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Technology for solo practitioners 2: Going paperless

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20th Oct 2010
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In part two of her IT advice column for sole practitioners, Anne Fairpo offers some ideas on how to get from paper to electronic documents.

So you have a laptop (or netbook, or iPad) and are heading out of the office: do you carry a stack of papers with you? Paper can defeat the best intentions in working on the move – not to mention the security problems that could be involved with loose paper.

Increasingly I find that most of the documents I need are in electronic format, either sent to me by clients, or created by me. To deal with the ones that still arrive in paper format, and to keep track of admin paperwork, I scan the papers into the computer. I use a dedicated document scanner, the ScanSnap from Fujitsu, which scans both sides of documents and turns them into PDF files. The software that comes with it can also be used to perform optical character recognition on the files so that the PDFs can be searched for key words. The ScanSnap has the advantage of being small and portable (the version I use can be operated by connecting it to the computer with a USB cable, without an external power supply).  The important thing, though, is to get paper into electronic format - any scanner that you find useful will work.

Working in the Cloud
You have your laptop, internet access, and electronic documents: how do you join all this up? I use Cloud Computing, taking advantage of the more-or-less ubiquitous nature of the internet to get access to my documents anywhere and anytime. 'Cloud Computing' means using the internet to access resources, software and information on demand.

However, 'more-or-less' in the context of internet access often means 'anytime except when you really need it', particularly when travelling. So I use and recommend a variant of Cloud Computing that allows to me to work on documents and retrieve information whether or not I have internet access. My 'synching' internet service makes sure that the same documents and information are stored on all my computers and, if necessary, accessible on my iPad and/or phone.     

Documents: Anytime, anywhere
The traditional problem with using a laptop on the move and a desktop computer in the office and/or at home is keeping documents synchronised across the computers. Amendments to a document made on the laptop need to reflected on other computers, or there is a danger of confusion as multiple versions of the same document spring up, with different amendments. Documents can be synchronised manually - by emailing documents to yourself, for example, so that you pick up the amended document on your home computer; or by using a USB stick to store all documents. Emailing documents is a brute force option, and means that you need to remember to do it. You can still end up with multiple, different, versions of the document. The USB stick route may mean that you only have a single version of the document, but is not very secure and also not backed up regularly. If the USB stick gets damaged - and the various laws of fate can conspire in horrible ways - you may lose a day's work. This is where synchronisation services come into play. I use Dropbox, but other similar options are available. When looking for a synchronisation system, make sure it works with whatever you plan to use to access the documents - laptop, netbook, and smartphone.

This system means that, with an internet connection, any change I make to a document on my laptop is synchronised to the server and then to my other computers, which are also linked to the same account. So I can update a document at work and go home and carry on working on the same document on my home computer - without having to email it to myself, carry it on a USB stick or otherwise move the document from one computer to the other.

When working on a laptop, I periodically connect to the internet if I'm not otherwise connected, to make sure that changes are synchronised. A good synchronisation service will automatically update the contents of a folder (and its subfolders) and should be totally independent of the programs that you use to create or edit documents so that it isn't limited to files created by those programs. Some programs storing information in a database may not work properly with a synchronisation service, but work-arounds can usually be found to get those synchronised as well.  Certain types of practice management software may not co-operate as a result, although these types of software are usually outside the budget of a solo practitioner.

Synchronisation is not the same thing as a back-up - it might seem similar, but the synchronisation just means that a document or file is the same on all of your computers, provided that they have been connected to the internet since changes were made. If you delete it by accident, it will be deleted on all your computers as well.  As noted above, a synchronisation service can include the ability to recover previous versions and deleted documents, but it is not a substitute for a proper back-up - for which, see below. 

Reference: Anytime, anywhere
Besides the files that you create, there is usually another kind of document that you will want to have access to: reference material. A good scanner gives you the ability to capture articles to read, or access later by searching. You may also want to capture information from the internet relating to a client, or to a market sector, or just for general background. You could just save web pages, or scanned documents, into a reference subfolder that is synchronised to all your computers. Depending on your computer, this may be searchable, but it's usually a relatively slow and clunky search function. There are better options. I prefer to use Evernote - this is a free service, although there is a paid-for upgrade option which offers more functions.

Documents and clippings from web pages can be added to Evernote's database on your computer; anything you add on one computer is synchronised to Evernote's servers and all other computers on which you have installed Evernote's software. Whatever reference system you want to use, make sure that it's easy to add material to it: Evernote has apps for the iPhone, Android and Blackberry as well as Windows Mobile, so that you can add notes to Evernote using your phone - particularly useful, you can usually take a photo of something and add that to Evernote as a reminder. Accessing stored notes using a phone is generally something of a trial, so I recommend the phone apps only as a way of getting information into Evernote for later retrieval.    

Connecting to another computer
There are various software programs that allow you to connect to (for example) your office computer from your laptop, using the internet. These will allow you to run programs on your office computer, controlling it from your laptop - or iPad; there is at least one app for the iPad that allows you to access your home computer and run programs there, using the iPad as a remote display and keyboard. These can be useful but are limited in that you must be connected to the internet to run the programs or access documents: not so helpful when you're in a mobile black spot. There is also a slightly increased security risk for the office or home computer, as you need to leave this computer on and connected to the internet with a program running on it that allows you to access it remotely. Unless your passwords are good, that means someone else with less than pure intentions might just possibly stumble across your computer and use the same computer to access it, if they can figure out your password. 

