Best Of

Around 18 months ago we migrated our 5 company files from desktop (server shared) to hosted, agree with comments that the file migration process was straight forward. I'd signed up for a trial account prior and uploaded a copy of our company file there to be comfortable with the process and as well as see how some other things work (still using the original desktop version in production as normal, the uploaded file just became a throw away test file)

Some snags i found to watch for and test/try with the sample account - none are show stoppers but really wish someone had made this clearer BEFORE hand so we could test/plan/train properly instead of the Reckon spin of "just upload the file"

1. Backups are no longer automated. To me this is the single largest risk and issue with hosted - esp. for software so susceptible to corruption and especially when using with multiple users as you can't backup while other users are logged in! Additionally, backups are on the same Reckon server so you need a second step process to locate and download the backup files.
2. Not all fonts are on the remote server - check your templates (invoices etc) display correctly
3. Emails are sent from Reckon (but with your return email address). In some ways this is better than pushing through a mail server/account - but you no longer have the same level of control or visibility of sent items, the email log is VERY limited and can only be accessed by the user account that initiated the emails (ie an admin cannot review logs at all!)
4. Users need to be shown/trained on how to send files to and get files from the Reckon server - this is much slower than working with desktop version, especially when doing this alot (ie file imports and exporting reports/data. Additionally the process for working with remote files is unwieldy. Want to delete a file from the Reckon server? Click the floating present icon, click the Download to open the file download dialog, don't click anything! instead mouse over the file and press delete - only keyboard shortcuts work (F2 to rename, CTRL C to Copy, CTRL V to paste etc) - so, def takes some training of end users unless you're happy with an ever growing mess of files
5. Printers & PDFs can be tricky (can't remember exactly why/how!) - as part of your testing, check that users can print as normal and export to PDF
6. User/licence management is cumbersome - each user gets a Reckon Hosted account (different to the user/pass to open the company file. Think of it as a windows user for logging on to the remote server) - you need to map permissions for each user to the company file/folder so they can access it which is not an intuitive process. You also can't delete users, instead you have to revoke all the old user details (password/MFA etc) and rename them for the next user - or rename them as a "spare" if you're not allocating them straight away. Users will be prompted for MFA every 24 hours so may take some setup/training on this process if not otherwise used to that.
7. Learn how to identify users who are logged in and the process for logging them off in the event of screen timeouts, hang/freezing etc - ensure you users are shown how to properly logoff or their sessions aren't properly terminate and you need to manually log them off (or wait a period of time for it to clean up by itself) - with 12 users, we need to log someone off nearly every day.

There's def some upsides

• Upgrades are much easier - once the new annual version if released, you will see links to open last year and new year. Open the new year, respond YES to wanting to upgrade the company file and away you go (possibly a few extra steps if considering super rate changes etc but that's same for desk and hosted anyway)
• Users can access from any browser and technically without limitations on computer or operating system (no issues on our part with Edge or Chrome) - note this COULD present security/privacy issues however if you don't want to allow staff access from outside the office or from other countries. There is no way to restrict/permit access to locations, IP addresses etc
• Integration becomes possible - not easy, but possible!

Hi @romromillys ,

Sorry to hear that you are having issue running Reckon Accounts.

Could you please try clean uninstall an re-install the software?

That should resolve the resolve. I have also attached the article on how to clean Un-install and Re-install below.

https://help.reckon.com/article/20zsrgut0l-clean-uninstall-and-reinstall-of-reckon-accounts-business

Hope this helps.

Kind regards,

Reeta

Hi romromillys,

Thank you for clarifying! To troubleshooting the issue further, Can you please provide information below?

• What windows version are you currently using?
• When you did uninstall, Did you do clean uninstall and reinstall? if not, Can you clean uninstall and then reboot the computer can install in Safe Mode?
• Do you have any firewall or antivirus? if so, Did you turn it off?
• Is there any error shows when you tired to open?
• Did you run the software as an Admin?
• When running the software and you go to Task Manager and see if the software is running? Can you please share a screenshot?

Thank you,

Nick