Maintenance and Tools¶
Adapted from the Pulse Dashboard Administrator Guide (PDF, December 2020).
The Administration menu holds the tools that keep Pulse Dashboard current and put things right when they look wrong: refreshing the optimized data, restoring a user's screens, updating the software and licence, and the reports that tell you whether the database has grown past its useful size.
When a report will not show something you just entered¶
Pulse Dashboard reads from an optimized database rather than querying your ERP tables for every figure, and it keeps that copy current in the background. To make refreshes fast it reads only the fields users have actually used in the past 30 days.
Occasionally that copy lags — you enter something in Macola®, switch straight to Pulse Dashboard and the new record is not there. Administration → Reset All Cached Data re-reads the ERP tables at once. It takes almost no time and the screen does not change; refresh the report afterwards and the data is there. Right-clicking a report header and choosing Reset All Cached Data and Refresh does both in one step for that report.
User profiles: export, import, restore, reset¶
A user's tabs, reports, filters, columns and sorts are their profile, held per user and per database. Four applications manage them:
| Application | What it does |
|---|---|
| Export Settings | Writes the profile to a file |
| Import Settings | Loads a profile — to seed a new user from an existing one, to carry screens into another database, or to go back to an earlier version |
| Restore Settings | Rolls the whole profile back to the state saved on a date you choose. The way back from a tab deleted by accident, or a corrupted profile |
| Reset Settings to Default | Returns every screen to the company default, for a user who has changed too much and wants to start again |
Settings are written when the user exits Pulse Dashboard, which is what makes the restore dates meaningful — and why the logout order matters when an administrator is working inside someone else's screens.
Query Analyzer¶
Administration → Tools → Query Analyzer runs a SQL script and displays the result in the lower half of the screen. Once it is there it behaves like any other report: group it by dragging a column header, filter it with the Filter Editor, print it, export it to Excel.
It is meant for questions asked once. Nothing is saved. When a query turns out to be worth keeping, the same capability lives in the Designer module, where the report can be saved and shared — Advanced techniques covers that, including calling a stored procedure instead of pasting a script.
Save and Share Explorer¶
Administration → Tools → Save and Share Explorer lists everything users have shared: reports, tabs and other tools, in their folders. Items can be moved, copied or deleted. It is also how you confirm that something a user thinks they shared actually landed where the Scheduler expects to find it — see Report Scheduler.
The Archive Report and index fragmentation¶
Two reports tell you whether the database itself is the reason things feel slow.
Archive Report lists the number of records in each table, with a total and a breakdown by the year the records were added. Export it to Excel and the shape of the problem is usually obvious: years of history nobody reads. There are two ways to deal with it — purge the old data, which removes it permanently, or move it to an archive database with Pulse Archive, which keeps it reachable from Macola® by switching from the live company to the archive company.
Index Fragmentation Report shows how fragmented each table has become. Tables fragment through normal processing, and as they do the system works harder to find the same data. Pulse Archive can re-index them through SQL Server.
Running the built-in Archive Report walks through it, and our team will read the output and come back with recommendations at no cost.
Pulse Auditor¶
Where Macola® has been set to maintain audit trails — the "Do you wish to maintain Audit Trail?" question in each module's setup file — Pulse Auditor turns those files into a report: who added a record, who changed it, what changed, and what was deleted. If your modules are not maintaining audit trails, there is nothing for it to read.
Updating the licence¶
Administration → Update License connects to the Leahy Consulting download server and pulls down a new licence, which takes a few seconds. Run it after adding users or a new module. It runs from the server or a workstation, using either program, and other people can keep working while it runs. Each database carries its own licence, because each company is licensed for its own number of users.
Updating the software¶
We encourage customers to update at least every six months. Enhancements requested by one customer that would benefit everyone are added to the standard version at no charge, so an update is how you collect them.
Nobody has to exit Pulse Dashboard or their ERP software while this runs, and the whole thing usually takes under 60 seconds. It is worth having one or two people who know the procedure.
- Log on to the server where Pulse Dashboard is installed — directly, by RDP or however you normally reach it. This cannot run from a mapped drive or a workstation.
- Start PulseDashboard.exe — there may be a PULSE DASHBOARD Admin icon on the server desktop. The client program cannot run the update.
- Make sure the Pulse Dashboard user you are logged in as holds Admin rights. Starting on the server usually reports that the Windows account is not a Pulse Dashboard user, which is normal: enable administrator mode and change Login as to a user with Admin rights.
- Administration → Update Pulse Dashboard. The screen shows the version you are running and the newest available.
- Click Update Now. The download runs automatically and Pulse Dashboard restarts as the new version.
Workstations update themselves the next time someone starts Pulse Dashboard from their desktop icon. That step is where anti-virus software occasionally quarantines the client program — Users and security has the exception to ask your IT group for.
Updating the software or licence is the short version of this procedure.
Changing the administrator password¶
Administration → Change Admin Password sets the password that unlocks the Administration menu, User Control and the Login as field. Two things to know before you change it: support does not hold your new password, and there is no master password behind it. Resetting a lost one takes a SQL script run against the database, so access to SQL Server or SQL Management Studio has to be available.
Disable Administrative Mode switches most of the Administration menu, the Login as field and User Control back off. Any user at any workstation can re-enable it with the password.
Help → About and License Info¶
About reports the version installed, links to the Pulse Dashboard website and gives the support address and phone number. License Info shows the same licence screen as the Update License application.
Where to go next¶
- Users and security — rights, groups and workstation setup
- Company settings — calendar, MRP dates and default screens
- Report Scheduler — scheduled report distribution by email
- Pulse Archive — moving old data out while keeping it reachable
Tip
Need a hand? The PULSE support team is happy to help — call (513) 723-8095 or email [email protected].