Speed Issues - Program taking a long time to perform tasks.
The following article is designed to discuss these issues and provide guidance on how these may be resolved.
If you have configured Tradebox to create individual customer accounts in Sage and/or create product invoices or sales orders AND have high volumes of existing customer accounts and product records in Sage the speed of Tradebox may be affected. This is because Tradebox needs to read through the existing products and/or customers in Sage to determine whether to create a new customer account or whether the product exists. There is not a great deal that can be done about this situation apart from removing unused customers and products in Sage. Another option is to configure Tradebox to use a single generic customer in Sage rather than creating individual customer accounts.
Archive the Tradebox data. This does not remove it from the database but moves it from the active order table to an archive table which means it no longer gets checked. For this reason it is recommended that you only archive data that is unlikely to be downloaded again, for example all orders older than 60 days. To archive data choose the Archive Order History option from the Maintenance menu. This will ask for a date to archive orders prior to. Set a date and choose OK.
Delete the Tradebox data. Some users elect to delete old historical data from Tradebox entirely. It is important to note that any statistical information on this data will be lost from the Analysis section of Tradebox if it is deleted. However, deleting is an option that is often used where the data set in Tradebox is so large it is having an adverse affect on the program. Archiving in this scenario won't work because the data is not removed; simply moved from one table to another. Removing old orders from the Tradebox database means that if these orders are represented to Tradebox then they will be downloaded again and sent to Sage. For this reason it is advisable not delete recent orders that may be downloaded again. Also, you may wish to place a restriction on the connection settings to prevent orders being downloaded prior to a given date. This can be done in the first page of the connection settings. To delete orders from Tradebox, choose the Clear Order History option from the Maintenance menu. This will ask for a date to delete orders prior to. Set a date and choose OK.
If the Sage data is on a network then Tradebox needs to write the information it downloads across the network path to create customers/invoices in the Sage database. Often this causes speed restrictions because of the speed of the network. A networked version of Sage also means that other users may be logged into Sage. This is fine for normal operations. However, there are a number of 'exclusive' functions in Sage, such as backups, data checks, VAT calculations that will prevent Tradebox passing data into Sage. If these exclusive functions are ran when Tradebox is in the middle of passing the downloaded data then this can cause the connection to terminated. It is not possible to advise on any changes to a network which is entirely down to the administrator of the network. However, the best test to perform to determine whether the network is having an influence on the speed performance is to move the Sage data locally to the PC Tradebox is installed upon and see if the performance improves. If it does then we advise speaking with your network administrator and providing these findings. Tradebox cannot assist in this. If you have the Sage data on a network and you have large volumes of Sage then the problems can be exacerbated.
As with the above explanation, if the Tradebox data is on a network then the Tradebox application on the PC has to pass the data it downloads across the network to its database. This can cause time delays because of the speed of the network. Also, permission issues on the network can prevent and/or delay Tradebox writing information to its database because the application has insufficient permissions to do so. Again, the best way to test this is to relocate the Tradebox data locally and run the program again. If the performance improves the issue is down to the network and you will need to speak with your network administrator to resolve this. Details of how to move Tradebox off a network can be found at, https://tradebox.zendesk.com/entries/26281238-Taking-Tradebox-off-a-Network.
This is a common issue that occurs because the UAC settings on the PC Tradebox is installed upon are preventing the software from working correctly. An in-depth article about UAC can be found at; https://tradebox.zendesk.com/entries/25386967-Permissions-Issues.
Tradebox is designed to work on standard Microsoft operating systems for client PC's. It is not designed to work on server operating systems, which are not supported. A full list of compatible operating systems can be found at, http://www.tradebox.uk.com/features.html#compatibility.
If you utilise a service that 'hosts' the Tradebox program, then all technical issues need to be addressed to the hosting company.
Most modern day virus checking software is designed not too interfere with the operation of programs. In practise, most VCS we encounter does not interfere with the Tradebox software. However, certain VCS can be configured to opt in or opt out programs.