Timeslips 2017: Conversion Tips

If you have upgraded to Timeslips 2017 or Timeslips Premium, you may have already read my Timelips 2017 "Installation Tips."  As more and more of my clients install Timeslips upgrades, I have been able to come up with a few tips that may help you with your Timeslips data conversion.  

Timeslips data from previous versions will convert, however, depending on your earlier Timeslips version number, and server environment, additional steps may be required to convert your existing Timeslips data files to Timeslips 2017 or Timeslips Premium.  Here are a few issues that you may encounter in your own Timeslips upgrade conversion:

Install Timeslips 2017 or Premium on a New Server:

• If you are installing your Timeslips upgrade on a new server, it probably does not have your previous Timeslips installation.  You will not need the previous version to do the Timeslips installation, however, you will need it for the Timeslips data conversion.  If your server crashed and you now need to install Timeslips on your new server, there is no previous install of Timeslips to be found.  What do you do:  try to install the previous version on the new server?  Fortunately, that won't be necessary.  There's actually a very simple solution:  
  • Once Timeslips is installed and before you start converting data:
    • Go to the Timeslips installation folder on the server
    • Locate the LOCLINST folder.
      • Inside the LOCLINST folder, your will find the BDE32 folder
        • Run the SETUP.EXE from the BDE32 folder

The program will give you some sort of cryptic error message about not finding the BDE files if you try to convert without running the BDE32 Setup.exe.  You will only get this message if you are installing a Timeslips upgrade on a machine that has no previous version of Timeslips installed.

Converting Data from Older Versions of Timeslips:

Theoretically you should be able to convert your data from any prior versions with some caveats:

• If there is any data corruption, it must be repaired in the old version of Timeslips before you attempt a data conversion in the new Timeslips version.  It's always important to keep in mind that upgrading your Timeslips software will not fix data corruption issues.
• We have found that some older versions of Timeslips do not convert directly to the current version of Timeslips.  So far it appears that versions 2014 and newer are not having any issues directly converting.  Regardless of your current version, you should follow these steps:
  • Always run Data Verification before attempting to convert and fix any data errors
  • Check to make sure you have the BDE Administrator installed on the server where you will be installing Timeslips 2017 and converting data;
    • Open the Control Panel; locate BDE Administrator; click on CONFIG; click on System; select INIT.  Make sure Local Share is set to TRUE.  
• We suggest you do a trial conversion before going live with the new software.  This will give you a chance to determine if there are any conversion issues.  If you cannot convert your data, it can be submitted to Sage Timeslips or you can send your data to me for conversion over a weekend.  

So far, I can't pinpoint what causes some people to have data conversion issues with old Timeslips versions and not others.  It's something you won't know about until you try it.  It's best to plan your conversion after you have completed all your billing for the current billing cycle and also plan on doing a test conversion before running a final conversion.  

Please contact me with your questions and concerns:  [email protected]