Questions on on purging IMHIST

Hello All,

We are running XA5.5 and I need some help with IMHIST.  It has more than 8
million records and is due for a purge.  I have the following questions:

1)      The MAPICS documentation says to run a transaction history report
before a purge, but with 8 million records, how long would that take and how
much DASD would it use?  How necessary is this report?

2)      I have been told the purge will have to be done on a three day
weekend as it will take 50 hours or more.  Any tips on speeding the purge
up?

3)      If the purge is not finished when the work shift begins, I assume
that IM transactions will be locked out.  What other parts of MAPICS would
be locked?  This is not a dedicated mode task from what I can see.

4)      The IMHIST file has a member IMHNEW with 1.3 million records.  The
MAPICS web site has indicated  that IHNEW is built on the fly for
Transaction History reports.  A DSPFD indicates IMHNEW was last changed on
7/11/01.  We think that it got created but not cleared on that date when we
abended a transaction history report that had no limits.  Can we just do a
clear it with a CLRPFM?

Thanks for any help.  
                
        Bryan Burns
        AS/400 System Operator
        ECHO  Incorporated
        847-540-8400  ext. 493
<Burnsbm@echoincorporated.com <mailto:Burnsbm@echoincorporated.com> >