System Requirements

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Tom S
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Catalyst Technical Requirements

See below for a list of recommendations and requirements that should be observed when setting up your Catalyst instance to ensure software compatibility across your organization.

  • Catalyst is a web-based application: This means you won’t have to download or install any local software on your machines to use Catalyst. Catalyst can be accessed via any web browser.
  • Machines: PCs are highly preferred to Macs. Macs will need a Windows environment installed.
  • OS: Windows 10 or greater is required.
  • MS Office: Microsoft Excel 2013 or greater is required.
  • EBM Excel add-in: The Excel add-in will provide the primary connection necessary for your files to connect to Catalyst and the data lake. See here for installation and troubleshooting detail.
  • VBA Macros: (Legacy and replaced by the Excel add-in) If not using the EBM Excel add-in, then macros from EBMOfficeBridge.xlsm files must be enabled and unrestricted or at least allowed from trusted locations. In other words, the user should have the ability to Enable Macros and Enable Content when prompted. Companies will have their own internal policies on Macros and may even have Macros banned entirely or restricted. Your local IT department will need to develop a policy to exclude EBM Software Macros from restrictions. Your system administrator can work with our Support team to get help with that as needed. For best practices on Macros, check out this article and FAQ. There are other alternatives to connect to the cube, if you have security limitations, although they are less ideal.
  • Internet Explorer: IE is used by Catalyst in the background of Excel. IE will sometimes open or run as a 32-bit application process rather than 64-bit. Our software requires them to run in 64-bit. Your System Administrator can follow the steps outlined in this article to ensure that 64-bit IE is used for your machines. Note: Soon IE will be decommissioned and at that time, EBM will update this requirement. 
  • Antivirus Rules: Antivirus software may conflict with Catalyst and limit your users’ ability to work with the software on the web and in Excel. It’s important for your IT System Administrator to test our software with their antivirus service in order to validate compatibility. Tests are explained in another article, but they essentially include opening and navigating the websites and running, reading, and refreshing Cube files in Excel without any flags and under multiple user accounts.
  • Firewall Rules: Like antivirus rules, your System Administrator should confirm that exceptions are added to the firewall settings which will allow our software and its corresponding websites to run on your devices, networks, and machines.
  • Domain Whitelisting: Your users must be able to access our websites and your systems should not automatically block or restrict them in any way.
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