Procurity Keeps Their JDE “On the Go” With Clean Data and Improved
Performance
Facilitator Mike Guerin, President, TeamCain
Presenter: Kevin Power
Administrator, Network/System Security Procurity Inc.
Presented at WCRUG October 22, 2013
Agenda
Introduction to Procurity Inc. Our JDE set up and environment Why we decided to purge and archive our JDE data
Selection, decision and implementation process Current process JDE purge and archive Summary of benefits and lessons learned
Purge and archive best practices courtesy of Mike Guerin Wrap up and questions
About Procurity
Established in 1978 as United Pharmacists Ltd., headquarters in beautiful sunny Winnipeg.
Purchasing, distribution, and marketing arm for a network of pharmacies across Canada.
100% owned by independent pharmacists. Banner programs, CounterWise Drug Marts and CounterCare
Pharmacies, operate in Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Northwestern Ontario.
Distribution centers in Winnipeg and Edmonton.
Our JDE Set Up, Environment and Upgrade Went live initially on EnterpriseOne in November 2002
Migrated to JDE EnterpriseOne with 9.1 in April 2013
JDE Modules Used at Procurity:
• Financials (AP, AR, GL) • Distribution / other (PO, IN, SOP)
Average about 50 concurrent users
IT staff size is 3 in total (lean, like many)
Use I-series (AS400) as the Enterprise Server starting with a
Model 270, now running on a Model 720
Disk utilization was higher than we liked
Cost of growing data kept on disk
Performance of UBE & QBE
Backup Time
Duration of end of day processes
Why We Looked for a Purge and Archive Solution
Alternatives reviewed & considered:
Did not look at much …
Knew we needed a tool, saw it on JDETips
Attended a web presentation and liked what we saw!
Spoke with management and our team, then moved forward with it
Acquired Purge-it! in 2011
Solution Selection and Implementation
Key factors in the selection:
Cost of the solution
Complexity – functions just like JDE; simple to install and use
Integrity of the data after the purge and in JDE
Ease of access for using it and to archived data
Solution Selection and Implementation
Decision: Selected Purge-it! on the merits of:
Ease to implement
Easy access to the data
Being in JDE, a very familiar interface for our users
Low level of investment
Solution Selection and Implementation
Our decisions:
We decided to archive all our modules. The order we did was treat it like rings of circles with the G/L at the center. AP & AR were the next ring and the last ring was the Purchasing & Sales. We started from the outer ring and worked in.
It was driven by IT but with full buy in from the business. The owners of the modules decided how much live data they wanted. We decided as a business it was best to keep in total 7 years of data from a government standpoint.
The finance department keeps 3 years production and 4 years archive. The other departments keep 2 years production and 5 years archive.
Solution Implementation
Our experience:
To get started we downloaded the software to the deployment server and ran the executable.
The executable runs like an ASU creating the plan and objects. Build a full package and deploy (longest part of the process for us!) Setup next number for sessions Start archiving. Besides reviewing the UBEs, there was basic queries to compare number of
records before and after. Usually run the report in proof mode first to see if there would be issues.
Our rough cut – was about two weeks to go through proof mode, then final mode and archiving for one year of data.
Solution Implementation
Purges are done yearly after our auditors have signed off on our financials.
This includes updating the archived data with the oldest year.
Have not yet done a purge on our archived data – no need yet!
Our Purge/Archive Process Now
Purge-it!: A Look “Under the Hood” Other key points:
Uses JDE menus for access and set up
Single job runs the whole process
Archive access – choice available for how to do this (we chose
FYK method)
Installed as ASU
As upgrade, will just get the new version for the JDE release and move forward
We received the following payback from implementing Purge-IT!: Biggest win is performance for the end user
The end user feels safe that the data is there if they need to see it
but not in the way when doing day to day work.
Consistent data size. No longer worried about data outgrowing disk space.
Our Payback …
Our “Lessons Learned”
We turned off checks and balances and just got rid of older data – allowed us to bypass some “standard checks” and just get rid of some junk data.
We put archive data in PROD (with the FYK tables) – should have kept in separate environment (i.e., PRODARC) and OCM map to link.
Final Thoughts …
Support for the project from Klik IT was super – responsive, knowledgeable
It was a really simple product to use – and did what it was supposed to do (always a good idea!)
Purge and Archive Best Practices
Courtesy of Mike Guerin, TeamCain
Purge and Archive Best Practices Why Purge and Archive? Performance
• JDE is a batch system and transactional… performance can drop significantly Upgrade
• Most common reason of late… purge before upgrade can reduce risk and speed things up (can always migrate archived data later). Gets rid of “dirty data” too
Business change • LOB sold off, plant / location closed
Disk and backup • Disk is “cheap”, but not never ending. Backup implications
Spin off impact • BI Data loads, disaster recovery …
If you have more than 10 years – it is probably just time to get it done.
Did you realize? 10 minutes per day for 50 people = 1 Full Time Equivalent
What to Purge and Archive?
Look for the “heavy hitters” – larger transaction files (typically GL, AP, AR, PO, IN, SOP
Run reports to show disk usage in descending order – record counts too
Watch for tag files – often these are heavy disk use as well (F55 – F59)
Add on systems?
Master files? Often not (other implications) and often not large usage / performance implications
Old / dead / dirty data that can be swept away?
Purge and Archive Best Practices
When to Purge and Archive, and How Far Back?
How much to keep – question for the business Most common – current plus 2 in PROD; another 2 in Archive tables Can be up to 7 in PROD depending on industry Legislative – what MUST you keep and how accessible does it need to be? Reverse also holds true – if the data is there you will have to produce it (exposure) Users will almost always want more – ask the “why” question. Often can be satisfied in
other ways Consider go-forward plans as well – how often (monthly, quarterly, annually) as a best
practice
Purge and Archive Best Practices
Who is Involved?
A purge and archive project is a business project supported by technical staff
Users own the data, IT owns the process to manage it and deal appropriately with storage and technical aspects
Business staff decide on purge and archive cut-off dates, companies / units to carve off, legal interpretations, etc.
Business users should sign off on test purge results and validate the data Outsourcing can make sense depending on schedules … but not the sign
off by users
Purge and Archive Best Practices
What to Watch Out For and Other Points
Integrity • Normal to keep, but sometimes need to break
What to do with archived data
• Who needs access / how often
If upgrading • Benchmark time needed for data conversion
Pre or post upgrade?
Purge and Archive Best Practices
P - Purpose built JDE, release, module, no hardware, no MTR's
U - Update or proof Comfort and confidence
R - Reversible Whole, part
G - Get access to data Archive data in PD, safe, secure, no new Environments
E - Extendable Modular, Custom module, ASU install and updates, multi-server
I - Integrity Hard- and soft-coded, preserves data integrity
T - Toolset Middleware, CNC, easiest to configure and run
How Can We Help??
Come chat at our booth Get connected with Kevin Power for specific questions for
him Get a copy of this presentation File review for recommendations on what to purge One page “Benefits of a JDE purge and archive” document Recorded solution webinars on our site Specific presentation for you? Happy to provide investment estimate