Problem

When trying to edit a rule on an Audience you are presented with the following error message:

"An error has occurred while accessing SQL database or system resources. If this is the first time you have seen this message, please try again later. If this problem persists, please contact your administrator."

Cause

The audience was made up of a number of rules that aggregated specific users into the audience. There were approximately 5 rules that referenced users specifically. The problem was caused due to the fact that some of the initial rules were referencing invalid users. These rules had become "invalid" because they referenced user entries that had been removed from the profile database. What seemed really odd was the fact that if you edit a rule further down the list you would receive the above "bogus" error message. This seemed like a real "red herring" because it has nothing to do with the current rule that you are trying to edit.

Solution

To resolve this issue you simply need to remove the invalid rules from the Audience rules list. Working out which rules are "invalid" can be a little e tricky. I just started at the top of the list and worked my way down the list and attempted to edit each entry. The Rules that could not be edited or saved I then deleted from the audience.