ConvergeOne Hosting

Understanding Hosting

With the hosted version of Prime, nearly everything is taken care of for you relating to running Prime. All you have to do is use it! A brief list of some of the features of hosting:

• High service levels -- redundant power, connections, and equipment help guarantee your Prime system is up and running
• Dedicated 24/7 staff -- call ConvergeOne at any time, day or night, weekday or weekend, and get a support technician
• System maintenance and upgrades -- don't worry about having to replace hardware or software; all that is done for you
• Backups -- daily backups ensure data will not be lost in the event of deletion by a user
• Security -- both physical and electronic security are taken very seriously; the data center is guarded and has internal safeguards; electronic access by users requires multiple stages of identification, including username and password verification, and staff number and password verification
• Virus protection -- monitored and updated regularly
• Secure access -- data is encrypted before it travels over the Internet

Keep in mind that ConvergeOne is providing the servers, operating systems, and software necessary to run Prime. Generally, that means that your local systems are doing very little, other than displaying what is happening on those remote servers. The ConvergeOne systems run Prime and send the visual information back to your local computer for display there. Your local computer then sends mouse and keyboard input to ConvergeOne. The ConvergeOne systems take that information and interact with the programs, displaying the new information to you.

Necessary System Requirements

The system requirements to use the hosted version of Prime are minimal, both in terms of the software and hardware required.

Access-based Version

For the Access-based version, you need Microsoft's Remote Desktop Client. This program comes in all current versions of Windows Operating Systems. It is also available for several other operating systems including MacOS, iOS, and Android. Just about any device running one of these operating systems can access the hosted, Access-based version.

MAC Setup

Microsoft provides the "Microsoft Remote Desktop" app that you can use to connect to Prime. You simply download it from the Apple App Store and then connect using the web portal (https://portal.kempscaseworks.com) or you can avoid that and set up a “workspace” in the app and see the available applications (including Prime).

To set up a "workspace" on a Mac, download the Microsoft Remote Desktop app from the App Store. Once installed, open the Microsoft Remote Desktop app and click on the + sign and choose Workspace. In the Add Workspace box, enter the portal web address: https://portal.kempscaseworks.com

It will probably show a workspace URL something like the one included here, just with RDWEB and some other stuff in it. Choose whether you want it to prompt for user account information or whether you want to put that in the app. (I would suggest having it ask when required for security purposes.) Click Add. It will prompt for your username and password (that would be the same one you would use on the web portal). Then you should see the same icons that you would see on the web portal. Click on them to start the various programs.

Windows Setup

Within a windows operating system (e.g., Windows 10), you can use the web portal directly. Using Internet Explorer will help avoid a second username/password prompt. For an alternative, like a "workspace" on a MAC, see this: https://www.kempscaseworks.com/helplinks/Announcements/Easy%20Application%20Startup.pdf

Web-based Version

The web-based version is only available within the hosted environment. Because it is purely web-based, almost any standard web browser on any operating system will suffice.

Access-based Operation

Web Portal

The web portal (https://portal.kempscaseworks.com) is the standard interface for logging in to the ConvergeOne system, as well as running the various programs available to users. Only those programs that have been approved for a user are displayed. [For users of non-Microsoft operating systems, your portal may appear in the Microsoft Remote Desktop application.] That portal, and the programs that may be available, looks like this:

Kemp's Prime

Opening the Kemp's Prime program will run the normal, user copy of Prime. The user copy of Prime is run using the runtime version of Access. This limits a user to the standard interface within Prime. Running the user copy will prevent the modification or addition of forms, reports, and queries. It also limits the user's ability to interact with the database tables directly. This helps secure your system.

Kemp's Prime Admin

Opening the "Kemp's Prime Admin" program will run the master copy of Prime. The master (main) copy of the front end (user interface) is also called the 'Admin' (administrative) copy. The admin copy can only be opened by an administrative users within ConvergeOne. An administrative user has special rights above regular users. The admin copy is run with the full version of Access, allowing an administrator to run and modify the admin copy, including adding new forms, reports, queries, or code.

Push Admin Changes

The admin copy holds additions or modifications and can be used to test those changes. Once an administrator is assured the changes are good, they can "Push Out" the admin copy for users by running the "Push Admin Changes" program. This function takes a snapshot of the current admin copy and makes it available for users. Some new items (such as forms and reports) may not be available to users until they start using the latest version of the admin copy.

Active Users

When the admin copy is pushed out, users already operating in Prime (active users) will not immediately see a change--they continue to use the version of Prime that they are running. To get the newest version, they must close Prime and restart it. Make sure users are actually exiting the system: they must use the menu and select Exit. Clicking the "X" in the top-right corner may only put Prime in disconnect status, and not actually close it. When users restart Prime, the new admin copy is used and they will see the changes.

Inactive Users

If a user is not active (not logged on to ConvergeOne and not running Prime), the new admin copy is used the next time they start Prime, and they will see the changes then.

Web-based operation

The web-based system does not require a direct logon through the portal. Rather, you will direct your Internet browser to your organization-specific URL. User credentials are verified, staff #, password, and email is used to provide two-factor authentication. Once verified and authenticated, the web-based Prime starts.

Understanding Document Tracking from within ConvergeOne

For safety purposes, programs on ConvergeOne run in a “sandboxed” environment—-meaning they are cut off from and separate from your own systems. You are limited, in a default setup, to merely viewing Prime as it runs on ConvergeOne. You can allow access to your local hard drives by having ConvergeOne enable “drive mapping.” With drive mapping, you will be able to see your local drives (such as the C: drive) from Prime within ConvergeOne. Typically, it would be shown in ConvergeOne as something like “C: on <your computer’s name>”. You can then select local files from that drive to be copied to ConvergeOne and put in Document Tracking.

Opening Documents in Document Tracking

Unless you subscribe to the full Office suite (Word, Excel, Powerpoint) within ConvergeOne, when you open a document in standard Prime, it will be opened within the ConvergeOne system. For cost and compatibility purposes, we use a free office suite called OpenOffice. It has programs that can open most of the Microsoft office types of files for viewing, as well as other file types such as WordPerfect.