The McShane Companies

How to connect to Sage-Timberline/TimberScan.

**Part 1 – is set up for everyone to connect to the remote desktop. Part II is split into two sections. Sage access (which is in orange) and TimberScan access (which is in purple) to easily navigate to.

PART I: Remote Desktop

In any Cadence/McShane Office

Open the program on your computer called “Remote Desktop”. It can be found either in your start menu or by running a search on your computer. Pro Tip: If you don’t want to search for it every time place a shortcut on your desktop or taskbar. Place the text in the box to read “cmc-term.mcshane.com”. It should look like the picture below:

Click “Connect” and you should see the below screen:

Enter the username and password for your account. It should be the same one you use to log into your computer. You can click the box that says “remember me” to avoid this in the future. Once you log on you may encounter 1 or 2 error messages before you get to the desktop.

Hit cancel on both messages. They cannot be removed and pertain to a security policy. They may be there every time you log in. This is normal.

If Out of Office:

You will need to connect to the VPN first. Once you have successfully connected you can follow the above instructions and they will work. However, there are a couple of issues that may arise that you should be aware of.

1. When opening remote desktop, you may have to use the IP Address as opposed to the server’s name of CMC-TERM.MCSHANE.COM  
2. See below example:

PART II: Sage/Timberscan

Sage Access

Once on the desktop. Hit the start button:

In the Menu that appears, scroll down to “S” and get to the folder called “Sage Accounting”. Open that folder. Find the icon called “Desktop”:

Click it to open and you will be greeted by:

Enter your username and password that you were given by accounting

TimberScan Access

1. From here you will need to get the Timberscan icon on your desktop. In your remote desktop follow the link and you will be taken to the folder where the icon resides.  \\dal-fs4\publicdata\technology
2. Copy and paste the below icon to the desktop on your remote session.

***NOTE*** You may go to login again and notice that the TimberScan icon is gone. You will have to go through the steps of re-adding it to your desktop. The reason is that there are 2 servers that support TimberScan, and you were just moved to the second one for the session. After the second time you will not have to do it again.

Part III: Troubleshooting/Issues with connecting

1. The Dallas network was built before remote access was commonplace. The IP scheme of the Dallas office is identical to most home networking equipment either bought in a store (i.e. Best Buy, Walmart) or from your provider (AT&T, Spectrum). The result of this is that it can sometimes be impossible to connect. One day it will work, the next it will not. A common workaround is to use the personal hotspot on your iPhone/iPad instead of your home internet connection. Alternately, you can also change the home IP scheme of the network you have. WARNING: This isn’t always possible and can have a negative impact on other services in your home that rely on the internet. A better solution is to stick another router behind the one in your home, a process called double NAT’ing. I have set this up for a couple of users and it works well. This will require you to purchase an additional router and either let me set it up or walk you through doing it. I can clarify this further if need be.
2. Users in the field working from hotspots will sometimes get strange error messages about not being able to connect. Often this is a transient condition and resolves itself within an hour or a day. Usually, a specific provider is having an issue with their data line at some point between where you are and the VPN connector in Chicago. I recommend finding another way to access the internet if possible if you have an urgent need to connect, preferably with another provider (If using Verizon hotspot try a spectrum connection or AT&T etc.).