Does your staff lose time and patience searching for information, client files and documents? Organizing, storing, searching for and retrieving documents should be easy to do, yet few firms have a well-planned document management strategy in place. The right document management system can improve your firm’s efficiency, accuracy, and ultimately, profitability. But in order to achieve a good return on investment from any new document management system, you’ll need a solid workflow and process.

1. Game-Changing
Document
Management
Strategies

2. Table of Contents
1 2 3 4
Introduction Embracing
Change
Emerging
Trends
Evaluating
Systems
Implementing
Your Solution
ll Workflow
ll Integration
ll People
ll Software as a
Service (SaaS)
ll Mobile Access
ll Knowledge
Management
ll Integration
ll Scan and Flow
ll e-Signatures
ll Single Repository
ll Integration &
Workflow
ll Scalability
ll Accessibility
ll Security
ll Efficiency
ll Collaboration
ll Champion Team
ll Executive Champions
ll Defined Workflow
ll Scope
ll Timing
ll Training
PAGES 4–8 PAGES 9–12 PAGES 13–21 PAGES 22–25
© 2015 CCH Incorporated and its affiliates. All rights reserved.

3. The Document Management Dilemma
Document management seems like it should be so simple. But for most accounting firms,
organizing, storing, securing and finding information is anything but easy.
Does your staff lose time and patience searching for information,
client files and documents? Organizing, storing, searching for and
retrieving documents should be easy to do, yet few firms have
a well-planned document management strategy in place.
The right document management system can improve your firm’s
efficiency, accuracy, and ultimately, profitability. But in order to
achieve a good return on investment from any new document
management system, you’ll need a solid workflow and process.
This guide will walk you through:
ll How to embrace change to improve your document management process.
ll Emerging trends that are shaping the future of document management.
ll What to look for when you’re evaluating document management solutions.
ll Tips for ensuring a successful document management implementation.
Where’s my
client file?
Do I need to keep
this email?
How did we do this
on last year’s return?
Is this the most
current version?
Who changed this
since I reviewed it?
© 2015 CCH Incorporated and its affiliates. All rights reserved.

4. Embracing Change
SECTION
1
ll Workflow
ll Integration
ll People
© 2015 CCH Incorporated and its affiliates. All rights reserved.

5. Good Document Management Improves Workflow
The right document management technology combined with
the right workflows will enhance your firm’s productivity.
Before you can find the perfect system, you need to know
why you’re taking the document management journey.
Take the time now to map out your daily workflows and identify
areas where work takes too long or mistakes get made too often.
ll What would a better process for document management look like?
ll In an ideal world, with what other software would your new document
management system integrate? Tax preparation? Practice management?
ll How would your firm’s people interact with the document management
system? Could they access it offsite? On mobile devices?
Workflow
People
Integration
EMBRACE the opportunity to
CHANGE your PROCESSES
© 2015 CCH Incorporated and its affiliates. All rights reserved.

6. Define Your Desired Workflow
The biggest mistake you can
make when planning for a new
document management system
is to fail to improve upon your
existing workflows first.
Get the document management
workflow right before you evaluate
and choose a new system.
The document management system you
choose needs to accommodate your
desired workflow, not necessarily your
current workflow. If you don’t know the
best way for your staff to work, how can
you properly evaluate different document
management systems for the right fit?
You’re going to live with this new system
for a while and it’s much easier to start
out with the right organizational structure
and supporting workflows in place
than to reconfigure the system later.
At Wolters Kluwer, we’ve helped
thousands of firms make the move to
becoming a digital firm. One of the most
common mistakes we see is when firm
leaders try to quickly implement a new
document management solution over
old, less-than-efficient processes.
Forcing a new document management
system onto an existing process that
never worked well will not transform
your firm — it will only create a more
high-tech version of a broken process.
Take time now to gather stakeholders,
define objectives and give yourself
plenty of time to think. This is
the most important step in your
document management journey.
© 2015 CCH Incorporated and its affiliates. All rights reserved.

7. Integration will give your firm its biggest gains in productivity. Create optimized workflows that save your staff
from constantly having to open and close programs. If your firm has multiple systems that create documents, make
sure those systems integrate with any document management system you select to improve ROI and efficiency.
Possible Document Management Integration Points
ll Scan, extract and flow process
ll Tax preparation
ll Practice management and billing
ll Client portals
ll Desktop productivity tools (Microsoft®
Office)
ll Email
ll Back-office applications (HR, accounting)
Identify Potential Integration Points
© 2015 CCH Incorporated and its affiliates. All rights reserved.

