PPAutomation - interlinkt

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interdata

Your office will contain systems from different suppliers. Almost everyone uses Microsoft products and most will use software for various tasks such as tax return & accounts preparation, Practice Management, CRM etc. Most people recognise that there would be benefits if those systems were linked so that there was never any conflict of data. The big software houses exploit this to persuade you to buy all your professional software from one source - but most larger firms prefer to buy best of breed software. The aim of interlinkt is to glue together your IT systems.

The core is the interdata database to link together your SQL databases. This allows data from multiple databases to be shown in a single report.

On top of this database we have built web parts in SharePoint to do specific tasks for clients. e.g. a tool to integrate Outlook with the Practice Engine database.

We then built a Portal for another client within which the various web parts can operate. Clients are able to build their own web parts or to buy them from a range of other software suppliers. We can thus provide a comprehensive intranet site for your firm linking all your information.

Shortly we will be adding the largest web part - a document filer. Taken with the document generation web part that we build for another client, we will then have a full document management system using the latest technology.

The future in this area of practice IT is the opportunity offered by SharePoint and XML to integrate the management of documents with the management of information in a way which is agnostic about which particular software packages are used to create particular documents. Your team of very high net worth individuals could use a more sophisticated tax package than those dealing with simpler returns, but with the ability to view the returns and computations without opening either of those software packages. Joining the SharePoint community now gets your firm started on this path.

interdata - this is the glue that allows your varying computer systems to be joined together and so to talk to each other. A SQL database which can link your practice management software - e.g. Practice Engine or VPM - your SharePoint Portal - Outlook and Exchange - Tax Database e.g. Digita or accounting package e.g. Sun Systems.

The database is highly generic and so can be adapted to include links to any software.

Already operating in ten practices - totalling over a thousand users - including haysmacintyre, Barber Harrison & Platt, Cassons, Langham Hall and CBW.

The software is licensed free to customers as we want to allow firms to work together so that SharePoint development can work more effectively and avoid re-inventing the wheel.

Web Parts available

Document Management

SharePoint Portal

e-lerts
Portal - edition

Help Desk
Currently two help desks; Tax Knowledge and IT support.

Both are searchable databases with questions and answers, call logging and integrated Wikis.

Additional help desk lists can be created using the help desk list template.

Exchange integration
Synchronise Outlook Contacts with your Practice Management Software. The integration within PE no longer works. The first site went live November 2009.

The cost for the basic package will vary depending on the practice management software you are using and the level of integration that you are considering. Basic price will be £2,500+VAT.

Client access manager
A tool to extract the names of clients from practice management software, allowing you to give them access to the Portal.

Discussions
Customised version of SharePoint discussions for specific needs e.g. marketing.

Workflows
Current workflows include a holiday approval system.

Reporting Services
We have built a tool to allow Microsoft Reporting Services to be displayed as an integral part of the Portal.

Quote of the day
A tool which allows quotes to be displayed at the top of the Portal. The quote changes as the person moves around the site. The Managing Partner has the permissions to make an announcement which replaces the quote.

Custom search
An easy to use search tool which incorporates several searches in one. Enter text in the search box then pick from a fully configurable list of places to search - e.g. the Portal, the firms website, Google, HMRC etc.

Task list summary
A tool which brings together lists of tasks allocated to an individual in different parts of the Portal.

SharePoint provides full document management facilities and it is free. What more do you want?

The answer is that you need to spend a lot of time customising to meet the very particular needs of accountancy firms. This is what we do for clients. We then make those developments available to other firms who are less keen to be at the leading edge of software development.

So we have taken a document generation webpart built for one client - an email filing system built for a different client - a document filing system that we built to use ourselves - and a customised ontology of key words devised from our experience in installing three or four of the top document management systems. The result is a comprehensive document management system built using the best Microsoft technology so with a development budget which dwarfs even the largest of the specialist software suppliers to the accountancy marketplace.

We believe that customising the Microsoft SharePoint document management system - and integrating this with all your other practice software - is the best way to manage your practice.

The initial release of this software was in April 2008. Version 2 was released on 1 November 2009.

If you are asking yourself "What is a Portal?" or "What is SharePoint?" then check our explanation.

Built on our integration database interdata, it allows information from different databases to be displayed together as a single report.

We added a framework of menus and style sheets which upgrade the standard SharePoint experience and ensure that it is customised for large professional firms of accountants and solicitors.

All our WebParts operate within the Portal as well as being available independently. These are the WebParts currently available.

Several clients have bought third party WebParts to use within our Portal and we intend to advertise third party webparts in due course. We will charge suppliers a fee for each copy sold - but our advice on which to buy is always impartial.

You can get an understanding of what can be achieved from the screen shots of the Portal we have built for an imaginary accounting firm called Frank Wood & Co.

If you want to have access to the demonstration site for FW&Co or to have details of pricing for the Portal and WebParts please email andrew@ppautomation.com.

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