Imported Maintenance Organizations

This help file applies to an out-of-date version of MainBoss.
The most recent version of MainBoss is MainBoss 4.2.4.
For the latest version of this help file can be found here.

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To move from MainBoss Basic 2.9 to MainBoss, you should follow the instructions given in the guide titled Migrating from MainBoss Basic to MainBoss.

This operation requires SQL Server Administrator privileges, since it creates a new database.

The essential steps for importing are:

  1. Export data from your MainBoss Basic 2.9 database.
  2. In MainBoss, click Create New Organization using MainBoss Basic 2.9 export file in the Maintenance Organization window (see Your Maintenance Organization List). This action creates a new maintenance organization and imports your old data into the new database.

When you click Create New Organization using MainBoss Basic 2.9 export file, MainBoss opens a window containing the following:

Database Server: The network location of the SQL Server through which you will access the database. For more information, see the Installation and Administration Guide.

If you click the accompanying "..." button, MainBoss displays a list of database servers that are known to your Windows system. There may be additional servers that you can use but that Windows doesn't currently know about. For more, see The Database Server List.

Database Name: The name you want SQL Server to give to the new database. This name must be different from the names of any other databases on the server. For example, you can't name every database "MainBoss". If you want to see what MainBoss databases already exist, click the "..." button at the end of the "Database Name" line. (For more, see The Database Name List.)

Organization Name: A name that you will use for this database. The value of "Organization Name" may contain spaces and other punctuation characters.

Make browsers smaller by not showing details for selected record by default: If you checkmark this box, MainBoss will automatically hide the details panel when displaying tables in this database. For more, see Hiding the Details for a Selected Record. Note that you can still ask MainBoss to display the details panel for a particular table by pressing the button for displaying details.

Preferred Mode: The default mode in which this database should be opened. If you do not specify a mode explicitly, the database will be opened in the given mode. For more on modes, see Your Maintenance Organization List.

2.9 Export Data: Should give the name of an XML file containing data exported from MainBoss Basic 2.9. For more information on importing information, see the Installation and Administration Guide.

OK: MainBoss attempts to create a new maintenance organization database with the name you specified and to fill it with data taken from the "2.9 Export Data" file. You must have appropriate permissions to create this database. If the database can be created, it will be added to your list of organizations.

Cancel: Closes the window without taking any action.

When you create a new database in this way, the "Organization Name" that you specify becomes that database's default organization name. When other people use Add Existing Organization to add that database to their list, they'll automatically inherit this default name. However, users can then use Edit Organization to assign a different "Organization Name" to the database. If a user does this, the new name is considered that user's personal name for the database—a name for that single user's convenience. When a user changes a personal "Organization Name", it has no effect on other users; it doesn't change the name/address printed on requests, work orders and purchase orders, nor does it change the default "Organization Name" when users add the database to their list of known organizations.

In order to use a new database, it must have license keys. You must record your license keys before you can proceed to use MainBoss. After creating a new database, MainBoss automatically opens in Administration mode to let you enter the keys. Follow the steps in License Keys to enter your license keys. Then quit MainBoss and start again for the keys to become active.

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