Technical Document |

CRM V6 Installation

Requirements

ProspectSoft Software This document sets out the current hardware and software requirements for running the latest ProspectSoft

CRM Software (currently 6.5x.).

ProspectSoft always recommends customers keep their CRM system up to date and deploy the latest

version, but this document also sets out the support lifecycle for older CRM versions.

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Contents

Core OS and Microsoft Software .................................................................................................................................... 2

Server OS ............................................................................................................................................................................. 2

Exchange Server ............................................................................................................................................................... 3

Client OS .............................................................................................................................................................................. 3

Microsoft Office ................................................................................................................................................................ 3

Web browsers and Internet Explorer ........................................................................................................................ 4

Hardware Requirements .................................................................................................................................................... 5

General Advice .................................................................................................................................................................. 5

Server Hardware ............................................................................................................................................................... 5

ProspectSoft Database (including Replication Services) .............................................................................. 5

ProspectSoft Automation & Integration Services ........................................................................................... 6

Network Client Hardware ............................................................................................................................................. 6

Mobile Client Hardware ................................................................................................................................................. 7

Telephony ........................................................................................................................................................................... 7

Accounting System Requirements ................................................................................................................................. 8

Exchequer............................................................................................................................................................................ 8

Access Dimensions .......................................................................................................................................................... 8

Pegasus Opera .................................................................................................................................................................. 8

Sage 50 ................................................................................................................................................................................ 9

ProspectSoft CRM Versions .............................................................................................................................................. 9

End of Support for CRM versions .............................................................................................................................. 9

Additional Notes ................................................................................................................................................................. 10

Task Centre Installation Requirements.............................................................................................................. 10

Server Virtualisation ................................................................................................................................................. 10

Wide Area Networks (WAN) and Virtual Private Networks (VPN) .......................................................... 10

Integration ................................................................................................................................................................... 10

Exchange and SQL Server ....................................................................................................................................... 10

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Core OS and Microsoft Software ProspectSoft is a Gold Microsoft Application Development Partner. We work hard to test and certify

our products on the common Microsoft platforms. However, it is virtually impossible to test every

combination of OS Version, OS Edition, OS Service pack, 3rd party Virtualisation platforms, 3rd Party

Anti-Virus or other solutions, Office Version, Office Edition, Office Service pack, Internet Explorer

version, Accounting software products, etc. We therefore strongly recommend using only up-to-

date and mainstream versions and editions of Microsoft products.

ProspectSoft cannot provide support for our Solutions running on or alongside Microsoft products

and platforms that have ended Extended Support and can only provide limited support alongside

products and platforms outside of Mainstream support.

Server OS

ProspectSoft CRM 6.5x will run on Microsoft Windows Server 2003 and 2008 – running 32 or 64 bit.

However, Microsoft ended Mainstream Support for Server 2003 on 13th July 2010 and then ended

Extended Support in 2015. Microsoft also ended Mainstream Support for Server 2008 and 2008 R2

on 13th January 2015 (Extended, paid support continues until 14/01/2020).

ProspectSoft is therefore only able to provide full support for our solutions on the following 64-bit

Server Operating Systems:

Microsoft Server 2012 R2 (Recommended Platform)

Microsoft Server 2012

ProspectSoft will, at the present time, continue to provide limited support, for the following:

Microsoft Server 2008 R2

NOTE: The server installation must be a full windows installation including the Windows UI.

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Exchange Server

ProspectSoft CRM 6.5x mainly integrates with the client-side email solution (Outlook Desktop) and

most features will work with any mail server, but future versions will increasingly integrate with

Exchange Server. ProspectSoft suggests:

Office 365 Hosted Exchange (Recommended)

Exchange Server 2013

Client OS

ProspectSoft requires a full version of Windows (not RT or embedded).

ProspectSoft CRM 6.5x is likely to run on Microsoft Windows XP or Vista PC’s, however Microsoft

ended Extended Support for Windows XP on 8th April 2014; Windows Vista ended Mainstream

support on April 10, 2012; Microsoft also ended Mainstream support for Windows 7 on January 13,

2015.

ProspectSoft is therefore only able to provide full support for our solutions running on the

following 64-bit Client Operating Systems:

Microsoft Windows 10

Microsoft Windows 8.1 (Recommended)

Microsoft Windows 8

Microsoft Office

Many ProspectSoft features require a local installation of Microsoft Office (Desktop version),

including Word, Excel and Outlook.

