Hardware & System Requirements

for the PROFITstar®Budget Manager 2005 Edition

Date created:February 16, 2004

Last updated:April 21, 2006

Intended audience:End users, with some advanced material for IT professionals

This document is available in electronic form at:

Summary

Budget Manager is a client/server application, with three programs involved:

  • Budget Manager Server. This is a Windows Service that must be installed on one computer in your enterprise, where it listens over TCP/IP. It does not need to run on a server operating system (although we recommend this, simply because such computers are usually backed up regularly).
  • Budget Manager Client. This is the tool your branch and department managers will use to create their budgets. These “Budgeteers” will be able to access the Budget Manager Server via the client software. They do not need access to PROFITstar or PROFITability data.
  • PROFITstar (PROFITability). One or more users will be designated as a Budget Manager administrator. Administrators will be able to use PROFITstar and/or PROFITability to export data to the Budget Manager Server and to import budgets back into these programs. In this way, the administrators will be accessing both the PROFITstar/PROFITability data and the Budget Manager Server. (An administrator may also install the client software on his/her local PC, as well.)

This document contains one set of requirements for the Budget Manager Server components, and another separate set of requirements for the Client components. Server requirements are documented on page 2, while the client requirements can be found on page 5.

The requirements for an Administrator’s PC are the same as the PROFITstar hardware and system requirements, which can be found at:

Budget Manager 2005 edition: system requirements

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Computers that can be used to host the Budget Manager Server

Budget Manager keeps its data inside the Budget Manager Server program, which can be installed on any computer within your institution (which meets these system requirements). This could be:

  • A “true” server machine
  • A non-server machine that is accessible to multiple users

Since it does not matter to Budget Manager where the PROFITstar/PROFITability data resides, the Budget Manager Server does not have to be installed on the same computer (though it could be).

Requirements for Budget Manager’s server components

Documented below are the minimum, as well as the recommended, requirements to run PROFITstar®, Budget Manager.

Certain requirements may vary, based upon the size and complexity of your institution. For purposes of these guidelines, a typical institution is defined as one with fewer than 10 organizational breakouts, while a large institution is one with 10 or more breakouts.

The requirements for Budget Manager’s Server components are different from the requirements for the Client components. If the server service and the client softwareare both installed on the same machine (such as on the Administrator’s PC) the higher of the two sets of requirements apply.

Operating System: / In most multi-user environments, we recommend the server be running under one of the following operating systems:
Microsoft Windows 2000 Server (SP3)
Microsoft Windows 2003 Server
In single-user or limited multi-user environments, we recommend:
Microsoft Windows 2000 (SP3)
Microsoft Windows XP Professional (SP1 or later)
Microsoft Windows 2003
Non-Windows operating systems like Novell Netware are not supported.
CPU: / Typical institution: 1 GHz, Pentium 4 equivalent.
Large institution: 2 GHz, Pentium 4 equivalent.
Recommended:
Typical institution: 2+ GHz, Pentium 4 equivalent.
Large institution: 3+ GHz, Pentium 4 equivalent.
RAM: / Typical institution: 256 MB.
Large institution: 512 MB.
Recommended:
Typical institution: 512+ MB.
Large institution: 1+ GB.
Hard Disk Space: / 300 MB, plus 100 MB for each additional Organization Unit (branch, cost centers, etc.).
Recommended:
2+ GB free, with fast access time and throughput.
Very large institutions may require 4 to 8 GB free, and should consider serial ATA or RAID solutions for optimal performance.
Other Required Software: / Microsoft® .NET framework 1.1 is installed with the application.
Microsoft® Internet Explorer® version 6 (SP1 or SP2).
CD/DVD Drive: / 24X or better.
Display Settings: / 800 by 600 pixels or higher.
16, 24, or 32 bit color quality.
Network Protocol: / TCP/IP (UDP support is required).
Network Interface Card: / Network adapter capable of 100 Mbps data transfer rate.
Recommended:
Network adapter capable of 1000+ Mbps data transfer rate.
Multiple network adapters “teamed” to increase data throughput or configured in a failover setup to increase data availability.
Drives: / Installed to a local drive.
File Names: / Any drives where Budget Manager server files will reside should support Win32 long file names.
Installation Permissions: / At a minimum, users running Windows 2000 and XP must have “Power User” rights, or be granted installation permissions, in order to install Budget Manager’s Server.
Internet Connection: / 256+ Kbps throughput.
Antivirus Settings: / It is recommended that certain data files for Profitstar programs be excluded from virus scans. More detail, including a list of the data files to exclude, can be found at
Firewall Settings: / If a firewall is used to protect the server or server-like machine, it must be configured to allow traffic to pass through TCP port 20563.

Requirements for Budget Manager’s client components

Operating System: / Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional, SP4
Recommended:
Microsoft Windows XP Professional (SP1 or SP2).
CPU: / 1 GHz, Pentium 4 equivalent.
Recommended:
2 GHz, Pentium 4 equivalent.
RAM: / 256 MB.
Recommended:
512+ MB.
Hard Disk Space: / 300 MB free.
Recommended:
2+ GB free, with fast access time and throughput.
Other Required Software: / Microsoft® .NET framework 1.1 is installed with the application.
Microsoft® Internet Explorer® version 6 (SP1 or SP2).
CD/DVD Drive: / 24X or better.
Display Settings: / 800 by 600 pixels or higher.
16, 24, or 32 bit color quality.
Drives: / Installed to a local drive.
File Names: / Any drives where Budget Manager server files will reside should support Win32 long file names.
Installation Permissions: / At a minimum, users running Windows 2000 and XP must have “Power User” rights, or be granted installation permissions, in order to install Budget Manager’s software.

Budget Manager 2005 edition: system requirements

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