Email: Wherever, whenever
So that's your documents and reference material available anywhere you want it. The next step is email: clearly you can access email whenever and wherever you have internet access, but the trick for a solo practitioner is making sure that this means full access to emails - so that any 'sent' emails and archived emails in particular are accessible, no matter how and where you are getting at your email.

For this to work, you need to make sure you have an IMAP email system; most email providers offer IMAP and POP3. The difference between them is that POP3 email is removed from the email server when you first read it - this means that you can't read it on any other computer. In contrast, IMAP email is only removed from the email server when you specifically choose to do so. You can set up folders on the email server so that you can organise emails but still access them from other computers: an email program will automatically recognise the folders on the server. To be effective, an IMAP email service should come with a large amount of storage space so that you can keep all emails relating to active client work on the server; you should also regularly review material to see whether it can be archived. Note that Microsoft Exchange emails work differently, and dealing with those is outside the scope of this article as most solo practitioners won't be running an Exchange server.

Back-up
As noted above, none of this synchronisation removes the need for a good back-up system. Hard drives can and do fail. Having material synchronised to other computers will usually mean that a failure of one computer means you can pick up and carry on with another but, in rare circumstances, the failure of one computer that wipes data (such as through a virus - although you are running anti-virus software, aren't you?) can result in the data being lost from synchronised computers as well.

Anything that works for you is good, but my preference is for automated back-ups - any system that requires the user to remember to do it is doomed to failure.  Both my home and office computers (which have synchronised data) are backed up hourly, so that I have back-ups in two physical locations. I also back-up the home computer using different software once a day to a separate drive so that I have a second back-up available. It may sound paranoid, but data loss is not an option.

Data protection
All tax advisers will be handling personal information and so are required to notify the Information Commissioner's Office giving details of how personal information is processed and held; there is a small fee for notification. Failure to notify is a criminal offence. Notification can be made by online application on the ICO website. All of the suggestions above (apart from connecting back to your home/office computer) involve storing information on a remote computer server - be that a document server or an email server.

The Data Protection Act 1998 requires that data must not be transferred to other countries without adequate protection. The Act's eighth principle prohibits the transfer of personal information to countries or territories outside the European Economic Area, unless there is adequate protection for the rights and freedoms of individuals in relation to the processing of information about them. To comply with the Data Protection Act, you will need to ensure that the remote servers you use are within the EU or otherwise comply with EU data protection laws.  Many services for Cloud Computing, including Dropbox and Evernote, use servers based in the USA. However, if the company in the US that provides the service has signed up to the 'Safe Harbor' agreement, then it can be used for client information.

The Safe Harbor provisions mean that the company has agreed to abide by a set of rules similar to those found in European data protection law. The Dropbox service mentioned above uses the Amazon S3 servers to store synchronised data; Amazon has (at the time of writing) a current Safe Harbor certification and so meets the Data Protection Act standards. The Evernote service does not have a current Safe Harbor certification (it apparently expired in 2009, according to the US Government list of certified companies) and so I do not use it to keep client sensitive reference material.  Similarly, I make sure that my IMAP email service provider (which is US based) has a current Safe Harbor certificate.

Further reading
Technology for solo practitioners 1: Computers
Practice technology - expert guides, tips and Any Answers

Taxation magazineTaxation magazine
This article includes extracts from a longer piece originally published by Taxation, the market-leading weekly magazine providing news and features on UK tax law, practice and administration. A subscription costs £319 a year and includes full access to the online Taxation archive. Next week: Going from paper to electronic documents.

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By MikeFreeman
21st Oct 2010 11:50

Sensible and Structured Email Filing

Email management is a common problem whether a Sole Practioner or a large multinational.  The amount of email correspondence to and from your clients is undeniably on the increase which raises the question of how to file and manage them in a sensible and structured manner?

As a Sole Practitioner, the limitations of using Outlook to file emails are not initially obvious but if you use POP3 for email collection and delivery then you'll soon realise that the meagre 2GB of storage provided by Microsoft just doesn't seem enough.  You end up creating local PST files to archive your emails to which becomes another management issue in itself.  What happens if that PST file corrupts? The email data can be so troublesome and time consuming to retrieve (if at all possible) it can cost you many lost hours and not to mention a sore head!!

Our Mailsafe software integrates with Outlook and offers a secure, structured filing system for Client emails enabling them to be tagged with Client data such as Client ID, Client Name, Category etc making them easy to find and locate should you need to - we can even link our search functionality to Practice software such as IRIS, SAGE, DIGITA, RAPPORT etc. These emails are stored in a local SQLExpress (free from Microsoft) database making them straightforward to back up and restore.

It's currently being used by many Practices in the UK from Sole Practitioners to large Practices of 350 users.

We are experts in email management and filing and would be happy to answer any questions or advise members on their plans for email filing issues.

Regards

Mike Freeman www.accountants.mail-safe.co.uk

 

 

 

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By mikewhit
05th Feb 2011 14:17

Data access to US-based or US-owned cloud systems

Quote from Jon Honeyball in his PC Pro article here

"... For over two years, I have been raising the question of the territoriality and legal framework of data held by US companies, especially when the data is held on US territory ...
... As I reported a month or so ago, at least Bob Muglia, president of servers and tools at Microsoft, was honest enough to admit that Microsoft would hand over data to the US authorities if so instructed, because they would have no choice but to comply."

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