Archive for July, 2008

SWC Monterey

Posted by Mark Raborn in Me on 2008/07/31

I’m sitting amidst the dressing room trailers at Spirit West Coast. The guys from Third Day are talking about recycling and one of the girls from Barlow Girl is singing intervals and vowels in prep for their set in about 45 minutes.

Personally, I’m taking a break. After a couple of days, I was offered some time to sit and kick back until the evening sets begin…. so I’m doing just that.

What’s been really uplifting for me so far?

Prayer time with Jeremy, he’s a youth pastor and here helping to direct a youth conference (Ammunition Conference) now taking place at SWC each year. He gave the opening devotion and we prayed together before his message.

Prayer with the Stage Crew before setup this morning. A bunch of guys working really hard to get the message out front while they stand in back.

Helping a little kid make his way to the restroom, then standing outside the door while he finished… made sure he washed his hands, of course . and that he took the right path back to the Hospitality tent (his parents were serving there.) The deal was I did not know him. I was talking to a lady volunteer when this little guy came strolling by with no-one else in sight. We looked at each other ??? and nodded with out words. I followed along at that point. He was just journeying on his own (I think he was about 4).

The first band: Building 429 (because you can tell humility when you see it). These guys lifted up God the entire set and reminded all to come to the cross.

Lunch with Kevin. He’s one of two department heads in IT and even though I didn’t know him before the event, this is one of those occasions where you keep running into the same guy over and over and over again ALL over the festival. I got the feeling we were going to hang out some and have a few lunches together. Great guy. Godly man, father, husband.

Scripture: all of John 10

Looking ahead…

Natalie Grant. I’ve never seen her live. On record, she’s seems (to my ear) to be someone intensely committed to every single composition she sings. I’m looking forward to hearing her. Mostly, I’m curious how she translates the emotion I’ve heard from the studio into communication with an audience.

Volunteers: as one of “very many” volunteers, I’ve really been touched by the level of devotion, genuine good nature and friendship among all the volunteers here. The joy of bringing Christ to the participants of this event, the audience, the kids… is apparent in every “volunteer” face I see. You hear it in their words. You see it in their faces. The same theme runs through conversations. The theme: God is good and God will continuously get the glory here at SWC.

This is me on vacation… at Spirit West Coast “Monterey”.

back soon as I can….

Christ, Jesus, Monterey, Spirit, vacation

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Moving SQL database files .mdf and .ldf in Business Contact Manager (ARTICLE 6)

Posted by Mark Raborn in BCM on 2008/07/27

You are presently reading Article 6

Please see these articles for the full scope of this series

You are presently reading Article 6

In our last article, we opened up the idea that moving the database files for business contact manager would be a goal for our network installation.

The default location for these files (in either local installations or over on a network domain to a remote server) is in the Users Folder path of the User that connects to SQL Server when creating the company_bcm_database for the first time from Business Contact Manager.

This default path scripted to store this database is (Windows Server 2003/XP example):

C : \Documents and Settings\THEUSERNAME\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Business Contact Manager

To move the files we first have to be able to see them. Right now, they are “hidden”.

To “allow” Hidden Files and Folders to be shown (in our 64 bit Windows Server 2003 box):

Open My Computer
Go to Tools | Folder Options |
click on the View tab
in the Advanced “window”
select the radio button ( ) Show hidden files and folders
click OK

This selection will unhide folders that are usually hidden within the Users Folder tree in Documents and Settings and allow us to have access to the .mdf and .ldf files that we want to move.

The User we originally chose to logon and to install Business Contact Manager on our first Workstation with, is the User that created this database. These files are located on the server under this Users Name in Documents and Settings.

NOTE: this is true even though we logged on to a Workstation to create the database. Because we chose to connect to the “Remote Database Server” the database was created on not on the workstation but on the Server. At that point, the database files we created were written to the Documents and Settings\USERNAME\….. of that User on the Server also.

Our user was the SQL Server Administrator we added to our domain all the way back in the first Article.

Now… let’s move them.

Please read….

How to move SQL Server databases to a new location by using Detach and Attach functions in SQL Server

KB224071 http://support.microsoft.com/kb/224071

Detaching the Database

The first step to moving our .mdf and .ldf files is detaching the database from them.

Go to All Programs | Microsoft SQL Server 205 | SQL Server Management Studio

Connect to the MSSMLBIZ instance

Open the databases node and navigate to the company_bcm_moa database (in our example wigital_bcmmoa). Right click the database, select Tasks, click Detach

A Detach Database window will open listing the databases available to “detach”

Confirm the appropriate database is highlighted, click OK

Moving the .mdf and .ldf files

Open My Computer

Go to C : \Documents and Settings\SQL-ADMIN-USERNAME\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Business Contact Manager

You should be able to view both the company.ldf and company.mdf files (your company data)

Select both of the files, right click and select Copy

Navigate to the destination folder.

In the folder where the database files will be store, Paste the files

Attach the Business Contact Manager Database

Return to SQL Server Configuration Manager (the “detached” database should not be viewable)

Right click the Databases node, select Attach

The Attach Databases window will open, click the Add button

Navigate the directory tree to the new location of your database files (this is the folder you just copied the .mdf and .ldf files into). You should be able to view the .mdf file (in our case wigital_bcmmoa.mdf)

click on the file one time to highlight it, click OK

SQL Server 2005 will begin to attach the database and return it “virtually” to within the Databases node

When the database appears you are finished with this step. You may close SQL Server Configuration Manager

Next up, we install and integrate Microsoft Office Accounting to Business Contact Manager

Thanks for reading.
Mark Raborn – WIGITAL

.ldf, .mdf, BCM, Business Contact Manager, SQL, SQL Congfiguration Manager, SQL Server, SQL Server 2005

1 Comment

Overview of Database and File locations – Business Contact Manager and Microsoft Office Accounting (ARTICLE 5)

Posted by Mark Raborn in Accounting on 2008/07/26

You are presently reading Article 5

Please see these articles for the full scope of this series

You are presently reading Article 5

In this article we are going to take a detour to make a point we believe is fundamental to achieving the “primary goals” of integrating Business Contact Manager, Microsoft Office Accounting and Point of Sale.

Those goals are ” enabling multiple users, sharing data, collaborating and growing the business on one financial platform”.

We will use our time in this article to “go walk-about”. Our desire is to look around, get a feel for the data, files and folders and improve our deployment by doing so. This “walk-about” will take us from the database to the user interface and workflow used in Business Contact Manager, Office Accounting and Point Of Sale

QUESTION: If BCM, MOA and POS were an Enterprise app, what administrative questions would we be asking?

How are we going to?”:

Simplify (administration, security)
Share Resources
Collaborate
limit access when appropriate
assign roles
Plan Backup and Restore (Disaster Recovery)

At the beginning of the series, we looked at a number of Office Accounting integration videos, demos and webcasts. These gave an overview to help the Entrepreneur and Small Business Owner learn more about how Office Accounting integrates with Business Contact Manager. How the software works for it’s users is and important part of the story because it demonstrates from the team perspective what integration does to help the business.

If we take a more technical road on this topic and discuss just how integration actually works, then we’ve got to take a look “under the hood”. Doing so should help us plan better. So, let’s first take a look at the file types in Business Contact Manager and Microsoft Office Accounting.

Links to information about data files in Business Contact Manager databases file types .mdf (data) and .ldf (log)

To get some background on Business Contact Manager (BCM) data, log and backup files and extensions, please read:

Links to information about data files in Microsoft Office Accounting databases .sbd (database) .sbl (log) .sbc (link) and .sbb (backup)

To get some background on Microsoft Office Accounting (MOA) data, log and backup files and extensions, please read:

Reading these links will gives a background on our products, what file extensions are associated with the database and how they function in the programs.

Now let’s take a look at where they’re located?

.mdf and .ldf locations for Business Contact Manager (when installed on Remote Database Server or Dedicated Workstation)

on Windows Server 2003 or XP, the database files are installed to:

C:\Documents and Settings\%USERNAME%\Local Settings\Application Data\Microsoft\Business Contact Manager\here are the .mdf and .ldf files

on Windows Server 2008 or Vista, the database files are installed to:

C:\Users\%USERNAME%\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Business Contact Manager\here are the .mdf and .ldf files

So we’ve placed a lot of emphasis on the location of these two database files!

Why? Because, in our opinion, they’re in the wrong place for a domain deployment.

