Drake Accounting on a network: speed

[BillK]

Am having a terrible time with the speed of payroll input, printing checks and reports on a workstation. Does anyone else have this problem, or if not, would you share your set-up?

[Medlin Software, Dennis]

Not a user of their software.  If you have not contacted the software vendor for suggestions, do so.  They are the experts on their software...

All I can offer is a programmer's perspective.  Any sort of data input, when the data must remain open for changes in another location, as well as updated with changes on your end, and at any other location, has to be slow.  Data collision is the issue (who has the latest, and when, and what to do if more than one tries to change the same piece at the same time).  Testing for data collision is slow, as is keeping all possible parties updated in a live manner.

Slow is a relative term.  Even I can type faster than data can safely be shared, but a two finger typist may not have enough speed to notice the time taken for data updates and security.

[Lee B]

I have Drake Accounting installed on a standalone system. I just started using it for "on the fly" Forms 94x, W2/W3 etc.

I have experienced some noticeable time lags with only 9 or 10 small clients set up.

As it currently stands, it is slower than the SAS online programs, Accounting Power & Payroll Relief from Accountants World, which I have been using for almost 7 years.

Hopefully Drake Accounting 2019, which was just released, will be significantly better ?

If not, Drake Accounting has a ways to go before it can be considered a serious program !

 

[Lee B]

As I have added some larger clients, certain functions like saving, backing up, loading print files etc. have become painfully slow.

Called Drake Accounting support, several times. They had me exclude all Drake Accounting files from the scrutiny of my security programs.

No improvement. I checked my task manager and the Drake Accounting Program is using huge amounts of RAM during these functions.

Really disappointing, I was tentatively planning to move some of my write up/payroll processing clients over to Drake Accounting during 2019.

Drake Accounting support had no solutions for my problems. Never thought I would say that.

[Terry D EA]

I know the program is new and I am using it as well. I only have 6 clients and I have to honest, I have not witnessed any lag at all. I have it installed on a standalone machine as well. I do know Drake is open for any feedback. To me, there are  few little quirky things here and there that  bother me. I think there should be some more shortcuts added. Right now I can't say which area cause I'm not looking at it and am already tired. I do know the accounting program does not update as quick as the tax program but I hope it gets better as they continue to work on the program. 

BTW- 2019 seems to work at the same speed for me. No real noticeable difference there.

[Lee B]

Just got off the phone with a honest person with Drake Accounting Support.

The speed of the software is a real problem throughout the program for both users and Drake staff.

Drake Accounting 2019 has the same speed issues. Drake Accounting is very aware of the the problem, but there is no fix that will happen right away.

As long as you stick with smaller clients, it will be OK but slow. Do not attempt to use with clients that are bigger,  it will be an exercise in significant frustration!

At least they stepped up and owned the problem ! 

[Steve Sexton]

I am not sure if you are still having speed issue or are still using Drake.  I have supported a customer that has used Drake since the 90's.  They have five stations accessing Drake files saved a dedicated computer in there office.  They don't have a speed issue. But I do understand why some computers would.  Drake uses thousands of small files and this can be tough for some computers with slow hard drive to handle.  Then many computers have utilities that monitor and protect the computer that will cause performance issues with Drake.  

I understand how fustrating this is.  I highly recommend that the hard drive in your computer be an SSD.  The SSDs are a night and day difference when dealing with lots of small files.