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Setting up a company with e.g. 3 branches in different locations.
Listed in order of speed and convenience.
Option 1.
Setup a dedicated or virtual server at a hosting provider like Hetzner. A hosted server has a fast 100Mb/s+ internet connection in a secure data centre.
All the branches will now be working from this server. Statements can be separately printed for each branch or can be combined. Multiple warehouses can be setup and inter branch transfers can be used.
There is costs involved for hosting the virtual server.
Option 2
Put your server on the internet and use Remote Desktop to connect to the server.
Everything is exactly the same as option 1 except that the connection will be slower. Upload speed is the most important factor: ADSL is usually too slow, symmetric fibre is better.
To use the remote desktop option the following requirements must be met.
•You must have a fixed IP address and a router that can handle a fixed IP address. Forward the RDP port 3389 from the router to the server.
•A Windows professional version with special RDP patch or Windows Server and client access licenses.
•We recommend Windows Server 2016 Essentials because it comes with 25 client access licenses builtin.
Your ISP will charge an extra fee for the fixed IP and you may have to replace your internet router.
If the internet breaks down then the server will still be up and running at the location where the server is based.
Option 3
Operate each branch separately with different databases. Use siLink to sync items, prices and see stock levels at other branches.
Inter-Branch clearing GL accounts and external warehouse transfers are used and a manual statement consolidation will be required at year end.
Account customers will need an account at each branch and you can't centralize admin.
Advantage is speed and reliability.