8. Your new document management strategy won’t work
unless the staff is fully engaged from the start.
Make sure you’re getting good input from your team during
the planning phase. They will adopt a new solution and
processes much more eagerly if they were able to express
their needs before a new system was implemented.
Staff from all practice areas and at all levels should be involved in
a firm-wide champions team. This team will plan the document
management project, drive it forward, evaluate and recommend
a solution, and help the rest of the staff learn to use it.
Have strong support from top management, including
partners, to help get your staff engaged with the new
document management processes and system.
As you begin to implement a new process and technology, make
sure the staff is understands the workflows and policies. Training
should include more than just how to use the new software.
Involve a Variety of People
© 2015 CCH Incorporated and its affiliates. All rights reserved.

9. Emerging Document
Management Trends
SECTION
2
ll Software as a
Service (SaaS)
ll Mobile
ll Knowledge
management
ll Scan and flow
ll e-Signature
© 2015 CCH Incorporated and its affiliates. All rights reserved.

10. Getting ahead of the emerging trends in document management can provide competitive advantages for your firm.
Software as a Service (SaaS) is growing in
popularity as firms become comfortable
with the security and disaster recovery
capabilities and realize the benefits of a
reduced IT burden. In SaaS, the software
and database are maintained by the vendor
in the cloud. Some solutions are designed
on open architecture for easier integration.
With cloud-based software, CPAs can work
from home, remote offices or on business
trips, providing more flexibility than ever.
Mobile access to software applications,
combined with the proliferation of
smartphones and tablets, is enabling
accounting professionals to have
access to their client and project
information anywhere, anytime.
Although most accounting professionals
still do the majority of their work from an
office, mobile access enables additional
flexibility for staff and more responsive
client service after regular business hours.
Knowledge management systems focus
on the internal knowledge of a firm
and how to best collect, organize, store
and communicate that information
throughout the organization. Today,
accounting professionals are starting
to use social collaboration tools
to share business knowledge with
colleagues and clients. Firms can use
industry-specific solutions such as
CCH®
KnowledgeConnect in addition
to general systems such as Microsoft®
SharePoint®
for Knowledge Management.
Software as a Service Mobile Knowledge Management
Emerging Trends in Document Management
© 2015 CCH Incorporated and its affiliates. All rights reserved.

11. About 80% of pioneer firms —
those most profitable and efficient
in a Wolters Kluwer survey — are
already using scan, document
management and data extraction
technology in combination to flow
information throughout their firms.
Citation: CCH®
Leaders Now and Next Survey
Remove basic data entry from the
daily demands on your staff, and your
employees can more quickly become
trusted tax or business advisors to clients.
Scanning and data extraction are
two excellent tools to eliminate data
entry. When integrated with your
document management system,
scanning and extraction can really
complete the automation of your
document management process.
You can digitize paper documents by
scanning at the front end or back end
of your workflow. You can implement
back-end scanning without changing
your existing process. But, with front-end
scanning, you’re able to take advantage of
data extraction to flow information out
of your scanned documents and auto-
populate forms with it — a real time saver!
Emerging Trend: Scan and Flow
Source: CCH®
Leaders Now and Next Survey
Electronic scanners 62% 23% 15%2%78% 20% 80% 10% 10%
Mainstream/
Late AdoptersEarly AdopterPioneer
Software to automatically
extract data
15% 34% 51%80% 20% 26%25%49%
Electronic document
management system
36% 35% 29%1%79% 20% 9%74% 17%
© 2015 CCH Incorporated and its affiliates. All rights reserved.

12. New guidance issued by the IRS in 2014 empowers firms to collect client e-Signatures for Forms 8878 and 8879. Firms
can save over $10 per return by implementing e-Signatures, but make sure your vendor knows how to comply with the
rules set forth by the IRS.
Emerging Trend: e-Signatures
Audit Log
The software you use needs to have some type of
audit trail or system log that can keep track of the
method used to electronically sign the record.
Verify Identities
e-Signature software must separately identify
and authenticate each signer of a tax return.
Generally, this involves posing knowledge-based
authentication questions to the taxpayer.
Security
Signed documents need to be
tamper proof, locked and stored in a
secure location. You must be able to
deliver documents to clients through
encrypted process so that you maintain
security of sensitive client information
and comply with privacy laws.
Your software must record and keep:
ll Digital image of the signed form
ll Date and time of the signature
ll Identity verification
ll e-Signature method used or audit trail
If remote user:
ll Taxpayer’s computer IP address
ll Taxpayer’s user name
© 2015 CCH Incorporated and its affiliates. All rights reserved.

