Installation Instructions

Topics

System Requirements

General Installation Instructions

Installation FAQ

Installation of SPCServer server-side service

Installation of QAWeb server-side service

System Requirements:

End-user requirements, and Application Server requirements (if used):

  • 600-megahertz (MHz) or faster processor.
  • Windows 10, Windows 8, Windows 7,  Windows Vista; or, Microsoft Windows Server 2012 or later.
  • 128 megabytes (MB) of RAM or more.
  • Microsoft Data Access Components (MDAC) required when used in conjunction with MS Access database, or when linking or importing data from MS Excel; SQL Native Client required when used in conjunction with SQL Server. See details for each in Installation Instructions below.
  • When the SQL Server option is purchased, your data may be stored on a SQL Server (not included). We support all versions of SQL Server supported by Microsoft (currently 2008 and later), including Express editions.

Web Server Installation (for optional web interface)

  • Clients: Any Internet browser.
  • Web server: Windows IIS Server 4.0 or later.

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Installation Instructions for new installations or upgraded versions:

  1. Select the downloaded zip file, and use the Extract All option from the right mouse menu to extract its contents into a new folder.

  2. If an upgrade:
    • From each user's computer, log out of the current installation, then use the Uninstall a Program option in Control Panel to uninstall the older version of the software, and
    • Save a copy of your existing database.

  3. Restart your computer; Log in as the Windows user who will access the SPC software. Close all software running on the computer after restart, including (and especially) virus protection software.

  4. Select the setup.exe application file that was extracted from the download, and use the Run As Administrator option from the right mouse menu to start the installation. Standard users will need an Administrator to enter their administrative credentials. (If the Run As Administrator option is not available, then you did not select the setup.exe file that was extracted, or your Secondary Logon service has been disabled. See FAQ). 

  5. If you receive a "Windows protected your PC" prompt, click the More Info link, then the Run Anyway option. If you also receive a prompt from User Account Control to make changes to your computer, select the Yes option to proceed with the installation. (The No option will cancel the installation).

  6. Click the Next button to proceed with the installation. 

  7. Select Installation Folder: 

    • Use the Browse button to select (or create) a folder within your Program Files folder (e.g. C:\Program Files\Quality America, Inc\SPC-PC IV Explorer\ for a 32-bit operating system or C:\Program Files (x86)\Quality America, Inc\SPC-PC IV Explorer\ for 64 bit operating systems).  

    • If installing to a folder on your network, ensure that all users of this software have at least Read Access to the qactiv.bin file in the folder. (Users who may need to use the Update License feature to modify the number of licenses must have Write Access privilege to the qactiv.bin file).

    • Select the Everyone option to allow all users on this computer access to the SPC software; select Just Me to limit access to the current user (i.e. the Windows user that is currently logged in), or if you are the only user on this computer.

  8. Confirm Installation: Click the Next button to proceed with the installation, the Back button to make changes to the settings, or the Cancel button to quit the installation. 

  9. Installation Complete: Select Close to exit the installation, which should add the SPC-PC IV Explorer shortcut to the Quality America folder on your Start menu's All Apps group, and place a sample database (qasample.mdb Microsoft Access database) in your Documents folder.

  10. If other client machines need to access the database, update each of the other client computers by repeating steps 3 through 9. This adds the program to the Quality America folder within the All Apps group of the user's Start menu, and (more importantly) registers the Windows components needed to run the software.
  11. Skip this step unless you have purchased the optional SQL Server data storage.
    • To use Microsoft SQL Server for the SPC-PC IV Explorer database each client must have SQL Server Native Client installed. (The Native Client is backwards-compatible, so the latest version (released for 2012 and not changed for 2014 or 2016) will work with earlier versions of the database server; however, install the 32 or 64-bit instance based on the client computer's operating system).
      Download SQL Server Native Client for 32-bit computers
      Download SQL Server Native Client for 64-bit computers
    • The default SQL Server installation is not configured for remote access to the database, which is needed whenever you access the data from third-party applications like our SPC software.
  12. Open the SPC Explorer software from one of the client installations.
    • If a new installation (i.e. not an upgrade):
      • open the SPC Explorer software this first time using the Run As Administrator option from the right mouse menu. (This will allow your license information to be stored for subsequent use). Use the Activate button to enter the license key provided for your installation. The license key is available by logging into your company account on our website (click the My Profile link at the top of the page, then the My Software page), or via email request to orders@qualityamerica.com
      • If SQL Server installation, set a common SQL Server user account for SPC User login. (This is done once to impact all users in the database).
        1. When logged into the SPC software as a user with Administrator privileges and with the SQL Server database opened, open the Preferences dialog (Tools menu).
        2. On the Database tab, enter the username and password for the sa account (or any other account that allows for read and write privileges to all fields in the database) into the Login Using fields. Users will then use that account to access the SQL Server database, and will not be prompted separately to log into the SQL Server.
    • If an upgrade, the first user to open the software using the new release will be prompted to update the database version to the new release. You will need to login to the SPC software using an SPC user ID that has the Administrator privilege.
  13. The Microsoft Data Access Components are required when used in conjunction with MS Access database, or when linking or importing data from MS Excel. Under normal circumstances, MDAC will already be installed on Windows 7, 8 and 10.  However if this component is not installed, out-of-date, corrupt, or has been removed, SPC-PC IV Explorer will be unable to open an Access database.  A message box will inform the user that it needs to be installed when launching the application.  Version 2.8 or greater is required. Download MDAC: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=5793. In addition, the drivers for the newer XLSX format are NOT included in MDAC, so to import or link Excel xlsx files users may need to install the 2016 Access Engine (Install the 32-bit version regardless of operating system type): https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=54920
  14. If you send Emails from the program (such as for alerting or the CFR security features), or use alerting to monitor external data, install the updated SPCServer service as directed below.
  15. To use the Upload feature for copying data to a centralized server, install the updated SPCServer and QAWeb services as directed below.

