System Requirements

Requirements change on a regular basis. To ensure you have the latest system requirement information, please refer to our General System Requirements (GSR ) documents, which are available on the Customer Portal. To access the portal, create an account by adding your customer credentials. This site is only available to current customers. After accessing the site, search for the General System Requirements document that is appropriate for your region (US/Canada/Caribbean, UK/Europe, Asia/Pacific). This document also contains a list of tested hardware and materials that our teams have vetted and that are certified to work with our applications.

Overview of the Requirements

The Spruce application operates entirely in a Microsoft Windows® operating system environment. It is our practice to move to newer versions of our internal development software (Microsoft Visual Studio®) and to keep our Cloud server software and hardware up-to-date after testing for stability. We operate under the assumption that our customers are similarly assuring reliability by keeping their own software and hardware current and secure.

Because this software is designed entirely for a modern Microsoft Windows environment, both a LAN (local area network) and WAN (wide area network) are required. Separate Virtual Private Networks (VPNs) for each of your branch locations are also required to access the application data center. It is your responsibility to ensure these infrastructure elements are kept working and reliable.

One additional benefit to modern network technology is that choices in hardware (PCs, network printers, hubs, switches, and so on) are plentiful and not brand specific. We do have specific requirements for certain types of Point of Sale devices such as signature pads, mobile devices and cash slip and specialty printers; these are discussed later in your region's General System Requirement document. Users should only purchase the specific models we recommend in these cases.

Anti-Virus Support

All workstations and servers should be protected with a good-quality anti-virus software solution.

We discourage use of Avast, Webroot, or Trend Micro anti-virus software because we have experienced compatibility issues with these solutions.

Workstation Requirements

A personal computer (PC) is the recommended workstation for the Spruce application. We require Professional (not Home) versions of Microsoft® Windows 10 or 11. It is difficult to state an optimal processor or clock speed (since a wide range of factors determine the quality of a PC’s response to the software). However, we have found that 2-GHz or higher, 64-bit, multi-core processors tend to come in PCs designed to handle our software well. A minimum of 8 GB of RAM (memory) is recommended.

Thin Clients are not supported.

Spruce is a Microsoft Windows-based product. While users can use Microsoft’s RemoteApp functionality to operate the client software on an Apple device, they do so at their own risk. Not all functions work the same using this method, and ECI neither supports the method nor makes any representation or promise that it will work. Future Apple or Microsoft changes could render the functionality unusable or could make it less functional than it is now. In addition, our report platforms may not be supported for Apple devices, and other software may not work as expected or may stop working due to normal software updates from Apple, Microsoft, SAP, or others. In addition, ActiveReports and other affiliated software may not work as expected or may stop working due to normal software updates from the vendors that create them. We try to work with these businesses to vet their changes, but we are not always informed in a timely manner.

Again, these requirements can change frequently, please refer to the GSR documentation appropriate for your region and platform for definitive instructions.