What I wanted: Cloud-based, one stop platform for proj mgmt, document mgmt, and time/billing.
Most of the options below have a client portal. That wasn't of huge value to me as I'm skeptical a large number of clients will use it. Canopy's was probably the best looking. They were my second choice.
Here's what I looked at:
Tax Dome
Canopy
XCM
Onvio
Intuit PM
Big Time
Practice Ignition
Tax Dome was ok, but was nearly nonexistent on reporting for staff effectiveness. Might be fine for a one or two man shop.
Big Time and XCM are only project management. Big Time is really good on reporting on staff effectiveness, but does NO document management.
As an aside, iChannel is AMAZING at document management.
Intuit PM is pretty decent, but only effectively manages the final copy of tax returns.
Canopy did everything Onvio did with a couple of interesting twists related to OIC claims and pulling IRS transcripts within their system. The reporting on staff effectiveness and client profitability just isn't there yet, with Canopy. I liked the salespeople the best there, though.
I went with Onvio because they did all I wanted: PM, Doc mgmt, and time/billing in one cloud-based platform. They also have an in-depth implementation/training program, which isn't inexpensive, but is proving very valuable. I didn't want to be training my staff directly and wanted solid guidance on workflow implementation.
Nearly all of these are around $600/yr/user, which is less than I expected to pay to get the functionality I wanted.
The only dynamic I need to solve for at this point is to get a solid KBA signature option. Onvio does unlimited electronic signatures, but not KBA, which you need for 8879s. We use Lacerte for tax prep and that's likely what we'll end up using for KBA, but I haven't spent much time researching this yet. Some of the options above have KBA included or at a discounted price.
Hope that helps.
~Captcook