QuickBooks Setup

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QuickBooks Production Solutions

QuickBooks

If you use QuickBooks in your business, consider a QuickBooks production solution used when multiple locations or widely dispersed users need to access the same company files from remote locations. We do all of the work so that you can focus on using your QuickBooks, instead of dealing with networking and application errors.

We work with all versions of QuickBooks Pro, QuickBooks Premier and QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions. Whether you have a simple server set up or a complex migration to a multi site, multi company file, remote access solution, we stand ready to roll up our sleeves and get the job done for you.

Consolidate your QuickBooks software on one device accessible from anywhere on the Internet, as well as your local home or office, with a QuickBooks Remote Application Server. Learn more…

Or, consider QuickBooks Hosting and Remote Application Services, the hosted QuickBooks solution for companies that do not want to spend money on local server equipment, also accessible from anywhere on the Internet, as well as your local home or office. Learn more…

We’ll work on the project while you work on your business. When the time’s right, we’ll seamlessly transition you into your new QuickBooks solution.

We can work by the project or on a continual support basis, depending on what works best for you.

QuickBooks Virtual Server

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Business Systems Support QuickBooks

I install a lot of software, sometimes on a very large scale. My software installation best practice requires that anytime I install software for a client, I review release notes and minimum systems requirements from the software manufacturer. It’s not uncommon that major changes occur between version updates that will impact an installation that I’m doing.

Recently, I encountered a situation that challenged my default server installation methodology to the core. This challenge will prove to impact the way I look at QuickBooks in the future.

My server installation best practice requires me to consider virtualizing any server environment before I consider using a physical server. Virtual technologies integrated with RAID storage arrays are mature and as common as Ford trucks. Only a few architectural instances dictate a physical server; an on site domain controller and a network fax server using multi port pots lines come to mind.

My back up and disaster methodology depends upon continual data protection, continually writing an updated virtual server image to local and offsite storage. CDP is pretty much the norm in the industry today.

My most recent QuickBooks installation environment revolved around the role Remote Desktop Services plays in reducing costs and increasing manageability. It’s almost a no brainer to build a thirty user QuickBooks Enterprise 13 set up with Server 2008 R2 Remote Desktop Services on top of VMware, using Acronis to write a virtual image into a datacenter. However, QuickBooks release notes and latest system requirements stopped me dead in my tracks.

First, I came upon QuickBooks system requirements and Intuit’s concept of “natively installed” splattered all over the Intuit QuickBooks Support Systems Requirements page. I had not seen these requirements in the past. Check these out:

Apparently, Intuit does not recommend or support QuickBooks installation on a virtual server. An IT person might say, “so what.” My experience tells me that only a fool will run a large QuickBooks environment without a yearly Intuit QuickBooks Support Contract. There are always reasons to get Intuit’s assistance to keep your QuickBooks operational.

Secondly, if the failure to support QuickBooks installed on a virtual server is not bad enough, Intuit states that “QuickBooks will work with systems running RAID (Redundant Array of Inexpensive Disks) but this is not recommended because performance issues may cause QuickBooks to operate slowly.”

Essentially, Intuit prefers that the two pillars of server technology, virtualization and RAID be completely avoided, to the extent that Intuit will not support you if you deploy virtualization and RAID. This strikes me as a large problem or a great opportunity.

How might this situation effect you?

QuickBooks Multi User QuickBooks Server QuickBooks Remote Access

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QuickBooks

Not all small businesses can afford QuickBooks Hosting. But, many businesses can’t afford not to. A small business must make a solid business case to spend $50 per user on Hosted QuickBooks. Make the business case and you too can spend many years using QuickBooks Pro, Premier, Accountant or Enterprise Solutions trouble free.

If your business can’t make the case for Hosted QuickBooks, consider this unorthodox route to your own QuickBooks Multi User, Remote Access QuickBooks Server.

The process to build what you need is very straight forward. It will work for 3 user Pro or Premier. If you use a re purposed XP Pro computer, you can save quite a bit of money. The steps are below.

Build a new XP Pro or Win7 Pro computer.

Assign to a domain if it needs to be part of your domain.

Download and Install per their instructions the appropriate version of Thinstuff XP/VS Terminal Server (http://www.thinstuff.com)

Install your version of QuickBooks Pro or Premier.

