2012 Review of CCH ProSystem fx Practice Management

CCH, a Wolters Kluwer business — ProSystem fx Practice Management
800-739-9998
www.cchgroup.com

From the July 2012 review of Practice Management Systems.

Best Fit: Accounting firms of all sizes currently utilizing other ProSystem fx desktop solutions or firms looking for a standalone practice management solution

Strengths

• Fully contained solution, without the need for purchasing additional modules
• Fully customizable to meet the needs of firms of all sizes and client focus
• Strong reporting options including ability to automatically run reports
• Driven by dashboards for each user level

Potential Limitations

• Native integrations are limited
• SaaS solution available, but currently only works with fellow SaaS products and not desktop solutions

ProSystem fx Practice Management is part of the ProSystem fx Suite from CCH. Built solely for accountants, ProSystem fx Practice Management is offered in three tiers, Basic, Office and Enterprise. The core functions of all three levels are identical. The Basic Edition is limited in reporting capabilities compared to other editions and does not include budgeting or client marketing tracking capabilities. The Enterprise Edition is intended for larger organizations and is reliant on the Microsoft SQL platform. The following review focuses solely on the Office Edition of ProSystem fx Practice Management.

BASIC SYSTEM FUNCTIONS - 5 Stars

ProSystem fx Practice Management is built on the .Net and SQL Express platforms provided by Microsoft. These platforms help ensure a sturdy underlying database solution as well as a scalable solution to meet the needs of accounting firms of all sizes. ProSystem fx Practice Management is driven predominantly by dashboard technology. Dashboards are modifiable and available for every major function and position with a typical accounting firm.

ProSystem fx Practice Management has integrated tools that provide users with a suitable customer relationship management system. Nearly any type of client contact data may be entered and tracked within ProSystem fx Practice Management, including prospective client data. The included client dashboard can be set to show detailed contact and billing information about each client and allows for direct emailing capabilities. When sending batch emails, ProSystem fx Practice Management automatically includes client email addresses in the BCC filed to ensure adequate privacy is maintained.

TIME MANAGEMENT CAPABILITIES - 4.5 Stars

ProSystem fx Practice Management features an intuitive time entry screen. Users simply enter the client name and the appropriate service code. All time posted is immediately available for billing purposes and the screen details the billable, non-billable and total time posted for the current day. Employees may also view their time entry through a calendar view to ensure that appropriate time is posted for each day worked. Time may be entered in batch for multiple employees by those with adequate user rights. Timers are available and run as a separate program. Multiple timers may be running simultaneously and users may enter basic time entry information that will automatically be imported into ProSystem fx Practice Management.

Project tracking is included with ProSystem fx Practice Management and allows full customization in the setup of each project. Project templates may be setup as detailed as necessary to meet firm needs, though more detailed project setup will generally result in better reporting capabilities. All project templates created may be attached to clients individually or in batches and may be set to automatically generate upon changing to a future time period.

INVOICING FUNCTIONS - 4.5 Stars