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Pre-installation Guide

Copyright 2016 Manufacturing Information Systems, Inc.

217-4 Maxham Meadow Way
P.O. Box 795
Woodstock, Vermont 05091
MISys and the MISys logo are registered trademarks of Manufacturing Information Systems, Inc.

From the President

I understand that you have just purchased the MISys Manufacturing System.
Welcome to our family!
Dave Brown, MISys President

Whether you choose to install MISys Manufacturing yourself, or get

professional assistance, reading this Pre-installation Guide will help you understand the big picture.
If youre like most new MISys customers, youre just catching your breath, having completed an
exhaustive search and evaluation of multiple manufacturing software packages. Youre probably
wondering whats next?

Whats Next
As soon as your payment is processed, the MISys Customer Service Department will be in touch with you
to get some additional information about how you plan to deploy MISys Manufacturing. Theyll tell you
about the MISys SureStart program, help you reserve your seat at the next available MISys Training
Workshop, and provide you with a unique MISys Manufacturing System serial number.

Downloading the Software

Customer Service will tell you how to download the MISys software. Unlike in the old pre-Internet days,
MISys doesnt send out CDs any more. You download the latest copy from the MISys web server. This
means you can get started right away without having to wait for a package to arrive in the mail.
When I last checked, the MISys installation file was about 300Mb, so youll want to make sure you have
a reasonably fast connection to the Internet before you begin the download process. You should be fine if
you have DSL or cable internet service. If you dont, get back in touch with Customer Service for their
suggestions. In a pinch, you can go to your public library or some other place where they have fast
Internet available and download the MISys installation file to a thumb drive.

Internet Connection
Youre going to need a live connection to the Internet in order for MISys to work. A number of functions
built into the MISys software require access to Internet-based data. The program doesnt require a fast
connection to do its thing, but you must have some sort of live connection.
Its not that MISys will stop working when it is disconnected from the Internet, or if your Internet
connection is temporarily down. I regularly use the program installed on my laptop while flying across
the country. I understand that some MISys functions cant work as well at 30,000 feet as they do when
Im plugged in at my office.
I am told that MISys will get kind of cranky if I dont let it connect to the Internet every once in a while,
but Ive had it disconnected for over a week at a time without any signs of trouble.

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Periodic Updates
From time to time, the program will be asking you whether you want to upgrade to a new version.
Usually this just requires installing some updated modules, but there may be times when the upgrade
requires a complete download of a new installation file.

Planning Your Installation

Before you launch into installing MISys Manufacturing on your desktop or laptop computer, we should
discuss the various installation options that MISys provides and decide which of them best suits your
needs and capabilities.

MISys Manufacturing System Components

First, you should know that MISys is a 3-tier client-server application. Now if none of those words are in
your vocabulary, dont worry. Here is what they mean in regular, everyday English:
This MISys Manufacturing System actually consists of three major components: the MISys Client, the
MISys Server, and the MISys Database Engine.
MISys Client
The MISys Client is the part of the program that you interact with when you are running MISys on your
desktop or laptop computer. Everyone else in your company is also running their own copy of the MISys
Client which is installed on their desktop or laptop computer.
MISys Server
Whether you have one MISys Client running in your company, or ten, or one hundred, each MISys Client
is communicating with the MISys Server. There is only one MISys Server for any installation of the
MISys Manufacturing System and all the MISys Clients communicate with it. While the clients do a fair
amount of work displaying MISys screens and helping you navigate through the program, its the MISys
Server that does all the heavy lifting; reading and writing data, performing computations, and analyzing
the results.
MISys Database Engine
The MISys Database Engine is that part of your system where all your data is stored. The Database
Engine wasnt actually built by MISys. Its actually a copy of Microsofts SQL Server software. MISys
chose this software for its database engine for a number of reasons: 1) its powerful, 2) it is an industrystandard product used and understood by IT professionals all over the world, and 3) many larger
companies already have it installed.
MISys actually includes a 5-user copy of Microsoft SQL Server Express with every MISys
Manufacturing system. So even if you have never heard of SQL Server before this (and wouldnt be able
to pick one out of a crowd) dont worry. The default MISys database engine will be set up for you in the
process of installing the software.

