Idle Timer every 30 - 40 Minutes

GrantEAV

I have searched but can't see anyone else complaining about this.

My service business has three licenses of hosted running in different areas, POS, Bookings and accounts, and since the last "upgrade" all three machines get kicked off every 30 - 40 minutes.

Sometimes I just need to log into Reckon again and it all normal but other times it can't log in again because of another instance running so I have to go to dashboard and kill active connections and login again.. another 30 - 60 seconds... :(

Combined with the 20 - 30 seconds wait to print every invoice.. sometimes 30 - 40 a day this is just wasting my time.

I seriously regret moving from Premier and hosting my own data file to Reckon hosted :(

Is this just me?

Rav

Hi @GrantEAV

Is your session left idle for extended periods of time?

Sorry to ask this but are you certain that you're receiving the idle session message within 30-40 minutes since last being active in your file and not say an hour or more at minimum?

The reason I ask that is, essentially if your session has been left idle for an extended period of time, an idle session message will appear. While this message is a new inclusion since the latest system upgrade for Hosted, the overall process around idle sessions is the same (previously an idle session wouldn't show any messages on-screen).

You can keep your session active simply by accessing your file eg. working in it, clicking a menu or even just moving your mouse around in your file.

If you run into the idle session message due to your session being idle for a prolonged period eg. an hour for example, you'll be able to reconnect to the existing session provided you reconnect within a reasonable period of time of the message appearing. If not, the session will end and you'll be required to relaunch your file which sounds like what's happening at the moment.

There's a bit more info here -

How do sessions work in Reckon Accounts Hosted? 💻

GrantEAV

I have not had this happen ever. It is happening every 20 to 30 minutes. It is unacceptable.

I am the main earner in my business and I am spending too much time getting called to log my 3 machines back in.. never needed to do it before..

Why on earth would YOU choose to log POS machines out at all.. I can't guarantee I'll have a customer every 20 mins. I am incredibly annoyed by this change. It is no longer fit for purpose..

GrantEAV

and that page about sessions you linked to is as vague as it can be.. no times mentioned.. and terms like "within a reasonable time period".

It even suggests this has always been there but I assure you this is the first time this has ever happened..

Where is the communication and my acceptance you were going to add this ridiculous feature....

Not fit for purpose any more!

Rav

Hi @GrantEAV

To clarify, there haven't been any changes when it comes to how long sessions are active aside from now a message now appearing when your session has become idle due to a prolonged period of non-use. Prior to the system upgrade an idle session would not display anything on-screen which might make it seem like its still active whereas in reality its not. The idle session message now provides indication of this.

If you are encountering this message anywhere short of an hour since you've last used Hosted then that is outside the norm and if you're certain that's occurring then I'd be keen to get some specific examples from you so we can take a closer look.

Can you send me a specific example with following info in a private message please -

• Your User ID this occurred on
• The time you were last active in your Hosted file
• The time the idle session message appeared
• Which browser you're using with Hosted
• Your location
• Do you have a screensaver set on your PC and if so what is the timeout interval of the screensaver

⚠️ Just to be clear, this only applies for sessions that are idle for well less than an hour such as those you've mentioned.

GrantEAV

I have attempted to log times but we are just too busy to keep track of.

Sometimes it's 30 mins, others it's 60 or more mins and sometimes it is as quick as 15 minutes.. in fact around 12:30PM WST we got that message between customers so within a few minutes of using it.

It happens on all three of my licenses which you can access in my account details..

Nothing has changed my end. So the only option I see is remove the idle timer from my account please..

Even if this is resolved I'll still be waiting 30 - 40 seconds to print an invoice so why not get faster servers than trying to limit customers sessions!

Time to go back to Premier and host myself.

GrantEAV

just to add for transparency in the thread, my bookkeeping service is a Reckon partner who tells me today Reckon know there is an issue with some customers getting logged out prematurely.. and it will be hard to leave hosted to go back to Premier.. can you tell how I feel?

Rav

I totally understand where you're coming from @GrantEAV and can appreciate its frustrating to contend with when you haven't been idle for the regular one hour limit.

I just want to clear up a couple of things. If you have been idle for an hour or more you will receive the idle session message and that is normal. What isn't normal however, is receiving it when you've been idle for less than one hour and that's what we're focusing on specifically.

We are certainly looking into things on our end in regard to this however at this stage we have not been able to replicate the behaviour where an idle session message appears when idle for less than one hour so its proving challenging to nail down the root cause. Its also not occurring for everyone and from what we've observed from the small number of reports received so far, there also doesn't seem to be any consistency or pattern.

At this stage, we really need detailed examples including the specific info from my previous reply as/when it may occur.

The next time you notice the idle session message appearing when you've been idle for less than one hour perform these steps -

• If the idle session message appears, exit your file and log off all active sessions in your Reckon Accounts Hosted control panel.
• Once you have confirmed there are no active sessions, logout.
• Wait 2-3 minutes and then log back in with the same user. Note down the exact time.
• Continue using Hosted as normal and if the message appears again within one hour of being idle, note down the time again and what you were doing at the time of it appearing.

Send this to me along with the other details from my previous reply and I'll get this over to my dev team to look at.

I'm really sorry for the hassle this is causing right now. As I said, we're looking into it but there hasn't been anything conclusive at this stage so if you could lend us a hand with some specific info, that would be great.

Cheers

GrantEAV

Please remove the idle timer from my account.. It now randomly times out between customers.. so 5 - 10 mins

So frustrating!