PLEASE NOTE: Currently ProspectSoft 6.5x does not support integration with Office 2016. Office

2016 support is planned for a future update in ProspectSoft 6.5x. (Office 2016 is currently

supported in Prospect 365).

ProspectSoft CRM 6.5x will generally run with Microsoft Office 2003 (with some limitations),

however Microsoft ended Extended support for Office 2003 alongside Windows XP on 8th April

2014; Office 2007 ended Mainstream support on 9th October 2012; and Microsoft ended

Mainstream support for Office 2010 on 13th October 2015.

ProspectSoft is therefore only able to provide full support for our solutions running alongside the

following 32-bit* Microsoft Office products:

Microsoft Office 365 with local installation of Office 2013 (Recommended)

Microsoft Office Professional 2013

*Microsoft recommends 32-bit Office installation even on 64-bit Operating Systems – mainly

due to compatibility with their own and third-party integrated components. ProspectSoft CRM only

integrates with 32-bit Office.

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Web browsers and Internet Explorer

Many older versions of Internet Explorer are tied to Operating Systems that are no longer

supported by Microsoft. ProspectSoft provides support for our solutions running alongside the

browsers:

Internet Explorer 11 (Recommended)

Internet Explorer 10

Microsoft themselves will only support Office 365 with the latest two versions of Internet Explorer.

Other browsers are generally compatible with Web-based ProspectSoft Solutions but cross-

browser compatibility is an ongoing challenge across the internet and ProspectSoft recommends

one of the above be installed as a minimum. ProspectSoft endeavours to provide general support

for the latest version of other mainstream browsers (such as Chrome and Firefox).

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Hardware Requirements

General Advice

The information given below is for guidance only. You should seek appropriate professional advice

with regard to your hardware and networking requirements.

In particular, the hardware required is dependent upon not just the needs of running your

ProspectSoft software but also upon the needs of other applications and services running on the

same server network. This includes memory, processor, disk and other contentions.

Similarly the recommendations below should be considered in the context of usage, volume of

CRM data, volume of accounting system transactions and other relevant factors.

Server Hardware

The following recommendations are based on a dedicated ProspectSoft CRM server, further

allowances should be made for other applications or services running on the same server (such as

Exchange, other databases, Accounting System Software and Anti-Virus products).

Ultimately Microsoft recommends running different server applications on separate server

machines (either physical or virtual) and while this is not always practical it will reduce the conflicts

for memory, handles, and CPU. It is worth noting that without a specific configuration, virtualisation

will not reduce disk contention (i.e. where the virtual servers use the same physical disk).

ProspectSoft Database (including Replication Services)

The table below shows the system requirements for the database services.

GUIDELINE

ONLY

eCommerce

Integration

Gateway / up to

1,000 orders per

week

10-20 Users /

up to 50,000

CRM records &

1,000 orders

per week

20-50 Users /

up to 100,000

CRM records &

10,000 orders

per week

Larger

CPU Cores 1 4 8 8+

Installation disk

space 1Gb

Disk Drives SATA RAID SSD RAID

Dedicated

SSD RAID

array

Data disk space 10Gb 50Gb 100Gb 100Gb+

Available RAM 1Gb 4Gb 4Gb 8Gb+

Network 100MB 100Mb/Gigabit Gigabit Gigabit

Internet Access Mandatory. Outbound FTPS is required for replication. Remote support

access is also mandatory for a ProspectSoft support contract.

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UPS

A suitable and regularly tested & serviced UPS, with working Smart

Shutdown software is essential to guard against data loss / corruption

in the event of a power outage. Note, a UPS provides very little

resilience without compatible and correctly configured Smart

Shutdown software.

Backup Utility

The ProspectSoft / SAP backup utility should be scheduled or triggered

to run (and complete) before your backup solution backs up the

ProspectSoft “backup” folder.

Tape or Offsite

Backup

It is essential to protect against data loss with a suitable backup system

and backup regime. Ideally this backup regime will include daily,

weekly and monthly backups and for maximum protection these

backups should be offsite backups.

ProspectSoft Automation & Integration Services

The Automation Services will run on a schedule processing your accounting and other data. The

requirements below are in addition to the database requirements above::

GUIDELINE

ONLY

eCommerce

Integration

Gateway / up to

5,000 invoice

lines per week.

