Multisite capability
The multisite capability provides a way to standardize and share certain kinds of data between facilities while keeping other kinds of data, such as work management records, unique to a particular site. The multisite capability also can selectively give users access to data at different sites.
Why the multisite capability is needed
Separate facilities often have common business practices or share common data, which results in the duplication of information in the separate databases. The multisite capability provides a single Manage database while maintaining both data sharing and data separation, depending on your business needs.
You are not required to use the multisite capability. If your business is relatively small and has a single general ledger accounting system, you might consider whether you have a specific reason for using the multisite capability, such as multiple facilities with separate maintenance operations. The minimum implementation requirement is to create a single organization with a single site, one company set, and one item set.
How the multisite capability works
The basic units of a multisite implementation are organizations and sites. An enterprise can have multiple organizations; each organization can have multiple sites. Organizations and sites are virtual entities that can accommodate many different kinds of business practices. Organizations and sites do not necessarily correspond to physical sites or facilities.
To use the multisite capability, the administrator installs the application software once and sets up multiple sites that can access the software and the Manage database. Although a single database is used, the multisite capability provides site-specific independence for certain kinds of data. For example, different sites can share the same vendor list but still keep their work order and inventory records separate.
The multisite capability creates an environment that has the following characteristics:
- All sites use the same Manage database.
- All sites use the same product instance, which runs on an application server.
- Users at any site can access applications by using a Web browser.
- Different sites can keep certain operations separate, according to their business needs and the constraints of the application architecture.