Office Tools Pro -- Office Tools Pro

From the August 2008 Review of
Document Storage Programs

The Office Tools Pro document storage system is designed as a component of
a very tightly integrated suite of office automation applications that includes
time & billing, scheduling, contact management, and more. The document management
component can be purchased stand-alone, but based on the pricing model you’re
better off purchasing the whole package and leveraging whichever of the other
functions you can.

Usability — 4 Stars
For all of the functionality that is bundled into the Office Tools Pro suite,
it is surprisingly easy to navigate. They have improved this interface since
last year’s review. The system provides a single point of entry to the
entire suite of applications so you can quickly get to the information you need.

Document Organization — 5 Stars
The documents are organized by a series of metadata tags (indexes) upon which
you can sort. This includes file name, year, project, category, assigned staff
and date modified. You can file documents by client or contact. A unique document
listing option is to list all documents by client and assigned staff within
the client or vice versa; this allows you to see all of the documents that are
currently assigned to a specific staff member.

Integration — 4 Stars
Due to the nature of the Office Tools Pro suite, the integration is strongest
within its own suite of applications. No direct integration is available with
tax or accounting applications. You will have to upload those files from Windows
Explorer into Office Tools Pro or save them from their original application
directly into Office Tools Pro through a “drop folder” from which
the user will be prompted to select which client the file belongs to. All files
stored in Office Tools Pro can be accessed in Windows Explorer, as well as any
location that will notify you of a file to be uploaded. Integration with MS
Office includes the ability to create a document directly from a template file
with one click of a button. An Add-in is now available to save any document
through a toolbar directly from MS Word, Excel and Outlook. All Outlook e-mail
can be selectively or automatically stored from an import function. Documents
can be sent as e-mail attachments directly from Office Tools Pro.

Annotation — 4 Stars
No proprietary viewer is available, which means annotations are handled at the
native application level. However, with the integration to the project management
tool, you can assign a note to a file and then assign the document to a staff
member.

Overall Value — 4 Stars
It’s a little difficult to rate Office Tools Pro against the other solutions
reviewed in an apples-to-apples comparison. What Office Tools Pro lacks in terms
of integration with other tax and accounting packages, it makes up for in its
integrated suite of office automation applications. If you are a sole practitioner
or small firm, you may find this to be a compelling solution for your overall
practice management. Pricing is $500 for a single user and $225 for each additional
user. Online and on-site training are available for additional fees. However, technical support is included with the product for no additional charge.

2008 Overall Rating: 4 Stars