Foxtrot Running Slower than Expected

There are a handful of reasons for a sluggish project:

1. Large Database Size
2. Databases and Projects Running Across the Network
3. Overuse of Delays
4. Time of Day or Day of Month
5. Slow Network Connection
6. Hide Data at Max Speed Option “Off”
7. PC RAM
8. Slow PC

Resolution:
1. Large Database Size – The size of the database file is a factor that will cause a script to run slower. The larger the size, the slower it will run. Try splitting the database into smaller sections.

2. Databases and Scripts Running Across the Network – If projects and databases are stored remotely, network latency and traffic may reduce performance or even cause errors. Copy databases or project folders to the hard drive of the local PC to resolve this.

3. Overuse of Delays – Delays are great when you need to include a pause in the script, maybe for a web page to settle, but not so great when you’re navigating from page to page. The better solution in this situation is to use a Wait for Target, which will wait for a certain target to appear (or disappear) before moving to the next action.

4. Time of Day or Day of Month – In companies where there is a time-sensitive daily or monthly routine such as daily teller balancing or month end/quarterly reporting, at certain times of day or days of the month scripts may run significantly slower due to slower host system response. A script that runs at 30 RPM at 5:00 am on June 5 may run at 5 RPM at 4:30 pm on Friday, June 30.

5. Slow Network Connection – If you have a low-priority connection to your host, or your network is slow due to heavy traffic, Foxtrot projects may also run slower. This will be most apparent when you start Foxtrot: if it’s slow to start, there’s a good chance network performance is an issue. To improve performance, reset your workstation preferences to use a local or departmental drive for “User and Machine” profiles, and see #2 above.

6. Hide Data at Max Speed “Off” – When this option in your account preferences is disabled, you can see the data being run in the Task Pane. Having this disabled will slow performance. Once you are confident your script is running correctly, turning this option on will increase performance. You can find this under Account > Preferences, under the Running tab.

7. PC RAM – The more the better. Any PC running less than twice its operating system’s recommended RAM can benefit dramatically from getting up to that level. This upgrade is usually relatively inexpensive, and may add several years’ useful life to an older PC.

8. Slow PC – While Foxtrot will run on PCs with clock speeds as low as 75 mHz, anything under 1 gHz is a clear candidate for an upgrade. Foxtrot can’t run any faster than your PC, so the faster it is, the faster Foxtrot can run.