Electronic filing cabinets act as the repositories for all the documents firms "manage" in a document management system. Some of the most popular cabinets can fill many functions, from firm administration to client interaction, if firms know what cabinet to pick and how to use it correctly. "When we started down the road to document management, we were heading into the unknown," says Jim Bourke, shareholder and director in charge of internal technology at WithumSmith+Brown, Red Bank, N.J., which started with GoFileRoom about five years ago. "Since we're a multi-office firm, we decided to implement the technology office by office. Doing it this way allowed us to learn as we implemented and then tweak the process. Our goal was to create a central file room that would be the repository for all client documents that could be shared with all staff and offices 24/7." James Fahey, firm/network administrator for the Akron, Ohio, firm Brott Mardis & Co., says his firm started using FileCabinet CS from Thomson Creative Solutions in 2000. "The program was a 'throw in' with our other software from CSI," Fahey adds. "It was almost like a novelty item. Back in 2000, there wasn't as much talk about a paperless office as there is today. The cost of the software was very low, under $500."
THE NUTS AND BOLTS
Mike Marchesseau, CTO for Atlanta-based Gifford, Hillegass & Ingwersen, says that in the initial phases of "dreaming up" a paperless office, GH&I electronic filing cabinets (EFC) were used in two parts. "First was the dynamic file cabinet, a networked folder structure that would house the living, breathing files used day to day," says Marchesseau. "Second was the static file cabinet that would house those same documents, after completion, for archival purposes." The dynamic EFC was adopted by GH&I's audit department for access to files in the field as well as in the office, he says, and comprised a repository for client files to be checked out of the "Central File Room" (CFR) in a binder format and containing a copy of all relevant documents pertaining to a specific job.
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Marchesseau says GH&I discovered that CCHs Engagement fx (formally ePace) "would allow us to store both the dynamic and static files in one file management system (FMS) because the binders would be closed and locked for editing purposes at the end of the audit engagement. This early adaptation of GH&I's audit department soon caused the firm to start thinking of EFC to house static files as well."
Just out of the shopping stage for electronic filing cabinets is the Owings Mills, Md., firm Hertzbach & Company, where Dan Wahlberg, principal, says the firm has been investigating an electronic filing cabinet for a year and a half before finally implementing the system just after this last tax season. Richard Wolf, principal with Hertzbach, says the firm looked at four vendors, and investigated some of the other options out there from companies such as Canon, before narrowing their choices to GoFileRoom and ProSystem fx Engagement.
