RE: Best practice for unneeded companies
Carl, while I understand the desire to remove them from the system so that you are not updating them each time, I can tell you from experience that 'skipping' a few updates and then trying to catch up for only few of the databases is not any fun.
We did this for a client that had / has over 40 databases. They were inactive and not needed. The Controller (of the day) convinced the Owners that the space and time would be better used if the databases were simply removed.
We were told to remove 20 of the then inactive databases. We did so, however, we took the time to back them to CD. Good thing we did as a about 5 years later the Owner demanded data from several of the old inactive companies and the (then) new controller was beside himself that the data was not available.
The client spent about 6,000 to get the data from the databases - way more then it would have taken to preform the database updates over that time. At that point the owner requested the remaining databases be restored and updated, again at his expense.
Leslie, gave you great advise, remove the user access from the companies and from a GP perspective they all go away. Only in SQL and only at Update time do they seem to appear. KEEP records and make it part of the Update and Maintenance of the GP system going forward.