1 hosted database with FM Books Connector plugin, and 2 QB sites

[D. Elam]

A client of mine has a single database hosted for 2 separate branches. They are currently accessing a single QuickBooks application remotely from each branch, but are considering having 2 separate QB licenses (1 at each location) to simplify accounting for each branch.

Will this be an issue for the FM Books Connector plugin? It seems to me that as long as QB accepts the certificate it should work, but I was wondering if anyone has experience with this type of setup.

[Geoffrey Gerhard]

It isn't an issue for the plug-in to talk to whatever QB Company file has already been opened by a user. If you're looking at a "headless" connection, where the QB Company file is running without an accessible UI and get's opened by FMP, you'll need some way of identifying each branch's path to that branch's QB Company file.

Is there any overlap between Customers, Vendors, and/or Items between the two branches? If so, successfully integrating the common elements with separate QB Company files hinges on a number of variables and quickly grows in complexity as it moves from a "kinda fragile" to a "pretty robust" integration.

Simple and fragile would have FMP identifying all List records ( Customers, Vendors, Items, Terms, etc. ) using FullName. The problem here is that someone at BranchA changing the FMP Customer Name value will break the ability of BranchB to identify that record in their QB Company file.

Complex and robust would have you tracking the ListID values for each branch's copy of QB. The problem here is that you'll have to create separate scripts for each branch's integration with QB, or create some kind of "abstraction" to determine which Branch's QB ListID value to use when assembling a QB Request.

A third option would be identifying transaction data separately in QB using an otherwise unused ( or Custom ) QB field. Your QB Transaction Requests ( Invoice, Payment, Bill, ReceivePayment ) could pass a value to the specified field, and that field could be used as a Filter criteria for any Reporting in QB.

A fourth option would be to split the FMP files into separate versions for each branch, and use FMP 17's ability to quickly update/deploy the database schema/structure changes. That would mean you have extra work when you do development work.

None of these options are "pain free" in the sense that there's extra work involved for someone to make things go smoothly. If it were me, I'd probably lean toward the fourth option.

HTH!

Geoffrey Gerhard
Creative Solutions Incorporated
14000 Creekside Drive
Matthews, NC  28105
704) 814-6852

[D. Elam]

Thanks for the info, Geoffrey. I'm still trying to determine the client's need for the 2nd QB file, as there are common vendors, items, etc. We set up each branch with a unique IP identifier (xxx.xxx.1, xxx.xxx.2), with the intent on using the Class field as a branch ID.

We'll see how it goes. Thanks again!

Doug Elam, OC Dataworks