Remote Data to be collated (1 Viewer)

RainLover

VIP From a land downunder
Local time
Today, 20:23
Joined
Jan 5, 2009
Messages
5,041
I have 4 sites one of which is head Office. Each has a Database that records among other stuff the hours an employee works. Roughly 10 per site.

One site is the Head Office where the payroll is processed.

I want to get the Data contained in the table Employee times and send them to HO so that they can be uploaded into the main Database which is essentially the same as the others.

All sites have internet access but they are not connected in any way.

Does anyone have a suggestion on how I should move this data about.
 

CJ_London

Super Moderator
Staff member
Local time
Today, 09:23
Joined
Feb 19, 2013
Messages
16,553
sounds like email is your only choice if there is not a suitable network path.

for the transmitting db's an email can be created with an attached .csv file sent to heads office. This might be triggered by clicking a button or could be a timer event. It might be an idea to have a dedicated email address set up purely to receive these files

for the head office db, the db can be listening on the appropriate email address inbox for incoming email - again by clicking a button to 'check' email or a timer event.

When a new email with attachment is detected, the attachment can be opened to check it is the right file - could be by checking the header row, plus file name. If it is the right file, import otherwise ignore. Right file or not, the email is then moved to an archive outlook folder (perhaps two, one for files imported, one for ignored) so it is not imported again.
 

RainLover

VIP From a land downunder
Local time
Today, 20:23
Joined
Jan 5, 2009
Messages
5,041
CJ

I could do that which I have considered and not rejected.

I could also send the back end via Drop Box or similar program. This would be done automatically. Again it would work but is there a better idea.
 

CJ_London

Super Moderator
Staff member
Local time
Today, 09:23
Joined
Feb 19, 2013
Messages
16,553
if you want a manual solution you could use something like teamviewer for head office to connect to local office and copy backend across - or visa versa
 

CJ_London

Super Moderator
Staff member
Local time
Today, 09:23
Joined
Feb 19, 2013
Messages
16,553
longer term why not use something like terminal server or citrix? Then everyone can be on the same backend
 

spikepl

Eledittingent Beliped
Local time
Today, 10:23
Joined
Nov 3, 2010
Messages
6,144
To me dropbox/gdrive/onedrive, with a separate folder for each location, sounds like a least-effort viable solution.
 

RainLover

VIP From a land downunder
Local time
Today, 20:23
Joined
Jan 5, 2009
Messages
5,041
longer term why not use something like terminal server or citrix? Then everyone can be on the same backend

CJ

I don't know enough about Citrix or Terminal Server. Could be more trouble than its worth.

Thanks
 

RainLover

VIP From a land downunder
Local time
Today, 20:23
Joined
Jan 5, 2009
Messages
5,041
To me dropbox/gdrive/onedrive, with a separate folder for each location, sounds like a least-effort viable solution.

Spike

I am tending to go along with Drop Box or something similar.

I have found Drop Box to be a lot faster than One Drive. Have you any experience in comparing the two.

At the moment Drop Box is my preferred choice unless something else pops its head up.

I still have a little time to make a final decision.
 

jdraw

Super Moderator
Staff member
Local time
Today, 05:23
Joined
Jan 23, 2006
Messages
15,361
Rain,

Is this a recurring thing? Is it a new procedure?

Sounds like dropbox or similar is pretty straight forward.
If it is a new procedure and will be done regularly, then I think CJ has experience in the area he suggested.

The rationale for asking if this is something new is:
How did they do this last year or last month? How automated does it have to be?

Let us know what you decide.
 

RainLover

VIP From a land downunder
Local time
Today, 20:23
Joined
Jan 5, 2009
Messages
5,041
J Draw

This is a Dental Group with 4 Practices all within a 20 mile radius.

A friend of mine (Semi Retired CPA) has taken on some of the Accounting. This includes the Payroll. A pay week is Monday through to Sunday and employees are paid Mondays. This should read fortnightly.

The problem at the moment is that some staff work at different sites from time to time. They could even do AM at one site and PM at another. Little mistakes happen which can flow onto bigger problems.

Each employee fills in their own time sheet which is faxed to Head Office for processing. These are not complicated yet the staff still manage to get things wrong.


My task is to write a Database that gathers the data from all the sites and put it together in one neat package for processing. There would be some other advantages to this like having a history plus who knows what. In the past with similar DBs the advantages appear as the customer uses the product.

My Current thoughts are to go with the Dropbox idea. It is fairly simple to do and should be easy on the operators.

The best part is the cost. DropBox is free for this amount of Data.

We have not mentioned a web based application. But not just yet as It cannot be justified. Design costs is the main consideration. My skills in this area are limited.

EDIT Saturday Afternoon. Needed to read better.
 
Last edited:

Users who are viewing this thread

Top Bottom