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InsynQ Services Overview
4
Steps to Connecting to InsynQ
Using the service
There are five basic types of service available
directly from InsynQ:
AccountingStation
This is our
entry-level QuickBooks Pro or Premier hosting solution. For users who
simply need QuickBooks functionality, but in a hosted delivery, the
AccountingStation is the right choice. The AccountingStation is a
published instance of QuickBooks and provides native functionality of
the application, including optional MS Office integrations so you can
still report in Excel, write letters in Word, and perform the other
functions you are used to with the QuickBooks application. All online
banking, payroll services, and other features supported by the core
product are fully functional in the hosting environment.
Virtual Desktop
The "desktop" is the
service that provides you with a complete Windows workstation
environment, where we can place icons for all the applications we host
for you. The virtual desktop service offers you complete visibility to
your file system via Windows Explorer, the standard desktop applets such
as Calculator, Paint and WordPad, and even gives you the Internet
Explorer browser so you can access Web-based applications and services
right from your virtual desktop. The desktop has a base price, and
incremental charges are applied for the various applications you
subscribe to have hosted on the desktop. Subscribers of custom service
and dedicated hosting environments benefit with all users having the
Virtual Desktop delivery, providing access to the variety of
applications hosted in the environment from a single desktop interface.
eFileShare
The eFileShare
service (which includes the eFileSafe backup tool) is a secure Web-based
folder service that makes sharing files with team members and clients a
snap. With managed storage and a variety of useful features, the
eFileShare system gives you an affordable online solution for storing
and sharing any type of electronic document or file. The eFileSafe
backup tool runs on local PCs and adds local backup to the list of
eFileShare features. By selecting the files to protect and setting a
backup schedule, your files are encrypted and copied to your eFileShare
vault where you can access them from anywhere at any time.
docs.cpaasp
docs is our new
document and records management system, powered by technology from
Acct1st. This totally hosted solution gives you a robust system that
offers a large array of features and services your business needs. The
Windows desktop client provides Internet access directly to the document
store, so you can access your documents from your virtual desktop or
from your local Windows PC. Filing to the document system is simple and
straightforward, and indexing and search capabilities are lightening
fast for quick file locating and access.
Web-application
hosting services
InsynQ offers hosting
for not just Windows applications - we host a variety of Linux platform
applications as well. The SugarCRM framework, for example, is hosted
and delivered by us for companies who need robust Web-based CRM
functionality. Our Always-ON CRM system is based on SugarCRM
framework. The Appgen MyBooks Professional and Custom Suite systems can
also be hosted on Linux servers, offering managed accounting and ERP for
businesses who need extensive capability and unlimited growth.
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Host on Demand means that InsynQ is
providing hosting services - not licensing - for your applications. We
will host software applications that you have already purchased
licensing for, placing them in our protected datacenter and securing
them within our network. We keep the applications managed and running
so you don't have to. In many cases, it is illegal to rent software
licenses, so you must first purchase your licensing so that we can host
it. In a few instances, such as with Microsoft Office, application
licenses may be rented on a per-user per-month basis. InsynQ reports to
our software partners (such as Intuit and Microsoft) on the licenses
being hosted or rented on the ASP platform.
InsynQ is licensed by
Intuit to host the QuickBooks applications, and is a Microsoft hosting
partner.
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InsynQ’s
security policies have been developed to
provide a maximum level of surety to our clients and partners that
proprietary, confidential information will be kept secure and
confidential. Our policies allow InsynQ personnel and technologies to
provide certain services and functionality to our subscribers while
retaining maximum confidentiality of identity and security of customer
data. At minimum, our data security and protection services provide for
continuous file system scanning for virus signatures or activity, as
well as on-demand and on-access scanning of certain servers and network
resources. Compromised files are quarantined in secure systems, where
cleaning or removal of the virus code takes place. Strict controls are
placed on the quarantine systems preventing their interaction with
"live" file systems on the network. Baseline data security and
protection services further provide for regular, nightly backups of data
to near-line storage in the datacenter. Additionally, near-line data
may be archived to removeable media and rotated offsite to secure
storage facilities, allowing for additional protection of the archive
data sets separate from the datacenter or online facilities. Typical
available restore window opportunity extends for four (4) business days
from date of archive.