13. Evaluating Systems
SECTION
3
ll 7 key areas
for comparing
document
management
solutions
© 2015 CCH Incorporated and its affiliates. All rights reserved.

14. You’ve set your goals, made a plan and designed a new process. Now you’re ready to start comparing and contrasting
different document management systems. Evaluate each solution on these seven key areas to determine the right
fit for your firm.
What to Look for in Document Management Systems
Integration &
Workflow
Accessibility
Security Efficiency
Single Repository
Collaboration Scalability
© 2015 CCH Incorporated and its affiliates. All rights reserved.

15. Good document management can help you provide
clients with the same value, but more quickly and easily.
Is your firm trying to move to more value-based billing?
A single repository of information can be the linchpin of
better firm efficiency. You can quickly leverage work and
research that’s been done for other clients. In this way,
document management can help you provide clients the
same amount of service, but with higher profitability.
It’s important to understand how you’re going to send
lots of different types of information to the document
management system, including tax returns, client information,
engagement letters, research and even emails. How will
the solution store, organize and find those items later?
Choose a platform with a single repository for
documents, firm knowledge and client information
if you can. If that isn’t in the cards, then integrate
disparate technology products as much as you can.
Single Repository
Storing Files
and Document
Routing
Email
Management
Document
Searching
Firm Knowledge
and
Client Info
© 2015 CCH Incorporated and its affiliates. All rights reserved.

16. Look for a document management solution
that offers mobile access to your clients’ data
and provides functionality that conforms to
your document management policies.
How do you and your staff plan to work and
access documents? Many professionals are
thinking about how remote and mobile access to
documents can help them accomplish more.
A cloud-based document management system
gives you the ability to access documents in
the office, at home or on a mobile device.
Mobile access enables you to walk into a client
meeting and essentially have your entire “file room”
with you to help answer questions and give advice.
As you evaluate, ask how each system will handle
remote access. If a system requires the use of
either a dedicated system or a VPN, those are more
difficult access methods than a true SaaS solution.
Accessibility
Mobile
Functionality
Hardware
Security
Can key firm practices be
accomplished remotely?
Most professionals now work at least
some hours outside their offices.
© 2015 CCH Incorporated and its affiliates. All rights reserved.

17. Integration and Workflow
Integration helps improve workflow. When comparing
document management products, create an
integration matrix with your existing products plotted
against each document management solution.
Tighter integration always yields greater efficiency. Document
management should give your firm the ability to monitor, route
and search for files and information quickly. You should be able
to track and monitor any file and its location in real time. You can
also report on the number of documents you have in any phase
of the workflow, so you can help your staff manage workloads.
Many firms have started to implement more integrative
platforms so staff members don’t have to open up so many
programs and recall so many passwords each day. For example,
CCH Axcess™
is a fully integrated platform with a single login
that brings together project management, time and billing,
and tax in one system sharing common data and services.
Ease of Use
Retention
Management
Version
Control
Digital workflows
don’t necessarily
mirror your paper
workflows —
they should be
more efficient.
Status
Reporting
© 2015 CCH Incorporated and its affiliates. All rights reserved.

18. Consider your current and
future document storage
and hardware needs.
When evaluating solutions, you need
to address scalability. That means
considering all of the ways that your
firm is likely to grow in terms of
professionals, clients and practice areas.
Many firms believe they’re either too small
to need a document management system
or too large to buy an off-the-shelf solution
and must therefore build a system in-house.
In reality, most document management
solutions can handle a firm of any
size. Concentrate on understanding
how each system would work within
your expectations and what features
best support your workflows.
Many firms will implement document management by digitizing only the client files.
Instead, Wolters Kluwer recommends implementing document management in all
departments at once, so you can make take advantage of the benefits of document
management (version control, retention, etc.) across the firm. Make document
management grow with your firm and handle any and every type of file you use.
Scalability
Room to Grow Storage Limit
Works across
Diverse
Business Areas
Current and Future Needs
© 2015 CCH Incorporated and its affiliates. All rights reserved.