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Microsoft SQL Server Express
As I said, the Microsoft SQL Server Express software is included in the price of MISys Manufacturing. It
is billed as a 5-user database engine, but dont let that worry you if you plan to have more than 5 users.
SQL Server Express doesnt keep track of how many different users are accessing it. It cant know that.
As best I can tell, it starts to bog down when more than 5 users at a time are asking it to do its thing. The
good news is that you might have 10 or 20 MISys users and, depending on the way you use the program,
you might never have 5 of them hitting SQL Server Express at any instant in time. Lucky you.
For Installations outside of North America: Microsoft SQL Express Edition is designed for the North
American region computing environment only. If you intend to use the MISys Manufacturing System
outside North America, you must install your own copy of Microsoft SQL Server 2005 or later.
Microsoft SQL Server
Of course, as your MISys user count increases, so does the likelihood that youll push SQL Server
Express beyond its bounds. Nothing bad will happen, but the database engine will start to throttle back
and you wont be happy with the performance of your MISys system. Thats when you should be looking
at installing a full copy of Microsoft SQL Server. This is software that you purchase directly from
Microsoft, or from a Microsoft reseller. Consult your IT Department for help on getting Microsoft SQL
Server installed on your computer network.
If you dont have an IT Department and dont know where to obtain Microsoft SQL Server, its time to
get some professional assistance. I once tried to save the cost of an accountant by filing my own IRS1020
corporate tax return. It took me 5 years and many hours of expensive accountancy to iron out the
problems I created. Dont be penny-wise and pound-foolish.
Another reason for having professional assistance setting up SQL Server is that the software has a number
of maintenance functions that allow you (they knowledgeable user) to tune the database engine for
optimal performance, schedule periodic backups, and more.
The MISys Technical Support Department stands ready to help you with problems related to the operation
of the MISys software, but they dont count Microsoft SQL Server as part of their purview. So it is wise
to have someone on staff, or readily available, to help you when the need arises.

Deployment Options
The 3-tier client-server architecture weve been discussing provides you with a number of options when it
comes to deciding on how to deploy MISys within your company. Lets have a look at some typical ones.
Single-user Deployment
If you plan to install MISys on your desktop PC, or on a laptop, things get very simple.
Obviously, you wont have more than one user, so the 5-user copy of Microsoft SQL Server Express will
be all you need. And all three components of the MISys system (the MISys Client, the MISys Server, and
the MISys Database Engine) will be installed on your desktop PC or laptop.
But dont think for a minute that you can cheap out by dragging one of your old computers out of the
closet and setting it up as your MISys machine. MISys does a lot of hard work and so it puts a big load on
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your computer. Make sure that the computer you select has a fast CPU, a fast hard drive, and above all, as
much RAM memory as you can cram into it.
Considering what computers cost these days, Id be inclined to celebrate my purchase of MISys by calling
my favorite computer hardware supplier and purchasing a new computer that meets all the specs MISys
publishes on its website. MISys is a memory hog, so dont be cheap when it comes to buying all the
memory you can.
LAN Deployment
More likely than not, youre going to install MISys on your companys local area network (LAN) so that
everyone who needs to can access the wealth of information the program can deliver.
This means that everyones desktop PC will have the MISys Client installed, but that the MISys Server
will be installed somewhere on the network where every PC can reach it.
This is another place where you dont want to be using one of those old PCs you have kicking around as
the MISys Server. Remember, the server does all the heavy lifting for MISys and needs to have capacity
to handle requests from all your users, just in case they all pressed the Do It button at the same time.
If you intend to deploy MISys on your companys LAN, this is a good place to consider a dedicated
machine for the purpose. You might be able to get away with installing the MISys Server software on the
same machine that handles all your accounting, CRM, and other office applications.
Might. But youd be much smarter to reserve a specific machine as your MISys Manufacturing System
server. Trust me.
The 3-tier client-server architecture of MISys Manufacturing allows you to install the MISys Database
Engine anywhere you want and, in my experience, most people install it on the same machine as the
MISys Server. I think this should work perfectly well as long as the machine you select has plenty of
available RAM memory.
An exception to this guidance would be the case where a company already had an installation of
Microsoft SQL Server on another (probably dedicated) machine for other purposes. In a larger shop, this
is a likely scenario.
The good news is that you can separate the MISys Database Engine from the MISys Server and let each
live on its own machine, optimized for the purpose. In the case of very heavy anticipated usage, this is the
route I would recommend.
Internet Deployment
If your company is likely to have MISys users spread in different cities, states, and countries (anyplace
where it is inconvenient or impossible to run your own coax cable) then you should have a look at
Internet deployment. That is, the ability to connect a computer running the MISys Client to a computer
running the MISys Server over the Internet.
The magic that makes this all possible is that the normal, everyday connection between the MISys Client
and the MISys Server is done using HTTP (HyperText Transfer Protocol). If youre like me, you have no
clue how HTTP actually works, but you depend on it every day. Its one of the very basic building blocks
of the Internet: a method by which information is transferred from Point A to Point B.
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If you had a manufacturing plant in Bejing and another in Chicago, and users in both plants needed to
access the MISys data simultaneously, you could elect to deploy MISys over the Internet. You would
install the MISys Server in Chicago (along with as many MISys Client machines as you needed). And
you would install as many MISys Client machines in Bejing as you needed. However, the Bejing clients
would all be set to communicate with the Chicago server via HTTP.
Since HTTP is the same mechanism we all use every day to browse the Web, the connection between a
remote MISys Client and a local MISys Server is no more complex, no more difficult to manage than a
session in a web browser. For anyone concerned, the MISys client-server connection using plain vanilla
HTTP is firewall friendly.
If you look closely when installing the MISys Client on a PC inside your office, you will discover that
MISys uses the same HTTP to communicate with a server in the next room. So MISys doesnt really care
whether the wire you have strung between your PC and the MISys Server machine is 6 feet long, 6 miles
long, or 6,000 miles long (except that if it is going to be miles long, youd best use the Internet instead of
a very big spool of wire).
When installing a MISys Client on your company LAN, you tell it where on your LAN to find the MISys
Server. When installing a MISys Client on the Internet, you tell it where on the Internet to find the MISys
Server. One connection string (or URL) is inside your network, the other is outside your network.
Otherwise, it matters not. HTTP does the work.