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InsynQ understands that
security and confidentiality of information is a key element to the
success of the application services we have developed. The following
diagram provides a basic outline of the
architecture of the network,
and associated components that serve to strengthen the security model of
the service.
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There are two basic
file system approaches for our
AccountingStation and Virtual Desktop setups.
Single-level file system (Top-Level
company)
when users at this level log in, they will
see the following available drives:
K: drive for shared company files
Admin folder and group for
administrative members (if required)
H: drive for personal files
or
Dual-level file system (Top-Level company
or e-Accountant and sub-level client accounts)
when users log in at the top-level, they
will see the following available drives:
K: drive for shared company files
H: drive for personal files
L: drive for client folders
when users login at the sub-level
(client), they will see the following available drives:
K: drive for shared company files
(this is really the folder under the L: drive that the top-level users
see)
H: drive for personal files
Remember that even
though your users may be able to see certain files, there is still
application- or file-level security that can be set up. For example,
Word documents may be password-protected within Word, or even set as
"read-only" at the file system level. For QuickBooks users, the
QuickBooks data file security still comes in to play. You can setup
user names and passwords in the QB data file which restrict the users
from being able to access certain functions within the application, or
even restrict them from opening the data file.
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InsynQ sets up 3 basic
types of subscriber organizations
for the AccountingStation or Virtual Desktop services:
Top-level company
Single-level file system
K: drive for shared company data
H: drive for personal files
e-Accountant
top-level company; dual-level file
system
K: drive for shared company data
H: drive for personal files
L: drive for CLIENT folders
Client business of an e-Accountant
sub-level company; second level of
dual-level file system
K: drive for shared company files
(e-Accountant views as L:
drive/CLIENT folder)
H: drive for personal files
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There are four basic
user types for AccountingStation and
Virtual Desktop service:
Top-level company Admin
full access rights to K: drive
e-Accountant access to client folders
on L:
Top-level company user
full access rights to K: drive, except
for Admin folder(s)
e-Accountant access to client folders
on L:
Top-level contractor user
limited access rights to K: drive
permissions to access specific CLIENT
folders on L:
complex permissions management
available
Client-level user
full access rights to K: drive
no visibility of other CLIENT folders
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Applications that can be
hosted generally include any Windows application that has been
designed to run in a standard Windows network environment. There are
many applications that are technically able to be run in this
environment, but due to the server requirements it may simply not be
cost effective to do so. Quicken is a good example of this problem: it
can only be installed once per server. This means that only a single
user may use the application, and there is no privacy of data, rendering
it too costly for most to run in a hosted environment.
While most applications will run on our servers, we must be careful
to not mix and match programs that do not work well together on the same
system. This is why we may limit certain applications to "custom
service" environments rather than "shared" or standard service, in order
to protect those applications already running in the shared service
area. Custom services are available to meet the specific needs of an
organization with the particular mixture of applications and services
required.
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Order new service,
or modifications to existing service: find the order forms
here
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AccountingStation new user form for
new AccountingStation subscriptions
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AccountingStation modification form to
modify an existing AccountingStation account
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Virtual Desktop order form for new
subscriptions (whether for a new or existing account)
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Virtual Desktop modification form to
modify existing service, terminate service, etc.
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Custom server new user form to add
users to your custom service
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Custom server user modification form
to modify or terminate users from your custom service
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Session Shadowing order form to get
shadowing capability for your account
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Docs.cpaasp order form to get our
docs.cpaasp document management service
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eFileShare order form to subscribe to
an eFileShare account
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Step 1: Connect to the public Internet
Turn on your computer, and then launch
your Internet browser. For most users, this is the Internet Explorer
browser or possibly Netscape. For AOL users, make sure that you have the
Internet Explorer browser installed as well as the AOL browser.
Make sure that you
are able to access a variety of Websites, including:
If you are unable to establish an Internet
connection, or cannot access the above Websites:
Responsible: Subscriber; network
configuration; internal IT department
Responsible: ISP
Responsible: ISP
Responsible: Subscriber; network
configuration; internal IT department
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Step 2: Access
the CPAASP Website
In your Internet browser application,
access the Website for e-Accounting services:
www.cpaasp.com
If you are unable to access the above
Website:
Responsible: ISP
Test: a simple ping test utility can be
obtained from our support department to help troubleshoot connectivity
and routing issues.