Setup domain security or local user security.

Turn off any firewall software on the server or write rules to allow rdp and vpn.

Test multiuser desktop access on the local network.

Setup QuickBooks users.

Test multiuser QuickBooks access on the local network.

You now have a multiuser RDP accessible QuickBooks server.

You can use XP/VS Terminal Server to serve a desktop or TSX RemoteApp to serve only QuickBooks.

To add remote access to the server, install OpenVPN or LogMeIn Hamachi VPN on the server and on client computers. You can then access QuickBooks from anywhere you have fast broadband Internet.

Compare this to my Enterprise Solutions server by the book setup:

Remote Desktop Services with Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 standard with the latest Intel 64 bit processors, 32 GB RAM and 1000GB drive (not raid) for serving thirty users’ desktops, the maximum size for a single Enterprise installation on a physical server. Add a backup/recovery scheme and redundancy to power and memory to allow for maximum uptime. For a datacenter, dedicate one physical server and network segment to one unique business.

One can save a ton of money.

New Company File in QuickBooks

QuickBooks

I start out each year with a new company file for QuickBooks. It seems perfectly reasonable because my QuickBooks complexity does not effect my process of creating the file. Starting with a new file keeps QuickBooks operating fast and error free. I’ve always taken my process for granted because is as simple as exporting lists and templates and beginning with opening balances in the appropriate accounts. Also, I export my financial statements and compare year to year trends in Excel. I’ve read several places that creating a new company file each year is a best practice.

I can see multitudes of problems for companies that have more complex requirements for QuickBooks than I have. In the past, I argued that creating a new company file each year was best practice. However, I now know that extenuating circumstances can prevent a business from creating a new file every year.Here’s what Intuit has to say about it.

If my business were more complex, I would have serious concerns around the limitations that payroll and time entries, online banking and comparative yearly reports have on my ability to mitigate performance problems with QuickBooks by creating a new company file every year. The large company files as well as the database serving methodology employed by QuickBooks seriously impacts QuickBooks Multi User performance.

I regularly upgrade networks to gigabit to mitigate the QuickBooks performance situation, something I do not do with Peachtree companies. I’m not recommending that you move to Peachtree. But, I am concerned that QuickBooks client server software architecture needs to be reevaluated, de-bloated and moved to a 21st century state of the art client server design. If my business’s accounting needs depended upon application performance and tight integration between payroll, time entry, banking and year to year comparative reporting, I would have to seriously consider something else other that QuickBooks Multi User.

Intuit’s efforts in licensing and improving Hosted QuickBooks and QuickBooks Online are admirable. But, hosted solutions are not the answer to every businesses’ requirements. Tell a doctor I know that’s office has no Internet connectivity, that he needs to move QuickBooks 2006 to QuickBooks online for the latest features and you’ll know what I mean.

The current state of QuickBooks client server performance needs a hard look by a few good client server architects. I don’t think I’m alone in my opinion. What do you think?

QuickBooks Server Remote Applications On A Shoe String

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Business Systems Support QuickBooks

They say one picture’s worth a thousand words. Check out this screen shot of my QuickBooks Remote Application Server, a QuickBooks multi user terminal server on a shoe string. You can plainly see three users’ remote desktop QuickBooks Multi User sessions and an administrator desktop session simultaneously working on an XP Pro based terminal server. This stuff’s so much fun.

The key to all this fun is a product called Thinstuff, a remarkable tool that changes an XP computer into a multi user terminal server computer. The cost can be as little as $99 for a three user license. Thinstuff uses several license models to help companies save on expense. Try it out by downloading a trial from their product purchase page.

I know you will be as impressed as I am. Thinstuff XP/VS Terminal Server Lite and XP Pro saves me a substantial amount of money over Microsoft Server 2008 Standard Terminal Server or utilizing a hosted QuickBooks solution that averages around $50 per user per month. If you need control or have requirements for faxing, label printers, bar coding or other unusual things, this is the way to go.

To gain access from the Internet, port forward remote desktop through the local firewall to the QuickBooks server or avoid any tricky firewall configurations at all by adding another level of security with LogMeIn Hamachi. Install it on the server and any of your remote users including your CPA.

