Twist on Multiple Monitors

I came across this the other day on Techmeme.  Its a pretty neat idea.  To bad it weighs to much and the specs aren't more up to date.  So what do you guys think?  Would you or your users ever use a machine like this?

Winding Down

My career has taken me to another company.  As a result I will no longer have access to ProSystem fx Engagement.  I'll still be around to answer questions as they arise but I'll only be able to comment from memory unless access can be arranged.  If there is no activity or interest by the end for this year (2011), I will delete this blog.

Thanks for all the comments and reading.  It has been fun.

UPDATE: Portable Monitors

We still haven't received our order of Field Monitors from Mobile Monitor Technologies so no review yet.  However, you can see some feedback from others here, here and here.  I can't wait to play with it for myself.

ISSUE: Personal.xlsb doesn't load

ISSUE:  A user may have setup some personal macros in the Personal.xlsb file but those marcos don't seem to be accessible when opening Excel files from within an Engagement binder.

CAUSE:  Apparently, the Personal.xlsb file doesn't load when Excel is started with automation (think opening Excel files within Engagement).

RESOLUTION:  Navigate to the location of the Personal.xlsb file and open it.  You may need to unhide it before continuing.  Do a "Save As" and save the file as an Excel Addin (".xla") which should save the file in to the appropriate directory on the user's machine (which should be in the "C:\Users\[username]\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Addins\" directory for Windows 7 users).  Once the Addin file is saved and Excel has been closed, move the Personal.xlsb file to a different location (just to make sure it doesn't get loaded) and reopen Excel.  If the Addin file isn't loaded, make sure the Addin file is set to be loaded (meaning "checked") in the Excel Addins dialog (Excel button | Excel Options | Addins | Excel Addins).

Any Addin file that is set to be loaded should be available when opening files from within Engagement.

Mobile Monitor Technologies Display

Just a quick update.  We ordered two displays from Mobile Monitor Technologies today.  We were told that they couldn't get the order in for the Feburary batch but that we'd be in the March batch.

Issue: Large Excel Files

We have a client that provides large Excel files (.xls) that contain 60,000 to 100,000 rows of information.  That equated to a 38MB file.  We wanted to reduce the size of the file for our binder so we saved it as an Excel binary workbook (.xlsb) and then inserted it into the binder.  To our surprise, when we tried to open the file from within Engagement it didn't open.  Tried opening it on different computers and still no luck.

I called Engagement Support and was told that Excel binary workbooks were not listed as compatible file types but that "if it can be opened outside Engagement you should be able to open it from Engagement."  I was also told that no one on the product team had tested compatibility with Excel binary workbooks.

So, in short, no luck with binary workbooks for now.  If it's any consolation, a request for enhancement was filed.

Another Portable Display

I came across a tweet from Roman Kepczyk when he was at the CCH User Conference back in November.

...Just tested new mobile (2nd) monitor with 195 page PDF and performance was great. Check out at mmt2.com ($279)...

I looked at the website and it looks pretty cool.  We're going to get one with the key pad to test it out for our needs.  Have any of you out there used this model before?  What have your experiences been?

And thanks to Roman for putting the word out.

Review: Samsung 21.5" Notebook LCD Display

As promised, here's my feedback on this display.  We took two of them to a client's office by train.  The carry case we used was a GearGrip LCD Harness which worked really well (it was like adding a laptop bag).  The display itself was very easy to setup; I would not worry about the least knowledgeable user taking this to a client's office.  As soon as we hooked up the VGA cord, it worked.  On one of them we had to use the auto setup feature as the viewable area was slightly askew.  All in all, I think this model is well worth the $170 we paid for it.  Based on user feedback and projected demand, we'll probably be purchasing more of these (we have more than 40 in our audit group).

Happy travels to all the auditors out there, especially over busy season.

Multiple Displays in the Field

It's been a while since I posted so I thought I'd mention a thing or two before busy season hits. We've always had some pain points when it comes to working in the field. All of our uses have at least two monitors in the office (some have three). One of the consistent comments from the users is that they would like a very portable second monitor for them to take to a client's office. We've tried the Porter Case route for the full size desktop monitors but no one really used it (too bulky and hard to transport for our standard one week or less trips). We've also tried having our clients provide additional monitors but the small clients don't always have extras to share.

Our next option is the Samsung 21.5" Notebook LCD Display. I'm going to a client with a team on Monday and we'll be taking two with us for testing. It will especially interesting to see how the monitors hold up on the train (3-4 hrs). I'll post about our experience.

One thing to note about this monitor is that we tried to use the USB connection but the drivers didn't work on Windows 7  Professional x64 so we're using an analog monitor cable.

