2012 Review of Drake Software – Document Manager

Strengths:

• Direct integration with Drake tax preparation, planning and write-up applications
• Integration with Gruntworx 1040 document recognition and organization software
• New addition of client portal application
• The free cost for Drake Tax software users

Potential Limitations:

• Value is focused primarily on integration with Drake Tax software

Features Overview

• The user interface is intuitive and easy to get up to speed with. Files are organized in a cabinet, drawer, folder model that you can customize to meet your needs.
• Folders are organized by letters of the alphabet, each letter is a drawer and clients are located within the drawers. Drake DMS will automatically create a tax documents subfolder for each year when you create the current year tax return.
• This feature includes the option to encrypt and password protect the PDF file at the time of creation.
• A new proprietary PDF print driver produces PDF files that result in a smaller file size format and higher quality image, per the vendor. You can also password protect the PDF file. The system generates an automatic password based on the first four letters of the client name and last four characters of the social security number.
• When you print a tax return you have the option to print to PDF directly into the DMS. At the time of print you can add a custom watermark to the document.
• There is an option to link to files that are external to the DMS.
• Files can be put into the DMS by drag & drop from Windows Explorer.
• A button has been added in the DMS toolbar to get updates to the software directly.
• Drake purchased the popular GruntWorx 1040 document scan and organize program from Copanion this past year. GruntWorx is accessible directly from the GruntWorx toolbar. It is used to upload a PDF file of unorganized 1040 supporting documents and it will recognize the documents, organize them in the appropriate sequence for preparing the tax return and add bookmarks to the PDF. Even more importantly, GruntWorx will transfer data from the forms directly into the tax software, i.e., W-2 wages. The system will also generate a detailed Schedule D spreadsheet in Excel from a scanned brokerage statement and you can import the detail into Drake Tax.
• A new Portal solution called SecureFilePro was added this year to serve as a file exchange to upload and download files. A button within Drake DMS lets you access the portal upload feature. You can enter an email address for notifying a client when a file is uploaded.

Executive Summary and Pricing

The addition of the GruntWorx integration and the SecureFilePro portal application have helped to raise the value of Drake DMS to a new level. The primary benefit is when it is used with the integrated tax software, as is the case with many of the document storage systems reviewed. The Drake DMS is included at no charge with the Drake Tax software. The GruntWorx pricing is based on a per document model using tokens which are priced with quantity discounts. The cost to organize one client’s source documents is $5 or less. The portal application starts at $9.95 per month for 250 MB of storage.