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Practice management software review: Sage Practice Solution v1.4

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21st Mar 2009
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As part of his 2009 round-up of the leading integrated practice management suites, John Stokdyk describes a first-hand encounter with Sage's maturing practice management application.

 

Target market smaller firms who want basic client data, billing and marketing tools without too many frills.

Core functions Central Hub controls client and staff lists, and links to separate modules for billing/WIP, jobs/tasks, letters/communications and reports.

Cost Starting from £250 for a 10-client licence, the suite rises in increments according to the number of clients handled: £385 for 100 clients; £985 for 500 etc. Other modules (eg Tax and Accounts Production) covered by similar licence terms.

Sage SPS Business Dashboard

Pros
● Strong emphasis on useability with consistent interfaces across the range.
● User screens are easily customised and configured; good use of graphics, including Sage 50-like process maps.
● Template-based approach for setting up jobs and services.
● Email and mail merge marketing features, with ability to define new client categories on the fly. Anti-money laundering check and client risk rating added in v1.4.
● Hub can also link to new range of Instant Tax, Instant Accounts Production applications, and seamlessly upgrade to grown up versions when needed.

Cons
● No document management capability, but can integrate with Invu.
● Lacks advanced client review and marketing tools - work currently in progress on these features.
● Some integration issues remain as several components in the wider Sage portfolio are not fully .NET compatible yet.
● Awaiting arrival of simple Sage 50-style Report Designer in next release (v1.5) - due May/June 2009.

 

2008 Software Satisfaction ratings Ease of use Functionality Reliability Value for money Total rating
Sage Practice Solution 3.05   3.00   3.00   3.00   3.01  

For the past few years, useability has been the mantra coming out of accounting software giant Sage. Version 1.0 of the Sage Practice Solution (SPS), reviewed in 2006, reflected this emphasis, but the company's Accountants Division has pushed on since then to make navigation and connections between the SPS modules as easy as possible.

In essence practice management is pretty simple, explains Sage product development manager Richard Whitehead. Feature for feature, most of the available applications are very comparable - which is why useability is so important for the Sage developers.

"If you get a group of accountants in a room and ask what they want, easy to use and easy to learn will be the top o the list," he said. "We have to do compliance, but what's your value add and differentiator? If it's not easy to use and rememberable, no amount of fununctionality is going to give you a compelling product."

User interface

The Sage useability campaign stretches beyond the Accountants Division to embrace the Sage 50 family, so commands and icons in SPS will already be familiar to many accountants. SPS also now incorporates the popular Process Maps that show users on screen how the different modules link up. The process icons are not just pictures, they also launch the subroutines, often by launching a wizard-like dialogue sequence to guide people through activities, including the application set-up process (see below).

Sage SPS configuration process map

Like most practice programs, client details lie at the heart of the application and are typically displayed in a central Client list occupying the main part of the screen. In a suite supporting tax and accounts production modules, some of the clients may be greyed out on the client lists. This may be because the person already exists as a client within the tax module, in which case clicking on their record will prompt SPS if you want to activate them within the central Hub and bring their standing data across.

Practices differ in the services they offer and some departments operate independently. The flexibility of these controls puts the choices in customers hands - and lets them manage the number of module licences they have to pay for, according to Sage.

The Client Detail screen includes a Visual Control Formatter that lets you drag and drop task lists, graphical indicators and reporting widgets around the screen to customise the view. A Quick Nav menu that shows the user a pull down list of clients they can select from has also proved popular.

Configuration
While the building blocks of a practice suite are simple, setting them up can be very complicated because of the variety of options available. The SPS configuration screen tries to ease the pain by stepping administrators through a fairly typical sequence, in which they are asked to define working units, job stages and lifecyles and work in progress characteristics. Similar tools are available for defining staff and the departments they belong to.

Depending on how these parameters have been set, the data entered as people carry out jobs can be extracted in target completion and WIP reports as well as utilisation and staff recovery figures - which is what you would expect from any solid practice management suite. In most cases, the controls are set out in default templates. New users would typically review their processes and work with the installer to set up their system, but SPS arrives with a set of standard processes to get them started.

Having defined a service template within the Default Template Manager, it can then be adapted for a different department or service line - including the ability to set out standard engagement paragraphs and fee schedules that will be appear in engagement letters and invoices. As promised, all of these steps are easily assimilated and logically set out within the application.

Time & Fees

SPS makes considerable use of right-click mouse commands, so when you want to move into the business end of the suite, all you need to do is right-click a task on the client list to record WIP on tasks you have carried. Within the central client list, you can right-click to call up Billing options such as Raise an Invoice. This command will let you pull in completed jobs and accrued WIP for that client, with the default descriptions in situ to create a draft invoice can be set for authorisation, approved or posted.

Sage SPS right-click menu

Sage 50 acts as the SPS billing engine and is supplied as part of the overall practice management licence. If you prefer, you can do the accounting within Sage 50, but their are several overlaps so that you can carry out most of the practice accounting functions without leaving SPS.

Version 1.4 of SPS saw the addition of a batch billing module. And for those who still need to enter manual figures from timesheets, it includes a tidy little spreadsheet grid to speed data entry.

Client communications

In the past few years, most of the practice management suites have progressed to where they can include user-defined fields to retain data about clients' characteristics - say their golf handicap. Like others, Sage has extended this to keep a record of client ID checks for anti-money laundering purposes, with an additional field to hold a risk assessment of each client.

Similar mechanisms can be used to set attributes for clients' relationships (family and business) or to classify potiential clients as prospects, or to record that someone has become an ex-client.

In addition, Sage has emulated the DRIVE Communications module, in which emails, notes and telephone calls can be recorded on the client's record. If the activity has been defined as chargeable, you can add it with a click to the WIP record from within the Communications section.

None of this is earth-shattering, but all the links and interconnections worked well in Sage's product demonstration. Having stated that its objective was to create a simple-to-navigate and easy to use practice management suite, Sage has hit the target.

Accountants Division R&D director Ben Bishop said that on the surface, version 1.4 of the Sage Practice Suite doesn't look that different to version 1.1 reviewed three years ago. "We've added to the sophistication of the features rather than adding to them. Most of the effort has been around giving this application the sophistication it needs to fulfil clients' needs. We haven't just added things to tick them off a list, but to deliver features that really meet needs of accountants."

Further reading
IT Zone guide to practice management software (2009 update)
Focus on practice technology
Practice software consolidation: when giants collide
IT Zone Library: Practice IT
Practice management software review: CCH ProSystem
Practice management software review: Digita Contact Manager
Practice management software review: IRIS

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