Introduction

For certain accounts transfer programs such as Sage Line 50, an additional service is installed with the main transfer tool which can allow the transfer to run automatically in the background on a PC.  The transfer tool/service can only be installed on clients on which an accounts package client has been installed.  Once installed, the service can be started / stopped via the services menu in control panel/administrative tools, and any information or error messages are written to the windows event log.

Installing the service

The service is installed automatically when running the Syrinx 4.36 transfer tool or above.  The latest transfer tool can be downloaded from the following location:

https://www.syrinxusers.co.uk/Transfer%20Tools/InstallAccountsTransfer.exe

username: download

password: c0nc3pt

Transfer Configuration

Before starting the service on a computer you must run the transfer tool manually on that same computer to ensure that the configuration drop-down contains only companies that you want to transfer, and to ensure that the transfer program runs successfully without prompting for any passwords.  This means that the username used to log into the accounts program (specified in the transfer tool configuration) must either have a blank password, or a password of “x”.

Note: This does not apply to the Sage 200 transfer tool which will allow you to specify a password to be used by the service when connecting to the Sage 200 database.

In order to configure the transfer program for the scheduler, you must first amend the target path of the transfer tool shortcut on the PC’s desktop and remove the text UHKCU=Y value from that path.  Then, right click on the transfer tool and select ‘Run as administrator’ and enter the configuration information as per the installation guide for the transfer tool that links to your accounts package.  If you want the system to notify you on completion of each transfer performed by the service or any errors encountered by the service, you should enter the appropriate mail server settings on the ‘Run as Service’ tab of the transfer tool ‘Configuration Settings’ screen:

Starting the service

The service is not started automatically after installation.  To start the service, go to Windows Start / Control Panel / Administrative Tools / Services, and scroll down to the ‘Syrinx Transfer to accountspackagename Accounts’ service:

Then click on the Start link, or the start button on the toolbar.  Once started, there are options to pause the service, or to stop it.  If any aspect of the transfer configuration is changed, then you will need to restart the service for the configuration changes to be picked up by the service.

Service Operation

By default, the service will run all transfer jobs, and it will wait for one hour at the end of each transfer before starting another transfer.  It can be configured to run just the customer/supplier transfer jobs (i.e. to not post any invoices) and the frequency can be changed to alter the number of minutes between each execution.  Please contact Syrinx Support if you would like to modify either of these options as they can only be altered via a patch.

Service Log Entries

To monitor the service activities, you need to use the windows system event log.  To view the log, go to Windows Start / Control Panel / Administrative Tools / Event Viewer, and click on the Application entry, and chose Filter from the View menu.  Then in the filter tab, pick “Syrinx Transfer…” from the Event Source drop-down and press OK:

You can double-click on an entry to see the information message, then use the Up / Down arrows to scroll through the log entries:

The description of each log entry shows:

 - the company name (as specified in the Transfer Configuration), 

 - a short code for each action performed followed by a colon and then the number of items transferred

 - the duration of the transfer in seconds

 - the path to the transfer log file

Transfer Errors

If an error occurs during the transfer, then the service will not attempt another transfer for at least four hours.  You can re-start the transfer manually by pausing then continuing the transfer service.

New Program Versions

While the service is running, the executable file is locked by windows and cannot be removed or replaced.  Before running future upgrades to the transfer tool, you must first go to windows control panel and stop the service.  [Failure to do this means that the service will continue to run with the old version during and after the upgrade.]   After the upgrade is complete you can then re-start the service.  

Running the Transfer Interactively 

While the service is running, you can also run the transfer program interactively.  The program will ensure that it does not run while the service is in the middle of executing the transfer itself.  If the transfer program or service is aborted without disconnecting cleanly from the Syrinx database (e.g. the service is stopped via windows control panel in the middle of an execution), then the system may still think that the transfer is in operation the next time you run it:

In this event, you need to explicitly clear the run flag by going to the Direct Transfer tab of the Syrinx SP Configuration\System Options\Accounts screen, and pressing the Clear Run Flag button:

Customer Considerations 

Before installing the service, please be aware that you are responsible for monitoring the event log on a regular basis for any failures of the transfer service.  If you are not able or willing to do this, then the windows service is not an appropriate choice for you.  Also, please do not forget that you will need to manually stop the transfer service prior to any upgrades to the accounts program, & restart it afterwards.