Supporting Client with Challenging Situation

[the rescue tech]

I need some insight as to what might be the best solution for a close personal client, my 72yr dad.

Background and current situation:

• Dad operates an custom repair shop in the stamping and forging industry, in KY about 600 miles distant (I largely do remote support and am on-site about twice a year).
• He created and CONTINUES TO USE a custom ‘program’ built on Lotus Symphony (c. 1984) using flat file spreadsheet and macro command language.
• They have a SB Server 2003, Exchange Server 2003, Quickbooks and about 3 workstations (2 XP pro, his workstation is Windows 7 pro with XP mode)
• He is HEAVILY dependent on XP indexing/search of mapped server drives, as it is his primary method for looking up information he has collected over the past 30 years.
• MS broke the indexing of mapped drives with Vista/7 and that is part of the reason he is using XP mode.
• He is now trying to transition to telecommuting from home (15 miles away from his office) because of health concerns of his wife.
• He has been trying to used TeamViewer to remote access his unit, but upload on bandwidth has given some problems with performance issues.
• He is hoping to make this transition in the next 6 weeks.
• He is not handling the change to Windows 7 well (tried Windows 8 first without consulting me, which was a disaster).

My question/dilemma:

What is the best method for setting him up to work effectively at home under these conditions?

I’ve considered a VPN connection, yet he still desperately needs a server based indexed search method, but I have not been able to locate.

(Presently takes about 12-15 hours to index mapped drive on-site, which he does weekly)

Would SharePoint an appropriate option?

Is something available that could be used with SB Server 2003.

(I know we need to upgrade, have looked at options and cannot easily reproduce what is currently in place)

Anything you might be able to share that would point me in the right direction would be appreciated.

 

[callthatgirl]

I'd skip SharePoint as it's not a great file sharing program, but Dropbox might work well for you in this situation.

 

[Bootman 650]

I'd skip SharePoint as it's not a great file sharing program, but Dropbox might work well for you in this situation.

+2 for this! One of our bigger customers use Sharepoint, it is nothing but a pain!

 

[callthatgirl]

it's no joke on SharePoint, desktop app synching is horrible and try to make a new directory and synch that....FUgettaBouttit!

A guy from my podcast said, "It's only good for co-authoring" for small business. I had to agree. I refuse to support, now I also will add, I maybe need more in depth training and the training so far from Microsoft I have seen is just admin control functions and higher level.

 

[Mokester]

Sharepoint is powerful stuff...if configured right. But it can be a beast to manage and there are some limitations on it which really limits it's use as a file system. I don't envy your position as you have a tough client to work with...one I'd walk away from strictly business speaking. I'd recommend a complete overhaul.

One thing about VPN...don't do it. If Team Viewer is sucking...VPN will be worse due to overhead of the tunnel. First step would be increasing bandwidth at his location for TV to work properly...if that is in fact the problem.