Brian Tankersley

Conarc’s iChannel is a comprehensive document management system which is designed to cut across multiple areas of an organization. The application provides functions for customer relationship management (CRM), client portals, document management, and workflow management. The application is targeted at firms of 25 or more, and is designed to work in a complex, multi-site technology environment.

Document is the name of the CCH application which is used to store, retrieve, and publish information within an accounting firm. There are three versions of the product...

Cabinet SAFE CLOUD is a flexible document management system which was originally designed with accountants and tax professionals in mind. The product is still used and sold to clients by many accounting firms and value added resellers, but the company has expanded its vertical industry support to include law firms, financial services, manufacturing, and health care.

Drake Document Manager (DDM) is the document storage tool which is integrated into the Drake Tax Suite. The application is designed to provide basic document filing and retrieval capabilities from within the Drake Tax application, and has some integration with the other parts of the Drake Tax suite of solutions. Users can access the application’s data in two different ways – either the Working Cabinet mode, where DDM is embedded into the tax software, or in Archive Cabinet mode, where DDM is accessed through a separate shortcut on the Start Menu.

Practice Management Workspace by Office Tools Professional is an integrated application for document storage, workflow tracking, practice management, and client appointment management. The product’s user interface has been redesigned for 2013, and now offers e-mail synchronization with Microsoft Outlook 2007, 2010 and 2013. Documents can be added to the application by dragging and dropping the file into the application or by printing the document using the product’s new PDF printer. PDF files can also be marked up with the product’s built in annotation tools. It also comes with a built in client portal for document transfers.

The Doc.It Suite is a comprehensive document management solution for small to mid-sized firms. This solution is based on the concept of “binders”, which are reminiscent of the paper notebooks used to file engagement documentation. The Company’s software is designed to manage data associated with pending and active projects using the Work Binder module.

Cloud Cabinet is the integrated document storage service in the AccountantsWorld Power Practice System. The application is completely cloud-based, and the application is hosted from multiple secure Amazon data centers in the US. AccountantsWorld was founded by the Bhansali family, which has a long history of creating on-premises and cloud-based solutions for accounting professionals. Cloud Cabinet is designed for use by accountants and their clients to store, index, share, and archive documents in real time from anywhere. Cloud Cabinet has a new user interface which is cleaner, and seems to load and preview documents faster than the version which was reviewed in 2013. The user interface is logical, and we were able to find all major functions without having to refer to any documentation.

FileCabinet CS by Thomson Reuters is the document storage application associated with the Thomson Reuters CS Professional Suite of applications for professional accounting firms.

GoFileRoom is a web-based document management system designed to be used primarily from within the Internet Explorer web browser. The software has traditional features like version control, check-in and check-out, and supports bar-code scanning to help streamline document organization. Workflow and document routing are available using the integrated FirmFlow workflow engine, and documents can be routed to clients using the ClientFlow feature within the optional NetClient CS portals.

The last 18 months have been a period of significant change for the document management systems of many accounting professionals and their firms.

Selecting a small business accounting package is, in some ways, like purchasing a piece of home exercise equipment. The solution needs to meet your needs, be easy to use, should fit within your budget, and should be pleasant enough to use that the client will actually keep their books after the first week or two.