by The Professional and other Editions use ElevateDB - see http://www.elevatesoft.com
The Server Edition uses PostgreSQL (aka PGSQL) - see http://www.postgresql.org
What's the difference?
ElevateDB is a file-based database engine. This means that your database files passively sit in a folder somewhere on your hard disk. When ClinicOffice wants some data, it opens the appropriate database files and sifts through them to retrieve the required data. When ClinicOffice is running over a network, then the networked computers can also access the database files via Windows File Sharing.
By contrast, PostgreSQL is a Client/Server database engine. This means that the PGSQL engine is installed on a comptuer (usually called your 'Server') and it runs as an 'active' process whose sole job is to manage your database for you.
To illustrate: imagine a busy clinic with several clinicians and a couple of receptionists all requiring access to patient files. There is a very large filing cabinet containing all the files.
Whenever someone wants a file, they have to go to the filing cabinet, open it, sift through all the files to locate what they're looking for, pull it out and take it back to their room. They then have to return it in the same manner. When it's busy, the clinicians and receptionist often find they're getting in each other's way as two or more of them are trying to sift through the filing cabinet at the same time. Obviously, the more people trying to get at the filing cabinet at the same time, the longer it takes each of them! There's also a lot foot traffic to and from the filing cabinet.
Now imagine that a secretary is employed and she sits at a desk in front of the filing cabinet. She's an expert at locating files, handing them out, taking them back (when they're finished with) and re-filing them. When a clinician or receptionist needs a file, all they have to do now is call to the secretary "I need Mrs Smith's file please" and by the time they get to her desk, the file is there waiting for them. The secretary has massively reduced the 'bottleneck' as well as foot traffic to/from the filing cabinet.
The difference between the two scenarios illustrates the difference between a passive file-based database engine (running over a network with Windows File Sharing) and an active Client/Server database engine.
When should I choose the SERVER Edition?
We recommend that if you have 5 or more people simultaneously accessing the system, then the Server Edition will be the best choice. Other factors do weigh in too, for example the Server Edition also significantly cuts down the amount of network traffic, so if you have a slow network (or a wireless network) or a very large database, then you will see a big performance increase with the Server Edition.
We hope this article helps to explain the advantages of the Server Edition - please feel free to post a reply if you have any more questions.
