Thomson Reuters – GoFileRoom ES
es.ThomsonReuters.com
Sep. 01, 2008
From
the Sept. 2008 Feature on Scan/Fill/Populate
Systems
GoFileRoom ES is a secure, web-based document management system offered as
part of the Thomson Reuters Enterprise Suite family of high-end, professional
accounting and tax compliance programs or as part of the CS Professional Suite,
which is geared toward smaller and mid-sized practices. Both suites offer a
variety of applications for professional accounting firms, ranging from tax
and write-up to practice management and planning. While the features and capabilities
of the ES and CS flavors are exactly the same, the two offerings differ in integration
and pricing.
GoFileRoom ES offers extensive document management and workflow features, organizing
documents in an index-based structure that enables thorough search and query
functions, as well as offering full linking of source documents to and from
client returns. Through the program’s FirmFlow module, users can manage
all aspects of client engagements, with management of all scanned documents,
files, notes, checklists and firm-specific routing slips or other items. With
the addition of the TaxSort module about two years ago, GoFileRoom ES also offers
advanced organization functions, with the web-based system processing scanned
1040 source documents, identifying what each document is, and producing a bookmarked
PDF file that organizes the documents into the correct tax preparation order,
along with a summary cover sheet of extracted client data.
Since the core features of this module rely upon recognition of forms for which
there can be numerous variations, the program is specifically designed to learn
from previous use. That is, the first time a user at a firm scans in a particular
form that has never been identified by the program, which is housed on Thomson
Reuters secure servers, it might take a little longer to process. But the next
time someone at that firm or any other firm using GoFileRoom ES submits that
particular form, the recognition process is almost instant. No client data is
retained in Thomson Reuters servers, only basic information about the formatting
of documents, which helps it build its knowledgebase.
GoFileRoom ES can recognize virtually all common forms and even infrequently
used ones, as well as combined brokerage statements of any length from almost
all sources. The system integrates directly with the GoSystem Tax ES compliance
package, but it does not currently offer an automatic client return population
feature. Frank Swierz, a Senior Director of Software Development for Thomson
Reuters, noted that they are exploring development of such a system, as well
as considering partnering with third-party developers for integration with their
auto populate capabilities.
There is no separate module fee; per-return pricing for TaxSort starts at $1
per tax return, and the per-return price decreases as volume increases.
Forms Supported for Automatic Population: None at this time,
although Thomson Reuters is considering development of an automatic population
feature in the future (see above). On the CS side, the FileCabinet CS solution
does offer a population module with integration into UltraTax CS.