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How to Apply Recommended Database Changes

The system administrator applies recommended database changes from the Database screen: open the menu and, under Administration, select Database, then select Apply. Changes are made one at a time, each takes usually a few seconds, and you can stop between them. Pick a quiet moment, because each table is locked briefly while its change is made.

Open the menu, select Database under Administration, check the list of changes, and select Apply under it; the button names how many, such as Apply 3 changes. Nothing in the database changes until you press it.

  1. Open the menu with Menu (or Navigation menu on the Calls, Customers and Scheduler screens).
  2. Select Database under Administration. You can also select Review and apply on the banner at the top of any screen.
  3. Read the list of changes on the Database screen. Each line says what the change does, such as Add and what it speeds up.
  4. Tick Remove it too on any optional Remove line you want included; removals are left alone unless you tick them.
  5. Select Apply, for example Apply 1 change or Apply 3 changes.
  6. Wait while the heading counts through the changes, for example Applying change 1 of 3….

When every change has worked, the heading reads All 3 changes applied (or The change is applied for a single one), with the total time and This database now has everything this version recommends. The banner on other screens disappears at once and the count beside Database in the menu goes.

When is the best time to apply database changes?​

Apply database changes when few people are using ABM Service, such as early in the morning, at lunchtime or at the end of the day. The Database screen says so under the Apply button: Each table is locked while its index is built, usually for a few seconds. Best done when nobody is working. You can stop between changes.

While a change is being made, its table cannot be used, so somebody opening the Calls list at that moment may wait a few seconds. The message ABM Service shows after an update says applying them all usually takes a minute or two. Large databases can take longer, and the screen shows the seconds ticking beside the change in progress.

If a table is being used by somebody when its turn comes, ABM Service does not wait long and does not hold them up: the change steps aside after a few seconds, changes nothing, and tells you it could not be made. Apply it again later.

Nothing breaks while changes are waiting. Every screen works without them, just more slowly, so there is no need to interrupt a busy morning.

ABM Service never applies the changes by itself, and there is no way to schedule them for later, such as tonight. They are made one after another while you keep the Database screen open after pressing Apply, so choose the quiet moment yourself and stay on the screen until the heading says they are all applied. If you leave the screen part of the way through, the change already in progress still finishes, but no further change starts.

What do Add, Repair and Remove mean?​

Each line on the Database screen starts with one word saying what applying it will do to one index:

  • Add — the index is missing from your database, and applying it builds it. The line reads Speeds up followed by what it helps, for example the Calls list.
  • Repair — the index is there, but somebody has altered it since it was added, so it no longer matches what this version recommends. The line adds Someone has changed it since it was added. That is about the index alone: an index holds none of your data, so no call or customer has been touched. To see what is different, select Show what changed on the Repair line, which puts What we recommend beside What the database has with the differences highlighted. Applying it rebuilds the index as recommended.
  • Remove — an index ABM Service added in the past that this version no longer uses. The line reads No longer used by this version and optional: leaving it costs nothing but a little space.

Add and Repair are the changes counted as waiting and included when you select Apply. A removal is optional and is included only if you tick Remove it too on its line. Leave it unticked and it stays in the database, harming nothing.

You cannot leave out an Add or a Repair: Apply always includes every one that is waiting. To make fewer changes now, select Stop after this one while they run; the rest wait until you select Apply the remaining (the button says how many), or Apply with the count, such as Apply 2 changes, once you have left the Database screen and come back.

How do I see what was changed on an index that needs repair?​

On a Repair line on the Database screen, select Show what changed. Two descriptions appear side by side: What we recommend and What the database has, with the parts that differ highlighted. Select Hide what changed to fold them away again.

The descriptions are technical, listing the table, the columns the index is sorted by and the columns it carries. You do not need to understand them to apply the repair. They are useful if somebody at your company, such as a database administrator, altered the index on purpose: you can show them exactly what applying the repair will put back, and agree it with them first.

How do I stop applying database changes part of the way through?​

Select Stop after this one while changes are being applied on the Database screen. The change in progress always finishes, because an index is never left half built, and nothing after it starts. The button reads Stopping… and the heading Stopping after this change….

When it has stopped, the heading says how many were applied, for example Stopped after 1 change, and the changes that were not started are marked Not started. Select Apply the remaining 2 (or however many are left) whenever you are ready to carry on. If you have left the Database screen in the meantime, or selected Check again, the button reads Apply with the count instead, such as Apply 2 changes.

Leaving the Database screen in the middle of a run works the same way as stopping. The change in progress finishes in the database even though you have gone, nothing after it is started, and the banner on the screen you went to counts what is still waiting.

While changes are running, each line shows its progress on the right: Waiting, then Adding…, Repairing… or Removing… with the seconds so far, then Done in and the time it took.

Not from the Database screen. An index listed under Already in the database and marked In place has no remove button; the Database screen removes only an index marked No longer used by this version, as an optional Remove line that you include by ticking Remove it too. Every index the Database screen adds is named as ABM Service's own, so whoever looks after SQL Server at your company, or your software supplier's support team, can remove one, or all of them, if that is ever needed. If you think a recommended change has made something slower, tell your software supplier's support team: the changes are there only to make screens faster, and they change no data.

Taking a recommended index away loses nothing but speed: no data is stored in it that is not already in its table. The next time you open the Database screen, it would appear again as a change to Add, and the banner would remind you of it.

The same is true if a database administrator at your company removes one, or if a database is restored from a copy that did not have them: the Database screen always checks what the database really has, not what was applied before, so anything missing is offered again. ABM Service does not notice at the moment the index goes: the banner, and the number beside Database in the menu, come back the next time ABM Service is opened or reloaded on your computer, or as soon as you open the Database screen. The message that opens by itself after an update is offered only once per version on each computer, so if it has already been shown for this version on yours, a missing index brings back the banner and the number but not that message.