OfficeTools Software

Improves workflow.

Pros

The interface between it and quickbooks. The layout is good. The search function is good. The project management work flow is good, it just took us a while to tweak it to how we like it.

Cons

The reports are a little cumbersome and difficult to find what you need. The work list at the bottom, it would be better if is could be a sidebar like the client list. The support is not very good, you call and you have to make an appointment. I would prefer if I could have instant support.

Able to do detailed billing.

Pros

Not my choice I was forced to use it by a parent company executive from a larger office than ours. Our office has only 3 chargeable people in it.

Cons

Difficult to make changes/corrections and there are other softwares that are better suited to our small office purposes!

Time saving in so many ways!!!!

Pros

Project tracking and assignments and not missing due dates. Activity list is very helpful for all employees to manage their clients and time better

Cons

When the portal is used, it is based on email instead of username. Once they program is updated, if the feature is changed we will consider using it.

Productivity reports and being able to track time to a project with comparability

Pros

Our firm really enjoys the time and billing function that is integrated with the workflow. These two imperative parts to practice management are seamlessly blended in OfficeTools eliminating the need for two systems. We love the reporting options and the ability to use parameters to obtain the information we need without any legwork.

Cons

In order to use all the functions properly, you would need a full time staffer dedicated to office tools.

Pros

easy integration with various programs, easy to use portal and effective DMS system. Add to the easy of setting up the annual engagements and you have a great system.

Cons

Least is the cost and required training. further, the program is not yet Cloud-ready. also, the server-based DMS does not provide for security of the data files

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.

Pros

We use it to manage workflow and documents and it does a fantastic job. It has truly allowed us to go paperless with no loss of functionality and confidence that projects do not fall through the cracks.

Cons

The interface is a little clunky at times and could use a refresh. Also, with so many features there is a bit of a learning curve. It took me a few months to get used to the setting and how I wanted projects and to-dos to appear.

Pros

This product is made easier to justify as it links daily productivity to QuickBooks and Outlook. Invoicing through Office Tools is quick and relatively simple. All client information is held in one location/application. No need to open multiple windows to gather details and statistics on projects and/or clients.

Cons

There are a few bugs when receiving retainers and then not applying retainers to invoices to specific clients. Also need a way to be able to send invoices to clients with copies to "relationships" other than doing it manually.

See my survey

Pros

The record keeping itself is worth its weight in gold. Having one software that lets you store and organize files, create and follow projects, time keeping and billing as well as schedules. I totally have become solely dependent on this one program to enable me to complete days of work into several hours. Customer support is the best. They taught me and helped me without judgement!!

Cons

Need it to be cloud based for easier use anywhere work takes me. Pricing is a bit high for smaller clients. I would like to have all of our accounting clients using this product. I also wish the big Vegas Show was on East Coast as well.

Pros

Cost effective, information it tracks. Can link family members. Seems like it has nice project tracking features.

Cons

Not user friendly. Can't search by specific fields such as phone number. Entering family members is cumbersome. Not very visually appealing.

being more efficient

Pros

Having all my clients information in one place. Being able to see the status of a project and who is working on it. Having a to do list and being able to see staff members lists. I love the ease of adding a document to Office Tools.

Cons

The portal to transfer files was cumbersome and expensive. I would have to resend links for clients to receive the documents.

Much easier for billing purposes, tracking projects and allowed us to reduce the number of software products used in a day.

Pros

Quick and easy entering new contacts. Many ways to classify and group contacts. I'm also a big fan of the "bill to contact" feature. It's easy to focus on the clients you need to contact.

Cons

Only one email can be utilized per contact. Not easily managed when contact name has to change and they often do in cases of marriage, divorce, death of one of a couple or sale of company etc.

Pros

Ability to set up and track projects. Following all the steps of the project and easily viewing status and notes.

Cons

the bugs, the image on the screen won't update. Often times, things don't save when I've clicked save. Payments don't update. Options I've set don't stick.

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 helps our accounting and tax team stay organized and able to prioritize work without missing deadlines. We use the system to allocate resources to streamline the busy season workload and the workflow to make sure we know the status of every project along the way.

Pros

It is a great way to track project progress and make sure deadlines aren't missed. It is also a simple solution to time tracking, although our firm doesn't use the system for billing purposes, it is helpful in budgeting resources.

Cons

My biggest complaint is that reports can't be exported to Excel, and not every pre-built report has all the data required. Without having a custom report prepared by the developers at Office Tools, you are somewhat limited on reporting flexibility.

I think when we are using it more fully, we will realize a lot of time saved in our daily tasks, as well as streamlining of our processes.

Pros

Lots of options! Options in every category. I like that this can be the "hub" of our team. I'm still learning about the program and the various ways we can streamline a lot of our processes with this software.

Cons

Not so much the software, but the training limitations. Having to purchase the software, purchase for extra users, and purchase training time on top of that. I'm new to this software, so I'm in the online User Guides frequently, but they fall short. I am at a small firm, so I have to budget my time to seek training with Office Tools to make sure I don't over-spend.

Pros

Ease of use and the reports are great. You can customize it to your particular needs. We use it for timekeeping and billing.

Cons

Sometimes have to wait for support as we are in NY and they are in California. I use Demandforce for marketing and coordinating the 3 of us was difficult.

All inclusive office management program.

Pros

The workflow of the program and how everything can be done in one program. The billing section was easy to use

Cons

Portal email was buggy, some features were not working as well, customer service response was slow at times

The more I use it the more I realize it can help me run my firm better.

Pros

It can do just about anything - capture time, invoice clients, evaluate staff, send invoices to client, schedule my life.

Cons

So many features sometimes it is hard to find the one little box you need to check to get it to work optimally.

It taught me not to believe the features you read on websites.

Pros

The days it works without data loss or speed issues. More often than not, it is extremely slow and non-responsive. We have an amazing cloud environment with more than adequate resources for this basic application. Office Tools is the only program that is slow or non-responsive on a daily basis.

Cons

There are many many little glitches that we have not brought to supports attention because we were told by your support team: "glitches must have been previously identified to exist". Your engineers told my IT consultant that we were not using the software properly, which resulted in the DATA LOSS we were experiencing. This is complete crap, as I witnessed the issue with my own eyes and know that Office Tools has a critical engineering issue that can result in lost data. I have also experienced the data loss issue across two separate companies (and IT environments) and have experienced this issue as far back as 2014. But that's not important, right?

The ABOVE MENTIONED ISSUE IS PROJECT ASSIGNMENTS CAN REVERT TO PREVIOUSLY ASSIGNED ASSIGNMENT WITHOUT ANY PROOF THE NEW ASSIGNMENT WAS EVER CREATED.

THE PROFILE SYNC DOESN'T WORK. THE CEO ACKNOWLEDGED THIS AS A KNOWN ISSUE YET THE COMPANY IS STILL SELLING IT AS IF IT WORKS.

ACCOUNTS WITH THE SAME PRIMARY CONTACT MAY HAVE THEIR FILE NAME CHANGED BY OFFICE TOOLS WITHOUT THE ABILITY TO CHANGE IT BACK TO THE PROPER NAME.

THE SIN (CANADA) NUMBER DOESNT SHOW PERIODICALLY UNLESS YOU HIT THE EDIT BUTTON, THEN IT MAGICALLY APPEARS.

Overall the software is not reliable and the company culture is disappointing. I brought the data integrity issue to the CEO and he brushed it off as a non issue, despite it being mission critical for his customers. Never will we recommend this software to anyone. It sounds better than it is.