When no other users are on the system

The ideal time to consolidate the entire database is when no other users are on the system. The consolidation process takes full advantage of the processing power of your server computer and will result in the fastest consolidation times. It also helps ensure that all of the consolidated data is consistent, because users have not changed data in the middle of the consolidation (as shown by some of the examples). This is not always possible, nor is it necessary. The important things to consider when consolidating are who is using the system, how database server system resources are being utilized, and what the potential for changed numbers are, so that the resulting calculated data is useful.