I think I would like to see some custom fields that I can query on in the templates.
One example is to add in a field to indicate whether client wants a pdf or a printed copy(ies) of the tax return. My letter can then be changed to indicate what I am giving them: ie: a printed summary and a PDF of their tax return or a complete printed copy(ies) of their tax return. This would apply for all tax returns both corporate and personal.
I think it would make sense to have the custom fields on the engagement manager.
We have given this some thought, but we are not sure what this would look like just yet. Possibly a table on a new (or existing) form that would allow you to add your own custom fields.
I just think about some of the other software applications that we use and how they have implemented the ‘custom’ fields. Caseware has something called User Defined Data – basically a text field that you put in whatever you like and it is referred to as “UD1”, “UD2”, etc.
QuickBooks also has the concept of Custom Fields, you pick what you want them to be and on what forms you want them to show up. Again, just a text field so no smarts at all.
I am thinking on the engagement manager would make sense. Just have a a block of 4 or 6 ‘text’ fields or whatever reasonably fits, call them Custom1, Custom2, etc. Then in the templates you would query ’ custom1 = “MyText”. You could get fancy and have data types instead of just text, but then I agree it would start to get complicated.
I am happy to hear that you are considering my suggestion, I look forward to seeing the implementation.