CHAPTER 21: Laptops and Remote Locations |
  
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CHAPTER 21: Laptops and Remote Locations |
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Laptops and remote offices are an integral part of a sales force in today’s business environment. In response to the needs of the mobile sales force, QuoteWerks has several features designed to integrate the external and internal sales force. Take the following scenario as an example:
You want your sales reps in your Chicago headquarters office to use QuoteWerks. Additionally, some or all of your sales reps have a laptop computer, and you want them to be able to use QuoteWerks on their laptops when they are away from the office. Some of your sales reps may work from home, and as such, you want them to be able to use QuoteWerks on their PC at home. You also have sales reps in your New York office, and you want them to use QuoteWerks as well.
QuoteWerks is designed to handle all the needs described in the above example. You can implement any portion of the example, or the entire example. When QuoteWerks is installed remotely, a remote sales rep can select the File -> Export to Document Transport file menu, and select documents that he/she wants to email back the main office. Back in the main office, the email is received and the administrator selects the File -> Import Document menu to select the exported documents and then import them. If a document already exists, then a date/time check is performed to see which document is newer. The process also works in reverse.
With regards to installing QuoteWerks in multiple locations, we use the following terminology:
●A "QuoteWerks installation" simply refers to the contents of a folder that QuoteWerks has been installed into.
●The "master installation" is your main installation of QuoteWerks, where you have entered in your primary License Key. So this installation will typically be located on your network server; however, if you just have a single-user installation, this could be installed on your local C:\ drive and still be considered your master installation.
●A "remote installation" is an installation of QuoteWerks that is the second or more installation that typically resides on a different machine or server than the master installation. A remote installation is a general term that can refer to either a remote site or remote PC installation.
●A "remote site installation" is an installation of QuoteWerks that is typically installed on another server for multiple workstations on that network to be able to access. For example, while you may have a master installation installed on a server in Chicago for the Chicago office location, you can have a remote site installation installed on a server in Florida for the Florida office location.
●A "remote PC installation" is an installation of QuoteWerks that is typically installed on a local machine, like the C:\ drive. Often, this is installed on a laptop. A remote PC installation can be synchronized with a remote site installation or the master installation. The License Key used to activate a remote PC installation is generated from the master installation.
Installing QuoteWerks Across your Enterprise
Setting up QuoteWerks with Remote PC and Remote Site installations as in the above example is known as “Installing QuoteWerks across the enterprise”.
When deploying QuoteWerks onto Remote PCs like laptops, the QuoteWerks installation needs to start with a “Master” installation. The “Master” installation is usually located on your network in your office. Typically, you will install QuoteWerks onto your network server using the instructions under Multiple-User Network Installation. Once you have completed your “Master” installation of QuoteWerks, you can proceed to the installation of Remote PCs and Remote Sites.
QuoteWerks can be installed on Remote PCs such as laptops, home computers, and on Remote Sites such as remote servers in remote office branches. These installations of QuoteWerks can then e-mail quotes back to the headquarters where the quotes can be imported into the “Master” installation of QuoteWerks using QuoteWerks' built-in synchronization features.
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These Remote PC installations of QuoteWerks can be configured so that in the case of a laptop installation, the sales rep can create quotes on the laptop while they are away from the office, and then when they come back into the office with their laptop, they can login to and use the network installation of QuoteWerks.
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When QuoteWerks has been installed at more than one location, there is a chance that as new quotes are created, the quote numbers could be duplicated. To prevent this from happening, QuoteWerks automatically assigns a unique “Document Prefix” to the beginning of the document number for each installation. QuoteWerks only creates these unique “Document Prefixes” when QuoteWerks is installed correctly across the enterprise using the Remote PC and Remote Site installation procedures described in this Chapter. For details on the unique document numbering and the “Document Prefix”, see Installation tab options.
For more information about installing QuoteWerks across your enterprise, see the following sub topic(s) that correspond with your situation:
●Preparing the “Master” Installation for Use with Remote PCs and Remote Sites
●Configuring a Remote PC Installation of QuoteWerks
●Configuring a QuoteWerks Remote Site Installation
●Correcting an Incorrect QuoteWerks Remote PC or Remote Site Installation
For more information about installing QuoteWerks on laptops and from remote locations, see the following sub topics:
●Rolling Out Settings to Remote PC and Remote Site Installations
●Synchronizing Information between Master and Remote Installations