Home Forums Discussions Problems V9 bugs and back-up/restore/install issues - summary and clarification

There are several issues related to V9 floating around on various threads and I am hoping to define them to clarify and condense them here. I don't have answers; my goal here is to sort out the issues so that AC can address them.

I hear 3 main concerns:

1. Bugs in V9.3 itself - which seem to be relatively few in number, pretty well delineated, and relatively minor

2. A possible bug in the 9.3 installer "where clients accounts are read as out of date" which prevents upgrades. If this is the case, the bug obviously needs to be confirmed and fixed quickly by the developers. I would imagine such a bug would rapidly become evident since support would become involved every time it rears its head.

3. Issues with backing-up, restoring, moving a db, and upgrading in V9.1 and higher.
To me, this is the most confusing and potentially most serious set of issues.

a. Restoring a back-up: The V9.2 release notes state, "Backups and restores on the same physical server work exactly the same way as they did prior to Version 9.2". First question: have people had a different experience than this? If so, please describe it.

b. Regarding moving to a new server, the question was asked, "would it really be as simple as contact support to get a back up server certified, then whenever it might be needed to be used as 'the server' just go ahead and load the ENC back up and no need to contact support further?" Chris Conrad's reply was "yes...it's that simple.....update to 9.2..have Support credential another PC in your office as a backup server. You can configure that backup server to also be a workstation if you like. If you ever need it then it's ready for your .enc file..no need to call us for anything."
Someone described this as "pre-installed server waiting in the wings. If our first-string server goes down, we restore the .enc file onto our backup server and are back in business."

Second question: does it work this way or not? If you tried to move to a new server, did you understand the need to get the key from AC "electively" for the new server, set it up, BUT then later find it impossible to move to the new machine? (Note that I am NOT asking about doing an upgrade - just a move).

Final question is the key (or certification) the issue for people simply doing an upgrade? That is, you move from 9.2 to 9.3, on the same machine, after already having AC provide the key for your server, but that is insufficient to allow you to proceed?

Please weigh-in on your experience (or lack of it) with each of these issues. If you thing there are other significant concerns, please add them to the list. I am not trying to detract from those who have spent time and effort to describe their issues in various threads; I simply hope to help organize the efforts a bit.

That's the way it was supposed to be.

I can share our experience regarding concern no. 3

We have been wanting to test out v9.2/9.3 specifically for the CCM feature. We are currently running live with v9.0.0 and today I finally got around to getting 9.3.1 to test on a different server using a full backup of our data.

My concern was the Licensing requirement to get a Test Server installed with AC. Today, however, I was able to get v9.0.0 installed on the Test Server and then restore a current v9.0.0 backup. As I proceeded to upgrade to v9.3.1 the installer requests a License Key.
- I have clarified with GA Support that you need to request a License key via email (preferably from the account holders email). They will respond back the same day with the License Key (this key is good for 24 hours).
I'm currently running 9.3.1 on the Test Server.

I will add another concern of mine was whether or not having both our Live server and Test server "activated" and online would cause any issues. I was told it wouldn't as long as they weren't on the same network.

Since upgrading to 9.31:

*Crashes/shutdown daily for any user on all computers

*Erx is slower that before and crashes often

*Support has reinstalled AC on local computers, run error checks, adjusted Adobe with no improvement.

*The tech who completed the install, and provided his email, no longer worked for company a week later!

*Email and chat have been unresponsive week of 2/6

*Hours wasted after clinic to allow techs to log in to server: 6

I am concerned AC will not survive in 2017.

I'm considering changing EMRs if this keeps up, despite 7 years of loyalty.

And then they ask why we won't consider PM??!!

Here is my experience
On a certified 'server' (laptop that I use in Nursing Home and Assisted Living facility) running 9.2, downloaded installer for 9.3 then ran the installer only to get the message the installation could not be completed because no support license or account was out of date(sorry paraphrasing as I didn't copy the message).
My support license is active and up to date until midMarch 2017.
So I aborted the install, actually the installer aborted the install however somehow it corrupted the current instance of 9.2 where it could no longer find the database.
1) Despite 2 phone calls to support tagged as urgent and emails no support call back on weekend when I was on call and needed the information.
2) Monday was called by support was told in conversation ' a bug in the 9.3 installer' caused the account out of date message.
3) So AC now checks if your server is known and certified and also apparently phones home to check your account status before it proceeds.
4) Apparently aborted installations now corrupts current instance.
5) Took support a few hours to get it all up and running, a few hours during regular patient care hours.