Specifically:

the installation is scripted to write the BCM data (.mdf) and log (.ldf) files to a path inside a SINGLE USER’S FOLDER
current technical documents from Microsoft suggest we just leave them there and share “that particular” USERS FOLDER

Our opinion and our choice (discussed in an earlier article) is to move them. Let’s plan out where and talk more about other directory choices we should consider.

Goin Walkabout – the concept of Shared Folders in a multi-user BCM+MOA+POS

As we get more familiar with the Business Contact Manager interface, we learn how BCM shares contact data, sales data, marketing plans and more. Our users will share lots of useful “information”. It’s all stored in “our new common database”. That’s a valuable concept as it applies to database information. But, we what happens when start dealing with document. What about sharing documents?

Business Contact Manager is fundamentally designed to use documents, form letters, marketing letters through the software interface. Let’s look at that.

Example: an employee wants to send out a Marketing Letter.

They launch Business Contact Manager. Jump into the Marketing screen, rbrowse for their best Letter in their My Documents and prepare to send it to part of the companies Customer list.

Now… where is the letter…? It’s stored locally in that particular users “My Documents”. This is the same issue we stumbled with relating to the database. It too was stored in a specific Users Documents and Settings.

In a collaborative environment the goal is not just to share the database data, but to share other resources as well. It’s just as important to share documents, marketing letters, form letters, spreadsheets, templates, project resources and so on. At present though, in Business Contact Manager, if our salesperson is going to pull up their marketing piece, they access it from their local My Documents (that’s where BCM defaults to open it and to store it). If there is some great improvement to the marketing piece by the salesperson, when they store it, it goes right back into their local My Documents. No one else benefits from that improvement. No one else get’s to share in it.

When the salespersons buddy want’s this great new piece, he can’t. He doesn’t have the ability to open a document in the first salesperson’s My Documents folder. It’s just locked up there on the the computer where it’s stored.

To get more out of Business Contact Manager and Microsoft Office Accounting, we need to share the documents as well as the data.

Shared documents can just as easily be accessed within the User Interface of Business Contact Manager. All we do is just create the Shares and build some directories inside them according to the way we do busines (and the way Business Contact Manager and Office Accounting work). This concept is common in the enterprise. Network Shares have enabled collaboration for a long time and were the forerunners of portal applications like SharePoint. Why not apply something similar to Business Contact Manager and let our users know about it.

If we follow this line of thinking, we arrive at a place where we start to realize that integrating on one platform for teamwork also means thinking about the underlying documents on which our company runs.

We need to do some thinking and planning then. Let’s look at:

how BCM and Accounting segments (tags) relationships:

AccountsCustomers
BusinesssContacts
Opportunities
Vendors

how BCM and Accounting segment workflow:

Marketing (BCM)
Project Management (BCM)
Accounting (MOA)
Banking (MOA)
Inventory (MOA & POS)
Sales (MOA & POS)

what types of documents we use:

Word Documents
Excel Spreadsheets
Marketing Materials (all types of stuff)
Publisher files
.pdf’s
Email Templates
etc….
the list should be thorough but more important is how they’re used and by whom

What IT Administration needs are there. Questions like: “How are we going to ?:

Simplify (administration, security)
Organize directories and files
Create Shares
Limit access
Secure everything
Facilitate and simplify Backup and Recovery

Now we’ve got our thinking caps on

Lastly, we should remember that we want to put the database files (our .mdf and .ldf files) somewhere more appropriate. We’ll want to put them in a directory users cannot access but that SQL Server, Business Contact Manager and Office Accounting can. We want to protect the files, be able to back them up and still integrate.

Once we have an idea of our approach, we can begin to create a directory structure and commit to our structure.

OPERATIONS – an example directory structure for a domain BCM+MOA+POS deployment

The next screenshot may appear a bit “well.. BIG”. That’s OK. It’s there to help stir your imagination. However your team conceive your TEAM-FOLDER is “your business” (pun intended). We urge you to consider designing a directory structure and file store based FIRST on your business and SECOND on the workflow of Business Contact Manager and Office Accounting. Build it and save your Product Literature, Marketing Materials, Forms, Letters, etc… into the structure. Experiment with it until it just “makes sense”. Use your own ideas will surface. Once it’s firm, secure it and implement it.

Our own example based on what we see in BCM and MOA:

OPERATIONS (the root folder)
- bcmmoa
  - company.sbc (this file points to the combined Microsoft Office Accounting Business Contact Manager database)
  - TEAMFOLDER- (read permissions)
    - AccountsCustomers
      - files relating to shared active Accounts – (change permissions)
    - BusinessContacts
      - files relating to shared active Clients – (change permissions)
    - Opportunities
      - files relating to shared active Opportunitites – (change permissions)
    - PRODUCTS
      - RECEIVING – (permissions: Users=read ; Mgmt=change)
      - SHIPPING – (permissions: Users=read ; Mgmt=change)
      - VENDORS – (permissions: Users=read ; Mgmt=change)
        
        Images-Products (product images) – (permissions: Users=read ; Mgmt=change)
        
        Docs-Products (product info docs) – (permissions: Users=read ; Mgmt=change)
    - SERVICES – (permissions: Users=read ; Mgmt=change)
    - SPECIALS – (permissions: Users=read ; Mgmt=change)
      - Sale Items (temporary resources) – (read permissions)
    - TEMPLATES-ALL – (permissions: Users=read ; Mgmt=change)
      - AccountsCustomers-TEMPLATES – (permissions: Users=read ; Mgmt=change)
        
        FORMS-AccountsCustomers
        
        MARKETING-AccountsCustomers
      - BusinessContacts-TEMPLATES – (permissions: Users=read ; Mgmt=change)
        
        FORMS-BusinessContacts
        
        MARKETING-BusinessContacts
      - Opportunities-TEMPLATES – (permissions: Users=read ; Mgmt=change)
        
        FORMS-Opportunities
        
        MARKETING-Opportunities
- bcmmoa-BACKUP (local backup)
- bcmmoa-SetupResources (IT Administrator)
- DATA-BCM (permissions to SQL Service Account and Backup User)
  - company.mdf (data file for combined Business Contact Manager+Accounting+POS)
  - company.ldf (log file for combined Business Contact Manager+Accounting+POS)
- DATA-MOA (permissions to SQL Service Account and Backup User)
  - company.sbd (data file from original Accounting+POS)
  - company.sbl (log file from original Accounting+POS)
- moa-accounting – (accounting + Business Owner)
- moa-banking – (accounting + Business Owner)
- moa-creditcards – (accounting + Business Owner)
- moa-employees – (accounting + Business Owner)
- moa-inventory – (SHIPPING AND RECEIVING)
- moa-onlinesales – (accounting + Business Owner)

There you go.

If you are an Entrepreneur reading this, look at each node and think of how your business could use a strucutre just like you may use file cabinets in your office. Some are locked up in your office. Some are out on the sales floor.

An IT Professional reading this diagram will pick up on the permissions. This is how locking things up is accomplished on a computer. The accounting folders are green… (green=encryption). Ask your IT guy to look at this when you begin your own deployment and they can quickly help you map your own solution.

The emphasis is that a COMPANY-SHARE can be secure, shared, encrypted and backed up regularly. The choices shoud be made onsite based on the needs of the company (and not solely from our example). The theme remains: put your company information in a Storage Area of your choosing. A global storate location is best. Plan the directories to enable collaboration and the “re-use” of documents. Improve and enhance Business Contact Manager, Microsoft Office Accounting and Point of Sale by doing so. Experiment to provide the highest and best use for your business.

We believe that planning the topology this way can utlimately help teach a small business how to scale (grow) their technology. SQL Server 2005 Standard accomodates workloads of this level easily so the database side is definitely scalable. Storing the documents on fast, redundant arrays will help also. Your IT Guy will understand all this stuff.

Also, (and this is a topic we have not yet discussed) the software itself is enterprise ready “under the hood”. It is not well documented, but Office Accounting is built on the same engine as Microsoft Dynamics GP (which is Microsofts Enterprise Accounting solution). Dynamics GP (Great Plains) is a world classand it scales to thousands of users. That should put a smile on your face if you’re a small business owner. You just saved about $20,000 becaue at ($200 per seat) Microsfot is giving you similar technology in Microsoft Office Accounting

In the next Article, we are going to move the .mdf and .ldf files for BCM and MOA into the DATA-BCM folder described above. This eliminates our reliance on the SQL Administrators Documents and Settings and confirms our path to begin growing our company.

