Creating a new company from existing company to save the next 5 years

SOLVED

We generally create a new company about every five years because Business Works only holds a maximum of 5 years of history.  The person who handled this, has left.  These are the instructions she left me and I want to make sure they are correct (we have a different version from when she did it last-we currently have 2017)

File-Restore-Next-L drive-BW Backuup-Pick file to save-next-click restore to new company-create new name-start

I asked this question in chat and was sent several articles which made it more confusing. The articles I was sent do not have the above process listed.

My goal is to be able to access the old companies when needed to look up history past 5 years-The "new company" should have all of our information and purpose is only to be able to move forward without losing the history.  I hope that makes sense.

I tried to call and speak with someone but was told that is no longer an option.

Help is greatly appreciated!

Thank you!

  • 0

    I do something similar, but I do it every December 31st. 

    Backup and then restore to a new name   I add the letter Z and then the company name and then year   ex.   ZABCD2021

    The restored company will not have USERS, I created a historic USER for the Sales dept, and Accounting.

    In your message

    The steps for creating the  BACKUP are missing

    From the FILE menu - choose BACKUP , then NEXT,  choose a COMPANY to backup (NEXT) , then choose file location to save the ZIP file backup

    The steps really haven't changed for the last 10 years

  • +1
    verified answer

    Sometimes it is hard to interpret someone else’s notes because some like everything written out in detail  and some people just want the basic steps and they will figure the rest out.  Since I do not know your level of experience with the program, the instructions below are in detail.

    In reviewing your steps…It appears you already have a backup you plan to restore and want to restore it to a new ID.  But there are some things on the restore screen that are specific to selecting the folder and backup file that some users may not do correctly, so the steps are specifically included in our instructions.  And after you restore a backup to a new ID, you have to give your user ID access to the new company you are creating.

    If you are just trying to create an existing copy of your current company, the easiest method is to use the copy feature in Utilities, Maintain Companies.  (This takes care of the backup, restore, and assign user rights all in one step!)  Otherwise you can restore a previous backup to a new company ID.  Both methods are below.

    To copy a company: (For full instructions and to watch a video on this see article How to create an archive or copy of a company (17616))

    1. Have all other users exit Sage BusinessWorks
    2. From the Sage BusinessWorks Launcher, select Utilities, Maintain Companies
    3. Select the company you wish to copy, and click the Copy button.
    4. In the Copy Company window, enter the new company ID. If you would like to copy the user security rights of the existing company to the new company click Copy user security. Click OK. After the company copies, the 'Name' field displays the same as the previous company. To change the company name, enter the new company name in the Name field. Click Save.

    To backup and restore to a new company ID:

    To back up company files: (from article How to backup system and company files (17278))

    1. Before beginning, verify that all other users have exited Sage BusinessWorks. From the Launcher menu, select File, Network Status. You should see only yourself listed. Close the Network Status window.
    2. From the Launcher menu, select File, Backup to open the Database Backup Wizard.
    3. In the first window of the wizard, read the information displayed and click Next.
    4. In the Select Company window, select the company ID or the System icon and click Next. In the Select Backup File Name window, select the drive and folder for this backup. Change the file name if desired and click Next.
    5. In the Begin Backup window, review the choices to be sure they are correct and click Start to begin the backup process.

     

    To restore to a new ID: (from article How to restore data to a new company ID (27694))

    1. Select File, Restore
    2. Click Next
    3. On the left side of the screen browse to the folder that contains the backup file you wish to restore. 
    4. Select the backup file on the right side of screen you wish to restore
    5. Click Next
    6. On the Begin Restore screen check the "Restore to New Company ID" box and enter new Company ID

    NOTE: Users rights are granted on a company by company basis. Since this is a new company, you will need to grant users rights to the new company. If you do not have access to Maintain Users, it will be necessary to login as MANAGER which has rights to all companies automatically.

    Prior to accessing the new company:

    1. Select Utilities, Maintain Users and select the user
    2. Click Security Settings
    3. Click the ...in the top right hand corner and select the new company
    4. Grant the user access to the necessary modules in Sage BusinessWorks
      • If you would like to copy the user security settings from one user to another see article 83472 How to copy user security from one user account to another user account
    5. Select OK and Save

     

    If you have additional questions or if would like to speak with someone, when you are in chat you can always request a call back appointment.  They will set up an appointment for you to speak with a support analyst.

    Sincerely,

    Coleen

  • 0 in reply to Coleen Graber

    Thank you for your reply Coleen!  This is perfect! Yes, the copy feature sounds the easiest. 

    Have a great day!

  • 0 in reply to jkrueger

    Hi jkrueger, if the above suggested answer helped, please do mark it as verified White check mark  for the benefit of others in this forum Slight smile. Thank you!

  • 0 in reply to jkrueger

    Hi jkrueger, you mentioned in your first post that you are running Sage BusinessWorks 2017.

    If your service plan is active then you can actually download the latest version of our software (Sage BusinssWorks 2021) at no additional cost.

    Once you are on the latest version of the software you can download the latest update to it (Service Pack 3).