Outdated master and transaction file records may make it difficult to track your current work. Archiving reduces the size of your master and transaction files, which makes tasks such as printing faster. It also reduces the number of jobs that appear on job selection windows.

IMPORTANT:

• No one can be in the system during the move. Have all operators exit Sage during the move process and close all third-party applications that use Sage. Stop any processes like MyAssistant scheduled reports during the move.
• Make a backup of both the live folder and archive folder before moving.
• Typically, you do not archive jobs with cost entries in the current or prior year, as that can affect reconciliations between JC and interfacing applications, especially GL.
• You will want to move transactions in "chunks" of 20-30 jobs to start. If moving transactions for 20-30 jobs takes less than 10 minutes, you can increase to 50-60 jobs. However, if 20-30 jobs takes 3 hours, you may want to move smaller chunks of transactions. Using ranges to select chunks of jobs may be easier than using conditions. Repeat the steps for each move of 20-30 jobs, including making a new backup of BOTH the live and archive folders between each chunk. For example, make a backup, then move transactions and then move jobs. Then, make another backup and move another chunk of transactions and jobs.
• Move the transactions before you move the jobs or commitments. You can move the commitments at the same time you move the jobs.
• You do not have to close the year in Job Cost before you move jobs or transactions. These are independent functions.
• There is no warning if you try to move commitments that are open, not fully invoiced, or not fully paid.
• We recommend keeping transactions and closed jobs in the same folder for reporting purposes. It would be best to select Current to Current when moving transactions and selecting the closed jobs folder for the destination file.
• Use File Doctor to compact the source files when you have moved all transactions and jobs.
• If you have Project Management, you will want to archive the same jobs in Project Management at the same time. If the job remains in Project Management, a user could accidentally create the job again in Job Cost.
• Do not move Jobs with balances in AR and AP to the archive folder. If you move a job to archive and you make an entry in the current year to that archive job, you should move the job and its transactions back to the live folder and leave them until the following year.
• Do not reuse job numbers that you moved to an archive folder. Interfacing applications will still have transactions for the archived job, and reports will reflect those amounts in interfacing applications, which may cause conflicting totals and reconciliation issues.

Pre-Move Checklist:
Perform the following steps before closing jobs in preparation for archiving.

NOTE: You should perform Steps 2, 3 and 4 before moving unless following the close job recommended workflow. You do not have to complete Steps 1 and 5 for moving, however they are a best recommendation as they make the moving process smoother.

1. Job Cost:
   1. Go to Job Cost, Setup Job.
   2. Select the job to close.
   3. On the status tab, select Closed. Enter the job closed date in the Actual Completion Date field. If the date is unknown, enter an approximate date more than six months to the future of the Last Cost Update.
2. Accounts Payable:
   1. Go to Accounts Payable, Reports, Invoice Register, Invoices by Job.
   2. Select Master and click OK.
   3. Select Sort by Job.
   4. Select Print Open Invoices Only.
   5. Delete condition for Payment Date Equal To.
   6. Print to see a list of jobs with balances that should not be closed.
       NOTE: If a job/vendor has a negative and positive invoice on the aging, resolve this issue before moving the job.
3. Accounts Receivable:
   1. Go to Accounts Receivable, Reports, Aging, Detail by Job.
   2. Select Current, and click OK.
   3. Enter the as-of date of 12/31/9999.
   4. Print to see a list of all jobs with balances.
       NOTE: This date must be at least one year if not more, in the future. If a job/vendor has a negative and positive invoice on the aging – resolve those entries before moving the job. 
4. Contracts:
   1. Go to Contracts and verify the contract linked to the job being moved is paid in full and has no retainage balance.
   2. In Contracts, select Inquiry, Contract/Item Inquiries, and Derived Totals.
   3. Select Active and OK two times.
   4. Add a column for status by indexing to the CN - Contract record and selecting status.
   5. Verify that the Total Billed plus Add-on Billed plus Deduction billed plus Tax Billed equals Cash Receipts plus/minus Receivable Adjustment.
      • If those columns equal AND the Retainage Balance is zero, then the contract will also be available to archive
      • If they do not, you need to make entries to zero out the contract before moving the job in job cost
5. Optional: It is helpful to print a report of jobs to move to history. It is part of the close job recommended workflow. Refer to How do I close a job in Job Cost? for recommended close job steps.
   1. Print the Inquiry, Lists, and Job List.
   2. Add columns for Last Cost Update and Actual Completion Date.
   3. Remove any columns not needed (project manager, etc.).
   4. Use this list to determine which jobs you will move.
   5. If you have done Step 5b, add two conditions: “Actual Complete Date Less or equal to xxx” where xxx represents the cutoff date for moving jobs AND "Actual Complete date NE."

