Overview

For various reasons you may wish to permanently remove records from the Tracker database. There are a few ways this can be done. First, you can remove all records. This is typically done when you finish an evaluation. Or, you can selectively delete some records that match certain criteria. This is done when you wish to remove records related to an old project or obsolete release. Each method is described in detail below.

Delete Records via the Maintenance Option

Caution: This operation is permanent. It cannot be undone. Please make a backup of your database prior to performing this operation.

While this operation will remove all records, attachments, and history, it will leave other Tracker configuration unchanged (customized fields, option menus, workflow, users, user groups, email configuration, etc.).

This operation is typically used at the end of an evaluation to remove all test records.

To delete all records as well as all attachments and all record history:

1. Login to the workgroup as Admin
2. Click the Admin icon in the button bar
3. Click on the Maintenance link
4. Click on the Delete Records button
5. Choose the radio button for one of the options below to select which records should be permanently deleted from the workgroup:

   Delete <option> records
   This option allows you to delete all records or delete only those records that were added using a certain form. Choosing the pulldown item "<all forms>" for this option will permanently delete all records. Choosing the pulldown item "<all> <Form Name> form" will permanently delete the records that were added using the selected form. The forms listed are the forms that have been created in the Forms section.

   Delete <option> records with History Date on or After <date> and Before <date>
   This option allows you to delete all records that contain an entry in the Record History with a date within a certain range.

   Choosing the pulldown item "<all forms>" for this option will permanently delete all records that contain a History entry within the selected date range. Choosing the pulldown item "<all> <Form Name> form" will permanently delete the records that were added using the selected form that contain a History entry within the selected date range. The forms listed are the forms that have been created in the Forms section.

   You can click on the calendar icon to select a date or you can manually enter a date in the appropriate format (e.g. "mm/dd/yyyy HH:MM:SS AM/PM" or the date & time format selected in the Preferences section.). The time component is optional. Click on the day to select the date to be entered into the date field. Click < or > to move backward or forward one month or click << or >> to move backward or forward one year. Click Now to set the date field to be the current date and time. click Set Time if you wish to include the current time information in the field. Click on Exclude Time if you want to exclude the time information from being included in the date field. Click OK to choose the highlighted date to be entered into the date field. Date will be selected and calendar dismissed when a date is clicked when the time is excluded. Dates displayed in red are non-business days according to the Business Days option in the Preferences section. Click Cancel to dismiss the calendar without saving changes.

   Delete <Form Name> records with PRN <operator> <PRN>
   This option allows you to permanently delete records created using a certain form that have particular PRN or a PRN in a selected range. The forms listed are the forms that have been created in the Forms section. Select "=" to select a particular PRN to be deleted or select one of the other operators to specify a range of PRNs to be permanently deleted. For example, selecting "Delete Record Form records with PRN <= 20" will permanently delete all records from PRN 0-20 where "0" is the First Record Number specified for the form in the Forms section.

6. Click on the OK button to proceed with permanently deleting the selected records. Click OK when prompted to confirm the operation. Click OK when a confirmation page is displayed to reflect the operation is complete.

Selectively Delete Records via the Query Page

Caution: This operation is permanent. It cannot be undone. Please make a backup of your database prior to performing this operation.

This operation will delete the records that match certain criteria as well as the attachments to those records. It will also delete all record history associated with those records, except for one history entry (per deleted record) which is created to indicate when (and by which user) the records were deleted. This operation can be used to remove all "closed" records or records from an old release or project that has been completed.

To selectively delete some records please follow the instructions below.

1. Login to the workgroup as Admin
2. You may need to configure your system (at least temporarily) to allow this operation (as by default it is disabled).
   • The option Remove Records from Database on 'Delete' Operation in the General Preferences page should be set to "Yes" (by default it is set to No). This will make the change permanent (data will be deleted from the database).
   • The user you are logged in as (e.g. Admin) must be a member of at least one User Group that has the "Edit Query Result Set" privilege. Verify that the Admins group has the Edit Query Result Set privilege (by default it does). This will allow you to perform an operation (in this case Delete) on all records that match a Query.
   • The user you are logged in as (e.g. Admin) must be a member of at least one User Group that has the "Delete" privilege. Verify that Admins group has the Delete privilege (by default it does). This will allow you to delete records.
3. Click the Query icon in the button bar.
4. Enter the criteria for the records you wish to delete and click on the Run Query button
5. On the query results page, click the Delete Records button.
6. Click OK for the confirmation dialog and ALL the records matching the current query will be deleted permanently from the database. Note: Even though only the first page of records is displayed, the Delete Records operation will delete all the records returned by the query. The total number of records returned by the current query will be displayed in the status area just below the button bar.
7. If you changed the Remove Records from Database on 'Delete' Operation to "Yes", you may wish to change it back to No so that any other Delete operations are not permanent.