Friday 31 August 2012

PostgreSQL and Dolphin4. Why we don't use version 9 of postgreSQL

Dolphin runs on an open source database called PostgreSQL. Using PostgreSQL allows us to keep the costs of buying Dolphin4 lower than if we had to license and use proprietary database software.

PostgreSQL is used by many large companies, you can see a list of companies and read the case studies on the PostgreSQL website at the below links :

There are different development streams , and versions of PostgreSQL, and currently dolphin integrates with the 8.4.X development stream. 

We mentioned in our previous post that running dolphin with a version 9 database will result in dolphin being slower than it should be. We did not go into too much detail about why this is though. 

This post will briefly cover the main reasons why using postgreSQL verison 9 makes Dolphin slower.

Tuesday 21 August 2012

What affects Dolphin4 speed - part 2

This post is a follow on from our previous post regarding factors that affect the speed of Dolphin, you can read it here.

We will cover the next 2 factors that influence the speed at which Dolphin works, which are the PostgreSQL database set-up , and settings ( as well as the version ) , and customised changes that are made to the version of Dolphin you are working on.

Friday 17 August 2012

What affects Dolphin4 speed - how you can get the best performance from Dolphin.

There are 4 main factors that affect how fast Dolphin will work, they are :

  1. The version you are running ( newer versions are generally faster) 
  2. The network set-up and hardware that you run Dolphin on 
  3. Key database settings and set-up of your specific database, and ongoing maintenance thereof
  4. Customised versions of Dolphin tend to run slower (depending on how much is different from the standard product). 
This post covers the first 2 items , we will cover the last 2 items in the next post. 


Saturday 4 August 2012

How to group Invoices by Client

Dolphin's grids are so flexible that users with the relevant access rights have the ability not only to drag and drop columns on and off the screen , but also to change how the screen appears by grouping data together by specific fields.

As an example - this post will show you how to Group your invoices by client name :

To start , go to the Home Tab , and open your Production Module , by selecting the Production Icon :


In older versions of Dolphin 4 , this icon will look like a set of cogs , or gears instead of the blue factory icon.