View source for Before You Install - FAQ

=Before You Install (for the first time)…=
 

There are a number of ways to set up BPC RiskManager.  Please take a little time to answer the questions in this section so that you configuration is straight-forward.  

 

The system has such a wide range of set-up structures that covering them all in one document is a bit of a challenge.  At times this document may seem curiously ‘small business’ and at other times it may seem like it is pitched at a Fortune 500 with extensive IT resources.  The truth is that it is pitched at both of these types of organizations, because BPC RiskManager can meet both ends of the spectrum’s business requirements.  We apologize in advance and beg you to gloss through the sections that are clearly not intended for you as an audience.

 

A BPC RiskManager installation consists of the following key software elements and suited to the associated uses:

==Which Versions of Windows Will I Be Using?==

 

The RiskManager application suite is known to operate successfully on the following versions of the Microsoft Windows operating systems:
 

*Windows 98se (installation instructions not included in this document - support for W98 is now deprecated) 
*Windows XP sp1, sp2, sp3 (install instructions included) 
*Windows Vista sp1 (install instructions included) 
*Windows 7 (install instructions as for Vista, with additional notes for SQL 2008 Express if applicable)
*Windows 2000 sp3, sp4 (follow the instructions for Windows XP) 
*Windows 2003 sp1, sp2 (install instructions included) 
*Windows 2008 R2 (follow the instructions for Windows 2003 with some Vista notes) 
*Windows 2008 for 64bit computers [operating in 32bit compatible mode] 
 

Note:  The automated installer will handle all of these versions for you automatically.  The installer will also upgrade databases from earlier versions.  If you are using the single user or enterprise versions of BPC Risk Manager (Enrima), on a single computer with optionally a separate database server, you can essentially just run the auto installer in full/complete mode and let the auto installer do its thing.  It will do everything for you (except one manual step if you are using the SurveyManager components - which you can do after the installer completes).



==Can I use a 64bit operating system on the server?==

 

Yes, absolutely. RiskManager runs just fine in a 64Bit environment and talks quite happilly with 64Bit SQL Server (including the current SQL Server 2012).   The Installer shipped with RiskManager will correctly set up your RiskManager system on 64Bit OS's (W2008/W7 and above) with no manual intervention required (except for the optional IIS components).  Refer to the notes contained in the document: [[BPC RiskManager V6 on 64 bit Windows]] to see what you need to do to enable BPC RiskManager on a 64 bit Windows.



==How Will I Be Using The System?==

 

If in doubt, choose option 3 below, then you can do everything, and still decide to leave some things for later – but adopt them progressively as you desire, but will not have to install forgotten bits.

 

These three models of operation are independent of the size of the risk team.  A single risk manager shop can be operating under option 3, and a 20 person shop could be operating under option 1.

 

 

===OPT 1: Core Risk Management System:=== 

Suitable for risk management functions primarily focused around the periodic administration of a risk register with centralized risk administration responsibility:

 

*Database (requires SQL Server) 
*BPC RiskManager Dataserver (application server) 
*BPC RiskManager Client (either Webbrowser ActiveX plugin or Native Windows programme) 
 

===OPT 2: Extended Enterprise Risk Management System===   

Suitable for risk management functions primarily focused around the continuous administration of a risk register with centralized risk administrative coordination but distributed responsibility and distributed mitigation strategy responsibility, where email driven reminders and advices are desired, but incident tracking is handled by a defined group of core users:

 

*Database (requires SQL Server) 
*BPC RiskManager Dataserver (application server) 
*Email Server (requires an SMTP email server – such as MS Exchange) 
*BPC RiskManager Client (either Webbrowser ActiveX plugin or Native Windows programme) 
 

 

===OPT 3: Integrated Enterprise Risk Management System===   

Suitable for risk management functions supporting continuous administration of a risk registers, tracking of compliance, continuous identification of risks with either centralized or distributed risk administrative coordination and distributed risk responsibility and distributed mitigation strategy responsibility, where email driven reminders and advices are desired, and incident and compliance tracking is potentially handled by a wide group of users who will not necessarily be users of the core application, but responsible for completing web page based forms, compliance surveys, and control self assessment forms, etc:

