general outline

    1. Partial archive: Clinical records are stored in a 'chain' with one record 'pointing' to the next one. The system stores the number (a pointer) of the first record belonging to a client. It then uses this pointer to display the rest of the records for this client. Partial archiving first of all stores the old pointer in a separate file then resets it to a point further down the chain based on the date of the new first record. As 95% of all the programs use this pointer to display/search clinical information the length of time taken to search these records is much shorter. You can, by using the <O>ld listing option, redisplay the old records. When no longer needed the partial archive can be deleted.

    2. Full archive: The full archive 'marks' clients that meet specific criteria. You can then examine the marked clients to see if you agree with the computer selection (unmarking specific clients where necessary). These marked clients are then written to an 'archive' file, and this file is in a format than can be read be a word processor. This file can then be copied onto floppy disks in case you need to refer to this information in the future. The clients are then deleted and the clinical records marked as 'free' - at this point any partial archive that may exist is also deleted.
    Once the archiving has taken place an option on the validation program is used to re-organise the clinical file. This option 'shunts' valid clinical records from the end of the file to a free record near the beginning, thus giving you additional space in the file.

    The system 'marks' clients by setting the status field on the management record to the following: 

         1R - Animal is dead
     2R - Animal is over a certain age
     3R - Animal has not been seen recently.
     4R - Has been manually marked
    If you wish to mark a client manually, use the code '4R'. To unmark a client change the status field to anything but the above codes.

    Archiving: Menu

    The archiving menu is selected from the general applications menu. When selected the following options will appear:
    Mark for Archive
    This is covered shortly.
    Archive to file
    Once all the clients have been marked this option will generate an ASCII text file with the basic information in it. This file must then be copied onto floppy disks.
    The archive files will be named in the format ARCHIVE.0 for the 1st, ARCHIVE.1 for the 2nd, ARCHIVE.2 for the 3rd and so on and can be viewed with any text editor.
    Remove archived clients
    This option will delete (irretrievably) all marked records. This option should only be used once all information has been extracted. If a partial archive exists it will automatically be deleted. If related clients have been deleted no attempt to re- relate the clients will be made, and an option on the validation menu can be used to advise you of any breaks.
    Duplicate check
    This option scans all clients to see if there are any duplicate records on the system. This option will NOT mark any record. If required you will have to enter '4R' in the client's status field manually.
    Partial Archive
    This is covered below.
    List/Reverse Marking
    This option will display/print a specified range of clients that have been marked for deletion. You will also be given the option to 'unmark' the records enabling you to restart the selection.

    All the options on the archiving menu can be used over a period of time with new work being added after each option has been used. The only proviso is that if a marked client reappears at the surgery remember to unmark their record. You will know if a client has been marked because the system will beep when their record is displayed.

    Mark for Archive

    The main selection screen will appear: 
    Client Type        Small  Yes          Farm   No           Equine No

Last seen date     14.11.1994

Status codes to INCLUDE         DD               Start at            1
Status codes to IGNORE                           Finish at       14956

       Animal Age
Canine    20y  0m  Reptile    10y  0m  
Feline    20y  0m  Wildlife   10y  0m  
Avian     10y  0m  cavi       10y  0m  
Lagomorph 10y  0m             10y  0m  
Rodent    10y  0m  Equine     10y  0m  
OTHERS    10y  0m                     
                                      
Cutoff Date   12.08.1999
    Animal ages
    This option only applies to small animals. Clients may not have told you if their animal has died, so this option scans the animal age for a specified range of clients and if greater than the age specified it will be marked. There are some species of animals with a considerably longer life span than others, so when using this option pick an age that covers the majority of animals e.g. canine or feline. You can then manually unmark the appropriate animals.

    Last seen date
    Clients may have moved out of the area or to a different practice. This option scans the last consultation date for a specified range of clients and client types and if the last consultation was more than a certain number of months ago then the record is marked.

    Status codes to INCLUDE
    The system scans the status field for 'DD' and any other codes you specify and if found the animal will be marked.

    Status codes to IGNORE
    The system scans the status field for the specified code(s)and if present will ignore the animal.

    Cutoff Date
    Any animals with work AFTER this date will not be marked.

    Type and Range
    You can specify the client range and client type.

    Note: The validation program (in General applications) can be useful in advising you of discrepancies between the clinical and management records. It searches for the text DIED, DEAD, EUTH in the clinical records and checks that DD is in the status field, warning you if it differs.

    Once you are happy with the selection pick the 'continue' option to proceed with the marking.

    Partial archive

    This option resets the pointer to the first clinical record for specific client types. This option so far has been used for farm clients. Farm clients have longer clinical records than other client types and mostly you don't need to refer to them for transactions over about a year old.

    This option will alter the clinical files by overwriting the first record on or after the start date with the text 'Archived balance', the analysis code will be changed to 248 and the corresponding balance will be shown.

    You will be asked: 

    Client to start and finish at - Answer accordingly.
Client types for selection - Again answer accordingly.
Date to start - Enter the date you would like the NEW records to start at.

    As this option has altered the file structure you will have to run the following options on the validation menu. Detailed instructions are given in the chapter that explains validation. 

    Fix short form
Run the main validation printout

    Reverse partial archive

    This option will reverse the partial archive (although the transaction record line which was modified to say 'archived balance forward' will remain). The reason for this option is that when a full archive is performed the partial archive is deleted. You may have farm clients partially archived and now want to archive small animals but not the farm records onto a floppy disk. You would first have to run this option to reverse the farm archive, archive small animals then re-run the partial archive for the farm clients. Once reversed run the validation option mentioned in the section above.

    Delete partial archive

    Once a partial archive is no longer needed this option will delete the appropriate records. There is no procedure for storing the partial archive on a floppy disk, so it is irreversible.

    Step by step: Archiving
    1. Validate the data files.
    2. Use the archive menu options to mark clients/records for deletion.
    3. Backup.
    4. Delete marked records (this will delete any partial archive - if this is not desired, reverse the partial archive).
    5. Validate the data files.
    6. Check the free list.
    7. Initialise free list.
    8. Reset VAT books if you have not already done so.
    9. Run the 'fix pointers back' option.
    10. Backup again.
    11. Re-organise files.
    12. Fix short forms.
    13. Fix pointer back.
    14. Fix related records.
    15. Validate.

    Re-Organise files

    Disk optimisers are utilities to reorganise the files on your hard disk for easier and quicker access. However there is one area they can do nothing about which is the internal organisation within individual files, the main one being the clinical record file where all the individual records are stored. As you may be aware these records are stored in a chain, with the systems navigating through the file to access each record. In some cases, especially if archived records have been reused, you will find that the system may be scanning a very large file jumping around to find a handful of record for a particular client. Performance would be drastically improved if adjacent records were located next to each other. This is possible and can be done with an option on the validation menu. Warnings:
      To use this option you MUST have sufficient disk space on the same file system as the main clinical file to hold the temporary file used. This space must be at least the same size as the existing clinical file. DO NOT try to use this option without checking.
    1. All VAT books will be reset automatically so make sure any required printouts are taken.
    2. Any partial archive will be deleted.
    3. The time taken will be about twice the length of time to validate.
    4. Make sure nothing will interrupt the procedure e.g. unattended backup, people needing access etc.

    From the validation menu select 'reorganise files' then select the 'external' method. Please heed the warnings about disk space and do not continue if you are unsure. It is strongly recommended you make a full backup before continuing.

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