Accounting CS systems information

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The information in this topic is primarily intended for your qualified IT professional to use while planning for changes such as server migrations or when setting up, configuring, and troubleshooting CS applications. This topic can also help you share technical details of our applications with other staff members in your office or when discussing an issue with our Support team.

Accounting CS Directories

Accounting CS has four primary installation directories:

Directory Path Description
\WinCSI\Accounting CS This directory contains program level files and folders on the network. In addition to the executables the program utilizes, it also contains imperative configuration settings files, as well as folders from which license and program updates are run and stored.
\WinCSI\Accounting CS Data Unlike other CS Professional Suite applications, no pertinent client/firm data is located here. In addition to files used to help the program communicate with the proper instance of SQL Server, this directory also consists of folders and files used by Accounting CS for integration and datasharing. This directory is also the default location for files exported from Accounting CS.
C:\Program Files\Creative Solutions\
Accounting CS *		 This folder gets created on the workstation during a desktop installation. It will contain version folders, .dll files, executables and other files that need to be run locally on the machine rather than on the network.

C:\Program Files\Microsoft SQL Server\
MSSQL10_50<SQLInstanceName>\MSSQL\DATA **

 This is a location on the server where your SQL instance resides, which is where the actual firm/client data is located.

* If on a 64-bit machine, the program files path will be C:\Program Files (x86).
** While this is the default location in most cases, the version of SQL and any customization to the location of the data files may cause the folder to be named differently and for the SQL data files to reside elsewhere.

Files by Category

Listed below are important Accounting CS files sorted by category.

Global Files

Directory Path File Name Description
\WinCSI\Accounting CS Networkinstallation.ini This is the file that the workstation's Localinstallation.ini file points to upon launching the application. The program then uses the information in this file to determine the location of the other needed components such as: data location information, license file locations, network application files, and any special configurations added to the program.
Version.Dat This file holds the version of Accounting CS that is currently installed on the network and is compared to the local version of the file in order to determine if the workstation needs to be updated upon launching the application.
CSIUPD.exe This is the executable that is used to access CS Connect in order to download updates and licenses.
\WinCSI\Accounting CS\DESKTOP SETUP.EXE This executable is what is used to install Accounting CS to workstations on the network.
\WinCSI\Accounting CS Data This folder holds information that is directly integrated with Accounting CS and is where other applications within the suite would send files that will be automatically imported into the program upon launch. This folder also contains export files for integration with UltraTax and GoSystem Tax.
DataSource.xml This file holds the name of the server and SQL Server instance that the program uses.  Other files also contain this same information, but this is the one the program primarily looks to for it.
\WinCSI\Accounting CS Data\CISData In this folder, the application will build and update files for each client in order for other CS Suite Applications to compare data that is being datashared to or from Accounting CS.
\WinCSI\Accounting CS Data\Forms This directory stores ELF files and internet files for payroll tax forms by default.
\WinCSI\Accounting CS Data\NetClientData This directory temporarily stores data that is being transmitted to NetClient CS.

Local Installation Files

During the desktop setup of Accounting CS, files are installed on the workstation. These files are workstation specific and do not affect other users in the program. Below is a sample of a few of these integral local files:

Directory Path File Name Description
C:\Users\<UID>\AppData\Local\Creative Solutions\Accounting CS ClientSettings.xml This is the Accounting CS user preference file which holds stored login information, as well as some filter/search settings, dashboard information and other various user specific configurations.
Log.xml When Accounting CS encounters an error, this file is appended with the error message.  If you click Send log file on the received error, the log file will be emailed to the appropriate Development Team for review and tracking purposes. The sent log file is renamed to log.xml.000. Each time a log file is sent, the files will be renamed and kept up to log.xml.005.
C:\ProgramData\Creative Solutions\Accounting CS LocalInstallation.ini This file points the workstation installation of Accounting CS to the appropriate shared network files.
C:\Program Files\Creative Solutions\Accounting CS AccountingCS.exe This is the executable that runs Accounting CS on the workstation. Unlike a few other CS Professional Suite applications that store and run the executable from it's shared WinCSI directory, Accounting CS keeps this file local and workstation specific.
AccountingCS.exe.Config This .config file can be modified to allow for more in-depth error log file information. When edited, it allows for capturing information, warnings and errors within the program, rather than just error messages.
Version.dat This file is created during a desktop setup and records what version of Accounting CS is running. Upon opening the program, this file is compared against its network version to determine if a local update is needed.

SQL Files

Directory Path File Name Description
C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft SQL Server\MSSQL10_50.<SQLInstanceName>\MSSQL\DATA* ACS_<FirmID>_FIRM.mdf This is the primary database file on the server where your SQL instance resides and contains the actual database data for the program.
ACS_<FirmID>_FIRM.ldf This is the transaction log file on the server where your SQL instance resides. Transactions made in the program are written to this file, which then stores them as it writes the requests to the .mdf file.
Backup.bdf If using the automatic backup process within Accounting CS, this is the most current backup of the SQL data.
ACS_<FirmID>_FIRM_<timestamp>.bdf Although the naming of this file can be modified during the process, this is the default naming convention and file for one-time manual backups of SQL that have been initiated from Accounting CS.

Note: FirmID represents your Thomson Reuters firm ID number that the licenses for your Accounting CS is under.  If the firm ID number associated with the SQL files is different than installed licenses (with the exceptions of firm IDs 0 and 999), Accounting CS will not recognize that database.  Additionally, while the names and file locations shown are the program defaults, these options may be customized or different (due to your SQL version). Your files may be located elsewhere and/or under a different name.

Installation Prerequisites

Accounting CS has several prerequisites for the operating system in order to run the application on a workstation, including Microsoft Edge, Microsoft .NET Framework, and Microsoft Visual C++.  The desktop setup for Accounting CS will check that your workstation has these components and automatically install any prerequisites that are missing. If you need to individually reinstall or repair the separate components required to run Accounting CS, see the table below for the location of the appropriate installation files.

Note: We recommend consulting a qualified IT professional when repairing, uninstalling, or reinstalling components of your operating system.

Directory Path File Name Description
\WinCSI\Accounting CS\DESKTOP Setup.exe Executable file to run the Accounting CS desktop setup.
\WinCSI\Accounting CS\DESKTOP\MSI dotNetFx40_Full_x86_x64.exe Executable file to install or repair Microsoft .NET Framework 4.0
\WinCSI\Accounting CS\DESKTOP\MSI\VC2010SP1 vcredist_x86.exe Installer file to install or repair Microsoft Visual C++ 2010

See the following links for information on the Microsoft components:

.NET Framework and Visual C++ Considerations for CS Professional Suite

Microsoft .NET Framework External link  (What's this?)

Installing the .NET Framework External link

Microsoft Visual C++ External link

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Internal only

In Virtual Office / SaaS there are some changes to a few critical files when compared to an installation of Accounting CS outside of that environment:

  • NetworkInstallation.ini does not serve in the same capacity in Virtual Office environment and LocalInstallation.ini does not exist. In lieu of these two files, if certain AppSettings variables need to be set in Accounting CS, an optional file named FirmInstallation.ini can be created and added to the Y:\Accounting CS Data directory. Be aware that this file will be global and affect all ACS users. Contact CitrixPortalTech to add this file if needed.
  • Due to a lack of a standard local workstation file structure, ClientSettings.xml is located in a different folder. In Virtual Office, this file for the specific user in question can be found in Y:\VOsystem\ACS\798046.1180266\Creative Solutions\Accounting CS. It's functionality remains the same.