Creating the archive data folder:
If you do not already have an archive folder, create one before you move jobs and transactions. You will need to have one archive folder per company data folder for archiving purposes. You must upgrade each archive folder when upgrading your Sage 300 Construction and Real Estate version.

1. Go to File, New Company.
2. Enter a new company name for the folder (for example, zArchive Your Company Name), and press the TAB key.
3. Select the Use current setup check box.
4. Click OK to save the new data folder.

Moving Transactions:

1. Post all costs and billings associated with the job you want to move. After you move the job, you cannot post transactions to it.
2. Back up both your live and archive data folders (Tools, File Tools, Backup). Refer to How do I use File Tools to back up data files?. You will need to make backups between each move.
3. Select Tools, Move, Transactions, Current to Current.
4. In the Move Transactions Current to Current - Destination File Selection window, in the Look in list, browse to select the data folder that contains the Current.jct file that you want to move the transactions to.
5. Select the Current.jct file, and click Open.
    NOTE: If a Current.jct file does not exist in the destination folder; you will be prompted to create one. Click Yes to create the file.
6. In the Print Selection window, select Ranges or Conditions.
   • Warning: If you do not select ranges or conditions, all transactions for all jobs move to history
   • Ranges: Using ranges allows you to limit the move to chunks of 20-30 jobs. The moving process will be completed faster when moving smaller amounts of data.
     1. Select Ranges
     2. Choose the jobs you want to move
     3. Click OK
   • Conditions: This condition will move transactions for all closed jobs to the archive current file. This condition does not allow you to “chunk” the data by job. Moving larger quantities can take hours, if not days, to complete, and all users need to stay out of Sage while the move is performed.
     1. In the Field area, select Status.
     2. In the Operator area, select Equal to.
     3. In the Value area, select Closed.
7. Click OK twice.
8. Click Start.
9. Review the journal to verify that the correct transactions have been moved to the current archive file.
    NOTE: Keep transactions for the archive jobs in the same data folder as the job. Moving the transactions in either of these two ways will ensure that transactions stay in the data folder where the archived jobs are located. Depending on your workflow and reporting needs, you can either: 
   • Move transactions in your live data folder from Current to Current (live folder to archive folder) and bypass the move to history in your live folder
     ​​​​OR
   • Move transactions Current to History in your live data first, then move them History to History

Moving jobs and commitments:

1. Go to File, Open Company and select your current data folder.
2. In Job Cost, go to Tools, Move, Jobs.
3. In the Look in box, select your archive data folder (for example, Closed Jobs).
4. Accept the file name of Master and click Open. If this is the first time you move jobs into this folder, click Yes at the message "File not found. Okay to create?".
5. In the Print Selection window, select Ranges or Conditions.
    CAUTION: If you do not select ranges or conditions, all jobs move to the archive folder.
   • If you use Ranges, select the appropriate jobs and click OK.
   • If you use Conditions, set these parameters:
     1. In the Field area, select Status.
     2. In the Operator area, select Equal to.
     3. In the Value area, select Closed.
6. Click OK twice.
    NOTE: This condition moves all closed jobs to the archive folder.
7. If you also want to move all commitments associated with these closed jobs, select the Move Commitments check box.
    NOTE: This does not move commitments entered into multiple jobs. 
8. Click Start.
9. Review the journal to verify that the correct jobs have been moved.

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