Article 6 is next

Thanks for goin walkabout with us
Mark Raborn – WIGITAL

.ldf, .mdf, .sbb, .sbc, .sbd, .sbl, Accouting, BCM, Business Contact Manager, MOA, Office Accounting, SQL, SQL Server

1 Comment

Install Business Contact Manager on Remote SQL Database (ARTICLE 4)

Posted by Mark Raborn in CRM on 2008/07/26

You are presently reading Article 4

Please see these articles for the full scope of this series.

You are presently reading Article 4

Client Installation of Business Contact Manager and Connecting to Remote SQL Database for the First Time

If have you read (and followed) the first three articles, you should now find yourself:

with SQL Server Installed and updated to Service Pack 2
with a functioning knowledge of the Accounts and Permissions needed to make integration work
with your company_bcm_moa database setup (thanks to the Database Admin Tool)
with the TCP/IP Endpoint 5356 standing by to receive traffic

So… let’s install Business Contact Manager for Outlook 2007. We will connect BCM to the Remote SQL Server 2005 Database after BCM installation is completed.

Log on to the Client Workstation using the SQL Administrator Account used to Setup MSSMLBIZ and your company_bcm_moa Database

As we discussed in the previous article, we must have permission to connect to the Remote SQL Server and the database that Business Contact Manager will use.

To log on to our Client Workstation, we are using the SQL Administrator Account used setting up MSSMLBIZ because it is the Owner of that INSTANCE

The SQL Administrator account was used when creating the BCM Database. Therefore it is also the Owner of the company_bcm_moa database inside MSSMLBIZ.

Please logon to the Client Workstation using the SQL Administrator Account.

Test Outlook for Proper Function prior to installing Business Contact Manager

Once logged in to the Client Workstation, we need to test Outlook. Since Outlook is the vehicle inside which Business Contact Manager runs ….. we first confirm that Microsoft Outlook is working.

Go to Start | All Programs | Microsoft Office | launch Microsoft Outlook 2007

SCENARIO 1 – not using Exchange

If Exchange is NOT your email solution, then please confirm that your Mailbox is setup to send receive email according to your email account type (POP3, IMAP, etc…) Outlook 2007 generally wants Mail setup before anything else.

SCENARIO 2 – using Exchange Server

If this is the first time this account has logged onto this Workstation, Outlook setup will attempt to contact Microsoft Exchange and locate the mailbox of the SQL- Administrator-Account

When Exchange IS your email solution: “if” the SQL-Administrator-Account does not have a mailbox established in Exchange (again, only if using Exchange-Server), Outlook will throw the following error message

If you’ve already have a mailbox on the Exchange-Server then no error should be generated.

If you are running Exchange and need to create a mailbox on Exchange, please stop set up at this point, go to Exchange-Server and setup the SQL Administrator Account mailbox at your Exchange Server first.

When email is setup, you should be able to Launch Outlook.

Install Business Contact Manager for Outlook 2007

Insert the Business Contact Manager installation disc into the drive OR access your installation files from a network share.

In our example, BCM wants to apply a hotfix to .NET 2.0

Click OK and accept the EULA

and… updating we will go, updating we will go, high ho a merry-O

Business Contact Manager will look at your .NET Framework and potentially update it with a number of Hotfixes.

When updates are finished, you will be offered the Business Contact Manager for Outlook 2007 Setup Wizard
Click Next

Select the installation location, click Next and click Install

At this point, the Setup will begin installing SQL Server 2005 Express locally.

Understanding the “Local Installation” of SQL Server 2005 Express when Business Contact Manager is being installed for multi-user use

Now, why are we installing a local database? We just setup a Remote SQL Server 2005 Database Server for Business Contact Manager. So why are we “required” to install SQL locally?

While it’s true that we may not even use the Local SQL database, Business Contact Manager will install SQL locally whether we “use it” or not. There is “no advanced mode” during installation to select a remote database (like Microsoft Office Accounting gives us). This means that Business Contact Manager will install one Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Express MSSMLBIZ instance during local installation as well as a local database for BCM on the Client Workstation.

WHY IS THE LOCAL SQL INSTALLATION REQUIRED BY DEFAULT ?

First: I would (guess) that BCM’s single most common application is for a single user installation. For a single user, the local installation of SQL Server 2005 would be necessary. Business Contact Manager is designed to install SQL Server, set up the MSSMLBIZ instance and then create a “unique” business database for every single user that logs on and launches Microsoft Outlook. These BCM databases are stored in the Users Documents and Settings in a hidden folder. Creating a database for every user enables BCM to be used by multiple users “locally” without jeapordizing the persons business contact data by letting a second user use the same database.
Second: Business Contact Manager also has an “Offline” mode. BCM can sync your Company CRM database locally making it available to “pack up and take it with you” for users working OUTSIDE OF THE OFFICE. When they come back in and connect, they can sync up whatever addtions or changes to the data are stored in their local instance with the Server instance of MSSMLBIZ. For “Offline” mode to function, a local installation of SQL Server 2005 Express must exist to read and write the data when ”Offline”. If SQL Server 2005 Express was not installed to house the local instance of MSSMLBIZ, this “Offline option” would not ever be available. You can decide whether to turn “Offline mode” on or off after installation.

For these two reasons, I believe the developers simply defaulted the install and removed a first time install choice of pointing to a remote database.

We’ll talk alot more about “Offline” mode at various points in this Article.

Completing the Local Business Contact Manager Installation

As installation continues, the Client will setup a new SQL instance “locally” named “MSSMLBIZ” (just like on the Server!!).

Once BCM is installed we will connect to a Remote Database. Simply allow the “Local” instance MSSMLBIZ to be installed for now.

Once Installation is complete, click Finish.

FYI: If you are “only” going to connect this machine to the Remote Database Server, the local installation of SQL Server 2005 and MSSMLBIZ can be uninstalled. This may even be “needed” for older workstations that suffer under the additional overhead of SQL Server.

Additional Uninstall considerations:

uninstalling the local SQL Server 2005 Express will lighten the workload on the Client Workstation
uninstalling the local MSSMLBIZ will keep any “quasi-power-users” from experimenting with “Offline” Exporting of your companies Business Contact Manager data to the local MSSMLBIZ instance… the kind of thing we administer against (again, well talk more about this).

When Business Contact Manager is fully installed you will be given the following window:

Business Contact Manager is now installed!

Setting up Business Contact Manager for Microsoft Outlook 2007 using a Remote Database Server

continuing from above….

In the Startup window for BCM, select Manual Startup to configure Business Contact Manger for a Remote Database Connection
Select Advanced, click Next

Advanced mode allows you to Create or select a Business Contact Manager database on this computer (Local), or select and existing database on a different computer (this is our Remote Database Server).

When Registered, click Next

Now…

Select and existing database
type the ServerName of your SQL Database server into field labeled Computer name:
click Connect

The Client computer will take a moment to query the network for your Database Server.

SUCCESS !
POTENTIAL ERROR MESSAGES: let’s take a look at the most likely error message

This message could “potentially” appear if you have not properly made TCP/IP Port 5356 available to Client Workstations. We accomplished this step in “Configuring” the SQL Database Server. If you need any help, follow this link. Please confirm that TCP/IP Port 5356 is accessible to your Workstation.

If everything is setup properly, you will “hopefully” avoid any errors. Check Firewall settings (software and hardware), IPSec (if you use it on your network), etc… If you have errors, re-read your articles and try again. You can also reference the BCM Team Blog for troubleshooting.

A Successful Remote Database Connection for Business Contact Manager

When a successful connection has been made to the SQL Server 2005 database, you will be offered the following window. Both the Computer name: field and the Database name: field will populate with the appropriate names.

Confirm that your settings are correct, then click Next

Make your decision about Offline use… (we have written our thoughts at the end of this article)

Click Next

Welcome to your shared Company Customer Relationship Manager : )

Review the Introduction, click Next to cycle through the screens, then click Finish

Business Contact Manager is now installed using Microsoft SQL Server 2005 as your Remote Database Server

Congratulations !

Considerations in configuring Business Contact Manager for Offline Use

Once the database connection is successfully made, the following window asks this question:

Do you want to use the Business Contact Manager on this computer when you are away from the office?

A simple approach (in a trustworthy environment) would be to equate your answer the “type” of computer you are installing onto (laptop -OR- desktop).

Desktops (Offline = NO)
Laptops (Offline = YES)

A desktop in a domain will generally not be working offline. A laptop, say for the Sales VP, just might.

