End-to-end recruitment management and information system

PRS Best Practice Deployment

This document explains how to deploy the PRS software in a multi-user environment. Most of the information presented here can be found in greater detail in the PRS Administration Guide. You can find the Prerequisites and Installation Procedures sections of the PRS Administration Guide in the PRS on-line help (Select PRS Help from the PRS Help menu) or on the Web at https://prshq.com/documentation.html.

Deployment Overview

The PRS Personnel Recruitment System is a multi-user database application:

  • A single copy of the shared database files reside on a file server.

  • Users access the database using the PRS Client application which is installed on each user PC.

Deployment consists of first installing a blank copy of the PRS Shared Data Files on the server and then a copy of the PRS Client on each user PC.

Prerequisites

Before you start make sure you have the PRS CD-ROM and a copy of your PRS license activation file (the licence activation file will have been emailed to the nominated PRS administrator at the time of purchase).

If you don’t have a CD-ROM you can download the PRS Runtime and PRS Client, Demo and Shared Data install wizards.

The PRS hardware and software requirements are relatively minimal and include a file server using Microsoft file serving protocols and client PCs running Microsoft Windows 7, Windows 8 or Windows 10. Connections from client PCs to the server should be via a 10Mbps or better local area network.

The hardware and software requirements for the server, client PCs and the network are spelt out in detail in the Prerequisites section of the PRS Administration Guide.

Deploying the PRS Shared Database

Before running the PRS shared data files installer you should decide on a writable location on the server for the PRS shared data. The location should be mapped to the same network drive letter on all client PCs.

  1. Insert the PRS CD-ROM in a PC with access to the shared mapped network drive and wait for the PRS Setup menu to appear, then click the Install Shared PRS Data Files button.

    Or, if you don’t have the PRS CD-ROM, download the Shared Database Install wizard then run the PRS 8.0.6 Shared Database Install Wizard by double-clicking the previously downloaded prs2k_data_setup_806.exe Shared Data Install Wizard.

  2. Run through the setup wizard until you reach the Select Destination Location page, at this point:

    1. Press the Browse… button.

    2. Select the destination mapped drive and press OK. For example, if your common mapped drive is P: then install the Destination Location will be P:\prs2k_data.

  3. Press Next and finalise the install wizard.

The PRS also manages your shared recruitment related documents, these need to be moved to the PRS shared Documents folder which has already been created inside the Shared Data folder by the shared data installer. See Managing Documents and Document Search Indexes below.

Note

  • Earlier versions of the PRS Administration Guide incorrectly recommend using UNC path names rather than Drive path names.

  • You should also ensure the shared data files location is included in your back regime (see Backups below).

  • Use the same mapping on all PRS client PCs — if you don’t documents linked from one PC won’t be found from other PCs.

  • If your server doubles as a the PRS Client you should map the shared data folder on the server to the same network drive as on the other user workstations and configure the server’s PRS Client to use the mapped network drive for shared data locations (not its local hard disk drive).

Deploying PRS Clients

You need to install the PRS Client application on each PC that uses the PRS.

The PRS integrates with Microsoft Word and Outlook so they should be installed before installing the PRS (the PRS works without these programs but you lose some functionality).

Although not a requirement, we recommend installing the PRS Demo Version on all client PCs. This will:

  1. Verify the PRS is installs and runs on the client PC.

  2. Serve as a useful user sandbox for learning the PRS.

Install the PRS Demo and PRS Client

From the Internet

  1. Install the PRS Runtime.

  2. Download the PRS Demo Setup Wizard.

  3. Run the downloaded prs2k_demo_setup_822 Setup Wizard and follow the on-screen instructions.

  4. Download the PRS Client Setup Wizard.

  5. Run the downloaded prs2k_client_setup_822 Setup Wizard and follow the on-screen instructions.

From CD-ROM

  1. Insert PRS CD-ROM and wait for the PRS Setup menu to appear.

  2. Install the PRS Demo Version — if this is the first PRS install on the PC you will be prompted to install the PRS Runtime. Once the runtime has installed you’ll need to go back and repeat this step.

  3. Start and login to the Demo Version (double-click the PRS 2000 Demonstration desktop icon) to check it is functioning.

  4. Click the Install a PRS Client button on the PRS Setup menu and run through the setup wizard (accept the default options unless you know exactly what you’re doing).

Configure PRS client

Note
 The default PRS administrator or supervisor passwords are set to a blank value.

  1. Start the PRS Client (double-click the PRS 2000 desktop icon).

    • If this is the first time the PRS Client has been installed on this PC you will be prompted for the location of the shared PRS database folder.

    • If this is the first client to login to the shared PRS database you will be prompted for the PRS license activation file (the licence activation file will have been emailed to the nominated PRS administrator at the time of purchase).

  2. If this is the first client to login to the shared PRS database you should set the PRS Supervisor and Administrator passwords — run the PRS Tools→Options menu command; select the Security tab; press the Set Admin Password and Set Super Password buttons.

  3. Run the PRS Tools→Options menu command; select the File Locations tab and ensure the Link to documents folder and Site wide documents folder check-boxes are checked.

Managing Documents and Document Search Indexes

Recruitment related documents can be linked to PRS data records.

  • The documents themselves are stored in the shared Documents folder (located inside the PRS shared data folder) — they are not embedded in the database.

  • If you have an existing set of shared documents move them to the shared Documents folder.

  • By default the PRS enforces document linking to the shared Documents Folder. To this end you will have ensured the Link to documents folder and Site wide documents folder check-boxes were checked when you installed the PRS Clients.

  • If you plan to use the PRS Document Search Tool (a full text search engine) you need to index the shared Documents folder. You can do this manually using the PRS Tools→Setup→Document Search Index menu command although it is recommended that you schedule this to happen automatically on the server (see the PRS Admin Guide for instructions).

Note

  • The document indexer can take some time to complete, depending on the number of documents.

  • Do not index a UNC path name — the Document Indexer only processes Drive path names (the use of Drive path names is covered in the Deploying the PRS Shared Database section).

System Maintenance

PRSMon (the PRS Database Administration program) is your friend, read about it in the PRSMon Administration Program section of the PRS Administration Guide.

The Maintaining Database Reliability and Performance page on the PRS Website has a PRS maintenance check list.

Backups

  • Backup the PRS Shared Database folder daily — see the Backup up the PRS section of the PRS Admin Guide.

  • Do backup fire-drills to check your backups actually work.

Operational Guidelines

  • Do decide on a security policy (what users can do what) and then set the PRS Security Options appropriately (run the PRS Tools→Options… menu command and click on the Security tab).

  • Do decide on a minimal, appropriate sets of Personnel Skills, Occupations, Locations and Industries before populating the database (see the PRS Tools→Setup menu).

  • Discourage users from manually renaming, moving or deleting documents in the shared Documents Folder — if they do then documents linked to the PRS won’t be found and you’ll have to relink them.