ALWAYS SAVE A BACK UP COPY OF YOUR BILL FILE - IN CASE YOU NEED IT FOR RECOVERY - FAILURE TO SAVE A BACKUP COPY IS RISKY AND CAN CAUSE YOU TO LOSE DAYS/WEEKS/MONTHS OF INPUT IF A PROBLEM OCCURS.  NOT ALL FILES CAN BE RECOVERED AND SAVING A BACKUP COPY IS A SAFEGUARD BUT NOT A GUARANTEE.

File Management is the Best Policy  

• Avoid using spaces or special characters in your file name. Try not to have long file names.  In some cases this can cause issues with different OS and other programs.  You can use hyphens or underscores to separate the name if needed.
• Before you start any type of Function with your Bill File you should Save a Copy of the original file with a different file name.
• This is very important for any file that you may want to manipulate to Run Reports, Import, Export, Merge, Etc...
• Many files are lost due to users making changes or attempting to run a function that they do not understand.

ALWAYS SAVE A COPY OF YOUR FILE BEFORE YOU ATTEMPT CHANGES OR ANY TYPE OF MANIPULATION - THIS WILL BE YOUR RECOVERY FILE - DO THIS EVERY TIME TO REDUCE RISK OF LOSING DATA

• To save a file as a copy
• Go to File located at the top task bar found on the Main Interface
• Click To Expand then Go to Save Bill File As and save it as a copy - Now you have a clean copy of the original bill file allowing you to always go back if you need to.  This is file management and best practices and will be your best policy if you ever need to recover your bill file.

LARGE BILL FILES - HEAVY IN LABOR AND ALLOCATIONS -  UNDERSTANDING THIS TYPE OF FILE MANAGEMENT IS VERY IMPORTANT

• It is important to understand that labor is processing a tremendous amount of data and is being written and reported on 7 separate pages in your labor bill reports and then add the fact that there are thousands of cells for each page this can cause a lot of strain on processes.   If you have thousands of labor and you are also running overtime rule of 40 hours plus any other rules applied then everytime the program processes it is having to recalculate to accurate report the number of regular and overtime hours.  Not to mention all the other associated fees, vehicles, hotels, benefits and more. This requires a lot of allocated memory and in most cases allocated memory is spotty on your hardware if it is not optimized not to mention other programs that may be running at the same time using allocated memory.  This is different from ram so following our recommendations is considered best practice. 
• You should never use your main file as your working file.   If you are progress billing  a large loss then you should create a Master Bill File and a Master Bill File Template.   Use the template for each progress bill and when you are completed with the data input and modifications for that progress bill then you should merge into the  Master Bill File.  Once you merge then run your allocation report for the progress bill and print the bill.  Repeat this process until the final data input for the project is complete.   This is the best practice for bill file management and it will save you time in the long run nor will you be faced with hardware processing issues.   Remember our program can only process the data if your hardware will allow it to start and finish all the processes and if you experience a crash it is most likely caused by the process being interrupted due to limitations of allocated memory.
• If you do not practice good file management then you are putting your entire bill at risk that may not be recoverable.  If you are working on the 40 Hour Rule and the project starts on Monday then you should make sure your progress bill period ends on a Sunday. 
• If you do not want to do one progress bill files then you should use good judgment on how may progress bills you want to include in each progress bill file.   Example you start with Progress Bill 1 and continue in the same bill file up to Progress Bill 5 and then start a new bill file from the template and save it as Progress 6 to Progress 10.  This is an option as long as you can manage this with the hardware you are using. 
• Always do your modifications in the progress bill file and not the Master Bill File and this should be done before you merge.  

Back up your files as often as possible during your input or have it set to automatically update the save - Look for AutoSave Options if they are available. There are many options offered by third party providers to save a copy of your file as a backup.  This is HIGHLY RECOMMENDED and can save you if an error or hardware failure occurs.

**BILL MODIFICATION TIP - Always Save The Bill File with a New File Name Before you Make Modifications or Perform Imports.  This will make sure your original bill file will be available if needed