Great all-in-one tax office tool!

Having everything needed to help/work on a client at your fingertips in one piece of software. We consolidated 4 programs into one when we moved to OfficeTools. We could FULLY consolidate 2 more if they were reliable and user friendly enough for staff and clients (AIME and the portal). But as it stands we have to have backups for both to function properly.

Pros

The best thing about OfficeTools is the integration of contact manager, schedule, time/billing tracking project management, billing, and documents. There are lots of other features that are included as well but those are the big ones. It's great going to one client and having access to everything you need.

Cons

There are some quirks that you just have to live with, but overall it is a solid piece of software. There are times when support just cannot figure out a solution to a glitch we are having and we just have to wait to see if it will be resolved in a new release. Another thing that is quirky is having to go to another client and then back into the one you are working on the get the system to update.

Mostly small little things that aren't that bad and they do seem to attempt to address issues as they go so it is by no means a dead software.

Office Tools has been great. We can't imagine running things without it.

Office Tools replaced separate document management software, a time keeping/billing software, and a project tracking software. It's streamlined our process and allowed us to save tons of time for billable work.

Pros

The integration of difference functions has been the best part. Having contact info, project tracking, document management and time tracking/billing in one package has made things so much easier and streamlined our process.

Cons

The reporting in general is limited. The inability to combine information types (Contact, Billing, Project, Staff) into a single report is difficult. Currently, we create 2 different reports, export to excel and use formulas to combine the information. Skipping these extra steps would save so much time.
Also, allowing a custom recurrence pattern for projects (i.e. every 2 years) would be great.
Finally, many clients want to be able to specify a "Billing Only" e-mail address. Right now, I have to make that change manually for those clients each billing run.

Saves me thousands of dollars and hours every year!

I used to track projects by emails in my inbox and files on the shelf, constantly putting out fires and dealing with what ever client was "on top of the stack".spending HOURS every day figuring out what I had to get done.....now the minute a project comes in (Via email,mail, or phone) I create a new Project in OfficeTools and I have an easily accessible, up to date task list of EVERYTHING I need to do. And I can assign tasks to staff, so my staff knows what to work on WITHOUT having to ask me. I cannot begin to quantify the dollars and hours this software has saved me.

Pros

The ability to quickly create and add items to a "ToDo list" and assign tasks to staff w/ documents attached (dragged straight from Outlook).

Cons

There is a learning curve - but that is to be expected with such robust software and customer support was great helping me learn features I couldn't figure out myself (since I refused to do the training and like to figure things out myself). Plus, the online tutorials were really great.

Been working with Office Tools for nearly 14 years now

We use Office Tools for our companies billing, tracking time, tracking our projects for our clients and for our scheduling appointments with clients. We have used this product for nearly 14 years and it helps our office run smoothly. We have access to each others schedules and daily tasks. Everything is right at our fingertips.

Pros

I really love that it is user friendly. It really helps keep me on track with my tasks with all the projects that have been assigned to me and when it was assigned. It really helps me not forget about projects. I love all the available reports that you can print. There are reports to help track or Work in process and reconcile our billing and many many more.

Cons

There is not any thing really in particular right now that I would say I least like about the software. I find that if I have an issue with the software I can call technical support and they are always very helpful.

The program has been great at keeping client and billing details accessible.

Ease of reports for billing, client records, staff utilization, accounts receivable which make our office run smoother and more efficiently.

Pros

The numerous reports and ways in which to cater a report to our specific needs. For example, I can create a WIP which shows work by date, or work by employeee, or work by code. These options have all been useful for different needs.
The contact lists are also versatile which helps with birthdays, phone lists, contact type lists.
Form letters is useful and we have created several this past year catered to contact type.

Cons

There have been issues with the document signature feature; months went by with giant red lettering appearing on the documents, so we could not use that feature; when the feature was fixed with a new upgrade, we were not informed of the upgrade.

The email link from Outlook is not reliable and keeps stopping on two of our computers. This feature would save time and keep records straight with our clients, however, we cannot keep it connected.

