Knowledge Base Solution - CCH® ProSystem fx® Engagement and Knowledge Coach: What's New for v2019

CCH® ProSystem fx® Engagement and Knowledge Coach: What's New for v2019

Article Type:
Documentation
Last Modified:
11/05/2022

Objectives

Explain new features in CCH® ProSystem fx® Engagement v2019
Explain new features in CCH® ProSystem fx® Knowledge Coach v2019

Environment

CCH® ProSystem fx® Engagement v2019
CCH® ProSystem fx® Knowledge Coach v2019

Details

What's New for CCH® ProSystem fx® Engagement v2019 and CCH® ProSystem fx® Knowledge Coach v2019

Every year, Wolters Kluwer® looks to provide new and enhanced productivity features that will make your entire workflow more fluid, allowing you to boost efficiency and profitability. We’re excited to share with you some of the enhancements for CCH ProSystem fx Engagement and Knowledge Coach.

CCH ProSystem fx Engagement Workpaper Management Updates

The following new functionality is provided for audit and tax preparers and reviewers:

Changes in Supported Technologies

The following technologies are no longer supported:

Microsoft® SQL Server® 2012
Microsoft® Windows Server 2012

The following new technologies are now supported:

Microsoft® Windows® Server 2019
QuickBooks® 2019

Improvements when Working with Trial Balance and Journal Entry Reports

To improve your experience when working with trial balance reports, the following enhancements are provided:

New options in the binder window Trial Balance menu allow you to create trial balance (TB) and journal entry (JE) reports. You no longer must open a trial balance or Microsoft® Excel® workpaper to create a TB or JE report.
The text Legacy (.xls) trial balance report or Legacy (.xls) journal entry report now displays in the binder window status bar when you select a report created in an Engagement release prior to version 7.5.
When creating a new trial balance report, if there are legacy (.xls) reports in the binder for the selected trial balance, you can choose to default the new report's settings based on the legacy report's settings. This update makes the process for replacing a legacy report more efficient.

Ability for Staff to Reset/Change Password

The Admin application Tools > Firm Options window now includes a firm option to allow staff to reset or change their Engagement password. If your firm uses this option, a staff member who forgets their password can click a Forgot password? link on the login window. An email with a temporary password is sent to the staff member. The staff member will be prompted to change the temporary password the next time he or she logs in. Your firm must select this new option to use the previously released feature for setting password rules. If your firm will upgrade from the 2018 release of Engagement and already has the password rules option selected, the new option to allow staff to change their password will be pre-selected when the 2019 release is installed.

Important:

A staff member must have a work email address in his or her Engagement staff profile to receive the temporary password email. An administrator must set up this email in the staff member's properties in the Admin application or by using the new Staff Work Email view in the Admin Views Utility. See the Updated Admin Views Utility section below for more information.
If the option to allow staff to change their password is selected and an administrator has set up a password for a staff member in the Admin application, that password is considered temporary. As a result, the staff member will be prompted to change the temporary password the next time the staff member attempts to log in to Engagement.
Members of a staff group where Change password is not selected, are not allowed to use Forgot password? or Change password.

CCH Axcess™ Portal licenses no longer required for Engagement Organizer

Your firm is no longer required to be licensed for CCH Axcess Portal to use the Engagement Organizer feature. Engagement Organizer (EO) is a cloud-based feature for your client request lists (Prepared by Client (PBC) ocuments). EO is available with any 2017 or later release of Engagement. For the best user experience while using Engagement Organizer, we recommend Google Chrome as your default web browser. To launch ngagement Organizer, select a binder from the local or central file room, and select Tools > Engagement Organizer. The Engagement Organizer option can also be selected from the Tools menu or Shortcuts bar in an open binder.

API Improvements

We have provided additional calls to our existing APIs, as well as new calls for iFileRoom API, iClient API, iBinder API, iTab API, iWorkpaper API, iStaff API and iLicense API. To guide you with scripting using the APIs, refer to the knowledge base article How do I use API's with CCH® ProSystem fx® Engagement? on CCH Support Online. This article includes links to documentation, which now includes scripting samples. In addition, links to API_Demo_Engagement coding solutions are provided for you to use as is, or to view the code to aid in writing scripts for client, binder, tab, workpaper, staff, and trial balance account calls.

Updated Admin Views Utility

The following updates have been made for the Admin Views Utility:

A new Staff Work Email view with bulk edit allows you to import work email addresses from a CSV file. This view can help you efficiently set up the work email for staff members in Engagement. A work email must exist for staff members to reset their own password with the new Forgot password? feature. You can also export the view data to a .CSV file, and then edit the exported file to add the work emails to be imported. Refer to the Help for the Admin Views Utility for more information.
To improve performance when working with a large data set, a pre-filter window has been added for several views. In some cases, you must enter a value for one or more conditions of the pre-filter. For example, to retrieve the data for one or more binders, a value might be required for the client name filter condition.
To improve performance, we have removed the ability to drill down to the tabs, workpapers, and staff of a binder. Instead, the following new views display the data previously included in the drill downs:
- Binder Last Sync Date - View the date last synchronized for one or more binders.
- Client Binders - View the binders for one or more clients.
- Clients by Central File Room - View the central file rooms for one or more clients.
- Clients in Multiple CFRs - View clients for which binders reside in more than one central file room.
- Staff Binder Assignment - View the assigned staff for one or more binders.
- Workpapers in Binder - View the workpapers for one or more binders.
- Checked out WPs in Binder - View workpapers that are checked out for one or more binders.

Separate Staff Group Right for Modifying Binder Staff Assignments

The Engagement Admin application now provides a new staff group right that allows binder staff members to assign or unassign other staff members to or from the binder. This staff group right is separate from the right to modify the binder properties. This change allows for staff members to create new binders without also allowing them to assign the binder staff. It also allows staff members to edit binder properties without also allowing them to modify the staff assigned to the binder.

User Guide and Help Content Provided in an HTML Format

The Help is now provided in a modern HTML format. We will no longer provide a separate User Guide and Admin Guide in PDF form.

CCH ProSystem fx Knowledge Coach

New User Option for Multiple Microsoft® Word Instances

In the file room or binder window, a new Tools > Options item allows you to launch separate instances of Microsoft® Word. This feature is beneficial when working with multiple Word Knowledge Coach workpapers.

Begin Using KBA Commercial 2019 before your firm upgrades to CCH® ProSystem fx® Engagement v2019.1.3

We will release an application update alongside 2019 Commercial which will allow 2019 Commercial and later titles to be installed on Engagement v2018. This update will allow Knowledge Coach users to begin using the 2019 KBA Commercial title before your firm updates to ProSystem fx Engagement v2019.1.3. More information on this update will be available through CCH Software News by early August.

Content Changes for Complex and Non-complex Forms

We have combined all complex and non-complex forms, giving the auditor the option to memo or complete the detailed table for each section based on tailoring.

Coming Soon! CCH Axcess Knowledge Coach Beta Releases

We are excited to announce a new cloud release of our Knowledge Coach content. We are looking for existing CCH ProSystem fx Knowledge Coach and Engagement customers, as well as customers that do not use Knowledge Coach, to take part in our beta testing program. Refer to this CCH Software News on our Support site for more information.