MainBoss Advanced 3.2 Release Notes

If you are already using an earlier version of MainBoss Advanced

If you are using the @Requests service, you must stop the service and uninstall it before installing the new software. To do this:

1. On the computer where the @Requests service is running, login to an account with Windows Administrator privileges.
2. Start MainBoss.
3. In the MainBoss control panel, go to Administration | @Requests.
4. Click the Manage button.
5. In the resulting window, click Stop Service.
6. Click Uninstall.

If you do not stop and uninstall the @Requests service before installing the new software, a variety of problems may occur; some of these may result in the loss of incoming request emails. If you do stop and uninstall the service as described above, no emails will be lost—emails received while the service is uninstalled will be processed when the service is installed again.

If you fail to stop and uninstall the @Requests service before installing the new software, you must do so after installing the software. (Follow the instructions given above.) However, some incoming email messages might get lost in the transition.

Installing the Software

If you downloaded the software from this web site, the download consists of a single executable archive program. When you run this program, it will ask you where you want to put the archive's contents. The contents are a group of files which contain the software and documentation. Put these files in a local network folder that is accessible to all the computers where you intend to install MainBoss.

Make sure that no one is running MainBoss (i.e. that everyone has quit the program). Then, on each computer where you want to run MainBoss, execute the setup.exe file extracted from the downloaded archive. (Note that you shouldn't just run the .msi file, since setup.exe checks for correct software, as discussed below.)

.NET 3.5: This version of MainBoss requires version 3.5 of Microsoft's .NET framework. If you run setup.exe on a computer where .NET 3.5 is not installed, the MainBoss installation procedure will automatically attempt to download and install .NET 3.5 from Microsoft's web site. If this is not possible, the MainBoss installation procedure fails and you must install .NET 3.5 in some other way. The same applies for Microsoft ReportViewer 2008.

If the installation procedure installs a new version of .NET, you will have to restart your computer in order to continue. After the restart, you must login to the same account you were using so that you can continue installing MainBoss. (This should be an account with Windows Administrator privileges.) The installation should continue automatically once you login.

Note: This version of MainBoss supports ClickOnce deployment. For further information about using MainBoss under ClickOnce, click here. (Even if you intend to use ClickOnce, you must manually install the software on the system where you run the @Requests service.)

Upgrading the Database

If your database was created with an earlier version of MainBoss Advanced, you must upgrade the database.

1. Start MainBoss Advanced on the computer that holds the database.
2. When MainBoss Advanced attempts to open the database, you will receive an error message saying that the database cannot be opened because it's an old version. You will end up in the "Select Maintenance Organization" window.
3. In the window, click on the line for the database (if the line isn't already selected).
4. Click the Upgrade button at the bottom of the window.
5. MainBoss will ask if you really want to upgrade the database. Click Upgrade.
6. The upgrading process will begin. It may take some minutes. When it's finished, click Finish. You can now use MainBoss normally.

If you did not stop and uninstall the @Requests service as previously mentioned, you may receive an error message when you try to upgrade the database. This message will say that the database can't be upgraded because the @Requests service has the database busy. In this case, restart the computer. You should then be able to upgrade the database. (You will still have to stop and uninstall the old @Requests service, then install and start a new version.)

Final Steps

If you have licensed the @Requests service, you can now install it and start it as described in the MainBoss Installation and Administration Guide.

Security Roles

This version of MainBoss Advanced introduces security roles. Security roles dictate what you can and can't do with MainBoss.

Since security roles didn't exist in previous versions of MainBoss, the database upgrade process must give each existing user a set of security roles:

• Users who previously had MainBoss administrator privileges are given the following security roles:

  Accounting
  Administration
  CodingDefinitions
  Contact
  GeneratePlannedMaintenance
  Item
  PurchaseOrder
  Request
  Unit
  WorkOrder
  

• Users who did not have MainBoss administrator privileges are given the following security roles:

  AccountingView
  CodingDefinitionsView
  Contact
  GeneratePlannedMaintenance
  Item
  PurchaseOrder
  Request
  Unit
  WorkOrder
  

In this version of MainBoss, accounting transaction records include the login name of the person who made the transaction. This was previously not the case. The upgrade procedure must add a login name to all old transactions, so it adds the login name of the person who does the upgrade.

Known Problems

There is a known problem in the procedure that upgrades from MainBoss 3.1 to 3.2. For details and a workaround, click here.

Software Changes

For information on changes to the software, see What's New in MainBoss Advanced 3.2.