Review of NetDocuments - 2011

NetDocuments
866-NetDocs
www.netdocuments.com

From the June 2011 Review of Document Management Systems

This is only the second year that NetDocuments has been a part of this review, and the more familiar I become with its depth of features and functions, the more I like it. The user interface has been completely revamped with the most recent release. The home page can be customized by selecting panels to display, including Favorite Workspaces to list specific client folders, shortcuts to the folders, Current Engagements that operate like “Favorites,” current tax year folders, and many other options. Users can launch applications such as Microsoft Word and Excel, and Adobe Acrobat from the home page, follow links to websites and access saved searches.

Best Firm Fit:
NetDocuments’ biggest market is law firms, which represents 70% of the company’s customer base. Although they don’t have a deep presence in accounting firms at this stage, they have a strong presence in many similar businesses, such as financial advisory firms. The system is highly configurable, so it can be deployed effectively in any type of firm. Since it is offered in a SaaS model it can be scaled up or down for small, medium and large firms..

Core Product Functions/Features:
This is only the second year that NetDocuments has been a part of this review, and the more familiar I become with its depth of features and functions, the more I like it. The user interface has been completely revamped with the most recent release. The home page can be customized by selecting panels to display, including Favorite Workspaces to list specific client folders, shortcuts to the folders, Current Engagements that operate like “Favorites,” current tax year folders, and many other options. Users can launch applications such as Microsoft Word and Excel, and Adobe Acrobat from the home page, follow links to websites and access saved searches.

When a user accesses a client folder, the workspace page can be organized by document type, and can display an optional panel listing files that are currently published to the client’s portal. Comments and other notes on a file can be recorded directly to the document’s profile data.

Files can be uploaded to NetDocuments by dragging them directly onto the workspace. Files can be moved or copied from Windows Explorer individually or in bulk. The metadata tags are completely customizable to meet the needs of enterprises, firms, departments or practice groups. As users search for text, NetDocuments will highlight the specific occurrences of the text within the document.

Document Workflow:
NetDocuments is designed as a horizontal solution to meet the needs of many types of businesses. It has limited integration with accounting, auditing or tax software out of the box. Users can setup a “watch” folder to have certain document types stored, i.e. tax returns, and NetDocuments can monitor the folder and upload files automatically with a pre-defined metadata tagging profile. Upload utilities are available for Lacerte and QuickBooks.

Microsoft Office/Outlook integration lets users save files directly from these applications to NetDocuments. The Microsoft Office File, New and Save buttons are redirected to NetDocuments. Users can e-mail links to documents through the firm’s existing e-mail servers, or use the e-mail engine provided by NetDocuments. Once a document like an e-mail sent to a client is filed, the next time a similar email from the same source arrives, NetDocuments knows where to file it.