19. Collaboration
To collaborate with staff, clients and third
parties, you need a secure method to distribute
documents internally and outside your firm.
Research shows that when firms exchange documents like tax
returns with their clients, about 20% use regular email! Other
solutions employed include encrypted email, external services
like Dropbox and client portals designed for accounting firms.
Wolters Kluwer recommends using integrated client portals.
They offer secure, easy file sharing, and give clients immediate
access with the ability to search and filter information. Portals
usually have check in/check out features and can follow document
retention/destruction rules. Some even feature collaboration tools
like e-Signature. About 40-50% of firms are using portals today.
Any collaboration tool you use should be guaranteed by the
vendor to be as secure as accounting portals and should comply
with applicable laws such as SAS 70, HIPAA, PCI and more.
Client
Portals
Search
and Filter
Immediate
Access
Easy File
Sharing
Flexible
Security
© 2015 CCH Incorporated and its affiliates. All rights reserved.

20. Configure and utilize role-based security groups to
assign pre-set access rights to files and client data.
Document security is a concern for any business, but especially
for accounting professionals handling sensitive client financial
information. Find a document management solution that
offers layers of security so you can control access to specific
files and documents. For example, you may wish to restrict
access to high-profile clients. Or, you might need to prevent
staff from viewing files in the litigation services practice area.
Ask vendors these questions:
ll Can you set up different layers and levels of
access for certain users, groups or roles?
ll Can you prevent some users from using certain functions?
ll Can you restrict access to certain clients or groups of clients?
ll Can you restrict access across departments or offices?
ll Are files encrypted when not in use and during file transmission?
Security
Restrict
Access to
Certain
Clients
Restrict
Functionality
Restrict
Access across
Org Units
Layers of
Security
© 2015 CCH Incorporated and its affiliates. All rights reserved.

21. The principal goal of document management is to improve firm efficiency by removing the barriers you
faced with a paper-based process. Look for products that solve existing efficiency pain points!
To make workflows faster and improve data accuracy, pay attention to how you will categorize files in your new document management
solution. Keep your categories simple and very intuitive. Make it easy to sort, group and filter files. Avoid mimicking the filing system that
you have now, especially if it doesn’t work very well.
As you evaluate solutions, look for things that boost efficiency and speed adoption, such as: instant access, usability, ease of training and
learning, intuitive and adaptable graphic interface, and flexibility in indexing documents.
Once you’ve selected a solution, work with your solution provider to document every aspect of your implementation process.
Efficiency
Editing Encryption Distribution
Email
Management
Integration
© 2015 CCH Incorporated and its affiliates. All rights reserved.

22. SECTION
4
ll Create teams of
champions
ll Plan the
scope of your
implementation
ll Define your new
workflows and
integration
ll Think about the
best time to
implement
ll Create new
policies and
train your staff
Implementing Your
New Solution
© 2015 CCH Incorporated and its affiliates. All rights reserved.

23. Your document management implementation plan should evolve with your strategy. As you evaluate
providers, make sure each vendor can explain the implementation process in detail.
Recruit champions
For document
management to work,
you need input from
every part of your firm.
Assemble a champions
team of staff members
to help define existing
processes, develop
new ones and provide
feedback. Recruit an
executive champions
team of partners and
senior managers to
guide overall strategy.
Define your goals
Carefully scope out
your document
management project.
What are you trying
to accomplish for your
firm? Build consensus
among your champions
for the project goals
and constraints.
Map your workflow
Plan your new workflows
within the champions
team and decide what
integrations you will
need to achieve the best
possible efficiency.
Plan your timing
Avoid implementing
any new system during
your firm’s busy season.
Time your rollout so
that all departments and
practice areas go live at
the same time. If you
implement document
management piecemeal,
you risk storing client
files differently across
practice areas.
Don’t forget training
Train the champions
first, then the entire
organization. Train your
staff on the new system
as well as the new
policies and procedures
that guide how and
where to store every
type of document. After
the system has been
in use for a little while,
gather user feedback
and train again on any
areas of concern.
Document Management Implementation Tips
© 2015 CCH Incorporated and its affiliates. All rights reserved.

24. Join us on at CCHGroup.com/Social
2014-0482-60 6/15
© 2015 CCH Incorporated and its affiliates. All rights reserved.
For more information about
document management solutions from
Wolters Kluwer, visit CCHGroup.com.