On Center Home | MyOnCenter Portal | Start an On-Screen Takeoff Trial | Request a Quick Bid Demo | Contact Us | SALES: 1-866-627-6246
   
 
Learn more about Searching
Looking for help for one of ConstructConnect's Other products? Login


Tools
Table of Contents

What To Do If You Need to Work From Home

Views: 1223 Last Updated: 02/08/2023 02:44 pm 100 Rating/ 2 Voters
Be sure to rate this article 5 Stars if you find it helpful!

Issue

Many of our customers need to work remotely for some period of time. You may be asking "How do I prepare for this?" We'd like to provide some guidance to ensure you can continue to get your work done. 

Discussion

Our primary concern is, of course, with our customers and employees well-being, so we want to be as accommodating as possible. If you need help, please, contact Support right away.

When you work from home and you're using On-Screen Takeoff, Quick Bid, and Digital Production Control, there are a few things you'll need:

  • A machine (computer) on which to run the applications - if you use a laptop at work, that's great, if not, be sure to review our System Requirements
  • The product(s) - relatively easy you can download the installers from our website
  • Your data - depending on the type of database your company employs, there are different solutions
  • Your license - depending on the versions of OST/QB/DPC you're using and how your company has chosen to distribute licenses, there are a couple ways of licensing your products, see Licensing On Center Products for details

Resolution

Software

So, first, you'll need software. Depending on the version you're using, you can download it from the Product Information pages or MyOnCenter.com.

Be sure you install the same version at home as you use in the office. To see what version you have installed, on your office PC, open the program and click Help > About (product). Note the full version, such as v."3.96.00.23". 

If you can't locate your product/version, just submit a Support Case and we'll send you the link you need.

Be sure your home computer meets our System Requirements - if you use a MAC at home, you must have Parallels or some other virtualization software - OCS Classic products cannot be installed in Apple's OSX environment directly. (See Using Apple hardware (a MAC) with On Center's Products)

Your Data

By far, the easiest way to work on something you started in the office is to export the job as a Bid Package and send it to yourself (or copy that bid package to a thumb-drive). Then, you can just import it into a database on your home machine, reconnect any interactive bids, and go about your bidding. 

Review these articles for help exporting OST and QB bids to packages:

OST Importing and Exporting - Overview

QB Importing and Exporting - Overview

You can also move your entire databases from one machine to another, if you're using MS-Access databases, that is. Review: Moving your data to a new Computer - OST QB DPC.

If your company uses SQL databases, your IT department will need to figure out the best solution, you may want to use Citrix or Remote Desktop for example to access your company's network resources, or your IT department may decide to migrate your team to locally-stored Access databases.

Need a little extra help? Please contact Support, we're here to make sure you succeed.

License

OST v.3.95, 3.96, 3.97 and QB v.4.97, 4.98, and 4.99

All licensing is for our newer software is portable. Just be sure to "de-activate" your licenses on your work machine so it'll be available to activate on your home machine.

See: Licensing Classic Products Released after 1/1/2018 - OST DPC QB (scroll down to "Returning" section)

OST v.3.94 and earlier and QB v.4.96 and earlier

There are two ways to license these versions of OST/QB/DPC:

Local license code: this is a 25 character alpha-numeric code that looks something like: 4LWHH-OB52U-IT49R-LW8XP-7U3O6. You must de-activate this license on your work machine and then you can activate it on your home machine. 

See: Licensing Classic Products Released Before 12/01/2017 using an Activation Code - OST QB DPC

Network License (from Enterprise License Manager): If your company employs Enterprise License Manager to control distribution of licenses to a pool of users, you may be able to "borrow" a license for up to 30-days, if your license Admin has enabled that feature. If you cannot borrow a license, please contact your Customer Success Manager at 866.627.6246 and we'll work with you to get you licenses until you can return to work.



Product documentation (user guides) describes functionality in the latest version of each major release and may not match the functionality in the version you are using. Please check the Product Information and Downloads pages by clicking one of the product buttons above.

Something Wrong with this Article? Let us Know! Copyright 2023 - On Center Software, Inc. by ConstructConnect - All Rights Reserved.