NEWS: Office 2010 Beta Released

The beta for Office 2010 has been released for general download. I've already got a copy of the beta and am planning to setup a Windows 7 machine to "see what breaks" when I try to use Engagement 5.7 with the Office 2010 64-Bit beta. I'll post when I have some findings.

NEWS: Windows 7 Compatibility Testing

I've been testing Engagement 5.7 on Windows 7 Professional 64-Bit with Office Professional Plus 2007 (32-Bit), Adobe Acrobat 9 Pro (32-Bit), and Internet Explorer 8 (there is a 64-Bit version installed with Windows 7 64-Bit but I use the 32-Bit most of the time). I setup the Windows 7 in a virtual machine using VMplayer 3.0 beta (supports Windows 7 as a Guest OS and multiple display support; the RTM has been released so I would recommend using that one) with Windows XP Pro SP3 32-Bit as the Host OS. I'm using two monitors with 2 GB of RAM allocated to the virtual machine (I'm running 3.5 GB of RAM in my Host) and my Windows 7 virtual was added to our domain. Basically, I tried to setup and use the virtual Windows 7 as my main machine during the testing period.

Generally, I've found Engagement 5.7 to work well in Windows 7 Professional 64-Bit. One item to note is that I didn't get the SQL SP2 incompatibility message that I got while installing on Windows 7 64-Bit beta. Other items I've found are below.

1) While the 2003 add-ins for Word and Excel work (displayed in the Add-ins tab), the add-ins for the Ribbon functionality (displayed in the Engagement tab) don't run properly. My guess is that something isn't working well with the 64-Bit OS.

2) I've found everything to work within Acrobat except when I try to close a PDF from the Engagement binder (right-click and select "Close workpaper"). It appears that the command is lost and nothing happens. So I'm forced to close PDFs through Acrobat instead of the Engagement binder.

3) I've had one instance where the "Pfx Engagement PDF Converter" (available from the print menu) didn't work. I think this was an isolated instance becasue I've gotten it to work several times since.

4) We upgraded our office server and workstations from Engagement 5.0 to Engagement 5.7 while I was testing on Windows 7. So, as a good Administrator I tried to convert the 5.0 binder templates to 5.7 but no luck. I had to do it on a colleague's XP machine.

So my findings were rather positive over the testing period (about 3 weeks). Next week I'm going to move to a new machine with Windows 7 Professional 64-Bit as the Host OS (no more playing around in a virtual world). What issues have others seen when moving Engagement to Windows 7? Anyone out there tested Engagement with Windows 7 32-Bit?

NEWS: Windows 7 Certification

I'm at the CCH User Conference 2009 and this morning I attended a session entitled "Microsoft's New Windows 7 - Considerations". The best piece of information was given at the end. A Windows 7 certification chart was shown which stated the compatibility (or planned compatibility) of each CCH product. Engagement's was slated for 12/9/2009 when version 6.1 is to be released.

NEWS: Windows 7 Compatibility, Again

I just checked out the Windows 7 Compatibility Center and saw that Microsoft is saying that the ProSystem fx Suite is compatible with the 32 bit and 64 bit versions of Windows 7 (the links will also show other CCH products compatible with Windows 7). I haven't had a chance to test this out myself with the released/retail version but I'll get back to you soon.

Issue: Verifying workpapers are reviewed in a timely manner

Issue: The AICPA's QC Section 10 paragraph 60 states:

Review responsibility policies and procedures should be determined on the basis that qualified engagement team members, which may include the engagement partner, review work performed by other team members on a timely basis.

How does a firm using Engagement verify compliance with the "timely basis" requirement?

Discussion: Since the workpapers and their sign offs are in an electronic environment, just about anything can be logged given the right programming on CCH's side. First, one must decide what electronic evidence would provide assurance of a timely review. Does timely review mean a short time beteen the preparer's sign off and the start of the reviewer's work? Or does it mean the time between the preparer's sign off and the reviewer's sign off? The second example is functionally all we can hope for since Engagement doesn't track the start and finish of any employee's work and CCH programed Engagement to retain the sign offs indefinitely which means the data we need is there (the end of the preparer's work and the reviewer's work).

Resolution: Well, there isn't a resolution for now. While the data exists, a method to extract the data does not. I spoke with CCH Support today asking about a method to pull all the sign offs for all the workpapers. The reply was that the sign off summary report and sign off summary view are the closest thing currently available. The only problem with those options is that neither shows the preparer's sign offs which severly limits the evidence one could use to affirm compliance with the the timely basis requirement in QC Section 10 leaving firms to devise another way outside of Engagement to provide evidence.

Update (11/11/2009): I've got mud on my face. I was so tuned in on finding the sign off data in the binder view that I missed the Workpaper Sign Off History Report that is accessible in the File Room view. Just select the binder you want and select Tools Reports Workpaper Sign Off History Report. The report is exported to Excel and shows the workpaper name, who signed off, the role of the person signing off (preparer, reviewer, 2nd reviewer), and the date of the sign off. This report provides all the raw data necessary to start an evaluation.