I won't be doing MACRA/MIPS, just want a functional fast EHR that I can manage with as little aggravation as possible.

I'm a longtime user, my client # is in the 300's, but again for the second year in a row with a month to go on my support contract I am again looking at open source programs.

Good posts. I think we need to keep these in one thread. Like the one I wrote. I like the way these are organized.

Part of the issue with companies like AC, it's not like Symantec. You can just change your antivirus or backup program. You are kind of committed to your EMR. Not that you can't do it. Sometimes, I wonder if this is a push to the cloud.

Here is what gets me. Someone, koby or whoever talked about three hours of tech support before they figured out it was the systemsettings.xml file. That is what support is for. To know, "Oh, this is probably the systemsettings.xml file.

There are many companies that have chat and email. But, and I have suggested this 100 times. You want to have someone answer the phone, first time, who then tells you they know you have a problems and the correct department will call you back within 30 minutes. They then call you and you and they set up a good time. The key is to know you are being heard. None of this automatic email.

I don't understand AC. They have this incredible niche. They win all the Klas awards. All they need is better beta testing, get ride of the activation code and better support. The issues with installs and backups should follow.

<BEGIN RANT>
Since Jon sold to Pri-Med, it's only gotten worse. Now it's an undisguised cash grab. I'm sorry. We were some of the original beta testers for version 1. It might have been buggy then (2002-2003), but there was none of this phoning home stuff; you got what you paid for and could use it as long as you liked. You wouldn't get updates if you didn't pay for them, and sooner or later elements of the program might not be in accord with the regulatory "flavor of the day" (and with ICD and CPE coding requirements), but you always could use it to keep a record of your charts. Despite the fact that we're paid up for v9.3 and beyond, I'm not touching anything beyond v8. When the time comes, hopefully the db export modules will still work without requiring "technical support".
<END RANT>

I simply don't get it. Given I am the admin of the board, I get questioned about the temperment of the board. And, it's been "Very quiet, everyone happy on the western front."

This doesn't seem difficult. Very clean cut. Version 8 worked. Version 9 broke everything. The thing that is frustrating is that while those on the board are only a subset of the total group of users, it is a percentage. The users HATED the activation thing. Hated it. Of all the issues with v9, that has to be the easiest to fix.

I will give the two perfect analogies.

1. Coke. Changed to New Coke. That lasted, what, six months.

2. And, I think the only thing that was actually changed by the users was Netflix. When they were going to make the two separated companies. One for the DVDs and one for the Streaming. The difference there, were there were alternatives like Roku 3.

The activation thing. I don't get what it's for.

My suspicion is that some of those several million illegal aliens who voted in the last election have pirated copies of Amazing Charts and are causing that chaos we have recently experienced with NewCrop & Updox. PriMed had to act, to save HIPAA & MIPS.

John, you are the best. Of course, now we just need Trump to make up the truth as to what is really happening. Tweet at 11 pm. Has he thought of doing SnapChat?

Or, at the very least, setting up a new server should not require more than an automated contact with Pri-Med's dedicated server, which can generate a code based on name and product serial. Companies like Intuit use this system, and it surely cuts down on repeated unauthorized installations.

My concern was the Russians had hacked CMS and activated the "All Your Patients are Belong to Us" protocol.Saving MIPS seems so much better.

It is possible that CMS/MIPS/MACRA are all just feints by the BORG.

Absolutely agree - self service license key.

Had a prospective client contact us this weekend, we can do nothing for them, they will have to wait until Monday and the Monday queue.

Indy, can you explain this issue in more detail? The client is already on 9.2-3? Upgrading? Did they already have a key?

Prospective client was returning to their office server after a failed implementation by an erstwhile competitor of ours.

They were on 9.2, and the data wasn't back on their server until after AC closed on Friday. They did not realize that they would need their data credentialed for their own server, so they are/were locked out of their data all weekend. It is a design flaw in the current AC system, that the credentials can only be generated by AC, on their network.

Larger practices tend to gravitate to us as we provide support responsively on evenings and weekends, and they are the same folks who want to migrate after hours, but we can no longer offer that as we are dependent on AC being open to credential the instance.

Now that we know, we have come up with work-arounds, but the obvious solution is clients being able to self-serve generate a license key.

For the record, we did our first upgrade to 9.3 on an existing instance, and it was a FAR BETTER experience than 9.2. No problems this time out, but expect the database tuner to run a long time.

Very helpful, Indy. Thanks for explaining.