1. To start the Almyta Control System (ACS), go to Start/(All) Programs/Almyta Control System. The Company Selector window pops up.


2. To go to your company, just double-click it in the list. If you have not yet created one, double-click the new company list entry and then enter your new company name. You can also select a company in the list by using UP and Down keys and then press Enter key or click the Open button. Almyta Control System will open the company.


3. It is a good idea to create a test company for learning purposes. It helps you to quickly verify how system functions work and whether results are what was expected.


4. To protect your data, make frequent backups of your company. To make a backup, just select a company and press the Maintain button. The Maintenance screen pops up. Click the Backup button and find a place to store the backup.


When making a backup consider a different physical drive from one where ACS data is hosted. It is wise to backup your data on a different PC or a server. If you ever need to restore your data, click the Restore or the Restore last button in Almyta Company Selector.


5. If you have to make monthly reports and want to maintain a snapshot of your data at each month close, select your company in the company selector, click the Maintain button, and click the Copy to New button. Enter name with a date in it (2004-01-12-My-Company-Name) and then press Enter key. The snapshot will be created for you in the ACS installation folder.


6. The ACS files grow in size with time. Deleted records create 'holes' inside the files. It is a good practice to compact your files from time to time. Doing this once a week is usually enough. Also the compacting reorganizes the data inside the files in a most efficient way. To compact the ACS files, select your company, click the Maintain button, and then click the Repair and Compact button. As soon as hourglass mouse cursor goes away, your database is ready for use.


7. Delete unneeded companies by simply going to the Maintenance screen and clicking the Delete button. This is a dangerous function because it deletes all company related files from the disk physically. Multi-user companies or companies with data hosted on a server are not deleted from the server. Only the entries in the list (references) are removed. You can delete networked companies and then add them back to your list of companies without doing any harm to the data.


In the next lesson, we will learn how to quickly configure and setup a new company.