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SPCServer Installation

Notes:

  • The SPCServer service runs on your network to perform the scheduled tasks enabled through the Scheduled Tasks dialog box (Tools menu in SPC-PC IV Explorer). It is not necessary to install this service unless you want to run these scheduled tasks on your server.
  • Immediately after starting the service any scheduled task will be performed. If there are a lot of emails in the queue the service will be preoccupied until they are all sent. To avoid unacceptable queue times, review and delete unnecessary emails scheduled for transmission within SPC-PC IV Explorer's Email Log list (Tools menu) before installing and starting the service.
  1. Download the SPCServer installation, available from the My Software page (after login) 
  2. Install the SPCServer service by running (double-clicking) the SPCServerSetup.msi installation file. We recommend you run this on a single computer, usually the computer which holds the database (If you wish to instead run the service on a computer with access to the database, see note below). To use either the email or upload features, the computer must have internet access as well.
  3. Download https://qualityamerica.com/downloads/SPCServerUpdate.zip, extract the three files within the zip and replace them in the installation folder.
  4. After installing (and before starting the service) you must point the service to the database to be monitored by editing the appSettings section of the SPCService.exe.config file. (This file is installed to the user-specified folder during installation. By default, this is the C:\Program Files\Quality America, Inc\SPC Server folder). 
    • appSettings section of the SPCServer.config file for an Access database:
      "DataSource" value="Access"
      "DatabaseLocation" value="c:\Program Files\spcexplorer\sample.mdb"
      "SQLServer" value=""
      "SQLDatabase" value=""
      "SQLUser" value=""
      "SQLPassword" value=""
      "WindowsAuthentication" value="False"
    • appSettings section of the SPCServer.config file for a SQL Server database:
      "DataSource" value="SQLExpress"
      "DatabaseLocation" value=""
      "SQLServer" value="127.0.0.1\SQLExpress"
      "SQLDatabase" value="SPCExplorer"
      "SQLUser" value="sa"
      "SQLPassword" value="password"
      "WindowsAuthentication" value="False"
  5. To enable the database upload service, edit the URL address within the endpoint tag of theSPCServer.exe.config file to point to the location of the QAWeb service running on the centralized server (see QAWeb Service installation).
  6. To use the service for alerting with linked data, ensure the drivers necessary to open the linked data sources are installed on the server running the service.
  7. Once installed and configured as above, the SPCServer service is started and stopped within the Control Panel's Administrative Tools / Services section.If you have installed the service on a computer other than the database server, which has access to the database, then (within Control Panel's Administrative Tools / Services section) select the SPCServer service, then Properties. Use the This account option in the Log On tab to specify a user account with write access to the database.
  8. After starting the service, verify that it is running properly using the Event Log (ControlPanel->AdministrativeTools->EventViewer->SPCServer). If the service started correctly the following items are shown: "SPC Server: STARTING SERVICE" and "SPC Server: Connection to Database Successful"
  9. Do not stop the service until all the emails are sent.

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QAWeb Service installation

Notes: 

  • The QAWeb service is only needed to support the Upload functionality, which is enabled within the Upload tab in the Scheduled Tasks dialog box (SPC-PC IV Explorer's Tools menu). It is not needed for alerting, email, PC-DMIS or executable functionality. The QAWeb service is installed on an IIS web server (such as at headquarters) that is accessible to the remote facilities (i.e. plants) running the SPCServer windows service. The plants upload their data through a URL (specified as the endpoint address in the SPCServer.exe.config file (see above; for example: http://www.acme.com/QAWeb/QAService.asmx.
  1. Install the SPCServer service as noted above so that data can be uploaded to the QAWeb installation.
  2. Download the QAWeb installation. Extract the contents and run the setup.exe file to run the installation on the IIS Web Server machine.
  3. The QAWeb installation creates a configuration file named Web.config on the IIS server. Edit the AppSettings section within web.config to designate the centralized database where the QAWeb server will submit the data. The formatting of the appSettings is the same as provided above when specifying the local database to be monitored by the SPCServer service. (Note that in this case, the web.config appSettings refer to the centralized database).

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