How do you deal with multiple displays in the field? Please post responses in the comments.

NEWS: Office 2010 has been released to manufacturing

Microsoft has released Office 2010 to manufacturing and has been available through volumn licensing from Microsoft Partners since May 1.  The gereral release to all consumers (on retail shelves) is scheduled for June.

NEWS: Engagement 6.1.2 Issues

This e-fxNews was released on 4/7/2010 and discusses specific issues identified when using version 6.1.2. Don't forget to take a look at the "NOTE REGARDING UPCOMING RELEASES" section. It specifically mentions that the next release (version 6.5, which is scheduled for a July release date) will not support 64-bit version of Office 2010 or IPv6. I find it a bit strange that CCH hasn't released more detailed information about their plans to move Engagement to a true 64-bit application. Interestingly enough, Engagement gained compatibility with 64-bit SQL 2005 with version 6.0.

Nevertheless, the newsletter is included below.

************************************************

Dear ProSystem fx Engagement Customer:

Based on your current e-fxNews profile, below is an item you may find of interest.

For more information about e-fxNews, or to update your profile, visit our web site at http://support.cch.com/notes/efxnews.aspx.

Online self-service help is now available. Find answers to your CCH questions in our knowledge base at http://support.cch.com.

*************************
Some customers who have moved to Engagement v. 6.1.2 are experiencing longer than normal refresh times for Microsoft Word workpapers containing large numbers of TBLinks. Most often these delays are occurring when the number of TBLinks in a document exceeds 1000, but smaller delays may exist with fewer links as well. We have identified the cause of this issue and have implemented changes to dramatically improve refresh times in Engagement v. 6.5 scheduled for July. However, because of the extensiveness of the change and the small number of customers likely impacted by this issue, we have decided to not issue an interim patch for Engagement. Users that routinely have large number of TBLinks in Microsoft Word documents may wish to consider delaying upgrade until v. 6.5.

Additionally, a small percentage of customers that have upgraded to Engagement v. 6.1.2 have reported the program becoming unresponsive when synchronizing a binder immediately after the upgrade. This situation happens when the Engagement synch service (PFXSYNPFTService) stops. The service will fail to start when manually starting it via the Services console. We are currently investigating this issue to determine the cause. In most instances, the resolution for this issue is to repair Engagement.

As a reminder, known issues like these, as well as FAQs and other information, are available 24/7 on our updated Engagement support website at http://support.cch.com/productsupport/productSupport.aspx?path=%2fTopics%2fproduct_support%2fpfx_office%2fpfx_engagement.

NOTE REGARDING UPCOMING RELEASES: Starting with our version 6.5 release of Engagement this summer, we will no longer be supporting direct upgrade from Engagement versions prior to v. 5.5. If you are using version 5.0 or earlier, we strongly recommend you upgrade to the latest version by July 2010 in order to support direct upgrade in the future. Also, please note that Engagement v. 6.5 will not support the 64-bit version of Office 2010 or IP v. 6.

If you have any questions or require assistance, please contact Technical Support at 1-800-739-9998, option 4.

Sincerely,CCH, a Wolters Kluwer business
Find answers to your CCH questions in our knowledge base at http://support.cch.com/answers/

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Attention: Customer Service
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Wichita, KS 67207

NEWS: Engagement 6.1.2 Released

This is a bit late but better than never. I've included the text of an e-fxNews news letter discussing the release of version 6.1.2 which is supposed to be compatible with Windows 7. Since Busy Season is now over, my IT group and I will be testing it out over the next few weeks. I'd love to hear if anyone is already using this version and if you are experiencing any major problems.

*******************************************************

Dear ProSystem fx Engagement Customer:

Based on your current e-fxNews profile, below is an item you may find of interest.

For more information about e-fxNews, or to update your profile, visit our web site at http://support.cch.com/notes/efxnews.aspx.

Online self-service help is now available. Find answers to your CCH questions in our knowledge base at http://support.cch.com.

*************************
Engagement v. 6.1.2 is now available. Your DVD should be arriving at your office next week. This release provides critical updates to the Engagement and Knowledge Coach application.

IMPORTANT NOTE FOR 6.X CUSTOMERS: We recommend that all customers using Engagement or Knowledge Coach v. 6.0 or v. 6.1 upgrade to v. 6.1.2 to take advantage of updates implemented since those releases. This also applies to customers who have installed a patch to address lock-up or other issues.

IMPORTANT NOTE FOR KNOWLEDGE COACH CUSTOMERS: ProSystem fx Engagement v. 6.1.2 MUST be installed prior to you installing the 2010 Knowledge-Based Audits of Employee Benefit Plans for Knowledge Coach or any future Knowledge Coach titles. You will receive a separate e-fx News regarding the Employee Benefit Plans title.