Comprehensive Practice Management Solution

Overall, I've been very satisfied with Office Tools. In the past, I was a member of the firm that developed its own computer-based time and billing system. Office Tools offers all the recording and analysis tools we strove to provide in our package and integrates nicely with document management and contact management.

Pros

Office Tools provides all the elements required to manage my small accounting practice. Contact management, document management, time, billing & collection are seamlessly interfaced. The Office Tools modules that I do not use do not interfere with the use of the elements that I do use.

Cons

it is difficult to find something to dislike about Office Tools. It is sometimes difficult to find where, in the program, adjustments to certain settings should be made. Also, occasionally, it seems that updates are promulgated, of which I do not received notice.

I just wanted to drop a quick note to let you all know about exceptional customer service.

Pros

 I'm a long time Office Tools user who was MAD when I got my renewal quote. The quote included 2 more users than our small firm has, and I misunderstood it to mean that you only offered the program with a minimum of 5 users.  The initial quote represented a 162% increase over the prior year and I was informed that the Office Tools user agreement, we would lose access to our data once the subscription expired.

I immediately went shopping for alternatives.  Long story short, he was willing to work with me despite my very vocal displeasure. He was very professional and took the time to answer all my questions thoroughly, as result he helped you retain a long time customer.

FYI, I'm very happy to learn that under Abacus's user agreement, we'll retain read-only access after the expiration of our subscription.

Cons

I do not feel there are any cons worth mentioning at this time, or things I like the least about the software

Software was Valuable to our firm first. But then it became cost prohibitive.

Practice management in one platform.

Pros

I like the document management service. The scheduling software. And I like the notes. We also used the to dos quite a bit.

Cons

The cost. And the fact they update the software year during tax season. Because of the cost, this will be the last year that we will be using Office Tools Pro. Also, the cloud-based features are severely lacking. In order to be able to view your schedule online, you have to have Outlook and an outlook sync subscription with Office tools pro. And even that feature is very clunky and works very rarely. We had many preparers in our office miss Appointments because they did not show up on the outlook schedule on their phones. The only effective way to see appointments was to remote in to the computer to see the scheduling within the program directly.

Office Tools has streamlined our office, we now only use 1 program where we used to use three.

Everything is in one place. I can track the progress of projects that co workers are doing, so when someone calls and can tell quicker where we are on there return or other accounting service.

Pros

Can add To Do's in program for reminders to do several things.
Keep track of appointments easily.
Documents are easy to find.
Can add notes about clients.
Can track status of projects and set due dates.
Can send documents out for esignatures securely and its easy for clients to sign and return.

Cons

Wip and A/R balances don't match from end of month to beginning of next month.
When adding Wip to invoices, system writes off balance to zero instead of showing profit if billed amount is still over the amount of WIP on bill.
Documents for business clients is harder to sort, employees like to have folders.

Long term Office Tools User!

We have been using Office Tools for 12 years now. I cannot imagine how we functioned without it before and would not want to go back to those days. It is a very affordable and very comprehensive product. Also, it is very easy to implement and use. Our need to get support has been rare. Without hesitation, I recommend Office Tools!

Pros

Everything in one place! We have our scheduling, project and deadline management, phone call tracking, time-keeping and billing, and document management all in one place.

Cons

There really is nothing that I don't like about Office Tools. We did try out their client portal a few years ago, and we went to Sharefile to get some added features. But, we are going to go back to try the Office Tools client portal again before the end of the year. I am hopeful it will be a great change for us.

We've used OfficeTools for last 3 years and find it very effective in our client relations.

Client info concentrated in one area. Easy classification of documents/emails for later retrieval. Accountant info can be specific to Project.

Pros

Projects allow us to ensure that Corporate info, Bookkeeping info and Personal Tax info gets properly sorted. Our use of Outlook Sync also ensures that our Office365 Inbox and Sent folders are captured to client's communication. Many shared documents are quickly categorized allowing for a quick, specific search of information.

Cons

Invoicing module currently only links to Quickbooks desktop for bookkeeping and we've been using Quickbooks Online for past 4 years. Support Team doesn't always comprehend our "real-life" situations and how we need to operate - thus leaving us not able to use OfficeTools to its full potential.