Welcome to Cloud-Hosted Printer's Plan

We are happy to partner with your company to provide this service. In this guide, I will outline the process for converting to Cloud-Hosted Printer's Plan and provide some information about the nature of the conversion.

Cloud-Hosted Printer's Plan Features

Data Access Speed Increase The cloud environment is typically faster and more responsive than local networks due to the resource allocation.
Remote Access Anywhere Access from home or via devices outside of the work network.
Streamlined Support System Our support team will be able to instantly help with any of your issues where we used to have to screen share to collect information or send database files back-and-fourth.
Regular Software Updates Cloud-Hosted Printer's Plan gets early access to new features and updates as well as more frequent quarterly updates to the program.
Automated Server Backups You no longer need to manage all of your backups within your workflow. The server has 30 days of backups that we can restore upon request.
Automatic Compacting Maintenance The data in your database is more stable with nightly compacting routines.

Printer's Plan Conversion Process

This conversion process is designed to first capture your data to create a test environment to configure your workstations and test with. You will continue to use your local Printer's Plan installation while working on this with the intention of avoiding disruptions in the workflow.

Step 1: Data Capture

Locate your current Printer's Plan folder where your database is hosted.
1. Right-click the Printer's Plan folder that contains your data files
2. Choose 'Send To' and
3. Find 'Compressed ZIP folder'.
A new file will be created. This single file contains all of your Printer's Plan files in a format that is more manageable and easy to send over the internet.
Use the provided Google Drive link to upload this file to us. This should be shared with you directly via a Teamwork message from your Implementation Specialist.

Once the data has been successfully sent, notify your implementation specialist to finish the transfer. The process should take about 20 minutes in total. They will notify you once your data is ready to start testing.

Now you are ready to begin adjusting your workstations to access Cloud-Hosted Printer's Plan.

Step 2: Workstation Changes

RemoteApp is a Windows utility that allows you to access specific applications from a remote server as if they were running on your local computer, making it convenient to use software from anywhere without the need for installation. See the video above for a setup guide.

Each workstation will need access to either the web URL to access or the RemoteApp configured (recommended).

Step 3: Workflow Updates

Some workflows may be changing and will need to be tested as well. The goal is to make sure everyone can do what their role requires of them. Several features listed below are affected by the migration of your data. Using the RemoteApp will help address each change.

Feature Workflow Change Descriptions

Access Method In order to best simulate the expected experience with Printer's Plan, we recommend using the RemoteApp included with Windows. Mac users can download the Microsoft Remote Desktop App. This will allow for an icon to be placed on the desktop to automatically connect to the app as if running the program locally.
- Cloud-Hosted Printer's Plan has the benefit of being accessible from a web page as well.
  - printersplan.printreach.com *Use the login credentials provided by your Implementation Specialist.
Email Integration Printer's Plan will send out emails with invoices attached using your email address. In order to configure your integration you can use our Email & SMTP Integration article. Cloud-Hosted Printer's Plan does not use Outlook in the same way the local Printer's Plan versions do.
- The article above also explains how we can use templates to make sure the emails being sent, match your current language and standard signature.
Exporting Reports Using the RemoteApp; the export destination folder can be assigned to a local location. The video above explains this configuration as well.
- In Printer's Plan, you will press 'Export' and the file will be saved to your chosen location on your computer. This solution is set up on each workstation that needs this feature.
Shipping Labels If using Microsoft Word, you can use our recommended workflow to continue using Microsoft Word when using Cloud-Hosted Printer's Plan with the RemoteApp connection. The labels will need an update to the new format required and the RemoteApp allows for this functionality.
- Here is our documentation. (Alternatively, Open Office is a freeware version provided on the server).
Job Documents Linked documents and attachments will need to be copied over to the server in order for the program to find and share access with other workstations. Files can't be hosted on a server or workstation that Printer's Plan can't directly access otherwise, the documents may not link properly.
Printing Whichever access method you use will have an updated workflow for printing. The web browser, saves a PDF locally while the RemoteApp will allow you to select certain Printers.
- PlanPDF - Cloud-Hosted Printer's Plan uses a custom-built PDF driver to create files. By default these files are stored in the Cloud-Hosted Printer's Plan directory C:\Printer's Plan. Files with appropriate naming conventions can be found here such as "Work Order 1343"
- *Currently automating specific documents to certain trays on a local printer is not supported through RemoteApp.

Step 4: Going Live

In order to 'Go Live' with Printer's Plan, you will coordinate with your Implementation Specialist who will help you with the following:

Uploading 'Live Database
Remove Or Uninstall Access To Locally Hosted Printer's Plan On All Workstations
Replace Existing Shortcuts To Printer's Plan With New Cloud-Hosted Printer's Plan Access Shortcuts

Integrations

Any integrations with the local Printer's Plan installation will need to be updated to account for the conversion to Cloud-Hosted Printer's Plan. If there is any additional software or outside services that access Printer's Plan data, the integration will be affected.

Web-to-Print Typically providers have an integration URL that will need to be updated when going live.
Shipping Services - Each shipping service has a configuration in your database that will need to be checked or restored when going live. This will also use the API with a URL integration.
Accounting Software - If directly exporting data to an accounting software, we will adjust to using the export/import workflow. Printer's Plan can create a report or IIF file that QuickBooks or other accounting software can import.
PlanProphet This integration directly accesses the Printer's Plan database and will be installed on the server. Going live with Printer's Plan will involve coordinating with PlanProphet's support team.
Payments All payments will continue to flow into your local Printer's Plan until we update the integration in your Print Reach Central account. This will also be coordinated when going live.

Updates & Older Versions

If updating from an older version of Printer's Plan, the data will ask to update the database. Click 'Yes' to begin the update process and the update should only take a moment. If you are migrating and coming from an older version such as 2007, 2010, 2015, or anything prior to 2017 you may want to validate your data and services because new features have been added and existing features were enhanced.

Technical Information

AWS Servers The servers used are Amazon-provided.

Microsoft Virtual Environment

Windows Server Utilities

API integration is already set up and pre-configured