Author:  Eric Vasbinder

Summary

As you move to the cloud, the vast majority of how you use Vista will remain unchanged.  However, there will be some differences in how you access the software and perform operations. These differences can include:

• How you access Vista.

• Printing and scanning.

• Local file attachments to Vista records.

• Use of a VPN to access 3rd party software.

The remainder of this document discusses each of these differences as well as provides additional resources for your review.  

This document is intended to be a high level overview of the expectations you should have with moving your Vista implementation into the cloud. 

Before continuing with the document, we strongly encourage you to watch this informative, three minute video that will walk you through the most critical aspects about moving to our cloud:

https://videos.trimble.com/construction/watch/xLuCXWGNaywgwiwXZCjVKM

Next, we highly recommend that you also read the detailed FAQ articles, linked in the Resources section below.

Accessing Vista in the Cloud

There are two ways you can access Vista in the cloud.

• Vista Remote Link (VRL):  The preferred method, where the Vista client runs locally.  Most, not all, operations behave as if you are running Vista on-premise.

• Remote Desktop (RDP):  Also known as Published Apps or RemoteApps, in this case the Vista client is being run entirely in our cloud.  The end user sees an “interactive picture” of what is remotely happening. Though several workflows are different from on-premise in this scenario, RDP might be recommended in certain instances where VRL is not optimal.  

CRITICAL NOTE

YOU CANNOT TEST MULTI-TENANT FUNCTIONS IN OUR ERP CLOUDS PRIOR TO THE GO-LIVE OF VISTA ITSELF IN OUR CLOUD.  

THIS INCLUDES PAGINATED REPORTS, VIEWPOINT ANALYTICS, WEB-BASED CRYSTAL REPORTS, TEAM PROJECT MANAGEMENT, OR AUTOMATED INVOICING.

SEE BELOW FOR MORE DETAILS.

Key Cloud Transformation Process Gotchas

Transformation Scripts

During the process of a cloud transformation, these are the things that our transformation scripts may currently miss:

• Workcenters Missing from Main Page:  Some workcenters may no longer be show in the user's pages

  • They still exist - they will just need to be re-added / re-loaded to the user's main workcenter screen

• Certain Grid customizations:  Such as grid layouts, columns showing, column order, etc. may be lost

  • You will need to re-create these

• User "Favorite" Program and Report Groups:  Favorite programs or groups may be missing, 

  • You will need to re-create these

• Payroll Group Membership:  user membership in various payroll groups may rarely be missing after final go-live start

  • Users will need to be manually added back into the appropriate payroll groups

• HQ Reviewers Membership:  user membership in HQ Reviewers may also be empty or missing members after final go-live start

  • Users will need to be manually added by into the HQ Reviewers group, or exports from the on-premise database and manually imported in, taking care to match their old usernames with the new usernames they have after being renamed and activated for SSO.   E.g. username COMPANYadDOMAIN\username becomes UserEmail@domain.com_EnterpriseID.  That latter username needs to be added to HQ Reviewers.

Cannot Test Multi-Tenant Functions Prior to Vista Go-Live

In addition, please note that due to the design of the Vista application, Vista needs to be fully reinstalled during the go-live process.  As such, the trust relationship between Vista and other tools will be broken during the standard go-live process.  Given this, our team avoids setting up multiple tools during pre-go-live testing, which means they are only available for review and testing about 1-2 weeks after go-live of Vista and Vista Web (HFF/Keystyle).  Again, you will NOT be able to test the following items prior to the go-live of Vista itself.  The only exception is for customers that make use of elements of our Enterprise Solutions Bundle (ESB), which is available for an additional cost and provides test environments equivalent to production as well as additional Team Enterprises for pre-go-live testing.

These items include:

• Team Project Management

• Automated Invoicing

• Viewpoint Analytics

• Paginated Reports (SSRS in Viewpoint Analytics)

• Web-based Crystal Reports (Crystal in Viewpoint Analytics)

Vista VRL Cloud Usage Gotchas

The following information is highly dependent on individual user behavior and should be discussed with the Viewpoint team.

• With VRL as the access method, some processes can experience slower performance, especially around heavy keyboard data entry (i.e., 10-key experts).  This is simply due to the physical distance between the user (client side) and database (cloud data center) and the latency of data communication. 

