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IRIS upgrades practice management tools

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15th Apr 2009
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Tax and practice software developer IRIS Accountancy Practice Solutions has rolled out version 9.3 of the IRIS Practice Suite, along with new tax year upgrades for the Drummohr and PTP software families. John Stokdyk reports.

Putting emphasis on the increasing prevalence of internet filing, IRIS has added a new mechanism for filing company formations and annual accounts online via the Companies House XML gateway. The transfer is two-way, so IRIS users can bring back Companies House into their practice software.

In November, IRIS launched a new Staff Planning module. This feature has been further enhanced in the new release with new workflow links into Microsoft Outlook. Staff Planning provides a good demonstration of the integrated nature of the IRIS Practice Suite. Starting from a configurable calendar (daily/weekly/monthly), practice managers can block out tasks and allocate staff time by dragging and dropping them into place.

Beneath the graphical chart, a Time Budget table linked to the billing module calculates how much resource has been committed to the client and compares it against the project budget (or a summary of the previous year's total).

The suites workflow mechanisms also plug into the calendar, so as staff are assigned tasks, they can are notified by email alerts and their To Do task lists updated. This feature has been updated in the new suite to link up to the Outlook Calendar and reminder system, allowing staff to accept and decline assignments by email and record them in their own personal calendars.

Communications with clients can be managed through IRIS Practice Management's Automail feature, which retains records of email messages sent and any replies. Tasks such as prompting clients to supply their accounting records can be triggered automatically using the workflow controls.

In truth, the 9.3 release for IRIS does not represent a major shift in technology for the developer, which has invested considerable sums over the past few years to move the suite across to Microsoft's SQL Server database mangement system. According to IRIS product manager Ros Bedford-Smith, the transition was managed so that users did not experience a massive change. "It's not a new piece of software - the functionality has remained the same."

While performance gains and internal data management has been improved, each step forward also means "new problems to learn", she admitted and IRIS has had to nurse its users gently towards the new platform. While the advantages of the new platform outweigh the disadvantages, the migration has also prompted a cautious development strategy for the wider suite.

Bedford-Smith said that reporting improvements are now on the agenda for the next releases, but added: "Now the [SQL Server] migration has happened, we'll let it bed in before we do too many enhancements. We don't want to shock our users with too much change."

A press statement from IRIS highlighted that Practice Management v9.3 as well as the PTP and Drummohr upgrades were all made available to clients in the second week of April. This may show an appreciation for the priorities of the accountant's working life, it caused turmoil for at least one AccountingWEB.co.uk member who found that their new IRIS accounts production module wasn't working - with no customer support until the Easter holiday was over.

Further reading

2009 practice management software review: IRIS
IT Zone guide to practice management software (2009 update)
Focus on practice technology
Practice software consolidation: when giants collide
IT Zone Library: Practice IT

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