Working Remotely

Hi Leslie!  We also use a VPN and Remote Desktop Connection and it works fine for us.  Like JoAnn mentioned your issue might be more an issue with bandwidth, both internally and externally than it is with RE.  All of our DOs travel a lot, and we now have most of our staff working from home while we renovate our building (around 30-35 staff, depending on the day), and things are going well.  Haven't had any major issues with RE, VPN or RDC.  We actually also connect to RE via RDC in the office (log into a server, which has RE installed. Yay! no need to update RE on everyone's individual workstation!).  Anyway, do any other programs slow down at the same time RE does?  Are you remoting into a workstation or a server?  (no idea if that makes any differrence, maybe it would be worth testing if it still happens if you remote into a server, or even SQL server if IT dept would let you.) 



Josh



 

I work remotely quite often and struggle with connections but I find that if I connect with a hard line rather than wi-fi it solves the issues. This limits my ability to work from anywhere as I find connections can be slow in public places.  I think for look ups on mobile apps this isn't a problem but if you are doing database work and queries/exports etc. in RE, it can be difficult.  Also, I like to use VPN in public places and at home bc of confidentiality etc.  We have lots of confidential data in our databse as I am sure others do as well so I feel that working through VPN ensures this safety.  I have a hard time getting on VPN other places but am able to access is at home. 



Good luck!



Jill

 

We also use Citrix.  Mostly for those on a Mac or working remotely.  It works well.

I've worked remotely for about seven years, accessing RE at different times through RDP to an on-campus machine (when we were self-hosted), Citrix (RE hosted by Blackbaud) and RDP to a remote server (RE hosted by Beyond Nines, current situation). I've also used Log Me In and JoinMe for different consulting clients.



Our current setup with Beyond Nines doesn't require us to connect to VPN but if we don't, it triggers a call to the user's cell phone for authentication.  Most of our traveling staff just use the VPN and we haven't had many issues with speed. As the DBA, I would turn off my VPN or hardwire to my router if I needed to do heavy lifting in our Citrix environment but as my connection now to Beyond Nines connects to their hosted version on their servers, my local speed doesn't impact anything. If I kick off a big global change or import, it generally runs quickly on the B9 servers.  



Pros and cons to each setup, certainly, but it mostly depends on whether you are self-hosted, BBaud-hosted or other vendor-hosted. VPN is probably going to slow you down but may be a security requirement that you can't really get around. RE-aside, I would sometimes see my speed cut in half when I was VPned as opposed to not.  Crazy, but sometimes it's the cost of doing business remotely.  



One thing you might be able to consider is having a dedicated machine on-site that is hardwired, and traveling staff could connect to it through RDP to file contact reports, etc.  Only one could connect at a time but they would at least have the same speed you get on-site while they are connected.



Happy to talk further if any of this is helpful, and good luck!



Cassie Hunt

University of Richmond