CPA Firm Streamlines Time & Billing, Project Management Via Automation Centre’s TRACKER

Seamless System now Integral Part of CPA Firm’s Operations

TUCSON – As a full-service certified public accounting firm, Keegan, Linscott, & Kenon, PC, had long been seeking a time and billing program to capture information effectively in a way customized to their specific needs. They finally found it – and a lot more – in Automation Centre’s TRACKER.

“We spent many, many years looking for a system that works. We built our own and tried many others, all which didn't work for us,” said Chris Linscott, owner of the 30-person firm. “Time and billing is our livelihood, and we've now found the solution that works for us. Tracker is what our industry needed. It has given us the kinds of capabilities we need to run our business well.”

Beyond the sophisticated yet easy-to-use T&B aspect of Tracker, Linscott says the project management and reporting capabilities were an unexpected but welcome benefit of the comprehensive system.

The firm became a Beta site for Automation Centre two years ago, contributing with ideas and experience to design the product. The full system, which runs seamlessly on Microsoft Outlook and is also available on Lotus Notes, has now been in place at the firm for about a year.

“We knew from our 25 years experience in public accounting what we needed and what the industry needed and how the company could make this a good viable product for our industry and others,” Linscott said.

Another important component of Tracker has been Tickler System, which reminds Linscott’s firm of the many key due dates that surround the tax aspect of various clients’ businesses. “Through this, we can plan and make sure that our clients are taken care of. It’s really a tax-management system to make sure we don’t miss a deadline.”

Tracker has also become the firm’s main database for client information, which enables customized target marketing and allows the firm to keep track of customers’ areas of work, making it easy to inform them of new laws in their areas, for example. The firm also uses the system for expense reports, which, like timesheets, are filled out online and can be accessed remotely. The system allows the firm to create reports and export them to Excel, which allows for easy modification. Detailed descriptions can also be added into the time program, which helps clients understand their bills, decreasing questions on where time went and how the dollars add up.

The system also allows the firm to set up client information correctly from the get go, leading to a better relationship down the line. When a new client begins working with Linscott’s firm, they capture federal ID numbers, year-end information, and so on, to collect the data they need to be successful for that client. “Tracker helps us be organized from day one,” Linscott said.”

Overall, Tracker has become an integral part of what Linscott and the firm’s employees do every day, and it’s become critical to their business.

“This system is saving me money because it works. I don’t have to jerry rig a system to get the reports I need and we are saving tons of times in terms of project management and analysis,” Linscott said. “I now have one system that will do many different things: time and expense reporting and input, database management, and project management. And the support we’ve gotten from Automation Centre has been great. They’ve customized the system to really work for us.”

About Automation Centre

Automation Centre is the developer of TRACKER, a project management software solution for both Lotus Notes/Domino and Microsoft Outlook/Exchange platforms.

Tracker embraces and extends your existing messaging infrastructure, adding capabilities such as document collaboration, time management, meeting planning, help desk functionality, job costing, adhoc reporting, resource planning, budget exception tracking and much more.

Our project management software leverages your existing infrastructure, resulting in zero impact on the desktop, minimal training time, and a lower total cost of ownership. Automation Centre's customers include professional service companies or service departments within large enterprises such as project management, IT, human resources, customer relationship management, and sales, that use groupware for communication and collaboration purposes. If you'd like to see for yourself what Tracker can do, try our free demo CD.