The Organized Wedding Consultant — Network Version

Version 6.04 supports networked computers and multiple consultants working on the software at the same time.

To use the network features, you must install The Organized Wedding Consultant (TOWC) on one computer to which everyone has access. If you have a dedicated network server, install it on the server. If you don't have a dedicated server, install it on the computer that is on the most often, and make sure that everyone else has access to the folder containing the software. This is most often done by "sharing" the folder; consult your Windows documentation for more information.

All your users will run the software directly from the one computer on which it is installed — do not install the software on individual computers. Instead, you'll need to create a shortcut on each user's desktop that starts the software.

The full copy of TOWC includes a license key for the first consultant. For each additional consultant, you must buy a separate network license key, which costs half as much as the full version. You can purchase network keys from our regular "buy it" page.

User Names

Each consultant must have a unique user name. The user name is based by default on the name logged into Windows. However, you can add a specific user name to the command to start TOWC if you prefer. To add a user name, RIGHT-click the shortcut for TOWC and choose Properties. Click in the "Target" field and go to the end of the line (AFTER the final quote mark). Type the following:

-Username "Alice"

(replacing Alice with the name you want that shortcut to use.) Notice that there is no space between the hyphen and the word "Username".

You can use spaces within the name, such as:

-Username "Alice B. Toklas"

The full target line would thus look something like the following:

"C:\Program Files\The Organized Wedding\The Organized Wedding
Consultant\Program\OrgnzdWed.exe" -UserName "Alice B. Toklas"

You MUST assign user names in shortcuts if you have multiple users with the same name on their computers (such as Administrator). It is HANDY if you have multiple consultants using the same computer — just create a separate shortcut for each one, with a different user name.

Getting Started with the Network Version

When you start TOWC with a new user name, TOWC displays a box telling you that it couldn't find a database for a consultant with your name, and gives you 3 choices for what to do:

• Create a new database from the defaults
• Create a new database based on another consultant's data
• Restore a backup copy of the database

If you choose "Create a new database based on another consultant's data", the software copies the following information from the existing consultant to the new one:

• Appointments
• General Notes
• "My Company" info
• Layouts for printing lists
• "Workspace selections": What client they were working on last, which row of a list they'd last highlighted, filter settings for the different views, # of days ahead to turn due dates yellow for tasks & payments, etc.

In many cases, you'll want to "Create a new database based on another consultant's data" in order to give the 2nd consultant the general notes,"My Company" info, and print layouts. However, if you want the 2nd consultant to start fresh, choose "Create a new database from the defaults" instead.

If you choose "Create a new database based on another consultant's data", the program displays a list of current consultants to choose from. When you select a name, you'll see the "30 days free trial" window showing 0 days left. Click the button to "Turn this free trial into a permanent version", and enter your network license key.

OK, you're in and running the network version!

Start with the "Clients & Events" section. You'll see a new column for the consultant; at first every client except for Bennet-Darcy is assigned to your first consultant. (Each new consultant gets his/her very own original Bennet-Darcy to study, rather than inheriting a copy that another consultant might have changed.)

To change the consultant to whom a particular client is assigned, edit the client and click the "Client & Basic Plan" tab. You'll see a drop-down list there to change consultants.

By default, the Clients & Events section is set to show all clients, regardless of who the consultant is. (This is so that you can easily distribute the clients while you're getting started.) If you only want to see 1 consultant's clients, click the "Show which Clients..." button on the right.

Right now, the only options for filtering by consultant are "Mine" and "Everyone's". With a later version, TOWC will have a way to designate one of the consultants as an "Administrator", who would have extra options (such as the option here to select any one consultant).

Also, right now there are no controls over who can change what — any consultant can edit another consultant's client and do whatever they want.