Does anyone else use MS One Note? (possible DMS alternative)

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#1
LeslieK  
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Palatine, IL (NW Suburbs of Chgo)
This past tax season my office started using Microsoft One Note to track tax processing notes. You basically start with a blank notebook, so I created a template and my staff created a page in a notebook for each client. I divided the clients alphabetically, so there are four notebooks which I keep open (I don't have to open them each time I open One Note). By the end of the tax season, my staff unanimously supports using One Note going forward (with some tweaks).

The template I created for each client included tables to fill in on each page. We have a general page and separate pages for 2013 and 2014 (this way we could make notes in 2014 for things to watch out for next year). On the 2013 page, we tracked correspondence with the client in one section (calls, emails, notes and when resolved) and in another section on the same page we tracked processing notes (internal notes, questions for clients, if clients were notified and when resolved). This worked out very well for us. The front desk staff could see if there were quick/easy questions that they could get answers to, or whether they needed to route the client call to one of the tax return processors (all without having to pull the physical file). When I reviewed a tax return, I added my review notes, comments/questions and my staff could contact the client for additional information. We were also able to add emails, scans and/or research to the client tax processing page for future reference.

All of my EIC due diligence information and comments are documented with a date/time stamp (One Note records the date, time and author).

We were able to access any client page in seconds with the search function.

Since Intuit is discontinuing DMS, I am considering transferring the information from DMS over to One Note. The program allows sub-pages, so the page tabs down the side won't get out of control. My thought is one page for each of the three open years and then archive the closed years under "prior years". The program allows either an icon link to the file which appears on the One Note page and then the file opens in adobe when double clicked, or you can copy the file contents to the notebook page, so you can make notes on it.

It seems like the alternatives to DMS also have a portal option (which I don't need because I use something else that works better for me - see my post in the DMS discussion for details) and this increases the cost.

As I investigate DMS alternatives, I was wondering if anyone else uses One Note and how it works for them. I wouldn't incur an extra cost for a DMS alternative and it would be nice to have everything in one place (we wouldn't have to open DMS to get to the processing docs). As I noted in my other post, I do not print a copy of the tax return to DMS (I use Lacerte's lock feature to preserve the return as filed).

Any thoughts?
 

#2
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North Carolina
I am a confirmed Mac user, but I had to get a Windows laptop for a college course. It had One Note installed. After some initial irritation, I am growing to like it and, given the experience you shared, I think I will suggest it to the boss as a very small step towards a paperless office. However, I am not convinced it would be a full replacement for a DMS. There could easily end up being a lot of tabs, no matter how efficient you are in utilizing them. Of course, I have only used One Note as required in the class and haven't played about with it (the class only finished on Tuesday). So I, too, am interested in others' views. I will have time to play with it this weekend (darling wife and melon list permitting) and will add more if I think it is of any value.
 

#3
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23-Apr-2014 2:03pm
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Massachusetts
OneNote is available on the Mac for free, from the Apple App Store, though it looks like I'll finally have to upgrade to Mavericks (OS X 10.9) to install it). I do have it installed on my iPad, but haven't started using it.

However, I'd worry about privacy and security requirements. OneDrive in the cloud isn't encrypted, as far as I know. Even if I accept that they have very strong mechanisms to prevent outside access to the data, the lack of encryption means that in theory, there will be some people in Microsoft's data center who have the technically ability to access your data. Sure, they'll be fired and perhaps prosecuted if caught, but is that good enough?

When I do start playing with OneNote, it will be for things that have low security requirements.
 

#4
LeslieK  
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Location:
Palatine, IL (NW Suburbs of Chgo)
I am not using OneDrive to sync any of these notebooks. You can select which notebooks you want to sync. All of this data is strictly shared on my peer to peer network.
 

#5
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MassTaxPro, my understanding is that OneNote on the Mac does not allow you to copy a PDF to it, which rather blunts its effectiveness. My melon list resulted in me having no time to play with it last weekend, but I did read some reviews. I may have to look at Evernote for the Mac.
 

#6
eze  
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8-May-2014 7:02pm
Location:
Grey Area, California
I don't know much about OneNote, I float between Win7Pro and Mac. I'm loving Evernote primarily for individual work tasks and personal stuff. I don't know if I could run a client list on it though.

We have a pretty good folder set-up and workpaper index.

Is your intent to get all the workpapers in one file? Interesting idea, except what happens when you get the Blue Screen of Death.....and your OneNote file is corrupted?......I feel safer just organizing the PDFs with a electronic folder and a good workpaper index.
 


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