As a SalesLogix Administrator, have you ever had a user come up to you and say…. “I accidentally deleted one of my Accounts.”? I am sure this has happened to most of you at one point in your SalesLogix career. When this happens, you have a couple of options. You can go back and restore a copy of your database from the most recent backup, but how do you just get the deleted account and not have to restore the full database? SalesLogix offers you a little known, but very powerful tool to allow you to recover just the missing Account and any record related to the Account like Contacts, Opportunities, History items, Activities, etc…. It is called GroupCopy. As the name implies, it copies a group of records from one database to another. It is also Sync aware, which means that the record will get sent to all of your remote users without you having to do any additional work. So, if you have the deleted Account in another database, all is not lost.
There is a bit of work that needs to happen before you begin your restoration project. You will need to restore the backup of your database to a new/separate database than your PRODUCTION database, very similar to creating a TEST database environment, the only real difference is this copy is only temporary until you get the deleted record restored. Once the database is restored, you will need to create an entry in Connection Manager for the database and a DataLink connection for the database in SalesLogix Client application. You will also need to create a group in the SalesLogix Client that contains the record you want to restore. This group can be restricted to only include a single record or expanded to include a selection of records that you choose. For naming the group, make it something that you will easily remember like ‘Account Fix List’, ‘Fix Listing’, or something similar. That is all the prework that you need to do.
Located in the SalesLogix installation folder under Program Files is an executable called ‘GroupCopy.exe’. When you run this executable, you are initially prompted to enter connectivity information to the Target database.
This is the database where you want your restored record to end up. The next dialog box you are presented with allows you to select the Source database to connect to.
This is the database where the deleted record resides. The next dialog box that displays, on the first tab, allows you to select the User that you created the group under and the group name itself, along with how often to commit records to the database and whether or not to show the details as the process is running.
The second tab allows you to set any conflict resolution that may need to occur.
The default settings for the information contained on this tab are usually sufficient.
Once you have your settings on both tabs correct, you are ready to Test the copy. Clicking the ‘Test’ button runs the copy, running the necessary steps to copy the deleted record from the Source database to the Target database, and then rolling back the transactions. After you have tested the copy, click the ‘Go’ button to run the actual copy job. The end result will be your record that was deleted being restored to your PRODUCTION database.
As with everything, there are always a few caveats. The first is you will lose any changes/updates that were performed by anyone to this record you are restoring after the last database backup was taken. The next is that some of the record creation dates come over as the date the Group Copy was ran and not the actual creation date of the record (this is typically a minor issue and only happens in very isolated situations on stand-alone tables).
In conclusion, Group Copy is a very powerful tool that has a specific application in the SalesLogix world. It has proven to be a lifesaver at our clients when the words …. “I accidently deleted one of my Accounts.” is spoken by a user.
If you would like to learn more tips or have a CRM topic you would like us to write about please contact Simplesoft Solutions, Inc. in one of our Cincinnati/Dayton (OH), Charleston (WV), or Charlotte (NC) surrounding area office locations:
Dayton, Ohio Office:
Simplesoft Solutions, Inc.
550 N. Main St. Suite A
Springboro, OH 45066
Phone: (937) 885-1204 x 3204
Fax: (937) 885-3580
sales@simplesoft.net
Ripley, WV Office:
Simplesoft Solutions, Inc.
710 Random Rd.
Ripley, WV 25271
Phone: (304) 521-2387
Fax: (937) 885-3580
sales@simplesoft.net
Charlotte, NC Office:
Simplesoft Solutions, Inc.
3635 Eastover Ridge Drive
Charlotte, NC 28211
Phone: (704) 910-3872
Fax: (937) 885-3580
sales@simplesoft.net