I’m still amazed at the number of times people inquire about purchasing a new XP Pro computer. I see no reason not to buy an XP Pro computer. I use XP Pro commercial desktop computers to build the Holy Grail of QuickBooks setups, QuickBooks Remote Application Servers, multi user terminal servers. I also use them to build QuickBooks Dedicated Production Servers, the standard QuickBooks multi user client-server deployment that I detail in my book.

The Dell summary worksheet details my computer specs for a new QuickBooks server, a great deal considering it has 2gb memory, 3 year on site service and 3 year anti virus software. As a mater of fact, I will use this computer as a multi session terminal server designed for both local access and remote access from a CPA’s office. The entire project costs typically come in under $1000 plus the QuickBooks license.

If you need a new XP Pro computer, all the major players still sell Windows 7 Pro downgrades to XP Pro. It just takes a bit of effort to configure and purchase them. I continually need a steady supply of XP Pro computers for small businesses. If you want to save a good bit of money, try searching Amazon for off lease desktop or refurbished desktop. Check the specs carefully for memory, hard drive size, dvd burner and the operating system to get a great deal.

Virtual QuickBooks Multi User Into The Cloud

Business Systems Support Planning QuickBooks

Extending our understanding of routine software tools such as QuickBooks Multi User sets the stage for us to profit from new technologies. Most of us know the QuickBooks icon well. Our common frame of reference allows us to explore over-used, over-hyped technology terms like virtual computing, virtualization, cloud computing, cloud services and the cloud, in a way that guides us to a solid business decision.

In an article I wrote for my business, the last server you will ever need may very well be the server that contains your QuickBooks multi user application. I’ll show you one way that QuickBooks might be moved into the Cloud, explaining the terminology as we go. Consider this pathway as evolving from one configuration to the next logical step and so on. Chances are, your QuickBooks environment may reflect one on the steps along the path. Also consider that the entire point of this exercise, to replace the high cost of local infrastructure with the low cost of cloud resources motivates our journey down this path.

You may not be using QuickBooks in your business, but you probably understand that networked QuickBooks multi user requires networked server or desktop resources to share company files with other computers that have QuickBooks installed on them. Larger QuickBooks environments can have as many as thirty users. So you may have something like this illustration with PC1 hosting QuickBooks company files for PC2 through however many computers you have QuickBooks installed on.

Now, consider the very next step. Suppose you’ve reached the point in your business that you have more than a few users, you also have some automation going on with QuickBooks, you’ve purchased my “Build Your Own QuickBooks Production Server” book and you’ve replaced PC1 with a QuickBooks server. You now have the classic QuickBooks client/server environment that the majority of businesses find themselves inextricably bound to. That may sound negative, but it’s predicated on a business decision. Perhaps the classic QuickBooks client/server environment returns the best benefit for your investment.

Or, perhaps you require several servers, one for QuickBooks, one for your Goldmine CRM system and one for your email system. Enter virtual computing and virtualization, a popular “new” systems concept that’s been around for many, many years. I explored the costs of virtualization in a previous post.

Essentially, virtualization uses massive physical resources to create virtual resources. In other words, use one server to create three virtual servers. Then, instead of using three physical servers for your QuickBooks, Goldmine and email, you can use one physical server, much like this illustration.

The point of my previous post focuses on cost and how very difficult it becomes to make a business case for virtual computing and virtualization. But if you can make the business case, then by all means, utilize virtualization in your business, which brings us to the next step in our journey down this path.

Consider for a moment that your new massive physical server, now the most mission critical physical device in your inventory of business tools requires a more stable physical environment in which to operate and your employees desperately need remote access to QuickBooks, Goldmine and email from home and at customer locations.

Your choices require you to make software changes and place your hardware into a data center environment, either in your present offices or a datacenter. You’ve now entered a world of remote services utilizing Internet communications resources to access QuickBooks, Goldmine and email.

You own the server and other hardware as well as the hardware life cycle that dictates periodic replacement. You pay the monthly datacenter charges and equipment notes. You’re responsible to your employees, customers and vendors for uptime and service quality, even though you may have hired several IT people to keep things running. You know the costs and you’ve carefully considered ROI. You continue to pay for your computing resources 24/7 whether your employees, customers and vendors utilize them or not.