However, the raw data is not enough. Professional judgment should come into play when determining if a workpaper file was reviewed in a timely manner. One engagement cannot be evaluated in isolation. It should be evaluated in the context of the firm's situation including staffing, problems in other engagements the team may be working on, etc. So, the moral of the story is that a firm should determine what its best practice is as far as "reviewed in a timely manner" is concerned and then stick to it. The Workpaper Sign Off History Report can play a part of a firm's defined evaluation process but should not be the sole part in the solution.

How To: Reduce Binder File Size

There are multiple reasons to manage binder sizes such as, but not limited to, binder transfer rates between the server and workstations (local and remotely connected from the field), network load, and storage space. The two most common contributors to the growth of binders is 1) the types of files stored in binders and 2) the number of files stored in binders. Documentation requirements may prevent users from addressing #2 but #1 should be a concern of all users, Engagement administrators, and system administrators.

By "type" of files I'm referring to the file type and the charactaristics of those files. For example, a PDF generated by convertion from a Word file may not take much space but, in contrast, a full-color scanned PDF may consume large amouts of disk space. This plays a larger part of binder size when the Perm File is large or is housed within the workpaper binder (i.e. Perm File and workpapers are in one binder; the firm I work for chose this setup).

Getting the file size data isn't as easy as one would like. CCH created the ReportBuilder application which basically performs queries on the Engagement database. It has several standard queries that return a lot of useful information. However, none of the queries returns binder size. As far as I can tell, the binder size is not stored in the Engagement database because its solely the size of a directory on the server or workstation. This is the problem: How can I run a query from ReportBuilder to get a list of the binders on the server(s) and match it to the directory size? The solution I use is somewhat manual.

Due to the nature of our clients and the firm's choice to combine the Perm File and workpapers in one binder, I've set the target max binder size at 100 mb. Some binders are above that and other are below. One of our biggest audits tops 1 gb, mostly because of the size of the Perm File.

Armed with the list of binder sizes and the target max size, I filter out the binders that have been finalized (I don't want to mess around with documenation past the regulatory deadline for assembly). I'll then identify a few candidates for reduction and view the directory details on a workstation (because the server has everything zipped up in .szp files). Most of the time it ends up that the PDF files are way to big for the number of pages within the document so I have to resave/compress the file to reduce the file to a better size.

If anyone else has suggestions, please feel free to share by leaving a comment. I think we'd all love to hear others experiences and solutions.

NEWS: Windows 7 Compatibility

The other day I drug out the install media for previous versions of Engagement and looked up when Engagement was compatible with Vista (June 2007). That was about 5 months behind the world-wide release of Vista (January 30, 2007). If Windows 7 compatibility is anything like it was for Vista, we can expect CCH to unveil a version of Engagement no earlier than the end of March 2010 (approximately 5 months from the Oct 22, 2009 release date of Windows 7).

Issue: Engagement won't install on Windows 7

Issue: When trying to install Engagement on Windows 7 RC (32 or 64-bit) you receive an error similar to "You do not have administrative rights on this computer."

Cause: The possible cause of this error message is the installer files for Engagement may not be compatible with Windows 7 (I have not verified this).

Resolution: After many attempts and different steps, I settled on the following. At least one other person on a completely different system used these steps to successfully install Engagement.

1. 1. Using the Engagement install media, I installed the prerequisites. One prerequisite, SQL 2005 Express (SP2 is included on the install media), is of particular note. During its install, a message will pop up stating that the version being installed has known compatibility issues with Windows 7 and must be upgraded to SP3. I have never tested Engagement with SQL 2005 Express SP3 with Engagement so I clicked through the message.
   
   
2. 2. I then right-clicked on the .msi file and selected "Determine compatibility." I defaulted to using Windows XP SP2 settings to install which seemed to work. After the install finished, I was able to connect to our office server and successfully login.

NOTE: There is another possibility which I haven't had time to explore called Windows XP Mode. Essentially it's a virtual machine (using Microsoft's Virtual PC of course) of Windows XP through which Windows 7 can run applications. Here's the main site and here's the support information (install requirements). If any of you successfully install Engagement using XP Mode I'd love to here back about your experience.

NEWS: Engagement and Windows 7

I recently downloaded Windows 7 RC (64-bit) and started testing Engagement's (version 5.0.1026) compatibility with Windows 7. There were some issues with the install but I finally got it to work. I contacted Engagement support and was told that they expect Engagement to be compatible with Windows 7 when it's finalized and said the general time line for Windows 7 compatibility is sometime in 2010.

However, they did not state whether a 64-bit version of Engagement was in the works or that SQL 64-bit would be supported for the 2010 release. Here's to hoping CCH develops a true 64-bit option and not just one that runs on a 64-bit OS.