Thought and Opinions about enabling “Offline mode” in the Domain

From the Business Owner perspective, a company’s contact data is a valuable Business Asset. Evaluating Business Contact Manager is just the first step in “using Business Contact Manager”. How CRM and Accounting come together on a corporate network is really a combination of Owner/Manager/Team Leader input and security. In this environment we’re not just talking about one Salespersons contacts. We’re talking about the entire company potentially being outside the office on a laptop.

What about compliance, privacy or legal issue? What about non-compete issues?

Enabling Offline use is certainly not mandatory. So let’s give it some thought.

Disabling Offline Use

PROs: what is the upside to not enabling “Offline mode” (leaving it OFF):

if a Client Workstation is stolen, a copy of your database is not stolen with it. The company data has never synchronized using “Offline mode”.
1. the data resides only on the “master” Database (which is your Server)
2. Servers “should be” secured in a locked and monitored room
If a Laptop is stolen, the company information is not on that Laptop’s. With “Offline mode” OFF, it’s not possible.
If a key Sales Person (for example) decides to open up shop on her or his own, etc… well I’m sure you get the idea.

Enabling Offline Use

PROs: what benefits can be gained from enabling “Offline mode” (turning it ON):

If your company is blessed with an awesome Sales Team of trusted people who carry the “mission” out in to the field, then you’ve got a lot of upside to enabling “Offline mode” on their laptops and devices.
1. instant access to information
2. field data captured on site can be synchronized upon entry to the office
3. faster decision making
4. increased sales and productivity
backup and recovery – with “Offline mode” enabled on any workstation in the office, you gain the advantage of having a “second working copy” on another machine besides your database server
1. if the server goes down, you are still operational on the workstation(s)
2. if there is a catastrophic failure on the server (and your backup is not current) you have a current copy of the data
3. NOTE: a regular Maintenance plan will keep your server both backed up and functioning (“Offline mode is not a substitute for Disaster Recovery planning”)

Other Options and Considerations for Remote Access

Setting up Business Contact Manager, Office Accounting and Point Of Sale is only the beginning of what you can accomplish with the software on your network.

VPNs, Remote Access and Terminal Services on the Windows platform can also extend the abilities of your organization outside of the office. Terminal Services on Windows 2008 is an almost seamless experience with applications appearing to the user as though they have been launched locally. All of this gives the Small Business Owner / Entrepreneur the ability to have “big company” reach using very affordable tools.

Installing Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Standard or Workgroup edition gives you the ability to scale your installation from just a few users to a whole lot of users. For businesses that own Small Business Server Premium Edition, SQL Server has been included so that tools is there already. All that is required to start thinking about remote access is an Internet Connection.

If your company needs to provide 24×7 access consider:

Remote Web Workplace in Small Business Server
Terminal Services in Windows Server 2003 or Windows Server 2008
VPN solutions: Microsoft (built-in), Cisco, SonicWALL, even Linksys and Netgear have great options
the list goes on

In addition (and we going to cover this later in the series), you can go mobile on PDAs, SmartPhones and Blackberry. Business Contact Manager for Outlook supports these tools for the mobile professional.

Work with your administrator to implement a policy for mobile workers. Get VPN / Terminal Services running and you’ve got Sales, Customer Relationship, Marketing, Project Management and more all from outside the office and the price point is at a fraction of enterpirse CRM and Accounting solutions. This is the exciting part of integrating Business Contact Manager, Microsoft Office Accounting and Point Of Sale.

Give some times to these choices. The technology exists to implement any decision. Check with your technology consultant and if you need helps contact us here at WIGITAL. We’re pros.

Next up… we go “walk about” in the file system and consider the documents used by Business Contact Manager and Office Accounting. The idea, “a truely shared workspace”.

… this way for Article 5

Thanks for reading.
Mark Raborn – WIGITAL

Accounting, BCM, Business Contact Manager, CRM, Customer Relationship Management, MOA, Office Accounting

No Comments

SQL Database Configuration – Security Settings and Service Accounts in Domain Deployment for Business Contact Manager for Outlook 2007 (ARTICLE 3)

Posted by Mark Raborn in Accounting on 2008/07/26

You are presently reading Article 3

Please see these articles for the full scope of this series.

You are presently reading Article 3

Preparing SQL Server 2005 for Business Contact Manager for Outlook 2007 (and Office Accounting)

To gain background behind the steps in this article, please read these documents relating to Installing Business Contact Manager on a Remote Database.

This reading more or less outlines Best Practice and the specific Procedures needed to deploy onto a “shared database”. The docs guide us through the installation of “both” Business Contact Manager and Microsoft Office Accounting. They each discuss setting up the “Remote Database” (Microsoft’s simplified terminology for a BCM multiuser database). It’s a bit of reading, and yes… we did read them . The “goal” in putting them all together is to configure a network accessible database and provide the robust and “scalable” foundation on which to deploy Business Contact Manager, Microsoft Office Accounting and Dynamics Point Of Sale. Reaching the finish line makes the cool stuff the software does available to “lots” of users and gives us a platform on which a team can come together to do just about anything small businesses do.

BTW… it really works

You will also want to download one “very valuable” Database Tool. The Business Contact Manager Database Admin Tool bundles the SQL scripts discussed in the second document above and automates much of the work. Configuration, permissions, creating tables, running queries are all handled using the Database Admin Tool Wizards. Please note that in talking with Microsoft pre-sales support: Microsoft now “far prefers” you to make use of this tool over manually entering the commands as outlined in the paper.

Here is the tool

DOWNLOAD: Outlook 2007 with Business Contact Manager: Database Admin Tool

IMPORTANT !!! : There is no help file or document explaining the Database Admin Tool (that we know of). WIGITAL will walk you through it here (screenshots included). We suggest reading the 2nd document above because it will educate you on what the tool is doing. The doc does not talk at all about the tool because the tool did not exist when the document was written.

The Process of Configuring SQL Server 2005 for Business Contact Manager “remote connections”

As SQL Server 2005 Security Best Practices points out, Domain User accounts (on Domains) and Local User accounts (in Workgroups) are preferred to using Network Service Accounts for the instance of MSSMLBIZ.

In our first article, we created this “more secure” SQL Service Account and assigned it to MSSMLBIZ. It will run in the background and do the work MSSMLBIZ need to have done. We also created a SQL Administrator Account - this is the account you used to install SQL Server. We will eventually use it to setup (our “First”) Business Contact Manager workstation.

Right now, logon using the SQL Server Administrator account. Let’s check in and view our current account permissions inside SQL Server 2005:

Go to Start | All Programs | Microsoft SQL Server | SQL Management Studio

Select the MSSMLBIZ database and click Connect

SQL Server Management Studio will open

Please navigate to Server Roles by opening the directory tree for your DATABASE-SERVER\MSSMLBIZ | Security | Logins

right click the Logins node, select New Login

Type in the name of your SQL Service Account (the one used for MSSMLBIZ) in the form of %DOMAIN%\%USERNAME% and click OK

Once the User appears under Logins, right click the SQL Service Account username (your service account), select Properties and select Server Roles

Add the SQL Service Account user to the sysadmin role and click OK

Why are we doing this? This step is outlined as “required” per the – - – Outlook 2007 Document: Deploying Outlook 2007 with Business Contact Manager in a Remote Database Configuration document – - – which documents the procedures necessary if a Domain User (Domains) or Local User (Workgroups) is selected as SQL Service Account for MSSMLBIZ. Using the Database Admin Tool does not provide for this step so let’s follow the document’s recommendation. Because the Database Admin Tool has no way of knowing which account this is, we “explicitly” provide permission to the account (per the document) before running the tool.

Installing the Database Admin Tool

DOWNLOAD the Database Tool for Business Contact Manager 2007

DOWNLOAD: Outlook 2007 with Business Contact Manager: Database Admin Tool

double-click the executable to begin installation

In our demo, we’ve already installed it so the message is a little different than what you will see when comparing your monitor to our screenshot(s). Click Next however, and proceed with your installation.

Once the program is installed it will be viewable in Add/Remove Programs

Go to Start | All Programs | Microsoft Small Business | Business Contact Manager for Outlook 2007 Database Tool | …

launch the program

Before we make use of the Database Tool, let’s talk about it first. Please read and fully understand the next section before proceeding. Thanks.

Understanding “accounts” during setup of Business Contact Manager in a Multiuser Environement

EXCERPT (THIS IS WRITTEN BY MICROSOFT): Deploying Outlook 2007 with Business Contact Manager in a Remote Database Configuration

When you create a new Business Contact Manager database, by default the database owner is the user who was logged on to Windows while creating the database. This user has permissions to access the database. When the user connects to the database from a different computer, the same user account is used to log on to Windows on the client computer.