Responsible:
InsynQ, Inc.
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Step 3: Launch
the application service
In your Internet browser application,
access the url which launches the application service.
Visit the e-Accounting Website to access login links to all services.
If the application session does not start:
Responsible: Subscriber; system
configuration; internal IT department.
Install: The plug-in installation files
can be obtained from our login website.
Responsible: Subscriber
Suggest: Microsoft Internet Explorer v5 to
test plug-in detection.
Responsible: Subscriber; network
configuration; internal IT department.
Requirements: open TCP port 1494, UDP port
1604
Alternatives: Try using the complete
desktop ICA client rather than the browser plug-in. The desktop client
can be obtained from Citrix.com directly, and is available for a wide
variety of computing platforms and operating environments.
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Step 4: Login
to the application service
When prompted, enter your username and
password. If you are not able to gain access or if your login is not
accepted by the system:
Responsible: Subscriber; Account
Administrator
Responsible: Subscriber; Account
Administrator
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There is already a
session open, or the system reports that
you do not have permissions to run the application (message displayed
after system attempts to launch application service)
If your account is already logged in to
our servers, you will not be allowed to launch the application service
again. If you have disconnected from a session or for other reasons
have an abandoned session on the servers, you should use the "force
logoff" tool from your web applications menu to clear the session. Wait
until the shell window appears and then cycles through the servers -
reporting that your session has been found and logged off. Once the
shell window closes, you will be able to then launch your application
service.
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Having problems opening a QuickBooks
2006 data file? The new QuickBooks
data server often needs to have us perform an administrative "open" of
the data file once it is moved to our servers. This most is required
most frequently when you need to allow multi-user access to the
database. We need to tell our servers that the file is available, and
this sometimes requires that we run a small database utility against the
file. If you are having problems opening a QB2006-format data file,
contact our support department and ask them for assistance.
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QuickBooks
2007 versions are built a little better for our environment than
the 2006 versions, but it still isn't perfect on the terminal server.
While performance may be somewhat improved, there are still a few little
irritating factors which remain.
When you launch QuickBooks 2007 in our
environment, it isn't able to "remember" the name and location of the
last data file(s) you worked on. Rather than selecting from the
"previously opened" menu, you must browse to the file system to locate
and open your file. This is caused by the sharing of a certain
information file that contains your personal settings for QuickBooks.
Because this file is shared on the servers, we cannot allow individual
users to write information to them. This is why QuickBooks 2007 is
unable to remember the last file you worked on.
QuickBooks also seems to "forget" your
printer selections. If you have different printer selections for
various forms, etc., you will likely have to reselect the printer each
time.
All other functionality appears to be
working just fine.
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Moving files
from your local PC to the hosted system is very straightforward.
If you have the Virtual Desktop
service, simply open the Windows Explorer on your virtual desktop. This
will allow you to browse to your hosted file system, as well as to your
PC local drives (C & D typically).
If you do not see your local drives in
the list, then your "client security settings" are not set to allow this
interaction. To see if you can reset the status of your account, simply
right-click on the top frame of the browser window where your Virtual
Desktop is running, and select "Client Security Status". You will then
be able to view the settings and, if permitted, select a new security
setting (typically "full access").
If you have the AccountingStation
service, select to open a new company data file, and then open the
"browse" window to find the file. Browse to your local PC (modify
client security setting as above, if required) and right-click on the
file name and select "copy". Browse to your hosted file system
(K-drive, usually), and then right-click to "paste" the file. You will
see a brief file transfer window while the file is being copied to the
host.
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 If
you are unable to see your local PC drives
when browsing your file system, check to make sure that your Client
Security Status allows full access to your local drives. You can verify
or reset these settings by right-clicking on the title bar of the
browser window where your session is running. You will see a box appear
with the above options. Select "Client Security Status", and then the
following dialogue box will be displayed.
 Select
the option No Access if you do not want the session to interact with
your local drives.
Select the option Read Access if you only
want to be able to view files on the local, but not move files there.
Select the option Full Access if you want
to be able to move files to and from your local drives.
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