Technical Requirements
This page provides the minimum information necessary to confirm that your computer system will run PlanChest. For more detailed information, refer to our Support pages.
Hardware and Software requirements
System requirements
x86-based personal computer (Pentium III recommended).
64M RAM (Recommended minimum).
10M hard disc space free (for evaluation copy).
Microsoft Windows (98, ME, 2000, XP, NT).
Microsoft Access (97, 2000 or XP) or Microsoft Office Professional (97, 2000 or XP).
Microsoft Internet Explorer 5.0 or later (required for online Help).
Networked applications
PlanChest is normally loaded onto a shared server and called from any networked PC with a full (licensed) copy of Microsoft Access (97, 2000 or XP) installed.
Alternatively, you can run PlanChest on a network which has a full (licensed) copy of Microsoft Access (97, 2000 or XP) installed on at least one client PC and Microsoft Access Runtime installed on all other client PCs. The full copy is required for some database administration tasks.
Stand-Alone applications
PlanChest will run as a single-user installation on a stand-alone PC with a full (licensed) copy of Microsoft Access (97, 2000 or XP) installed.
Apple Mac systems
PlanChest is designed to work with Microsoft Access for Windows only and will not run on any 'Mac' software. Sorry!
Is Access adequate?
We didn't quite know where to put this information, but here seemed as good a place as any other.
When PlanChest was in its early development, some observers doubted that Microsoft's Access database software was capable of handling the complex relationships, and large file sizes, necessary for an enterprise-wide document management system. During over five years of development we have continually refined PlanChest to increase stability in a multi-user environment. One of our longest-standing customers now has a database containing well over 450,000 records which is regularly edited by up to twenty, and sometimes more, concurrent users. Using the split structure file/data file model which we recommend, they operate without any apparent loss of performance despite a data file size in excess of 80Mb. They are only now considering an upgrade to our newly-developed SQL Server version for business reasons unconnected with the performance of their Access 97 version.