 

*Database (requires SQL Server) 
*BPC RiskManager Dataserver (application server) 
*Email Server (requires an SMTP email server – such as MS Exchange) 
*BPC SurveyManager (requires MS IIS) 
*BPC RiskManager Client (either Webbrowser ActiveX plugin or Native Windows programme) 
 

 

==Software Implication of the Options==

 

In each case all components can be on a single computer, or each component can be on its own computer.   The key point to note is that for each corresponding option you will need the following software parts (letters correspond to the letters in the options above):

 

*Database : MS SQL Server 2000, 2005, 2008 or 2012 or SQL Express 2005 / 2008 / 2012 (not supplied). 
*Application Server: BPC RiskManager Dataserver – (supplied) 
*Email:  Any SMTP compatible email server (eg MS Exchange – not supplied) 
*Survey /Web Forms Engine: 
**HTML Survey Engine: BPC SurveyManager (supplied) 
**MS IIS 5/6/7+ Web server (not supplied but included with all windows systems) 
*Client software: BPC RiskManager Client (either Webbrowser ActiveX plugin or Native Windows programme  - supplied) 
*Web browser :  IE 5/6/7/8/9+ (not supplied but included with windows)



==What External Applications Do I want to use with BPC RiskManager?==

Various third party or addon applications or facilities, variations & extensions will interact with BPC RiskManager making a complete Enterprise Risk Management environment.


Some of these include:
 

'''1. REMETRICS / Advanced Risk Modelling'''.

In addition you may be a Benfield Remetrics (or equivalent advance statistical risk modeling) user in which case the you can integrate the client with the risk management software for statistical modeling of risk.

 

'''2. Intranet Web Systems & Document Management'''.

You might otherwise be an option 1 user, but have a large amount of supporting material in web pages or document management systems (or just MDS word documents on a central server).  In this case you would want to make use of the extensive in-system external links and include the web server to store & deliver the documents to users (although it does not have to be IIS in this case).

 

'''3. MS Office'''.  

The client system integrates with MS Office 2000-2007+ using document export and import, outlook (as an alternative email solution) and MS Word Spell Check dictrionaries.  If these are on your desktop your user experience will be enhanced.

 

'''4. Project Team Websites (eg Team services, etc)''' 

There are a number of places where web sites will display if linked in the application.  In some cases there are logical places for entire websites to be linked (such as in the tree navigator for risks) in which case the team web site would display as a panel of the associated risk group.

 

'''5. Other 3rd Party Integration'''

While the risk management suite supplies components for registering and managing insurance, incidents and general compliance some industries have particularly advanced needs in these areas, in which case the preferred configuration set up may be to interface or reference these external systems from and to BPC RiskManager, or you might have your own dedicated Audit management or workflow management systems that you prefer to those built into the system,

 

==What software and access rights will I need to have available for the install?==

 

Depending on your answers to the previous question, you will need the following components with administration rights to all:

 

1.  Microsoft Windows operating system software installed on all your computers (and probably the Microsoft Windows Installation disk to install components you have not yet installed).

2.  SQL Server Database software (2000 / 2005 / 2008 / 2012 / SQL Express 2005 / SQL Express 2008 / SQL Express 2012 )

3.  Microsoft Windows IIS 5+ (ISS 6+ if using HTTP/HTTPS communications connection to the server)

4.  BPC RiskManager installation software

5.  SMTP Server software (either the SMTP server built in to the Windows Operating system, or Microsoft Exchange or similar SMTP email software).

6.  Microsoft Office 2000+ installed on the client PC’s 

7.  Other Third party applications for integration.

 

==How am I Going to Connect Users to My Application Server?==

 

If your client and application server will be on the same machine (such as a single user install) this issue does not matter to you and you can skip this section.