If a domain user account is used to log on to the server while creating the database, the same domain user account should be used to log on to the client computer when you are using Business Contact Manager for Outlook and connecting to the Business Contact Manager database on the server. Similarly, in a workgroup scenario, if a local computer user account is used to log on to the server and create the database, a local computer user account with the same user name and password should be created on the client computer. This logon should be used to log on to the client computer when you are using Business Contact Manager for Outlook to connect to the Business Contact Manager database created on the server.

OK, we chose this excerpt for a reason.

This bit of text outlines installing the database, installing BCM, using BCM and shifts back and forth between a domain context and a workgroup context. We don’t find it any more comprehensible than you might.

Let’s sort it out.

Without asking anyone to read every word and help file, the snapshot is that installing, creating databases, using BCM and managing BCM are often discussed in the documentation simultaneously. If you read through all of it, you will arrive at a place where you realize the literature (and the program) is setting up the database in the context of a “super-user” account. The idea of going forward in this context makes it vital to keep track of certain details relating to this particular account. The “super-user” owns the database, grants other users access to it and ultimately stores the company.mdf and company.ldf files (the actual company data) in that users personal folder. Let me repeat that… the entire company database is stored in a Users Personal Folder tree using the default setup. Some documents even describe day to day operations using BCM with “this account” and suggest this user could be a person (a manager maybe) that actually functions within the business. This makes the database owner someone who logs on and off every day just like everybody else.

We are “not going to do that” and we will step away from the default installation at this point.

CLARIFYING OUR APPROACH AND WHY?

Let’s get back on track and outline “our” steps for ARTICLE 3 and ARTICLE 4 first:

logon to the DATABASE SERVER as the designated SQL Server Administrator
using the Database Admin Tool, create the company_bcm_moa database
your done!
IN THE ARTICLE 4 WE WILL:
- go to a CLIENT WORKSTATION and insert the Business Contact Manager software into the CD/DVD drive
- logon to that CLIENT WORKSTATION using the same designated SQL Server Administrator account you used to logon to the SERVER
- install Business Contact Manager 2007 on the CLIENT WORKSTATION
- when setup prompts to connect BCM to a database, point BCM to the DATABASE SERVER and company_bcm_moa database you are creating “right now”
- done!
everything that Business Contact Manager needs to accomplish will be handled “under the hood” by the MSSMLBIZ SQL Service Account we gave sysadmin privileges to earlier
when all is completed, the SQL Server Admin Account will own the new company_bcm_moa database and “not an end user” (the .mdf and .ldf files are located “temporarliy” in the SQL Administrators User Folder after setup. We will be moving these files (.mdf and .ldf) to new home before we “go Live” )

WHAT ABOUT SECURING THE SQL SERVER ADMINSTRATOR ???

Security can be improved after setup by reducing privilege for the SQL Administrator Account. To explain: “the account doesn’t need to be active after setup is completed because the daily work is being done by a service account. This means we can lock down the SQL Admin Account”. EXAMPLES: The SQL Administrator Account can always be 1.) disabled when not setting up SQL databases, etc… 2.) reduced in privilege until further SQL setup is needed – (use your Main Domain Administrator account to change the privileges). Add your own best practices here _____ .

BACK ON OUR WAY…

For now, we will use one account (the SQL Adminsitrator) to gain ownership of two things

the instance MSSMLBIZ which we already have because we installed SQL with the SQL Administrator Accountr
the company_bcm_moa database

The list of items we need control over as we move on:

the Database Server
the instance MSSMLBIZ
the database you create for Business Contact Manager “company_bcm_moa”
the specific .mdf and .ldf files created by Business Contact Manager
1. these will be stored for the short term in a the SQL Server Administrator Users Documents and Settings
2. - – we will discuss this and move the files later – -
all Shared Folders required of BCM and Office Accounting

Now we’re ready! We are aware of these details. Let’s create the database.

Create the Remote Business Contact Manager Database on SQL Server 2005

The Business Contact Manager 2007 Database Tool will begin with the wizard interface. The wizard will help you configure your database instance inside MSSMLBIZ for use with Business Contact Manager “remotely”

select Create a new database, click Next

The Database Tool will locate INSTANCES installed in SQL Server 2005. Select the proper instance from the drop-down menu “MSSMLBIZ”, click Next

At this point you can name your database. Think of an appropriate name. The Default name is MSSmallBusiness. You can name the database whatever you want to.

We created our database name this way: companyname “underscore” the letters BCMMOA (for Business Contact Manager Microsoft Office Accounting)

Like so:

wigital_bcmmoa

enter your database name, write it down, click Next and whalla ! YOUR DATABASE IS BEING CREATED

Click Next, click Finish

This will return you to the Database Tool wizard starting window. Please close the Database Tool

Enabling access to TCP/IP Endpoint 5356 for access to Remote SQL Server Database

5356 (remember that number)

Business Contact Manger for Outlook 2007 (AND) Microsoft Office Accounting access the MSSMLBIZ instance over the network on TCP/IP Port 5356. To permit access to this port, we need to access the TCP/IP properties of our SQL Server instance “MSSMLBIZ” and allow this using the SQL Server Configuration Manager tool.

Go to Start | All Programs | Microsoft SQL Server 2005 | Configuration Tools | SQL Server Configuration Manager

SQL Server Configuration Manager will open. Look for the TCP/IP node in the details pane (on the RIGHT)

Right-click the TCP/IP protocol name and select Properties

When the window opens, select the IP Address tab

Remove the value for TCP Dynamic Ports under IPAll

Under IPAll , add this value to TCP Port: 5356

Click OK and acknowledge the warning by clicking OK

!!! IMPORTANT !!!

Note that the SQL Service for MSSMLBIZ must be stopped and restarted “right now”

Go to Start | Administrative Tools | Services

Locate the SQL Server (MSSMLBIZ), right click the Service, select Restart

Your SQL Server 2005 Database Server is now ready to receive requests from Client Computers on your network.

Next… we will set up the “First” of those workstations, install Business Contact Manager for Outlook 2007 and test our first connection.

See you in Article 4

Thanks for reading
Mark Raborn – WIGITAL

Accounting, BCM, Business Contact Manager, database, integration, MOA, Office Accounting, SQL, SQL Server, SQL Server 2005

3 Comments

SQL Database Install – Deployment of Remote Database for Business Contact Manager Microsoft Office Accounting and Point of Sale in a Domain (ARTICLE 2)

Posted by Mark Raborn in Accounting on 2008/07/26

You are presently reading Article 2

Please see these articles for the full scope of this series.

You are presently reading Article 2

This is the second in a series of articles about deploying Office Accounting, Business Contact Management and Point Of Sale on one platform for lost of users for less money.

To see the software in action, check out the Demos and Vidoes in Article 1.

Achieving a shared Customer Relationship Management and Accounting/Point of Sale begins with a database (a single database). While the following three products can all be installed using their own databases, the option exists to install them in a shared environment using a common database so that an entire team of people can share the user experience and collaborate as one unit (your Company). The database used in this context is Microsoft SQL Server 2005 (Full or Express editions). The software we’re going to bring together on SQL Server 2005 is:

Business Contact Manager for Outlook
Microsoft Office Accounting
Dynamics Point of Sale.

Microsoft provides documentation on this subject and help at http://office.microsoft.com . To speak openly, we find the documentation (at present) to be a bit silo’d (meaning compartmentalized). Each document and help file appears to be written by the team that crated the “one” piece they’re writing about. Because of this, as you read you may not find the information “dovetails” into other documents. This makes gaining a clear perspective on integration challenging even for professionals. Ergo possibly some of the confusion. However, network infrastructure pros (that’s us) do our homework before deploying in the field. This article series is based on that homework and…. we’re sharing our class notes with you.

A LITTLE BACKGROUND BEFORE WE BEGIN

In talking directly with Microsoft pre-sales support, we learned that support calls are primarily from end users not familiar with domain type deployments. When calls do come in from companies deploying to a “Remote Database” (with the goal of sharing software and data among multiple users), the concepts are not commonly well implemented at the field level. In plain language, “not everyone is pulling this off”.

Bottom line: These three components do work great together! They can be integrated “successfully” in the domain or in workgroups and they offer tremendous value, when integrated. The benefits are many. If you are a small business owner, the value is definitely there but you may need a pro to get the setup job done. To help you, them and and our own clients at WIGITAL, we’ve endeavored to document the complete process demonstrating just how integration of Business Contact Manager, Office Accounting and Point Of Sale is accomplished (start to finish). As we go, we’ll add a little “Enterprise flavor” as well.