So, I want to introduce a new notion. Cloud computing covers a lot of ground, but the primary distinction rests with money. It’s a pay as you go program and has much in common with time shared computing introduced in the 1960s. You pay for only the computing resources that you use, and you can scale up or down as needed. “The very concept of cloud computing, and of cloud services, has been a long time in the making” but the name’s not important, the concept is. Yes, it’s datacenter and Internet based computing, using terminal services, web applications and Internet communications, but so is your own datacenter focused, virtualized computing environment.

So let’s unwind a bit. Some new ROI calculations comparing your own datacenter focused, virtualized computing environment and a Cloud computing environment are in order. Focus on the primary distinction of Cloud computing, paying for only the computing resources that you use, and scalability as needed.

Consider the three simple business necessities from the examples I’ve used above; accounting, CRM and email. Although your situation differs from my example, the logic aligns. QuickBooks alternatives exist, anywhere from utilizing RackSpace Windows Server instances to various QuickBooks hosted solutions certified by Intuit. CRM from 37signals continually receives rave reviews and easily replaces Goldmine. Email lives anywhere from an Amazon server instance or a cheap BlueHost web hosting account to a hosted Exchange Server account from Intermedia.

Research your own alternatives. You could save a boat load of money, returning it straight to the bottom line.

Virtualization Cost For Small To Medium Businesses

Business Systems Support Peachtree QuickBooks

Advertising builds expectations that lead to sales pipelines loaded with prospects armed with the seeds of anticipated pricing. Virtualization rapidly rose to the top of technical must-haves for businesses looking to upgrade their computing infrastructure.

Recently, Dell promoted it’s virtualization with an interesting ad. I don’t often get such a clear opportunity to demonstrate the costs that small to medium businesses can potentially incur from typical virtualization scenarios.

I probably don’t need to remind you that this ad does not include software licensing, conversion and maintenance costs. In a typical twenty-five user office scenario, software might include Microsoft Exchange Server for email, Microsoft SQL Server for the LOB database back end, Microsoft Terminal Services application delivery services for LOB software, fax services for network fax capability, a Goldmine or Act server for CRM, file services for document management, services to extend security software to each computer and services for Peachtree or QuickBooks Multi User accounting software.

Virtualizing all of these services and software components would not only require hardware in excess of the $25,999 package, but the software costs would push this project well beyond the $150,000.00 range, not to mention IT costs incurred to deploy and maintain your virtualized environment. I can easily see over $5000 per month in amortized and recurring costs, a large price to pay for a small business to move current infrastructure into a virtualized environment.

From a technical perspective, I love to do this stuff. And, your environment will look more uniform, take up less rack space, will be more recoverable and will perform well, all good reasons to leverage virtualization. However, there is a better way, one I will explore with you in my next post.

Annoying QuickBooks Error Codes

Business Systems Support QuickBooks

If your a QuickBooks user like me, you’ve probably noticed all of the mentions of errors popping up in QuickBooks about the time anyone gets up a head of steam to do a bunch of work. Again, if you are like me, you want all of your software to work all of the time. So, those annoying QuickBooks errors could be a real problem. Fortunately, they’re not typically a problem for me.

If you find yourself having to deal with application errors, Intuit can shed some light on them for you. They’ve received the calls so often that error code resolution’s built into the default search on their support web site.

I recently took the opportunity to respond to a question on LinkedIn at the Successful QuickBooks Consultants – QuickBooks Technical Questions group. You must join LinkedIn or sign in to see comments in this group.

Here’s the question. I hope my answer might help you.

I’ve used and supported QuickBooks environments almost twenty years. I agree that the proliferation of errors and increased sophistication of QuickBooks can be problematic. On various forums, blogs and visits to new clients sites, I primarily see two types of errors; errors related to connectivity to company files both on the local computer and across the network and errors related to data integrity issues. I also occasionally see setup and update errors.

Improvements to and increased sophistication of QuickBooks in recent years has increased the demand on both the computer where QuickBooks resides and the network where QuickBooks accesses company files in a multi user environment. End users need to be more careful about purchasing and configuring production computers and networks, as well as executing regular automated backups and an overall maintenance program in a typical QuickBooks production environment.

Intuit’s done a decent job of publishing necessary information about configuration, backup and maintenance, but I think much of the information is difficult for most end users to both access and understand. Computer and network configurations for reasonable performance of a typical QuickBooks environment exceed normal consumer understandings of such things.

