Topics covered in this section:

• > Welcome to QuickBooks Enterprise
• > Who you'll need before starting
• > Back up your previous accounting system
• > Choose an option for setting up your network
• > Test your network bandwidth
• > Check firewall and AV settings
• > Check system requirements
• > Check compatibility requirements
• > Additional resources

Welcome to QuickBooks Enterprise

QuickBooks Enterprise is the natural next step for your growing business. It allows you to have more users, work remotely across a network, manage inventories, and much more. QuickBooks Enterprise will feel very familiar, but don't be fooled: while its interface is very similar to those of QuickBooks Pro and Premier, it runs differently and is considerably more complex.

Who you'll need before starting

Two types of users are needed to assist with the installation and setup of your new software:

• A systems administrator who understands network operations and has permissions to properly install and configure your QuickBooks Enterprise software; and
• A financial professional or office manager who understands your company's financial needs and can set up a company file, indicate which users should access it, and knows what areas of QuickBooks Enterprise those users will need to access.

If you don't have these resources in-house, or if you need assistance with the installation, consider working with an authorized ProAdvisor or Intuit Premier Reseller.

Back up your previous accounting system

Be sure to back up your financial records from your previous accounting system before installing QuickBooks Enterprise. Note: The IRS requires you to keep this information for 10 years.

You should also keep any software and hardware from your previous accounting system, or have printouts of all the information and accounting reports.

Test your network bandwidth

Note: Testing network bandwidth is required for a multi-user environment in which no file-sharing is required, for a single workstation installation; testing is not necessary.

To make sure your network connection is fast enough to run QuickBooks Enterprise, perform the following procedure on each computer on which the software will be installed:

1. Choose a large data file for testing. Don't use your company (.qbw) file for this process.
2. Note the size of your test file in megabytes (MB).
3. Copy your test file from a network location to the computer and note the time it takes (in seconds) to copy.
4. Perform the following calculation to determine the network bandwidth:
   File size (in MB) × 8 ÷ copy time
   For example 150 MB × 8 ÷ 25 seconds = 48 MB per second (Mbps)

If your network bandwidth is 40 Mbps or more, your connection is configured for optimum performance. If it's less than 40 Mbps, your connection will be too slow to run QuickBooks Enterprise. Contact your network administrator to learn how to improve your network speed.

Check firewall and AV settings

If firewall software is running while you install QuickBooks, you may be prompted to allow QuickBooks components to have access to the network. These components must be allowed for QuickBooks to operate properly, especially in a multi-user environment.

For more detailed information on how to properly configure your firewall settings for QuickBooks installation, click here. Here you can download the QuickBooks Connection Diagnostic Tool or see how to manually configure exceptions and ports needed for your firewall software. If these solutions do not resolve the issue, visit the Intuit QuickBooks Community site or contact a technical support agent for additional guidance.

Check compatibility requirements

QuickBooks integrates with the following common Windows applications:

• Preparing letters requires Microsoft^® Word 2003, 2007 or 2010
• Exporting reports requires Microsoft^® Excel 2003, 2007 or 2010
• Contact Synchronization with Microsoft^® Outlook requires Outlook 2003, 2007, or 2010, and QuickBooks Contact Sync for Outlook (free download from: www.quickbooks.com/contact_sync)

There are also many third-party apps available to expand the functionality of QuickBooks Enterprise. You can see all of the options in the Intuit App Center.

Additional resources

The following helpful articles from our knowledge base provide further information and insight about confirming your network setup and planning for additional users.

Improving Network Performance:
http://support.quickbooks.intuit.com/support/Articles/SLN54633

Proceed to the next step

You've finished confirming your network setup and planning for additional users; now it's time to move on to Step 2: Install QuickBooks Enterprise and set up sharing.

Next Step