By now, most firms are aware that one of the primary benefits of joining the Microsoft Professional Accountant’s Network (MPAN), which is free, is access to the Microsoft Action Pack subscription.  For an annual $299 fee, this subscription provides a slew of mission critical Microsoft software for in-firm use, which is miniscule compared to the benefits received, particularly for firms with ten members or less looking to upgrade their infrastructure.  Firms should take the time to review the entire Action Pack offerings and incorporate these into their future IT plans and budgets, particularly with the upcoming transition to Office 2007 and Vista.  Below, we summarize some of the more important applications that we feel will have an IN-FIRM benefit:

• Office 2007:  The current Action Pack comes with ten licenses of Microsoft’s Office Enterprise 2007 version which includes Word, Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint, Access, Publisher, Groove, OneNote, and InfoPath.  We predict that firms will transition to this version by the end of 2008 once the accounting vendors such as CCH and TTA have completed their testing and remediation, particularly for transition issues with their audit engagement applications.  The cost of these ten licenses more than pays for the subscription, when firms transition in the next year.
• Windows Vista: We feel the security and usability capabilities of Vista will eventually drive firms to replace Windows XP, but CPA firms will transition with extreme caution.  We believe firms will complete testing and remediation of workstations by next summer and begin purchasing computers with this operating system as the firm standard in the Fall of 2008 (particularly as Microsoft drops support for Windows XP in the following year).  For existing machines that firms plan to upgrade, it is recommended that firms download and run the Vista Upgrade Advisor.  The Action Pack provides ten licenses of Vista for existing PCs when the firm is ready for this transition.
• Office Accounting 2007: While there is one license of this QuickBooks competitor provided along with 27 hours of CPE just for joining MPAN, the Action Pack increases the number of licenses to ten, so that you can have multiple personnel using the application.  With competitive accounting products the firm must buy individual licenses for each person that will be concurrently using the accounting product, so there could be a huge potential savings in small business accounting applications costs in the future.  MPAN provides one year of free support, but the Action Pack subscription puts any support calls into their priority queue for quicker resolution.  For firms using the more robust Dynamics application for internal accounting, this software and ten Client Access Licenses (CALs) are included.
• Small Business Server 2003/Server 2003: For firms running on the older version of the small business server, the new product has increased the overall capacity of Outlook accounts and improved overall manageability, so is well worth the effort of transitioning from the old Small Business Server. Other firms that are looking to break off a trouble-causing application to its own server will find that the included Server 2003 license makes this transition more cost effective
• Windows Terminal Server (WTS): While many firms have utilized the integrated XP Remote capability of Windows XP to allow a handful of firm personnel to access their workstations from outside the firm, a more robust solution that also allows many more users to work remotely is WTS.  This server license and ten CALs are included, which will run all true Windows applications remotely for satellite offices, home users, and personnel working away from the office via an Internet connection.
• Exchange 2007: In the next two years we expect firms to transition to the latest version of Exchange as it will allow those personnel with administrative rights to look through ALL your personnel’s Outlook accounts to search for emails and to centralize contacts much better.  Top accounting vendors are already working to integrate the contact information from their Practice Management applications such that we can expect to have a central contact list that you would maintain in Practice, but be able to access via a public folder in Outlook without having to run any data transfer routines. While not a CRM application, Exchange 2007 will provide firms much stronger marketing and contact capabilities than we have ever had before.
• SharePoint Intranet: Most firms have realized the benefit of having an intranet to allow personnel to more easily access all firm policies, procedures and information that is not housed within an accounting application.  The Action Pack subscription includes ten CALs for Expression Web (previously FrontPage) for maintenance of the existing intranet, but also includes SharePoint Enterprise Server and ten Designer CALs. We believe that SharePoint will be the future of knowledge management and business intelligence within CPA firms as this tool is rapidly evolving to manage firm workflow processes and the Action Pack subscription provides the tools for creating and maintaining your firm’s intranet.
• SQL 2005:  With more and more databases moving up to SQL, operating requirements will increase and we anticipate that firms will split off applications such as Practice Management or Document Management to their own server to improve stability.  Action Pack includes a SQL license to make the transition to one such server more cost effective.
• Virtual Server 2005: Virtual servers allow a firm to run multiple server instances within a single server so firms can leverage server hardware.  For example, firms could set up four virtual servers on one box and run Print/File, Exchange, WTS, and a SQL application without any of the four processes being impacted by the others. While this is an evolving technology, we feel firms will pilot its use for testing software updates, and particularly for cost-effect redundant servers in a separate location for disaster recovery.
• Live Communications Server 2005/Office Communicator: While we do not recommend firms allow instant messaging (IM) to users outside of the firm as we feel it is a distraction, having IM amongst the firm’s various workgroups can be an effective tool to improve communications if managed and accessible within the firm and if personnel are properly trained on usage.  Action Pack includes IM capabilities and integration of voice communications as well.

Firms that are not already members of the Microsoft Professional Accountant’s Network should join today and sign up for the Action Pack subscription.  Once they receive their packet, they should walk through each of the applications included in the pack with their IT personnel and then determine which licenses and features they can use, so they can immediately reap the benefits of this amazing package. 

Roman H. Kepczyk, CPA.CITP is President of InfoTech Partners North America, Inc. and works exclusively with CPA firms to implement today’s digital best practices to optimize firm productivity.  This article was reprinted with permission from the CPA Technology Advisor.

InfoTech Partners North America, Inc.
13656 South 37th Place
Phoenix, AZ 85044-4531
Phone: (480) 706-1728
Fax/Voicemail: (480) 718-8880
Email: roman@itpna.com
Web Site: www.itpna.com

We are in business to service and act on behalf of our clients. Please review our Privacy Statement and Declaration of Integrity. For comments regarding this website, please email ITPartner@itpna.com or call (480) 706-1728. All information presented here is the opinion of InfoTech Partners North America Inc. or the respective authors of the various articles and is not to be construed as legal or technical advice. Please consult your lawyer or technical person for specific utilization.