My installations tend to be relatively error free because I remove any connectivity problems by doing things like utilizing fully certified cabled gigabit networking, moving any firewall software to the Internet gateway, using fast processors with maximum memory and automating computer maintenance. I eliminate data problems by automated backups and regularly scheduled file maintenance. QuickBooks updates are typically not automated to prevent installation and update errors.

QuickBooks offers a lot of bang for the buck, especially the Enterprise version. I know of multi thousand-dollar software that can’t do what QuickBooks does. But along with this level of sophistication comes the price of sophisticated infrastructure and close attention to detail. Most end users need to know that their expectations and level of computer systems understanding might be a bit skewed by their consumer frame of reference and that it might be time to call a seasoned IT professional.

QuickBooks To Update Or Not To Update

Business Systems Support QuickBooks

I tend to work on the “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it” level. I’m never the first person out selling the latest business technology and I never recommend the latest and greatest software for your business systems production environment. But, you can count on me to be on the bleeding edge with my own business software and hardware, both in production and in testing and evaluation. After all, I do this for a living.

I’m comfortably familiar with the bleeding edge, except when it comes to QuickBooks, the software I use to bill and count money; that’s right, MONEY. It took me from 1999 to 2008 to change my own version of QuickBooks. There is just too much at stake to move me off of the “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it” level. Change isn’t easy so if you want to change a software version, one needs a very compelling reason to do so. And one needs to schedule the transition carefully and deliberately, to positively impact one’s business, as opposed to the other stuff I constantly read about.

So, if you see one of these, avoid the urge to press the left button.

You’ll thank yourself later. After all, it’s too close to the end of the year, tax season and 5:00pm.

Cloud QuickBooks – Let Me Lay It Out For You

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Business Systems Support QuickBooks

What’s all the fuss about QuickBooks not being ready for cloud computing? This one’s easy. Since version 9, Intuit fully supports QuickBooks Enterprise installed on Microsoft Server 2008 with Terminal Services deployed. Details for installing QuickBooks on a Terminal Server clear up any questions about setup and make the process easy for anyone schooled in Server 2008 Terminal Services.

Currently available hosted QuickBooks solutions sets the precedent for reasonable speed, performance and security of applications solutions from vendors like InsynQ, Right Networks, myownasp.com and many others. Licensed through Intuit for hosting QuickBooks Pro through Enterprise and various add on software, these companies move thousands of QuickBooks users off of local computers, into hosted data centers with stable monthly services charges, usually around $50 per user. Strong arguments can be made for these solutions to be QuickBooks in the cloud, but not by popular definitions.

Contributors to Wikipedia state that cloud computing “typically involves the provision of dynamically scalable and often virtualized resources as a service over the Internet.” The key phrase here is “dynamically scalable” placing cloud computing firmly in the realm of services from Amazon Web Services, gogrid, The RackSpace Cloud and others. The “cloud computing” model, pay-as-you-go for server RAM hours, data transfer and storage usage easily scales from one to thirty users, the size of a large QuickBooks Enterprise deployment.

So, what about your QuickBooks in the cloud?

It’s a matter of time before QuickBooks Enterprise will not be the only product supported on Microsoft Terminal Services, by Intuit. Until that time comes, focus on using Enterprise for your cloud computing environment. Size your Windows 2008 server for the appropriate amount of QuickBooks users and add on software. Provision your Windows Server 2008 resources from a cloud service provider. Configure your virtual server to use terminal services. Complete a routine remote installation of QuickBooks Enterprise, a very straight forward task. Determine your method to deploy the application or desktop to end users. Copy your production company files and databases to your virtual server.

Your now in the cloud with your production QuickBooks environment. Enjoy the control you have over configurations and licensing. Scale to your maximum thirty users as needed by provisioning processor, RAM and storage as needed. Perform processor intensive operations like company file verify and rebuild, manipulating financial statements and spreadsheet operations on your virtual server’s desktop. Best of all, pay-as-you-go for computing resources. Your virtual QuickBooks Multi User environment in the cloud will pay big returns. ROI determined by your monthly expense compared to market pricing of hosted QuickBooks users, currently $50, should help make your evaluation and decision making process easy.