In talking to Microsoft, it was suggested that we use lots of screenshots, so we have. We’ve made our best effort to write in plain language, make things obvious and visual. In addition, we have made a special effort to demonstrate common error messages to address those “huh what?” moments during install. We hope this helps. Enjoy!

COMMENTS

Please consider providing feedback and your experiences to us by commenting at the end of posts. We can and will adjust this series based on your input. Hopefully this better serves the community.

To say hello, contact WIGITAL here directly.

SHORTCUT

Lastly (and before we begin), for system admins familiar with SQL… you can shortcut this first two articles by applying this:

On the Server or dedicated workstation on which you will install SQL Server 2005: Create a dedicated Service Account to serve the INSTANCENAME of MSSMLBIZ. Install SQL Server 2005 to the Server or dedicated workstation. Change the default INSTANCENAME to MSSMLBIZ during install. Install Service Pack 2 for SQL Server 2005. Reboot that machine. Using SQL Server Configuration Manager, set TCP/IP Endpoint Congiruation IPAll to TCP/IP Port 5356. Follow any SQL security practices required by your internal policy. Grant the Domain User account used to service MSSMLBIZ with sysadmin rights to the MSSMLBIZ instance. Lastly, remember that when you prepare to install Business Contact Manager on your first Client workstation, logon to that workstation using the same account you used to install SQL Server 2005 (i.e. the INSTANCE owner). Business Contact Manager requires it and BCM will be the first component installed after SQL is setup. Setup from the Client machine will create a database on the SQL Server. It is important to note that the .mdf and .ldf files are written during that installation to a locationg inside a Users Folder on the Remote SQL Server machine. The users folder is the one chose to run BCM setup on the first Client Workstation. See our comments later in the series for why we disagree with this and what we do about (detach, move, re-attach).

for everyone else…. here is the series

Install SQL Server 2005

SQL Security Reading:

SQL Server 2005 Security Best Practices – Operational and Administrative Tasks

Step 1: creating accounts in the Domain -OR- Workgroup

Create a SQL Service Account in the Domain/Workgroup for the SMSMLBIZ instance (used to serve the needs of BCM, Accounting and Point of Sale)
Grant Domain User privileges to the SQL Service Account you have created
Create a SQL Administrator Account in the Domain/Workgroup (used to Adminstrate SQL Server across your domain)
Grant Domain Admin/Local Admin privileges to the SQL Administrator Account

Step 2: login using the SQL Administrator Account (the one you just created) on the Database Server. Install SQL Server.

Take note that each INSTANCE of SQL Server is owned by the account under which installation takes place. At WIGITAL, we create a special account for this purpose (to be the owner of the INSTANCENAMES). This reduces the number of Instance Owners on a machine and simplifies administrative record keeping. Additional users (for whatever your reason) can be granted database owner/sysadmin privileges after the installation is completed. Any users required by applications to have DBO, sysadmin, other privileges, etc can be added using the available toolset. Be sure to retain the SQL Server Administrator/Instance Owner/Database Owner’s login credentials for your records and future Administration.

Step 3: shut down the Server. (WIGITAL suggests a clean boot prior to installing SQL Server 2005)

Step 4: install SQL Server 2005

SQL Server 2005 will be the Remote Database Server to which Business Contact Manager, Microsoft Office Accounting and Dynamics Point of Sale will be connected. For enterprise software deployments, Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Standard or Workgroup are suggested. For workgroup deployments, consider using Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Express Edition (which is free).

FOR YOUR NOTES – IMPORTANT: Once SQL Server 2005 is installed – Business Contact Manager will be installed NEXT!! . Please be sure to add this to your checklist as the next step after completing this article. BCM must be setup prior to installing Microsoft Office Accounting and Point of Sale as the integration of these components will require BCM first. This installation order is per Microsoft (but has not been clearly outlined in the documentation – it’s implied in one of them). Office Accounting will even locate BCM on first install (if it’s there) and offer integration “out-of-the-box” if it’s there. The install order is 1.) SQL Server, 2.) then BCM 3.) then Office Accounting 4.) then POS

Begin installing SQL Server 2005

FYI: our installation gave a single warning in the configuration check. This is because on our box, we are installing SQL 2005 Standard 32 bit (which is the APPROVED VERSION for Business Contact Manager) but we are installing it on a 64 bit Windows Server 2003 machine. If you are using a 64 bit machine, it’s OK to install 32 bit SQL Server 2005. It installs into the \Program Files (x86) directory. So, we can acknowledge the warning and move on.

if you want to view our warning message….

Close and click Next

enter your product key

click Advanced to select components

on the Advanced Feature Selection, from the Database Services drop-down, select Entire feature will be installed on local hard drive

from the Client Components drop-down, select

Connectivity Components
Management Tools

Customize your SQL Server 2005 Installation path “IF” appropriate to your machine, click Next

!!! IMPORTANT !!! choose to create a Named Instance. Provide MSSMLBIZ as the name for the Instance. Both Business Contact Manager (BCM) and Microsoft Office Accounting (MOA) look for the default INSTANCENAME=MSSMLBIZ

… just to be “clear to everyone” instance name = MSSMLBIZ

click Next

“IF” you have created a Domain User (or Local User in Workgroup scenarios) as a SQL Service Account for MSSMLBIZ, enter the User credentials here. NOTE: we suggest using a Domain User / Local User as this is a “SQL Security best practice”

Set Authentication Mode as Windows Authentication Mode, click Next

Collation Settings

!!! IMPORTANT !!!

Both Business Contact Manager and Microsoft Office Accounting require “Case INsensitive” collation. Be sure to use case-insensitive as collation type.

You are now Ready to Install, click Install

Insert Disk 2

Once complete, click Next and click Finish

After SQL Server 2005 (Standard, Workgroup or Express) installation has been completed, we suggest a RESTART of the server. It is not required, however field experience has demonstrated benefits to a clean boot after installing a program as significant as SQL Server 2005.

Install Server Pack 2 for SQL Server 2005

Step 1: Download the service pack

Download SQL Server 2005 Service Pack 2

Step 2: begin installation

Double click the installation package and click Next

Accept the Agreement

Confirm the Feature Selection for SQL Server 2005 update to Service Pack 2
NOTE: By default, the upgradeable items are already checked.

For information about the upgrade

navigate the directory tree on the LEFT
click on each item to see the upgrade status of that item in the fields on the RIGHT

Once you’ve selected Features (OR left the defaults) for upgrade, click Next.

Confirm that the INSTANCENAME for your SQL Server instance appears and is selected for upgrade (this should reflect the existing MSSMLBIZ you created earlier). You can test Windows Authentication for successful access by clicking the Test button. If you are logged on using the SQL Administrator Account we talked about creating earlier, you should be successful.

Click Next

confirm Error and Usage Reporting Settings preferences, click Next

Your system will now check for “locked” files… As you can see in this example: LOTS of files could be locked “IF” services are still running.

To avoid rebooting the machine to complete installation, open the Services console and stop the various SQL Services listed in this dialog box.

Example:

SQL Server (MSSMLBIZ) = Started
SQL Server Agent = Started
SQL Server Browswer = Started
SQL Server FullText Search (MSSMLBIZ) = Started

Once the Services are stopped, REFRESH the dialog box

IF Services were running and you successfully Stop the Services, your Refresh will provide confirmation

Click Next… and click Install

… almost there, click Next

at this point the Service Pack 2 Installation Complete

click Next and take careful note of the Provisioning Tool for Windows Vista that may appear . After SP2 installation completes, there will be a dialog box pop-up called the Provisioning Tool for Windows Vista. If you do not need to provision permission for a Windows Vista based installation or User, then deselect the check box [ ] Launch the User Provisioning Tool for Windows Vista. (On our install scenario, the box was checked by default.) REMEMBER: as you move forward from here that whatever Domain Admin or User account you used to install SQL Server will be the OWNER of your database INSTANCE. This INSTANCENAME is MSSMLBIZ. This is important in later steps.

click Finish

We again suggests a Shut Down / Restart. Any Service Pack installation is considered a significant alteration of the system. Restart and you will be ready to being the next Article.