 

The simplest method suitable for most scenarios is the raw TCP/IP socket link.  It allows the client application to talk to the application server over port 211.  This is definitely best for local area networks and trusted wide area networks.  It has the fastest communication speed and you do not have to do anything to set it up as it is enabled automatically be the install process.

 

If you wish to cross untrusted space then the socket traffic can easily the routed through a VPN tunnel (such as PPTP built in to your Windows computer).

 

Alternatively you might want / need to route traffic as HTTP or HTTPS (ie. encrypted SSL), in which case you can use the HTTP/HTTPS connection component on the server.  This will put all traffic across port 80 (HTTP) or 443 (HTTPS) and encrypt it in the latter case.  The primary advantage of this is that your client only needs the same connectivity as your browser.  If the browser can get to your application server, then so can the BPC RiskManager client.  The disadvantage is that the HTTP/HTTPS protocol imposes a small additional overhead and so the communications will be slightly slower AND you MUST have IIS 6 on the application server computer.  While technically the HTTP/HTTPS connection works with reverse proxy servers, our experience has been that these are generally extremely slow and place an excesive burden on communications.  It should be remembered that a fully configured RiskManager installation may have significant amounts of structured transactional data to deliver to the client which need to be available to the user rapidly and few reverse proxy servers are not especially good at handling this.  Further, some more popular RPS's are extremely poor (read buggy) in handling keep-a-live pings.  We do not recomend the use of reverse proxy servers.  We will support you, and help where we can, but will not take responsibility for solving performance problems arising because of a particular reverse proxy technology.
 


We strongly recommend using the TCP/IP socket transport if possible.

 

==What is My System Load going to be like?==

 

You can easily run the entire system including the database, on a single laptop – even in multi-user mode, but it is more likely that you will use one of the following:

 

1.  Low Traffic (Single user or 1 to 3 person team):  Database + Application server + Web Server + Client on a single desktop with remaining team members having just the client on their computers.- (not the system can actually use you desktop Outlook programme as an email “server”  so in this case you can configure it to use outlook for email transport if you wish.

 

2.  Low to Medium traffic (eg 15 to 30 users): Database + Application server + SurveyEngine + IIS server on one machine and each user on their own computer with a copy of the client.

 

3.  Medium to High traffic ( 20 to 200 RiskManager users) ( 1000 – 20,000 Survey users).  Database on a dedicated server,  Application Server + SurveyEngine + IIS on a shared dedicated server and each user on their own computer with a copy of the client.

 

4.  High to Heavy traffic (200 to 400 RiskManager users) (15,000 to 40,000+ Survey users) Database on dedicated server, Application Server on Dedicated server, SurveyManager + IIS on dedicated server and each user on their own computer with a copy of the client.

 

5.  Extreme traffic (Unlimited) - Database on dedicated server, Application Server on Multiple Dedicated servers, SurveyManager + IIS on multiple dedicated servers and each user on their own computer with a copy of the client.

 

As a guide 90% of clients will use either model 1 or model 3 above – and you can always change it later.

 

==What Terminology Will I Be Using?==

 

Practically all the labels and strings, risk models, management strategies, etc  in the RiskManagement system can be customized by you in configuration screens, - or you can start off with the defaults and change them later.  Clearly if you have some idea first you will find it easier to manage user expectations.  You do not need to decide this before instaking however.

 

==What Databases Will I be Using?==

 

The system will `allow you to use as many databases simultaneously as you like.  Normally you will run at least three databases:

 

*Production 
*Training 
*Test 
 

We suggest you start with at least a production and a training database as you can always add a test database when you are looking at an upgrade.

 

In larger multi-user sites there will often be a production, training in production and test and training in test combination of databases.  Some sites separate the compliance and a risk management functions into separate databases, although this is no longer our recommended architecture.

 

==What if I don’t Know All these Answers Yet?==

 

Its ok – you can easily change your mind later.


=Backlinks=
*[[BPC RiskManager Software Suite]]
*[[RM625ENT Installation Instructions]]