Up to 10,000

invoice lines

per week

Up to 50,000

invoice lines

per week

Larger

CPU Cores 1 2 4 4+

Installation disk

space 1Gb

Data disk space 1Gb 2Gb 10Gb 50Gb+

Available RAM* 1Gb 2Gb 4Gb 8Gb+

Network 100MB 100Mb/Gigabit Gigabit Gigabit

* NOTE: Exchequer integration requires approximately twice this amount of RAM and, due to

limitations with UNC paths in the COM Toolkit, must be run on the same server as the Exchequer

database.

Network Client Hardware

The following recommendations are based on ProspectSoft CRM Client running alongside

Microsoft Office, further allowances should be made for other applications or services running on

the same machine (such as Accounting System clients, Anti-Virus products).

GUIDELINE ONLY Minimum Power User

Suggested Processor Core Duo/i3 or equivalent i5 or equivalent

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CPU Cores 2 4

Disk Drives SATA SSD

Installation disk space 1Gb

Data disk space N/A

RAM 2Gb 4Gb

Network 100Mb Ethernet 100Mb/Gigabit

Internet Access Outbound FTP, FTPS, HTTP and HTTPS access is required

Mobile Client Hardware

For Mobile Clients, the PC must run the database and replication services as well as the application.

As such the requirements are higher:

GUIDELINE ONLY Minimum Power User

Suggested Processor i5 or equivalent i7 or equivalent

CPU Cores 4 8

Disk Drives SATA SSD

Installation disk space 1Gb

Data disk space For full replicating data, the mobile client requires the same

space as the server database and log files. With replication by

account manager this can be substantially less.

RAM 4Gb 8Gb

Network 100MB 100Mb/Gigabit

Internet Access Reliable broadband is mandatory including outbound FTP,

FTPS, HTTP and HTTPS.

Telephony

Any client (PC or Laptop) that requires telephony integration (via the optional telephony module)

will require suitable TAPI drivers provided and configured by your telephone system vendor.

Drivers must be TAPI 1.4 compliant. Exact functionality and features may vary between phone

systems and drivers.

A useful tool for testing and validating PBX and driver compliance is TAPI Line Watcher from Line

Master - http://www.tapimaster.eu/en/tapilinewatcher.htm

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Accounting System Requirements ProspectSoft CRM has accounting system integration at its core. We lead the market in integration

and are continually developing greater and broader integration features. However, we know that

stability is equally important when you are running a business. We therefore recommend that you

allow six months for full public testing on any new accounting system version, but don’t allow your

accounting version to become more than eighteen months out of date.

Ultimately some releases of ProspectSoft CRM will require newer versions of your accounting

system and vice versa. If in doubt, please ask for advice and perform your own testing before

upgrading your CRM or your Accounting system.

More specific advice of known scenarios is given below.

Exchequer

ProspectSoft 6.5x requires Exchequer 7.07 as a minimum. ProspectSoft provides full support for our

solutions running alongside the following Exchequer Versions:

Exchequer 2015 R1 on Pervasive SQL (Recommended)

Exchequer 2015 R1 on SQL Server

In all cases, ProspectSoft CRM requires the Exchequer Toolkit for integration. The Automation

Server requires a COM toolkit (and pervasive or SQL) license, as does any client wishing to

communicate directly with live Exchequer data.

Access Dimensions

ProspectSoft 6.5x requires Access Dimensions 2.50.x as a minimum. ProspectSoft Recommends:

Access Dimensions 2.50.g

Access dimensions runs on Microsoft SQL Server. ProspectSoft requires SQL Server 2008 R2 as a

minimum. ProspectSoft Recommends:

Microsoft SQL Server 2012

Microsoft SQL Server 2008 R2

Pegasus Opera

ProspectSoft 6.5x requires Opera II or Opera 3. For full sales integration capabilities, ProspectSoft

requires:

Pegasus Opera 3 with Cashbook, Stock and SOP modules (Recommended)

Pegasus Opera II with Cashbook, Stock and SOP modules

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For the optional Purchase integration and full forward stock calculations, ProspectSoft additionally

requires Purchase Ledger and POP modules.

Sage 50

Sage usually release a new version of Sage 50 annually. ProspectSoft typically recommends the

latest Sage50 release but only after full ProspectSoft testing. Customers must check with us before

applying the very latest Sage 50 version. ProspectSoft are fully accredited Sage50 developers, so

we know that each Sage50 release is not intended to be backwards compatible as you might

expect. Each release typically requires specific work to make it fully compatible and will often

require a parallel CRM upgrade.