Thanks for reading. See you at Article 3

Mark Raborn – WIGITAL

Accounting, BCM, Business Contact Manager, database, integration, MOA, Office Accounting, Point of Sale, POS, SQL, SQL Server, SQL Server 2005

3 Comments

Demos and Vidoes – Using Business Contact Manager Microsoft Office Accounting and Point Of Sale “Together” (ARTICLE 1)

Posted by Mark Raborn in Accounting on 2008/07/24

Business Contact Manager, Microsoft Office Accounting and Dynamics Point of Sale all have the ability to integrate with one another. These software products are full of features on an individual basis. When you combine them together and integrate their features, they offer impressive tools and great price/performance value.

So what do they provide ??? – Customer Relationship Management, Accounting, Marketing, Project Management, Job Costing, Estimating, Point of Sale, Online Sales, eBay Sales, PayPal integration, Credit Card transaction processing, and more…

Today (well tonight actually), I’m including some links to videos, demos, integration examples and other “neat stuff” relating to Microsoft Office Accounting. Viewing this material is a quick way to understand the benefits gained when integrating Office Accounting with the CRM piece “Business Contact Manager for Outlook”. These particular videos and webcasts were chosen for the busy Entrepreneur or Small Business owner. They do not require a lot of reading or digging through web articles. Just click the links, watch them and learn.

ALSO: in addition to checking out the Demo and Video links, you will be happy to learn you can put more than one user on this platform. You can read about How To Integrate the software packages for multiple users system by checking out the Article series on “BCM, MOS and POS”. WIGITAL has written an entire series on this subject for the community (with technical walkthroughs). Office Accounting, Business Contact Manager and Dynamics Point of Sale can be integrated on the network where you can reach a whole new level of value for multiple users. Integration runs on Microsoft SQL Server. The enduring benefit (aside from all the great stuff the software does in the first place) is that your company can “scale the deployment and grow” while staying on the one software platform. Ask us about it.

Links to the series:

now… on to the Demos

Demos and Videos on using Microsoft Office Accounting, Business Contact Manager for Outlook 2007 and Dynamics Point of Sale

“Quick” Video Demos

Demo of Office Accounting integration with Outlook (Office Accounting Pro) – Paul Prokop – 4:42 length

Access Customers Financial History – from Outlook
- open a Customer Record in Outlook, click the Financial Summary button OR Financial Transactions button to see details about financials
Bill for Time – directly from Outlook
- take Calendar appointments in Outlook, create Time Entries, then convert to Invoices
Create Quotes and convert them to Invoices – all within Outlook
- the list of Items and Services that you sell is imported from Office Accounting. When you are ready to make a quote, do so directly from Outlook. Convert to Invoice to send to Office Accounting.

Microsoft Office Accounting Credit Card Processing Demo (Office Accounting Pro) – Paul Prokop – 2:56 length

Microsoft has negotiated low rates on Credit Card Processing transactions completed directly within Office Accounting. These transactions are processed online through the Office Accounting interface without the need for a traditional terminal or credit card machine.

open a “new” Cash Sale form, enter the item and the customer information
enter the customers payment details for the credit card
1. If you’ve purchased a USB Mag stripe reader, you can enter the data automatcially
2. swiping the card gets you a lower rate on the transaction
Print the customer’s receipt for signature

NOTE: Discount rates are as low as 1.75%

To learn more, open Office Accounting and from the Customers menu select Credit Card Processing

Accounting Software and Financial Management (free Office Accounting Express version) – 7:23 length

If you can get past the offensive intro “hype Guy” (drag time marker to the .55 second mark to get past intro), Sr. Product Manager John Thuneby shares some interesting facts about financials within small businesses. This is a demonstration of the “free” Office Accounting Express product.

FACTS

there are 25 million Small Business in the United States
less than 5 million use accounting or financial management software (yes, it’s true)
675,000 Small Businesses start every year
80% of those business fail… the reasons include:
- ownership has no business plan?
- the business cannot OR does not organize their finances?
- the business runs out of cash?

Financial Accounting Help – Microsoft Small Business (Office Accounting Pro) – 8:29 length

Larry Garcia – Partner Technology Specialist in Office Accounting – reviews Office Accounting Professional (this version of Office Accounting fully integrates with Business Contact Manager and Point of Sale).

Overview: Office Accounting is a full featured business management package, designed from the ground up, specifically for Small Business. Invoice your customers, track your expenses, bank online, sell online with integration to eBay and PayPal.

BUSINESS CONTACT MANAGER

Get Connected – Tech Talk – Office 2007 Business Contact Mgr

Office 2007 Business Contact Manager & Publisher

POINT OF SALE

Retail Management System – Point of Sale Demo – review features at your own pace

This is a great DEMO to learn about Dynamics Point of Sale at your pace. The DEMO tool is easily navigated. Review the key features of Point of Sale and see an example of a “real world” business owner who chose Dynamics Point of Sale as his retail sales software solution.

EDUCATIONAL WEBCASTS

New Integrated Services in Microsoft Office Accounting – 42:00 length

New Integrated Services In Microsoft Office Accounting – msevents version (requires login) – 42:00 length

Darin Browning, business development manager with Microsoft Corporation, shows you how you can spend less time managing finances and more time growing your business.

DATA IN MICROSOFT OFFICE 2007

Advanced Tips and Tricks for Getting Data and Other Content into and out of Your Documents (Level 300)

For “very techy people”: a technical webcast on how data works across Microsoft Office Applications (about all of Office)

Enjoy the demos. Check out our articles series as well. Contact us if you need to.

Thanks for reading.
Mark Raborn – WIGITAL

Accounting, BCM, Business Contact Manager, Microsoft Office, MOA, Office, Office Accounting, Outlook, Small Business

No Comments

WIGITAL Customer Relationship, Accounting and Point of Sale Article Series using Business Contact Manager and Microsoft Office Accounting

Posted by Mark Raborn in Uncategorized on 2008/07/24

Today we embark on a journey to write a series of articles on integrating Business Contact Manager, Microsoft Office Accounting and Dynamics Point of Sale.

Our goal in this article series from the very beginning will be to provide a true Enterprise scale (CRM, Accounting and POS) environment to our clients at a fraction of the typical cost (literally). We will refer to the basic installation, articles and walkthroughs available online as much as possible so that basic single installations can also be learned but we are going to target our efforts at deploying multiple CRM/Accounting clients onto a company network.

What this means is adjusting the installation of each of the components to suit a shared database, reviewing (at length) the underlying technical documents behind this software and summing it all up to provide a solution to the Clients we serve here at WIGITAL.

A Brief Explanation: Office Accounting + Business Contact Manager + Point Of Sale have the potential to be installed on numberous client computers on your network (as many units as you want). Each installation points to a single database server (SQL Server 2005) on your network. Your entire company pulls the business data from the source database (just like big companies). Since everyone uses the same database, collaboration on a large scale becomes possible using all the features of each of the products combined and every user is empowered to serve the company “on the same software platform” based on their role (or have a limited experience based on permissions the Business Owner assigns). All this at a lower price than “high-end” CRM/Accounting solutions.

This target audience for this series is primarily Entrepreneurs and Small Business Owners (with companies up to 100 employees) who want a great Contact Relationship Management (CRM) platform, full featured Accounting and Point of Sale at minimal costs.

How we got here:

In the corporate enterprise, CRM and Accounting costs $thousands$ per seat. It’s a fact. Look at the pricing of a combined Dynamics GP/Dynamics CRM deployment or other solutions at this level from SalesForce.com, Sieble and others… If it’s Customer Relationship Management plus Accounting (full featured), then it’s a lot of money.

Some providers are moving to a service model (meaning the software manufacturer provides customers the software as a service over the internet) but it’s just as expensive in the long run and you never own it so you never stop paying. Take # of users times service cost and multiply times an indefinite number of months and you’ll start to gain an understanding of why software as a service is very appealing to the providers.

Enter Microsoft for Small Business

THE GOOD NEWS: Microsoft Office Accounting and Business Contact Manager for Outlook can be integrated at about $400 a seat. This is relatively low priced. These two products combine to offer a feature list worthy of comparing to high end CRMs, and… Outlook offers a familiar interface to run it all through.

Outlook with BCM = $150
Office Accounting Professional = $200

The way we deploy at WIGITAL, the cost goes down as you add more seats and settles at about $300/seat (including Client installation). This is 1/10 the cost of Enterprise CRM/Accounting (and you own the solution). This straightforward demonstration of value is what motivated us to take the time to provide this series. The whole package, deployed properly, really is of value to our clients.

The combination of Outlook, Businesss Contact Manager, Microsoft Office Accounting and also (potentially) Dynamics Point of Sale can provide everything a Small Business Needs to operate. By assessing Business, Operational and Technical prior to rolling it out, a company can achieve it’s mission, integrate CRM/Accounting/ and POS can even replace “industry specific” line of business applications (applications programed and developed for specific industries) that cost tens of thousands of dollars.