Issue: Custom Functionality in Workpapers

Issue: In some cases, users will need (or should have) custom functionality within Word, Excel, or PDF documents to enhance their workflow or reduce required time on the workpaper.

Resolution: Just because documents are stored in Engagement doesn't mean that users can't have custom functionality in the Office suite applications. One great thing about Word and Excel is that Microsoft created them to be open enough for developers to create functionality that does not exist out of the box. (On a side note, some open source office suites provide similar custom functionality options.) Acrobat also has custom functionality options similar to Microsoft products but I will stick to Word and Excel.

There are two main ways to create custom functionality in Word or Excel (or any Microsoft Office application): (1) Macros stored in a file or (2) a custom add-in. A short discussion of each as they relate to Office 2003 is below.

Macros stored in a file

Many users have done this and may not know it. If you have recorded a macro and stored it in the Normal.dot (Word) or Personal.xls (Excel) you have done a simple form of this. Macros can be recorded or written from scratch depending on their complexity. The more complex a macro is, the more "writing" from scratch you'll have to do. Once the macro is finished, it will need to be stored in a special type of file; a template (.dot) for Word and an add-in file (.xla) for Excel. Both types of files are accessible from the "Save as..." option in the File menu from the applicable application. These file should then be saved in the appropriate folders on each users computer so the application knows they're safe to load at startup. A detailed example will be posted later.

A custom add-in

Custom add-ins are developed using an integrated development environment or IDE. Software developers and other advanced programmers use IDEs. Microsoft's Visual Studio is an example. IDEs offer functionality that macros don't enlarging the possibilities of the custom functionality but also may become more complex fairly quickly so be careful. A detailed example will be posted later. Distribution of a custom add-in is fairly easy once some setup is complete.

NOTE: Just about any custom functionality developed for Office 2003 will still work in Office 2007.

General Disclaimer

The articles and comments posted on Unofficial ProSystem fx Engagement Support are the opinions of the posting author. They do not represent the opinions of the authors collectively nor do they represent the opinions of the developers or copywrite owners of the software mentioned.

There is no warranty given or support offered by posting articles or comments. The authors are not liable for any data loss or other catastrophes caused by implementing information contained herein. All readers who chose to implement anything contained herein are responsible to backup their data and ensure it is recoverable.

How To: Used Protected Word Documents in Pfx Engagement

Issue: How do I (or my firm) implement protected Word documents within Pfx Engagement?


Background: Some firms may have specialties in niche industries where standard workprograms, such as those published by PPC, are not tailored enough to fill the need for these firms. Some may decide to develop their own workprograms for their engagements. The question has come up, "How do I ensure the workprograms' text doesn't change from the approved content?" One possible solution is to use protected Word documents.

Resolution: Protecting a Word document effectively makes the document a form in which text can be added to fields. Nothing else on the document can be changed. This also means that the integration with Pfx Engagement is broken unless the following steps are performed.

Before proceeding, at least one person will need to install the Protected Files Utility, available on the Pfx Engagement install media.

1. 1. Create the Word document to be protected.
   
2. 2. Add all the fields necessary for the Word document to be completed by a user. Either form fields or VBA fields may be used.
   
3. 3. Protect the document (instructions here). Remember the password used to protect the document.
   
4. 4. Open the Protected Files Utility.
   
5. 5. Navigate to the Word document that was just protected and select "Open".
   
6. 6. Type in the password used to protect the Word document.

All Pfx Engagement toolbar functionality now works for the person who just ran the Protected Files Utility. That utility creates a hash file in the C:\Pfx Engagement\WM\ directory* which contains the password and a GUID associated with the password. It also adds the password's GUID to the custom properties of the Word document (right-click, select "Properties", go to the "Custom" tab) so Pfx Engagement knows which password to use to allow the toolbar functionality.

If the same password is going to be used on multiple Word documents (or Excel documents for that matter), the easiest way to "add" the password to a new document is to copy the the custom property from one file to another manually. It is possible to automate the copy process using a VB script (a web search will reveal the code) but it is pretty complicated. It may be overkill if the firm(s) is only updating a few documents on an annual basis.

Also, to allow all Pfx Engagement users the ability to use the toolbar with these protected Word documents, the hash file created by the Protected Files Utility will need to be copied to the C:\Pfx Engagement\WM\ directory* on each users machine which can be performed manually or using a login script developed by your IT folks.

Considerations and Limitations: If this sounds like a great solution to your problems, there are a few cautions to consider. First, tickmarks cannot be inserted within text fields. Usually, from what I've seen, they can be added but they replace the text field entirely. Second, spell check does not work within text fields. Third, users cannot copy from protected text. This becomes an issue if staff copy some words from the workprogram steps to use in the response to the step. Forth, inserting multiple workpaper references using the Insert Workpaper Reference tool from the toolbar is not easy. Sometimes workpaper references end up outside the text field which prevents any user, including reviewers, from selecting the workpaper reference to open it.

* This is the directory in which Pfx Engagement is installed if you accept the default. Your installation may be located in a different root directory.