Remote Access Issues

This article discusses how to access A1-Law data from a remote location outside of your office In general there are two basic ways to access data either "online" or "offline."

Connecting Online
When you access data "online" you are accessing it just as if you were at the office. Programs such as pcAnywhere, GoToMyPC, Remote Desktop and Terminal Server all allow you to access your computer from a remote location. Ideally, you will want a DSL or cable connection because it is a lot faster than accessing the data through a telephone line. Online access is ideal if you are at home or a remote site where an internet connection is available because any changes you make are immediately available to everyone else signed on A1-Law. Also, you will immediately see any changes made just as if you were at the office. Many users now have wireless network cards in their laptops to access the internet from a wireless router. Many locations now have wireless connections and they are easy to use. However, sometimes you may not have an internet connection available or it may be too slow and you may wish to connect "offline."

Connecting Offline
When you access data offline, any changes you make will have to be synced later when you get back to the office so that the data may be "uploaded" to A1-Law. The Palm Pilot is a good example of accessing data "offline" such as with the calendar and then syncing the data when you get back to the office. This will be available soon. It will soon be possible to download cases into the palm pilot and make changes and then upload those changes back into A1-Law. At this time, the only realistic method for viewing cases offline which some offices are doing is to make a backup of the A1-Law database into a laptop computer for viewing purposes only. No changes may be made to the data because there is no way to upload those changes to the main A1-Law database at this time.

Once you have made a backup to your laptop computer you may quickly and easily update the data on the laptop any time in the future. In other words, it only takes about 5-10 minutes to update the changes to the laptop so that the laptop is current with the most recent data.

There are two simple methods for copying data (making a backup) to your laptop computer. One is with Windows Explorer and another is with the DOS Copy command. We prefer the DOS Copy command because it allows you to make a backup even if others are currently using A1-Law (no one needs to sign out when the backup is originally made or updated to the laptop). Here are the steps required to making your first backup and continued backups to the laptop:

Making Your First Backup To Your Laptop Computer

1. Make sure your laptop computer is connected to the network at your office and map the drive to your laptop that contains the A1Law folder. For the purposes of this example, we will assume the drive letter is F and the folder is F:\A1Law In A1Law you may click Help, About to see where A1Law is located on your network. You may go into MyComputer and click Tools, Map Network Drive to map a drive letter to your laptop computer. Contact your computer consultant for further details regarding networking issues.
2. On your laptop computer, click Start, Run and type Command and click OK
3. Type CD \ (and press Enter)
4. Type MD A1Law (and press Enter)
5. Type CD A1Law (and press Enter and when you press Enter again it should say C:\A1Law>
6. Type F: and press Enter (or the drive you have mapped the laptop to on the network where A1-Law is located).
7. Type CD \A1Law (and press Enter). If you have properly mapped the drives, your laptop should now display F:\A1Law> every time you press Enter (or you might type H: or Z: and press Enter depending on the drive letter. You then might type CD \Shared\Apps\A1Law and press Enter depending on the folder of the location of A1Law on your network.)
8. You should now be at the network drive so when you press Enter you should see F:\A1Law> or the drive letter and folder you are at. You may press Enter several times and you will continue to see the drive letter and folder. Type the following to make a backup of the entire A1Law folder (this may take some time to complete but after you have completed your first backup, the backups to follow will be a lot faster).
   
   Type XCOPY *.* C: /CDE
   
9. Type EXIT and you should be back in Windows.
10. Install A1Law on your laptop computer for the first time (if not already installed). Click Start, Run and type C:\A1Law\Setupwrk and press Enter several times until it has been successfully installed.
11. Tell the laptop where A1Law is located by clicking Start, Programs, A1Law, Link Computer To Network and in the second box type the following: NETDRIVE = C:\A1Law and click Save. You will not be able to make any changes on your laptop computer because there is no way to sync the data at this time but you will be able to view all of the A1-Law data on your laptop computer no matter where you are.
12. Copy the A1Law shortcut to the desktop. You may click Start, Programs, A1Law, (then Right Click) A1Law in the program group and click Copy. Right click on the desktop and click Paste. You may now double click on the A1Law icon to run the program.
    

Updating the Backup On Your Laptop Computer

1. Make sure your laptop computer is connected to the network at your office and map the drive to your laptop that contains the A1Law. Because you have already completed your first backup, updating the backup to keep it current should only take a few minutes because the computer only needs to copy the files that have changed since your last backup.
2. On your laptop computer, click Start, Run and type Command and click OK
3. Type CD \A1Law (and press Enter)
4. Type F: and press Enter (or the drive you have mapped the laptop to on the network where A1-Law is located).
5. Type CD \A1Law (and press Enter). If you have properly mapped the drives, your laptop should now display F:\A1Law> every time you press Enter (or you might type H: or Z: and press Enter depending on the drive letter. You then might type CD \Shared\Apps\A1Law and press Enter depending on the folder of the location of A1Law on your network.)
6. Type the following:
   Type XCOPY *.* C: /CDE
7. Type EXIT and you should be back in Windows and all the data should be updated on your laptop computer.'
   

It is possible to create a DOS batch file to accomplish the above and then one may create an icon (shortcut to the batch file) on the laptop computer so that one only needs to double click the icon to update the backup after establishing a network connection. This is strongly recommended.

We hope this article will help you manage your remote access needs. Check back for updates since we will be releasing an update to allow offline syncing with the Palm Pilot as well as your laptop computer where changes may be made to the data offline.



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