Caribbean Regional Technical Assistance Centre and
Eastern Caribbean Central Bank
Workshop on the Price Index Processor System
St. Kitts and Nevis
October 5-9, 2009
USING THE PRICE INDEX PROCESSOR SYSTEM (PIPS) IN A MULTI-USER ENVIROMENT
Using PIPS in a multi-user environment can be done using either a Microsoft Access 2003 Database
located preferably on a Windows Server within a Local Area Network (LAN) or from an instance of a MS
SQL Server or MS SQL Server Express database shared over a network.
The following steps should be followed when using PIPS on a LAN with the MS Access 2003 Database
located on a Windows Server.
1. Create the folder on the Server where the MS Access database will reside and share this
database. Include in the share settings of this folder all the users who will be using PIPS and
ensure that they all have both read and write access to the folder. Also, ensure that they have
full security rights to the shared folder.
2. Install PIPS on each the client computer which will be accessing the MS Access 2003 Database.
When installing PIPS on this machine, ensure that the user of PIPS is granted full administrative
rights to computer. Install PIPS in the user’s environment. After the installation the Network
Administrator may downgrade the user of PIPS on the machine to Power User status.
3. Log on to the machine as the PIPS user on the client computer. Open up the shared folder on
the server where you placed the MS Access Database and map it as a network drive on the client
computer. Give the mapped network drive a drive letter assignment, example I:\ . When this
drive is opened you should see the MS Access Database placed previously on the server.
4. Open PIPS in the user’s environment. Click System Config, choose the CPI compilation country.
For the default database file location, type in the drive letter associated with the mapped
network drive, example I:\. Open the default CPI database location and you will see the MS
Access 2003 Database you had placed in the folder on server, which was referenced via the map
network drive on the client computer.
5. Set your weight date, your base period, your compilation by product and your compilation
method to Jevons Geo-Laspeyres. Your system should be fully operational.
6. Note that you may follow all of the above steps and not put the MS Access 2003 Database in the
folder on the server, but create it through the System config in the PIPS software.
7. Note also that when using PIPS in a multiuser environment with Access Database actions can
only be performed by users on one outlet by at a time. In other words, while several users can
work on different outlets a user(s) should not work simultaneously on the same outlet from
different client computers. In addition, PIPS only allows one user to upload prices using the
spreadsheet upload feature to the database at a time, the other user(s) get an error message
until the first upload is completed.
PIPS in a MS SQL SERVER Environment
From the PIPS software system config settings dialog an MS SQL SERVER database can be created. The
name of the server hosting the database must be specified along with the SQL Server database name.
The data source should then be configured to the name of the Server and the database can then be
selected. Once the connection is tested and succeeds the SQL Server database should indicate that its
status is online and PIPS will be ready for use.
PIPS runs much faster in this environment and this environment it is more secure since it benefits from a
better quality database. However, more technical expertise is required to maintain PIPS in the SQL
Server environment. At this time the SQL Server capabilities of PIPS is a very welcome development but
it is still not yet fully documented.