Before attempting to upload your accounts using DataShare Connect, please ensure the following:

• You have read THIS article
• The DataShare Connect Pre-requisites for user permissions are in place on your machine
• You are online and connected to the internet.
• You have a working Accounting Package and you are able to access the data you wish to upload within the Accounting Package.
• You know which version of Microsoft Dynamics GP you wish to upload data from.
• You know the SQL Server Instance Name.
• You know the SQL Server User ID and Password that can access the Microsoft Dynamics data.
• You know which Company you want to upload data for.

DataShare Connect will attempt to discover your SQL Server instance and populate the instance name for you.

• If the SQL Server Instance name cannot be determined you will need to know the ODBC DSN for the SQL Instance where your Microsoft Dynamics GP database is located.
• If you recieve a 'Could not connect to the database' error please ensure you are running DataShare Connect in the same location SQL Server is installed.

You may need to ask your IT department for some of the above information. ODBC DSN names can be found in the ODBC Administrator tool under the "System DSN" tab.

Launching DataShare Connect

To begin the upload process using DataShare Connect you need to be logged in to the DataShare portal.

From within the DataShare portal choose the Engagement for which you wish to upload data and select Upload.

Choose the Accounting Package from the drop-down menu.

When the correct Accounting Package is selected click the Continue button. A pop-up will show asking you to click the Download button.

Clicking the button will start a download of the DataShare Connect setup application. Your browser will show the vclient.application in its download location.

Depending on your desktop setup you may encounter some security warnings that you need to acknowledge during the download.

When the DataShare Connect vclient.application file has finished downloading, click it to begin the installation. 

Click on Install

The DataShare Connect application will now download in full and install to your desktop to begin connecting to your Accounting Package. The DataShare Connect package is quite small and will be automatically removed from your desktop once the upload process has completed unless you choose a scheduled upload.

DataShare Connect for Microsoft Dynamics GP

Once installed the DataShare Connect application will automatically launch and attempt to connect to the Microsoft Dynamics Accounting Package.

It is possible to run multiple versions of the Microsoft Dynamics Accounting Package concurrently so DataShare Connect asks which version of the Microsoft Dynamics Accounting Package you wish to connect to, select the correct Version then click Next.

DataShare Connect will attempt to find the Microsoft Dynamics GP SQL Server Instance and pre popoulate the the SQL Server name for you.

If the SQL server name is pre-populated, as in this example, supply the User ID and Password for the SQL Server instance. This is usually an account called "sa" or another account your Accounting Package administrator has provide to you for third party tool access.

If the SQL Server instance name is not pre-populated you can either type it in or alternatively you can choose the ODBC DSN name of your database from the drop down list. You will also need to enter the database User ID and Password.

If the name of your Microsoft Dynamics database is not shown in the ODBC DSN list you may not be running the DataShare Connect application on a desktop that has sufficient access to your Microsoft Dynamics installation.

If the access details supplied are correct DataShare Connect will connect to the database and present a list of all companies available for upload.

Choose the Company that you want upload and click Next.

The DataShare Connect data extraction process will begin and progress will be displayed on screen.

Depending on the size of your database and the number of entries it contains this process may take a few minutes. Once all data has been extracted the data is compressed, encrypted and transmitted securely to the DataShare central server.

You can continue with other tasks whilst the extraction takes place. Do not close the DataShare Connect window or interrupt the extraction process.

When the upload completes the success message is presented.

Click Close to exit DataShare Connect. At this point there is nothing more to do. Your Engagement Manager or Client Manager will be notified by email that you have submitted a new upload.

Your uploaded data is now being queued for processing in the DataShare central system. You can switch off your desktop and disconnect from the network at this point if you wish.

You can view the progress of your upload in the DataShare Portal. The status will change from processing to complete.