Today we're extremely excited to release the Online Practice Management System for beta testing amongst our business members.
Bear in mind this is only the initial beta launch of the OPMS. This will form the base system to build on with many additional tools we have planned. We'd also like to hear your development requests to incorporate these into the system.
To avoid further delays and to let people get started with this, I've provided a walkthrough in how to set the system up for your practice.
To get started...
Online Practice Management System Walkthrough - Setup
1. After logging in, visit the OPMS section here.
You will see it is ready to be setup for your practice. Once the system is setup, this first screen will default to the Dashboard view.
2. Enter both your practice and your personal contact information.
Although the system stores data separately to your profile with The Accountants Circle, it does pull some information in to save you time.
Once you have done this the system is setup and ready to use.
3. The first Dashboard screen is displayed with information on:
- Your next 5 tasks due
- The next 5 tasks due for your practice
- All of your team members and their next tasks due.
The top navigation currently consists of:
Dashboard
Practice
Team
Tasks
Clients
Contacts
4. Add Team Members
If you have staff, colleagues, or contractors they can be added here. Next to the area heading 'Team Members' you will see the 
to add a team member.
When adding team members, the email address can be used to send automated reminders for tasks at designated times before the deadline.
5. Team Member Details
Once you add a team member you will see a screen like this. Here you can add multiple addresses and contact details, with the main/default contact details used to send the email reminders.
Multiple notes can be attached here, and tasks for the team member are also listed.
Now when clicking on the Team in the main menu at the top, you will see a list of all team members. Clicking on the name on the left will take you to their detailed screen, or a quick view pop-up can be opening by clicking the 
.
6. Add Clients
Clients can be added via the Client area, or by clicking 'Add Client' in the Quick Menu on the left.
Client information can then be added. Bear in mind individual contacts can be added for clients, as well as multiple contact/address details.
7. Client Details
Much like you saw with team members, clients each have a detail screen. Here you can also add multiple notes, and other contact information. A list of outstanding tasks associated with the client is shown and can be switched to show contacts associated with the client.
switches to contacts, and 
switches back to tasks.
Clients will now all be listed in the main client window, shown when clicking Clients in the main menu.
8. Add Contacts
Contacts are added along the same lines as team members and clients but in 2 stages. In the first screen there is a drop-down option to attach these to clients, or they can be for other companies as shown in this screenshot.
If the contact is attached to a client, the second screen will give you the option of copying contact details from the client which can be edited and then are stored separately for the contact.
Contacts also have their own detail screen, where additional contact information or notes can be kept.
The main Contact screen lists all of your contacts, and provides quick view pop-ups to any client details.
9. Add Tasks
There is a bit more to this than we'll go into here, so this is just to get you started.
Tasks can be added in various areas throughout the system. They can be added from the Quick Menu, the main Task area (via the main menu), and from within Team Member or Client detail screens.
Another area which starts to add the power to task management within the system, is tasks can also be added to tasks to break down larger and more complex tasks.
In the Add Task screen tasks can be attached to clients and then contacts within clients, or they can be attached to other contacts and not clients. The 3rd option here is to not select any of these to have the task shown as an internal task for your practice. Tasks should also be assigned to a team member.
Initial reminders can be setup here, for you or for the team member assigned. Select when before the deadline should an email reminder be sent, eg. 1 week, 1 month or even leave blank to send on the deadline. If the task is later edited to a new deadline, these reminders will automatically adjust to send at the same period of time before the new deadline (unless they have already been sent). Additional and multiple reminders can be added from within the Task detail screen.
When saving the task you'll then see the Task detail screen. Here the task can be updated for changes in status and estimated completion. Additional notes for the task can be added here.
Clicking the 
brings up the reminder management area, where reminder times can be edited, additional reminders added, and even confirmation of sent reminders can be viewed.
That sums up the setup walkthrough for the Online Practice Management System. The system will be updated regularly with changes and improvements so some of this may change. We'll update the forums during beta testing with more walkthroughs to cover additional features of the system.
I do hope you find this useful, and am looking forward to your input and feedback!