TECHNICAL BULLETIN 4.10.90 JCR ACCOUNTING SOFTWARE: AccPac BPI 3.0a, Computer Associates NETWORK INSTALLATION Installing BPI At the C: prompt, type A:INSTALL with the ACCPAC BPI System Manager Product 1 disk in drive A: BPI will then check the config.sys FILES= command to see that it meets the minimum requirement of 58. If not, BPI will readjust the file and prompt for reboot. Follow the prompts to install all of the System Manager Disks. Once the System Manager has been installed, at the BPI System Menu select I to Install New System. (If this menu did not appear, check the installation and run ABPI from the DOS prompt). The Install program will then prompt for each of the ACCPAC BPI General Accounting Product disks. This procedure will create a directory called \BPIES and install the necessary files. Installing ACCPAC BPI LanPak The network must be active to install the LanPak, and it should be installed from the server to a physical drive. Type A:INSTALL at the server's C: prompt with the LanPak disk in drive A:. The LanPak is self-configuring; it should return a message that indicates "Configuring System for IBM PC Network... ACCPAC BPI System Configuration Complete." The system detects the network type and configures BPI accordingly (for more information, refer to page 1-3, Setting up LanPak, in the LanPak Manual). User IDs Each user must be assigned a unique ID to log into ACCPAC BPI. Once the files have been installed, run ACCPAC BPI by typing in ABPI. This procedure may be done from either the server or a workstation. ACCPAC will then prompt for a user ID; the default is ANYONE. Press enter and the System Menu will appear. From the menu, select Assign User ID and then select Add. Enter a 6-character user ID name. Once the names have all been entered, press to return to the menu. LanPak will allow a maximum of eight active workstations at the same time. Further Configurations The installation program should set the following files to read only. If for some reason they are not read only, use the DOS ATTRIB +R command. Those files are: ABPI.COM BPIESHEL.EXE Once ACCPAC BPI has been installed, the workstations should log into the server and share the server's hard disk. The FILES= command is only required in the workstation's config.sys file if the user plans to store company data on that workstation's fixed disk drive. Each workstation must then log into the server, share the server's resource which contains the ACCPAC BPI files and select the location and company the user wishes to work with. To begin ACCPAC BPI, from the redirected drive, type ABPI. The system will prompt for a User ID. Enter one of the unique user IDs specified above. Once the menu appears, press the right arrow to hi-lite General Accounting, and choose the Select Company option. The system will then prompt for a data drive - enter the drive designation the files are located on. For example, the workstation may log into the server and issue a NET USE E: \\SERVER\BPIES {Where \\SERVER is the machine name of the Server and \BPIES is the resource on the server which contains the ACCPAC BPI files}. When that workstation runs BPI, it will change to drive E: and run ABPI. The location of the data files then will be placed on E:. This designation may be different on each workstation. The system will then prompt for Company ID. Enter the ID of the company created (see below). Then enter the appropriate date and select Y at the Okay prompt if no further changes are necessary. NOTE: The workstations may have different redirected drive values; BPI does not require that they run the program from the same redirected drive designation. First Time: Creating a Company To create a Company for use with ACCPAC BPI, one must run ABPI, select General Accounting and select Create Company. The system will prompt for company ID; enter a six character code which will represent the company. Next, specify a data drive; enter the appropriate location of the ACCPAC BPI files (as above). The system will then prompt for more detailed information on Chart of Accounts, formats, etc. NOTE: Once the company has been created, the Account ID format or the first open General Ledger Period may not be changed. Network Printing Each workstation must issue a NET USE command to link to the network printer, ie: NET USE LPT1 \\SERVER\@PRINTER {Where \\SERVER is the Server Name and \@Printer is the @Printer device name setup on the server machine}. A printer timeout (LPT TIMEOUT value) is not required. If the server is also a workstation, it must also issue the NET USE command to share the network printer. NETWORK OPERATION Once ACCPAC BPI has been installed, the workstations should log into the server and share the server's hard disk. After the company has been selected, the user should be able to move between the menus using the arrow keys and operate ACCPAC BPI. If the server is also a workstation, it may use BPI either from a redirected, substituted or physical drive. QUICK OPERATING NOTES Like ACCPAC, all functions are handled through a System Manager. The arrow keys allow the user to quickly move between options on each menu. The * allows the user to search for information in a given field. SUMMARY ACCPAC BPI 3.0 has a fail-safe installation procedure, and has no parculiarities to note. It has been added to our compatibility list. Vendor Info Computer Associates International, Inc. 1240 McKay Drive San Jose, CA 95131 (408) 432-1764 TESTING We tested ACCPAC BPI 3.0 with LANtastic by installing the product, creating a company and testing various file and record locking capabilities. The testing was uneventful, and I have briefly outlined the procedures: Installation No problems were encountered during the fail-safe installation of BPI. The system will modify the config.sys file as necessary. Configuration No problems were encountered in creating user ID names, as well as setting up company records. On a four-node system, each workstation ran ACCPAC BPI from a different redirected drive, and the server from a physical drive. BPI does not require that each machine use the same drive designator for data files. File/Record Locking With SHARE loaded, full File/Record Locking is provided. Only one user is allowed full access to a specific file. In this particular test, I edited the chart of accounts on each workstation (including the server). If two users had the chart open, only one person could save the changes made. The other users received a message: "Another station has changed the Chart of Accounts since you began. You must reenter your changes." ACCPAC BPI will still run without SHARE loaded, but the user will experience problems with file and record locking. Always make sure SHARE is loaded on the server. The resource sharing was also tested through General Journal entries, and through Accounts Receivable. Customer files were created, edited, and deleted over many workstations. Once again, BPI does not warn the user that someone else has the file open until the user attempts to save any changes made. No other problems occurred with file and record locking. Printing Each workstation must configure a printing device; if that device is the network printer, the workstation must issue the appropriate NET USE command to share the device across the network before running BPI. For all reports tested, a printer timeout was not required, and did not effect the performance when activated. Multiple jobs from multiple workstations were appropriately spooled to the server before printing to the specified network printer. Reported Problems One of our users reported the following error message during operation of BPI on a workstation: CODE=083, CLASS=013, ACTION=004, LOCUS=001. As it turned out, they had accidently turned the server off. We have not received any other problem reports on ACCPAC BPI. Testing Configuration The above tests were conducted on 4 nodes; a CompuAdd 386 and 8088, and two Artisoft 286 systems, along with a Panasonic KX-P1180 printer.