So, let’s take a quick look at each piece of the solution:

Business Contact Manager

Business Contact Manager (BCM) is a Contact Relationship Management software. In plain language, it’s an exceptional product. It’s $150/user. It really shines when integrated. BCM can be installed either locally (meaning on your computer only) OR it can be installed globally ( in one database shared on the network for all users).

WIGITAL specializes in installing Business Contact Manager, Microsoft Office Accounting and Dynamics Point of Sale globally in an integrated and shared collaborative workspace .

This provides all the benefits of the software to lots of users at once. Integration of CRM/Accounting/POS gives your company the following benefits:

Business Contact Manager provides:

Shared Business Contacts
Shared Marketing Campaigns
Shared Project Management
Shared Sales Environment
seamless integration with Microsoft Office
more…

Microsoft Office Accounting provides all of the Accounting

General Ledger
Sales
Online Sales
Products and Services
Estimating
Inventory
Payroll
seamless integration with Microsoft Office
(etc….)

and the Accounting piece can full integrate with the CRM piece, see this article .

Dynamics Point of Sale provides the POS Terminal, Touch Screen ability and bar code scanning

Saves Time
Eases Inventory and Purchasing Tasks (Bar Coding Tools & Integration)
Speeds customer checkout and provides a more professional experience for clients
Integrates the Sales Floor with the Back Office
Helps you better understand your customers
Provides accurate real time Information to Business Decision Makers
seamless integration with Microsoft Office
(etc…)

So, now comes the heavy lifting. We begin writing the tech stuff about how integrating these pieces is achieved. Our goals are to demonstrate how each component is connected. We will demonstrate “technically” how to share the “Business data” using a single database on a Remote Database Server (running Microsoft SQL Server 2005). We will do it all using an inexpensive suite of software tools available from Microsoft. We will help answer your questions by replying to comments and you can even buy the solution with us here at WIGITAL when the time is right for your team. Here is our article list at this point:

Phase 1 – article link to go here ( check back in a few days )
Phase 2 – article link to go here ( check back in a few days )
Phase 3 – article link to go here ( check back in a few days )
Phase 4 – article link to go here ( check back in a few days )
Phase 5 – article link to go here ( check back in a few days )

About us: WIGITAL is a Microsoft Partner and Business Technology Company. As a certified Small Business Specialist, we write about and study the serious business of best practices in installation. We also share our knowledge with the community. Whatever choice you make for your team in moving forward, today’s brief should help you better understand your options and the technical details of integration and deployment with Office Accounting, Business Contact Manager and Point of Sale.

Contact WIGITAL for discount rates and corporate deployment

2 Comments

Mac Entourage 2008 RPC HTTP uses WebDav to Exchange

Posted by Mark Raborn in Mac, Uncategorized on 2008/07/23

Microsoft Exchange Server is available to Client systems via a variety of methods outside of the local network.

OWA – Outlook Web Access
OMA – Microsoft Mobile Access
Outlook using RPC over HTTP

These (among others) are some of the more popular ways that knowledge workers access their mail, calendars, tasks etc… from Exchange Server while outside of the office.

Outlook using RPC (remote procedure call) over HTTP is very popular for those workers who need the full Outlook experience (more than just email). Using Outlook RPC/HTTP gives the Client access to Public and Shared Company Folders in real time that would only available “Offline” as Favorites otherwise.

So what about the Mac? Can the Mac access Microsoft Exchange Server using Outlook RPC over HTTP?

If you are using Entourage (Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac), Exchange Server based email boxes, Public Folders, and more.. can still be accessed via a similar method to RPC over HTTP. Entourage makes use of WebDav (Web Distributed Authoring and Versioning) to securely access your Exchange mailbox using the Entourage for Mac.

How to do it?

First, launch your web browser and navigate the URL where Exchange can be accessed

Microsoft Exchange Server generally will have a certificate of some kind installed. This encrypts traffic (and your credentials) so they cannot be easily read. If the Certificate is not trusted by your browser and/or application, it will cause an error to be thrown.

To make things a little smoother, Trust the Certificate. View the warning window carefully. Select to “Show the Certificate”

as you view the Certificate, look for an select the Trust drop down

Select Always Trust Certificate

Enter your password.

You can then view Keychain Access to confirm that you Certificate has been trusted.

Now you should be able to view the Exchange Outlook Web Access page without difficulty or error

Now Setup your Entourage Account access to Exchange. Go to Tools | Accounts

For the Account type, select Exchange

Setup the Exchange Account manually by clicking the “Manually” button

You may now edit the individual account settings to access Exchange:

Remember as you enter data here that Entourage communicates with Microsoft Exchange differently than Outlook does on the PC. Entourage uses WebDav. Entourage also uses a slightly different set of conventions in entering credentials.

Account name:
Personal Information
- Name: your Full Name
- E-mail address: your Email Address
Authentication
- Account ID: your Windows username for the Domain your Exchange Server is a member of
- Domain: the name of the Domain
- Password: your password
Server information
- Exchange server: enter the URL used to access your Exchange Server online
- [ ] DAV service: be sure to CHECK THE BOX to secure the connection over WebDav. This uses the certificate you Trusted earlier to encrypt your credentials as you logon to Exchange.

Go back to Entourage and check your mail. At this point you may begin to see some activity:

That’s it. Grab a glass of water at the cooler. Talk about some fun stuff and then… get to work.

Exchange, HTTP, Mac, Outlook, RPC, WebDav

3 Comments

MacBook Windows Keyboard Shortcuts

Posted by Mark Raborn in Mac on 2008/07/22

This is a growing list of keyboard shortcuts to accomplish typical Windows tasks on a MacBook keyboard (running Windows with BootCamp installed).

Windows Print Screen on MacBook

There are two potential methods using BootCamp to capture a screen image using the MacBook keyboard

IF your function keys control the MacBook hardware then use:
Shft+fn+F11 (Full screen) Alt+Shft+Fn+F11 (Current Window)

IF your function keys behave as normal function keys
Shft+F11 (Full screen) Alt+Shft+F11 (Current Window)

Windows Right Click using MacBook Penryn

The MacBook Penryn models have a multi-touch touchpad. Right licking is accomplished by:

Hold TWO fingers down on the touchpad Click the MacBook single-button

more to follow…

BootCamp, keyboard, MacBook, shortcuts, Windows

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Archive for July, 2008

Detaching the Database

Moving the .mdf and .ldf files

Attach the Business Contact Manager Database

Links to information about data files in Business Contact Manager databases file types .mdf (data) and .ldf (log)

Links to information about data files in Microsoft Office Accounting databases .sbd (database) .sbl (log) .sbc (link) and .sbb (backup)

Goin Walkabout – the concept of Shared Folders in a multi-user BCM+MOA+POS

OPERATIONS – an example directory structure for a domain BCM+MOA+POS deployment

Client Installation of Business Contact Manager and Connecting to Remote SQL Database for the First Time

Log on to the Client Workstation using the SQL Administrator Account used to Setup MSSMLBIZ and your company_bcm_moa Database

Test Outlook for Proper Function prior to installing Business Contact Manager

Install Business Contact Manager for Outlook 2007

Understanding the “Local Installation” of SQL Server 2005 Express when Business Contact Manager is being installed for multi-user use

Completing the Local Business Contact Manager Installation

Setting up Business Contact Manager for Microsoft Outlook 2007 using a Remote Database Server

A Successful Remote Database Connection for Business Contact Manager

Considerations in configuring Business Contact Manager for Offline Use

Thought and Opinions about enabling “Offline mode” in the Domain

Disabling Offline Use

Enabling Offline Use

Other Options and Considerations for Remote Access

Preparing SQL Server 2005 for Business Contact Manager for Outlook 2007 (and Office Accounting)

The Process of Configuring SQL Server 2005 for Business Contact Manager “remote connections”

Installing the Database Admin Tool

Understanding “accounts” during setup of Business Contact Manager in a Multiuser Environement

Create the Remote Business Contact Manager Database on SQL Server 2005

Enabling access to TCP/IP Endpoint 5356 for access to Remote SQL Server Database

Install SQL Server 2005

Install Server Pack 2 for SQL Server 2005

Demos and Videos on using Microsoft Office Accounting, Business Contact Manager for Outlook 2007 and Dynamics Point of Sale

Windows Print Screen on MacBook

Windows Right Click using MacBook Penryn

more to follow…

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