Access System Five from Different Locations

Windward's Standalone WAN, or W.E.A.R. (Windward Emergency Area Replication), is a failsafe solution for businesses that use a remote computing applications like Microsoft Terminal Services, over the Internet. It provides access to their Windward Software to users at different physical locations. This benefits all system users by providing access to company-wide data in real-time.

A Safety Net for Remote Locations

Until now, the major problem with remote computing using business management software has been the reliability of your Internet connection. When the Internet goes down at a remote location, it was difficult to make sales. Worse yet, if the Internet goes down at head office, all remotes find themselves unable to make sales.

This is why Windward developed Standalone WAN as an optional backup for our business management software. W.E.A.R. provides remote locations a safety net in the event that they can't connect to head office. It acts as a hybrid between our full-blown replication solution (polling) and our Standalone LAN workstation feature.

  • Access company-wide data in real-time
  • Conduct business wirelessly in emergency situations
  • Provide remote locations a safety net
  • Keep selling when Internet is down
  • Simplifies view of stock records and invoices
Keep the sales flowing... even when the internet is unavailable

Using Emergency Datasets

Emergency datasets synchronize with the main dataset using the polling application, the same as normal replication. The difference is that the active server (the collection of settings that define a replication site) has a flag that indicates it as an emergency dataset.

A Standalone-WAN dataset is intended for emergency use only. As such, it has the same restrictions that Standalone-LAN mode has with regard to the information that it can send back to the main dataset. Specifically, it can send the following information:

  • Customer
  • Invoice
  • Payment (payments must be made as R-type invoices)

Like Standalone LAN mode, when Standalone WAN exports data to the main dataset, it resets itself. This means that if you create an invoice in the W.E.A.R. dataset, that invoice will be available only until the next time that polling exports to the main dataset. Once the export is complete, the invoice is removed from the emergency system.

Exporting Emergency Datasets

Unlike full-blown replication, polling for an emergency dataset cannot perform an export while users are logged into the dataset. This is because the dataset must be reset after doing the export and this is not possible when users are connected. 

Like Standalone LAN mode, the view of your real database in Standalone WAN is simplified. Because stock records and customer invoices are not stored in the emergency dataset, a W.E.A.R. installation creates temporary placeholders.

For example, if your POS and accounting software indicates a customer owes a total of $500 for three unpaid A/R invoices, in the emergency dataset, there will be a single invoice for $500 that is used to preserve that customer's balance. This invoice is not viewable or editable.

Keep working using a limited set of inventory control features until access to the central database is restored

Handling Stock Records

Stock records are treated similarly to invoices. Windward’s business management software uses stock records to store information such as:

  • Quantity
  • Cost
  • Serial numbers

In an emergency dataset, a placeholder stock record that amalgamates all of the individual stock records for that part is used. This means your Windward business management software solution can't determine profitability because it can't determine the true cost of an item sold since the cost on the placeholder stock record is the average. Also, you won’t be able to sell serialized items because the stock record that stores the serial number does not exist.

Like normal replication and standalone mode, you can't create special orders in an emergency dataset.

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