Integrating With An Accounting System

You can run the MISys Manufacturing System stand-alone as a very capable inventory control and
manufacturing management system. But I believe the vast majority of MISys users (there are thousands of
them around the world) choose to integrate MISys with an existing accounting system.
Today, MISys integrates seamlessly with 5 popular accounting systems: Intuit QuickBooks (including
QuickBooks Enterprise Solutions), Sage 50 US (Peachtree), Sage 300 ERP, Sage 50 CAN (Simply), and
Intacct.
What MISys means by seamless is that the points of integration between the manufacturing system and
the accounting system are entirely automated. You may have to click the Go button to start any
integration process (such as Period End that transfers manufacturing subledger transactions to your
accounting systems General Ledger) but gone are the days when you did an export from one system and
an import into the other.
New Accounting System
If you have purchased a new accounting system as part of your decision to computerize your
manufacturing management, you may be wondering whether you should deploy MISys first, or the
accounting system first.
In my 25+ years consulting for small- to medium-sized businesses, I havent developed strong feelings
one way or the other. Each has its advantages, each its disadvantages. If your focus is on getting your
manufacturing operations out of the weeds and back on an even keel; if you go home every night
sputtering about how your purchasing people buy the right thing at the wrong time, or the wrong thing at
the right time; if missing important customer shipments creates an unbearable pain, then by all means
defer the deployment of a new accounting system and concentrate on getting manufacturing under
control.
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Existing Accounting System
If you have an existing accounting system, you have a different set of problems (and a potential disaster
in your hands) if you dont create a plan that everyone in your company subscribes to and you stick with
it.
On the surface, MISys is a manufacturing system. But under the covers, it is an accounting system. You
can flip a switch and disable its accounting functions, but its real intent was to create and maintain a
manufacturing subledger which will feel your companys General Ledger in the same way your accounts
payable and accounts receivable subledgers feed your GL. When everything is humming right, your
monthly financial statements accurately and reliably reflect the activities of your manufacturing
operations.
Getting MISys Manufacturing plugged into your existing accounting system is no easy task, especially if
the accounting system is already live and feeding your executive staff with necessary financial data. Your
job will be to get MISys working the way you want, then on some agree-on time, plug it into your
accounting system. Think of the old TV westerns showing the cowboy galloping at full tilt next to the
speeding train, poised to jump at just the right moment.
In truth its not really that bad, mainly because MISys allows you to either shut off the manufacturing
subledger entirely, or better yet to shuttle the subledger transactions it generates off to a spreadsheet
where everyone in Accounting (especially the CFO) can scrutinize the result. After the spreadsheet has
passed muster for several months, you and Accounting (including the CFO) can agree on a time to flip the
MISys integrated accounting switch to ON.

Summary
Before moving on to the installation of the MISys Manufacturing software, make sure you are certain
about two things:
1. How you wish to deploy MISys (single user PC, LAN, or Internet).
2. Whether you wish to integrate MISys with your accounting system now, or later.
If you arent certain about these things, the MISys Customer Service folks will be happy to assist you.
Theyve worked with many manufacturers over the years who have struggled with the same issues.

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