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Background
QuoteWerks is offered
in three editions; Standard, Professional,
and Corporate. Each edition includes:
Standard Edition
The Standard Edition of QuoteWerks is a great sales tool that is used by customers in almost every industry, and is the base QuoteWerks package that includes the links to contact management software such as ACT!™, GoldMine®, KnowTia®, Maximizer, Outlook®, salesforce.com®, and TeleMagic®.
Links to MS Dynamics CRM and SalesLogix are available in the Corporate Edition only.
This
Edition uses a Microsoft Access backend database.
Professional Edition
In addition to the features of the Standard Edition package, the Professional Edition adds the ability to link to a variety of external product data sources including any ODBC compliant data source (such as MS SQL, MS Access, Oracle, etc.),
Ingram Micro®,
SYNNEX,
Tech Data®, QuickBooks®, and salesforce.com®.
Additionally, the Professional Edition includes the accounting
links to QuickBooks®, Peachtree®, and the Open Export Module. This Edition
also includes quote synchronization
functionality. This Edition uses a Microsoft Access backend
database. Corporate Edition
The Corporate Edition of QuoteWerks includes all the features of the
Standard and Professional Editions and adds support for hosting the
data on a Microsoft® SQL 7.0, 2000, 2005, 2008 backend database. The Corporate
Edition includes the ability to integrate with
MS Dynamics CRM and SalesLogix® contact managers in addition to the other
contact management software. The Corporate Edition also
includes quote synchronization
functionality as with the Professional Edition. Additionally,
the Corporate Edition includes the "Rollout"
functionality that rolls out product and other non-quote related
information to remote installations such as laptops. Corporate
Edition pricing does not include Microsoft SQL Server licensing.
This Edition supports either a Microsoft Access
or Microsoft SQL Server backend database.
What is Microsoft Access?
Microsoft Access is a relational database application with which a
desktop user can efficiently create and manipulate
database systems. Access targets the desktop category and works best
for individuals and workgroups managing
megabytes of data. For multi-user access to the same database,
Access uses file-server architecture, rather than
client-server architecture. Theoretically Access is limited to a
maximum of 255 users and 2 gigabytes of data,
however in practice, acceptable levels of performance begin to
degrade around 15 concurrent users.
What is SQL?
A language used by relational databases to query, update, and manage
data.
What is Microsoft SQL Server?
Microsoft SQL Server is an enterprise relational database
application with which a desktop user can efficiently create
and manipulate database systems. MS SQL targets enterprise
environments that require scalability, performance,
stability, and security. Furthermore, SQL allows access for
individuals and workgroups managing up to terabyte
levels of data. Users access data through client-server architecture
that allows for point-in-time data recovery.
Finally, MS SQL virtually supports an unlimited number of concurrent
users.
Reasons for purchasing the QuoteWerks Corporate Edition:
Scalability
MS SQL can be deployed to and used by virtually an unlimited number
of concurrent users. Furthermore, it has the
ability to handle terabyte levels of data. MS Access is limited to
255 users and 2 gigabytes of data. Using the
Access backend included with the Standard and Professional Edition,
we recommend that no more than 25 users be
running the same networked copy concurrently. The Corporate Edition
using the MS SQL backend however can
support a virtually unlimited number of concurrent users.
Performance
MS SQL has a performance advantage over Access for large sets of
data and many concurrent users. Because
Access is a file-server system, the query processing must happen on
the client. This involves moving a lot of data
over the network for large databases. MS SQL runs that same query on
the server. This puts a larger load on the
server, but can reduce network traffic substantially, especially if
the users are selecting a small subset of the data.
MS SQL improves your network performance and increases the number of
users you can have. This is especially
important if your network connection speed is low.
Stability
Utilizing an MS SQL backend will minimize your down time. It allows
data to be backed up while the database
remains online and accessed by users. Furthermore, the big advantage
that MS SQL has over Access is that MS
SQL is a process that runs queries and logs transactions. If
anything should go wrong while writing to the database,
such as disk error, network failure, or power failure, MS SQL can
recover because it logs transactions. After the
system comes back up, MS SQL will revert back to the last consistent
state. If the system were to go down with
Access, the database would be corrupt and you may need to revert
back to your last backup copy. This gives MS
SQL greater reliability than Access.
Security
Utilizing an MS SQL backend provides a full suite of security
features that include: powerful and flexible role-based
security for server, database, and application profiles; integrated
tools for security auditing; and support for
sophisticated file and network encryption, including Secure Socket
Layer (SSL). SQL Server 2000 has been
certified under the U.S. government's C2-level security
certification—the highest level of security available in the
industry.
Requirements
Clearly, implementing the SQL Server backend has numerous benefits.
It is important to note that it also has several
requirements. First, you will need to have or purchase Microsoft SQL
Server licenses. Secondly, you will have the
resources available to setup and maintain Microsoft SQL Server.
Furthermore, you will need to have or purchase the
appropriate hardware recommended by Microsoft for MS SQL Server.
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