How to install PTP Tax Expense

Introduction

You must have administrative access rights to install PTP Tax Expense. If you do not have the necessary access rights you will need to seek assistance from your own IT support. Having programs open during installation can cause problems. Please ensure that all PTP programs are closed on all workstations before you start.

Please ensure that the prerequisite software .NET Framework 4.5 has been installed before proceeding with the installation.

The following notes have therefore been split into All Users, Existing PTP Tax Expense users and New PTP Tax Expense users as appropriate.

 

Click the links below to jump to a particular section:

Installing the program - all users

Existing PTP Tax Expense users

Standalone Installs

Registration

Transferring earlier year's data

Installing on a network - existing user

New PTP Tax Expense users

Installing on a network – New users

 


 

Installing the program - all users

  1. Select the PTP Tax Expense link on the Software Downloads webpage.

  2. After the installation open the program and enter your registration details.

  3. Existing users transfer forward standing data following data migration.

Existing PTP Tax Expense users

PTP Tax Expense installer is designed to be run on the same PC to which the current version of Tax Expense and data are installed. Further details are provided under Standalone Installs.

In a standard network configuration the installation will need to take place on the server where the data resides. Additional configuration will need to be carried out and this is covered under Installing on a network.

If any other network configuration exists you may need to speak to us for further guidance.

 

Standalone Installs

You will need to run the PTP Tax Expense installer on the same PC as the current version of the program, assuming that the data is also installed on that PC. This is necessary because once the installation is complete, the new database structure will be created and existing 2014-15 data will be migrated across to the new database.

Once the installation is complete, open the PTP Application Launcher and you will see the new program continues to be listed under Compliance software and called PTP Tax Expense. Access to the legacy Tax Expense program is via the Applications menu in the new program.

  1. Click on this link to start the program and you will see a PTP Tax Expense Data Migration window (this is part of the data migration wizard).

If the program detects that Microsoft SQL Server Express isn’t currently installed you will be prompted to download and install it.

  1. If you are already using SQL Server Express or any other instance of SQL then these will be listed. You will be given the option to use an existing version.

  2. Click Next to create the new SQL Tax Expense database.

Once this has been created you will be prompted to migrate your existing Tax Expense standing data and transactions.

Each time you access the new program you will be prompted to migrate the data until such time as you do or otherwise, select Don’t show this message again.

  1. Click Yes and the data migration process will be started.
  1. Click Error Report to view the details of the migration fail.

The report will be displayed in a format that will identify each of the issues by the employee name, the employer name and the cause.

Any required changes or corrections must be made to the source Tax Expense data and once completed, the data migration process can then be re-run.

A message will be displayed when the process is completed successfully.

  1. Click Close and you will be taken to the Clients window of the new program.

 

Registration

If your licence is still current then these details will have also been migrated and you are now ready to use Tax Expense. Otherwise, please enter your licence details via the Config/Maintenance option in the program main toolbar.

 

Transferring earlier years data

Once you have successfully installed, migrated your data and registered your program, you can transfer forward your earlier year’s data. The Roll Over Data function is accessed via the Config/Maintenance option in the program main toolbar.

Click I have a backup for all companies and wish to proceed and the earlier year’s standing data will be rolled into the new year.

 

Installing on a network – existing user

Installing Tax Expense on a standard network will require a few additional steps in order to reach the data migration stage.

  1. You must first run the program installer on the server machine where the data for Tax Expense currently resides.

  2. When the installation is complete, browse to the PTP directory – the default location will be the root of the local drive.

  3. Locate the PTP.ini file and open it.

  4. Change the  DatabaseDir= value under the [Tax Expense] heading to match the existing data directory of your Tax Expense data, for example E:\Program Data\PTP\PTPData\TaxExpense\ where E:\ is the physical drive on the server machine.

  5. Close the PTP.ini window and save the change.

  6. Open the PTP Application Launcher and start the Tax Expense program. You will be presented with the same data migration wizard screens detailed in the Standalone Install instructions above.

  7. Once the data migration is complete you will then be able to install Tax Expense on each client machine in the network as required.

When you open the program on a client machine the connection to the data on the server will be created automatically and you will then be able to start the data roll over.

 

New PTP Tax Expense users

The Installation Wizard guides you through the process to make it as easy as possible.

Once the installation is complete:

  1. Open the PTP Application Launcher and you will see that the new program listed under Compliance software and called PTP Tax Expense.

If the program detects that Microsoft SQL Server Express isn’t currently installed you will be prompted to download and install it.

If you are already using SQL Server Express or any other instance of SQL then these will be listed and you will be able to choose to use an existing version.

  1. Click Next to create the new SQL Tax Expense database.

  2. After installing, please register your software from one workstation.

Installing on a network – New users

  1. You must first run the program installer on the server machine where you wish to store the program data, unless you have an existing version of SQL Server installed, in which case, you can install on the workstation and choose the existing SQL version when prompted.

  2. When the installation is complete, browse to the PTP directory – the default location will be the root of the local drive.

  3. Locate the PTP.ini file and open it.

  4. Change the DatabaseDir= value under the [Tax Expense] heading to match the existing data directory of your Tax Expense data, for example E:\Program Data\PTP\PTPData\TaxExpense\ where E:\ is the physical drive on the server machine.

  5. Close the PTP.ini window and Save the change.

  6. Repeat this for each workstation.

After installing, please register your software from one workstation.

 

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