• For payroll (PR) time entry directly into Vista, we have observed “10-key experts'' can encounter sub-second delays which are still noticeable. Instead, we recommend one of the following changes:

  • Strongly recommend our customers use Viewpoint Field Management (formerly Keystyle). This relies on web-browser or native mobile application interfaces for individual employees or supervisors to enter time.

  • Use an alternative data entry approach, such as Excel or CSV file import.

  • Use RDP access method for Vista cloud for payroll data entry.  Typically the data entry is more responsive, but should be validated.

• For accounts payable (AP) transaction entry, we have observed “10-key experts'' can encounter sub-second delays which are still noticeable. Instead, we recommend one of the following changes:

  • Strongly recommend our customers use Viewpoint Financial Controls (formerly Keystyle). This relies on web-browser or native mobile application interfaces for AP personnel to enter invoices.  The caveat here is that Financial Controls only currently handles individual files whereas Vista can employ page splitting technology to separate out documents from a larger document.

  • Use an alternative data entry approach, such as Excel or CSV file import.

  • Use RDP access method for Vista cloud for AP data entry.  Typically the data entry is more responsive, but should be validated.  Note that TSScan will be needed to scan invoices.

High Level Differences Between RDP and VRL

There are some key differences to understand as described below.  Our cloud transformation team will help you understand each item.

Performance

In both RDP and VRL scenarios, the latency between the customer’s location and the cloud data center is key to understanding expected performance.  Viewpoint will provide instructions on how to perform these measurements.

• VRL: Some processes can experience slower performance, especially around heavy keyboard data entry (i.e., 10-key).  This is simply due to the physical distance between the user (client side) and database (cloud data center).  In these cases, we will likely have a recommended different approach (e.g., payroll data entry via web-based Field Management versus directly into Vista).

• RDP: We see fewer instances of performance delays, but they still exist just due to the physical distance between the user and the cloud data center.

Access method

• VRL: Locally installed client (“front end”).

• RDP: Requires Microsoft RDP services used on users’ computers.  Additionally, users must initially authenticate (pass through) cloud portal (CloudWorkspace).

Microsoft Office Installation and Licensing

• VRL: Locally installed.  Any Microsoft Office license will work.

• RDP: Microsoft Office will be hosted in Viewpoint cloud and requires Microsoft Office 365 E3 or higher license.

Printing and scanning

• VRL will operate with your local devices.  There might be the need to install fonts locally on users' computers (e.g., MICR, VP Narrow).

• RDP will require special printing and scanning tools -- TSPrint, TSScan.

Direct Database Integrations

In both cases, some applications are approved for Viewpoint to host on incremental cost servers.  Access to administer these will likely require a VPN.  

• VRL: Products that directly connect to Vista database (e.g., Microsoft Excel/Word, insightsoftware spreadsheet server) will require a VPN.

• RDP: Applications hosted in the Viewpoint cloud (e.g., Microsoft Excel/Word, insightsoftware spreadsheet server) will not require VPN.  Non-hosted applications will require a VPN to connect to Vista..

Local files

• VRL: Drag and drop behavior as you would expect.

• RDP: Cloud “H” drive must be exposed and used as an additional step in the process.  Browsing to local workstation resources is often slower, requiring local drive mapping workarounds to increase usability.

Custom Crystal Reports

• VRL: Must use RDO data access technology.  ADO is not supported and we have instructions on converting ADO to RDO.  Additional steps might be necessary to adapt custom Crystal Reports to work with VRL, including updating font references to Arial Narrow.  Here is a Vista Cloud FAQ article that will provide more details on this topic:  https://sites.google.com/trimble.com/vista-cloud-faq/home/moving-to-the-cloud/configure-custom-reports 

• RDP: Either ADO or RDO method can be used.

Detailed Differences Between VRL, RDP, and On-Premise LAN Experience

The following article provides much more detailed information into the differences between the two access methods to Vista in the Cloud -- RDP and VRL - as well as comparing them to the method that is most often used by on-premise customers (LAN method).

https://sites.google.com/trimble.com/vista-cloud-faq/home/accessing-vista-vrl-rdp-lan/rdp-vs-vrl-end-user 

Resources

For more details, see the following resources.

• Video demonstration and explanation of VRL access HERE.

• Vista Access Methods (VRL vs RDP) overview:  Architecture of VRL vs. RDP.

• Vista Access Methods (VRL vs RDP) detailed differences:  Detailed End User Differences Between VRL and RDP.