This Wiki is meant as a simple overview to explain the basic process of how WEAR works, and what is required for an FTP connection.
More detailed explanations of how to setup and configure WEAR can be found under OTHER LINKS at the bottom of this page.
In a WEAR environment, the Head Office computer and the WEAR computer(s) can’t see one another. Very much like two people in different cities would not be able to see one another. So, for information to pass back and forth between two locations there must be an intermediary. For human beings that can take the form of a post office. Let’s look at the Post Office scenario.
Joe and Pete live in different cities but need to communicate with one another.
Joe is waiting on some invoices from Pete, so he goes to the Post Office to see if anything has arrived. Nothing is there, but Joe puts some updated information into a package and leaves it there for Pete.
Now Pete needs to send some invoices to Joe, so, Pete goes to the Post Office, puts all the invoices in a single package, and leaves his package for Joe. He then checks to see if Joe has sent him any new packages.
Joe then goes to the Post Office to see if he has received any packages. If the package is there, he picks it up, takes it home, updates this information, puts it into a new package and sends it back to Pete
Pete then returns to the Post Office and the cycle repeats over and over.
If you think of the FTP as the Post Office and follow this scenario, the purpose of the FTP makes a little more sense.
The process that happens at each wear site is the same except for the order in which the process occurs.
| 2 – Imports changed information from the server through the FTP |
|---|
| 1 – Exports all changed information from it’s dataset to the FTP (invoices, customers etc.) |
| Remote Locations |
| 2 - Exports all changed information for the remotes to the FTP (inventory, inventory quantities, customers etc.) |
| 1 - Imports all changed information from Remotes through the FTP. |
| Main Location (Head Office) |
Usually on a WEAR installation you would schedule an update at each location twice a day. Once at the end of the business day, and another before the start of the day. This would ensure that all invoices from the remote locations are synchronized back to the main location at the end of the day, and that all updated information is synchronized to the remote locations at the beginning of the business day.
The FTP
The FTP is a critical piece of the WEAR setup and must be configured by your IT person or IT company. It isn’t something that a Windward Software support person can set up.
It is the responsibility of your IT person to configure this FTP to be accessible from the internet, as your WEAR datasets will likely reside on Laptops or Tablets that your employees are taking with them out on the road or using at tradeshows.
Ideally the FTP should be configured across a VPN, but at a minimum it should be a Static (non changing) IP Address. If the IP Address changes, the polling application (S5Poll.exe) will not be able to find the FTP. A Hosted FTP is another alternative, because the hosted FTP will always resolve to a web domain such as wws5.com. This solves the problem of a changing IP address, because the domain name will always point to the correct or current IP Address.
The FTP Port must be set to 21 which is the standard port used for FTP. This port is coded into S5Poll.EXE which is the application that controls the flow of data to the FTP.
The FTP MUST be a standard (Active or Passive) FTP. It CANNOT be Secure or SFTP. This doesn’t mean that the FTP is accessible to everyone. Standard and Secure only relates to the protocols that software programs use to access the FTP. A standard FTP setup will allow a software program to send non-encrypted information back and forth between multiple locations. Secure or SFTP requires information to be encrypted and decrypted in both directions. and S5Poll.exe (Windward Software's Application that communicates with the FTP) cannot communicate using that secure FTP protocol.
The Windward S5Poll.exe program that is used for WEAR, does not encrypt the data going back and forth between the FTP, Main Dataset and Remote Locations. Instead, The S5Poll.exe application breaks the data up into XML and BTR files, and compresses them back into one small file before it sends them to the FTP, and then when it is receiving the new information, it receives the compressed file and extracts it back into XML and BTR files, then converts them back into useable information (invoices, inventory quantities, customer and supplier information) at each location.
Because sensitive credit card information isn't sent back and forth between locations, the WEAR application is PCI Compliant.
Other Links
Detailed information On WEAR In The System Five Self Help
WEAR - Remote Location Dataset Recreation
Batch Number Tip for WEAR Dataset Recreation (Employee Only)
Upgrading Or Updating A WEAR Environment
Using Giftcards With WEAR
Uninstalling WEAR (Employee Only)
Auto Login File (ALF) (Employee Only)
https://newaccount1608055419986.freshdesk.com/a/solutions/articles/66000520380
or
Creating a Local FTP on your PC for WEAR / Polling Testing (Employee Only)
hosting_an_ftp_server_on_your_local_pc_with_filezilla_server_.doc
Troubleshooting
After creating the datasets and attempting to log into s5poll.exe, you get an error saying “no active server found” or “no active server setup”. Could be that MSXML isn't installed.
Troubleshooting WEAR
Dataset is Not a Polling Dataset (Employee Only)
Invalid Emergency Dataset ID (Employee Only)
Custom Setup For WEAR Without an FTP (Employee Only)
http://wiki.wws5.com/doku.php?id=employee:wear_dataset_no_ftp_settings
Created by Steve Wind February 20 2018
Updated May 28 2019
