Thomson Reuters — FileCabinet CS - CPA Practice Advisor

From the August 2008 Review of
Document Storage Programs

FileCabinet CS has been a perennial favorite in my review of document storage
solutions. It is one of the most widely used systems in small and midsize accounting
and tax practices. The product has enough depth of functionality to make it
a viable stand-alone document storage solution, but it excels in its integration
with the other CS Professional Suite applications.

Usability — 5 Stars
The maturity of FileCabinet CS is revealed in the visually intuitive design
of the user interface. Your entry point to the system is a list of the clients
displayed along the left side of the screen and a series of windows that displays
system-level information such as recent activity in the program, an audit trail
of updates installed and a list of open tasks. The interface will be particularly
familiar for users of other CS Professional Suite applications.

Document Organization — 5 Stars
The documents and files are organized by client, which can be imported from
other CS applications or created from within FileCabinet CS. Each client’s
“file cabinet” is organized by application folder (such as tax,
accounting, etc.) as well as any custom folders you create. Within each of these,
the sub-folders are organized according to accounting periods that you associate
with the application. For example, the tax folders will be yearly, while the
accounting folders may be set up by quarter or month. You have an option to
toggle the listing to make the year the primary folder list, and the applications
become the sub-folders. You can establish recurring folders that will be created
automatically from year to year.

Integration — 5 Stars
The integration with other CS Professional Suite applications is very well designed.
Whenever you print from a CS application, you can choose the FileCabinet CS
print driver and it will publish a static image of the document or report to
the appropriate folder for the client. You can even put a copy in multiple folders
if appropriate. MS Office integration provides the option to save a copy of
the file in its native format or as an image. Integration with Outlook includes
a number of options such as whether or not to include annotations made to static
documents, add a password, send in native or PDF format, and more. A particularly
appealing feature is to send a set of individual files as a single merged PDF.
If you choose the cover sheet option, an HTML link to the first page of each
merged file is generated. This is a great way to package a set of client reports
that are generated from multiple applications.

Annotation– 5 Stars
FileCabinet CS includes a proprietary viewer for the static document images
that allows you to apply various annotations including highlighting, redaction,
notes, electronic stamps and even audio clips.

Overall Value — 5 Stars
The depth of functionality provided in FileCabinet CS makes it a formidable
competitor in the document management category that we reviewed in the June/July
2008 issue (www.CPATechAdvisor.com/go/1966).
If you are a using other CS Professional Suite applications, this is a natural
choice. Pricing is $1,500 for a single user. The first four-user network license
is an additional $500, and each additional four-pack user license is $250. An
optional web-hosted version is available with the Virtual Office CS offering.
The company offers web-based and live on-site training services.

2008 Overall Rating: 5 Stars