Session - An independent desktop environment capable of running a set of programs on a server with set permissions based on user name and passwords which persists regardless of outside connectivity.

Remote Desktop Connection - A Microsoft program that allows you to start, connect to or stop a "session".

Terminal Session - implies connectivity from the client (Remote Desktop Connection) to the server.

If a user logs onto the server and simply clicks the X to close the Remote Desktop Connection program, they have only disconnected from the server. In other words, they have stopped the Terminal Session. The environment or what is called a "session"   is still open and running on the server. All the programs that have  been opened are still running back at the server and as far as the server is concerned,  connectivity has been lost and it’s patiently waiting for to reconnection.

The upside of leaving a session open is:

• The user can close this connection at the current computer, go to another computer and log back in with the same user name and password, and be right back in the "session" where they left it when they disconnected.
• The user doesn't have to wait for SOAPware to load, they simply log in.

The downside of leaving a session open is:

• That session uses up a terminal licenses, and the clinic only has a set number of them.      
• If for some reason the user has an unsaved encounter information or other unsaved data and the session is reset by another user whom logs in and unknowingly closes programs without saving, the server is rebooted or in the event of a server crash, that data will be lost.      
• If a user is   logged into SOAPware with high permissions, and someone with lower permissions logs into the session, they can see what the first user was  working on.  It's important that session accounts and SOAPware accounts match in permissions.  For example, if the front desk staff only has the ability to pull a chart or create a new chart in SOAPware, the do not need the user name and password to the doctor or nurses Remote Desktop Connection Session.

Note: It is our recommendation, when a user is  finished working in a session, at the very least, close the patient's chart (that saves the data) then log out of SOAPware (this keeps any of the staff without permission from seeing patient data).  

To log out of SOAPware click the menu item SOAPware >  Logout.

Leaving a session open is not in itself bad, as long as you have logged out of SOAPware by Clicking the menu item, SOAPware > Logout  The absolute safest measure is to click the Windows Task Bar's, Start > Log off buttons. Logging off the session closes all programs and releases the Terminal Session licenses.