IMPORTANT NOTE FOR 5.X CUSTOMERS: Customers currently using any 5.x version may upgrade at their discretion. Version 6.1.2 includes Windows 7 compatibility as well as integration with ProSystem fx Portal and ProSystem fx Tax (SaaS) products which may be needed by some customers. However, as there is always a risk associated with a software change, customers on 5.x should carefully consider these risks before upgrading during the busy season.

This Engagement v. 6.1.2 release resolves the following issues reported by 6.0 and 6.1 users:

• Issues related to the Engagement application locking-up upon open or close of binders are fixed where attributable to the Engagement software.
• Prior period balances will now update when workpaper reference columns are selected for the subsidiary trial balance column of a consolidated trial balance.
• Performance is improved when consolidating several trial balances that include a large number of accounts.
• Data conversion errors will no longer occur when consolidating trial balances.
• Time out failures no longer occur when using the Import from Engagement TB function.
• Trial balance links now display the correct balances when the same workpaper is open in more than one binder and the dual monitors option is not selected.
• Trial balance links to accounts over 32 characters and all variance column links now display correct values.
• Trial balance report workpaper references now display with the correct account if you re-imported and regrouped the accounts.
• Rounding account balances in consolidated trial balances are now accurate.
• Performance is improved when saving journal entries with a large number of lines.
• Doubling or quadrupling of trial balance link values in trial balances converted from Engagement v. 5.x no longer occurs.
• Edits made to “significant change description” fields in Knowledge Coach workpapers now flow to other staff members via synchronization, regardless of which user initiates the synchronization process.
• Problems with Excel will no longer occur when a non-Engagement Excel workbook is open and you close a Knowledge Coach Excel workbook.

NOTE REGARDING UPCOMING RELEASES: Starting with our version 6.5 release of Engagement this summer, we will no longer be supporting direct upgrade from Engagement versions prior to v. 5.5. If you are using version 5.0 or earlier, we strongly recommend you upgrade to the latest version by July 2010 in order to support direct upgrade in the future.

If you have any questions or require assistance, please contact Technical Support at 1-800-739-9998, option 4.

Sincerely,

CCH, a Wolters Kluwer business
Find answers to your CCH questions in our knowledge base at http://support.cch.com/answers/

****** UNSUBSCRIBE INFORMATION ******
To stop receiving e-fx News announcements, reply to this email, type UNSUBSCRIBE in the subject line, and include the following information in the body of the message:

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CCH, a Wolters Kluwer business
Attention: Customer Service
9111 E Douglas Avenue, Suite 200
Wichita, KS 67207

NEWS: Windows 7 Compatibility Center

Just checked the Windows 7 Compatibility Center and it indicated that Engagement 6.1 (listed as a Wolters Kluwer product) is compatible with Windows 7. However, after reading a bit more on the compatibility levels (see "What do the different compatibility icons mean?" on this page), it appears that CCH just told Microsoft that it's compatible. It has not undergone testing by Microsoft (no Windows 7 compatibility logo).

NEWS: Engagement 6.1 and Other Updates

I spoke with Engagement Support last week about the release of version 6.1. Basically, they've seen some sporatic issues with the synchronization of binders (sync process hangs). 6.1 has been released on a limited basis (I assume to get some real life data on the sync issue) and a wide release date hasn't been set.

While I was on the phone I also asked about Engagement's planned compatibility with Office 2010 and was told that nothing has been released internally to the Support team about Office 2010 compatibility. The support person did say he tried installing Office 2010 with Engagement 6.1 on a virtual machine and got all kinds of errors. Because I'm running Windows 7 Pro x64 the conversation naturally gravitated to Engagement's architeture, specifically 32 vs. 64-bit. The support person said that for the forseeable future (meaning he hasn't heard anything to the contrary) Engagement will be a 32-bit application. I guess those of us hoping for a true 64-bit application (and not just one that works on a 64-bit OS) are out of luck.

NEWS: Office 2010 Compatibility

I tried Office 2010 64-Bit with Engagement 5.7 running on Windows 7 Professional 64-Bit and....it didn't work. I tried faking Engagement out by manually moving the add-in files to what I thought were the appropriate locations but still not luck. I then tried to manually add them to the Office 2010 apps using the add-ins dialogs but I kept getting an error that seemed to say the code used in the Engagement 5.7 add-ins were not compatible with Office 2010 64-Bit (I don't know if they're compatible with Office 2010 32-Bit because I haven't tried it yet).

Anyone else testing Office 2010 using different combinations than I did? I'd love to hear you're experiences.

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.