ProspectSoft Recommends:

“New” Sage 50 Accounts Professional (Sage 50 2015) *

*ProspectSoft integration requires Sage Professional Edition.

ProspectSoft CRM Versions ProspectSoft only provides full support on fully patched mainstream versions. Support resolutions

may well require you to upgrade to the latest patch on the latest version.

Mainstream versions currently include:

ProspectSoft CRM 6.51

ProspectSoft CRM 6.52

ProspectSoft CRM 6.53

End of Support for CRM versions

CRM Version 5 reached its end of life date on 31st July 2013 – meaning that Version 5 licenses are

no longer available (support for ProspectSoft CRM Version 5 as ended on 31st December 2012).

ProspectSoft CRM Version 6, prior to 6.51 ended support on 1st November 2014. Licenses for

versions prior to 6.51 will no longer be available after 1st November 2016.

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Additional Notes

Task Centre Installation Requirements

Task Centre is a product used in many ProspectSoft installations but developed by Orbis Software

Ltd. Details of the installation requirements for Task Centre can be found at:

http://www.orbis-software.com/products/requirements.php

Please note however that ProspectSoft only supports Orbis Task Centre running against a full MS

SQL Server database. ProspectSoft does not recommend or support Task Centre deployed with the

traditional proprietary back-end database.

Server Virtualisation

ProspectSoft recommends Microsoft Hyper-V (which we use ourselves in our datacentre).

ProspectSoft CRM is also being successfully deployed by customers on VMWare and other

virtualisation platforms. ProspectSoft will support our software running within a Virtualised

Windows deployment but we recommend you take appropriate expert advice on the underlying

Virtualisation and Networking infrastructure.

Wide Area Networks (WAN) and Virtual Private Networks (VPN)

ProspectSoft CRM Version 6.x is built as a client-server LAN application and requires LAN-speed

access to the database. It will not run reliably or responsively over a WAN or VPN. In order to

access ProspectSoft CRM Version 6 from home, on the road or a remote office, you should

consider one of the following solutions:

a) Prospect 365 Cloud Solution which is specifically developed for companies who want users

to be able to access the data remotely via the internet (without even needing a WAN/VPN –

just reasonably good Internet access)

b) ProspectSoft Mobile Client – which uses a replicating database to provide always-available

remote use

c) ProspectSoft Remote Office – which uses a replicating database to provide fast and reliable

local database access in a remote office

d) Terminal Services which will allow the ProspectSoft Client to run on the LAN, while allowing

the user “remote access” to a windows session running on the LAN

Integration

Integration with other systems is at the heart of ProspectSoft CRM and you should therefore

consider this document alongside the supported and recommended environments for your

Accounting Solution and other products.

Exchange and SQL Server

Microsoft recommends a dedicated (virtual) server for running Exchange Server, SQL Server and

many other Microsoft Services. Although Small Business Server bundled these, that solution has

Page 11 of 11 CRM 6 Installation Requirements

been all-but abandoned by Microsoft and, in general installing multiple database products on a

single Microsoft Server is problematic and leads to Exchange grabbing all available resources etc.

Installation on shared servers is not recommended. Wherever possible we would recommend

dedicated (virtual) servers for Exchange, your Accounts System and ProspectSoft database. Or,

alternatively look at hybrid hosting solutions such as Office 365 hosted Exchange to reduce the

load on your servers.

If you IT Service provider does install combinations of ProspectSoft, your Accounting System and

Exchange or Microsoft SQL etc on the same server, then they must ensure that a cap is put on the

resources that these other products can use (especially RAM) – and that there is always enough

free RAM and resources for new processes to start or ramp up as and when required (e.g. your

ProspectSoft Accounts Import which only runs periodically).

Various advice is available online with regard to limiting the resources used by Exchange Server,

e.g.

http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/b3b342a2-de13-47ee-89f6-ccb023c8a1ff/sbs-

2008-server-high-memory-usage?forum=smallbusinessserver

http://msmvps.com/blogs/bradley/archive/2005/02/04/34984.aspx

http://msmvps.com/blogs/bradley/archive/2012/01/09/solving-the-unresponsive-exchange-sbs-

server-problem-third-tier.aspx

http://www.kbcloud.com/Microsoft-Exchange-Server/Limit-Exchange-2010-2007-Store.exe-

Memory-Usage-on-a-Windows-Small-Business-Server-2011-2008.html