Preparing To Update From CPSQL 8.5.3 and lower.
If you are planning to update your NCR Counterpoint System and are running version 8.5.3 or lower and have a lot of sales history, purging some of that history will make the update take less time.
I get asked quite a bit on how long an update will take. For most systems that keep up to date, it can be anywhere from 1 to 2 hours. But, if you have skipped a couple of updates, this can turn into 3 to 4 hours to complete to the whole process.
The reason for this is that during the upgrade, your history files go through a conversion process to add/remove changed fields. Although the main system itself will be useable after the initial update, the history will not be there right away.
Depending on how much history you keep on file will determine how long the rest of the update will take. If you rely on sales history to do validated returns, or to help make decisions about purchasing or running reports, this will unavailable until the conversion process is complete.
So, when you decide to upgrade your system, take a look at how much sales history you have on file and purge (there are utilities that make this easy) whatever is not necessary. As a reference, most companies keep about 3 years’ worth of history, but you should check with your accounting team for how much may be required.
-Bryan