What is Sharepoint?
Many will be familiar with SharePoint. It is Microsoft’s document management and storage system. The version we generally talk about – SharePoint Online – bundles with their 365 Platform. SharePoint has been around in the cloud version of Office 365 since 2012, so it was one of the early options for storage and document management. Microsoft 365 Business Basic also includes desktop versions of all the normal Microsoft applications plus SharePoint and Teams. Most CA firms already likely have this subscription.
What does the integration achieve?
Allowing Sharepoint integration with Audit Assistant is a game-changer for ease of editing Excel and Word attachments without the need to download and replace files worked on. This has been our most requested feature by far. This integration allows users to:
- Link existing files from SharePoint directly into AA.
- Open and edit Microsoft Word and Excel documents within the application using Office Online, providing a seamless, real-time editing experience with saving and updating of documents.
- Also allows users to edit documents on their own devices, with synchronisation back to Sharepoint and therefore Audit Assistant.
What has changed?
Our previous application process allowed users to upload files directly to projects via a client browser, which are then encrypted and stored into our Amazon S3 storage. This setup is secure and serves our needs well but lacks Microsoft Word and Excel editing and updates the user makes to files need to be re-uploaded.
- At present, some firms use our attachment link system to hyperlink from SharePoint, Google Workspace or similar so files are easily accessed during the audit work. Then at the end of the job, they manually bundle the files into a zip file and attach then into the AA job.
- This is now unnecessary. Documents will be editable without downloading, utilising an integration between Audit Assistant and the firm’s Sharepoint, and the files will be automatically added to the job at rollover (see below).
How do we set it up?
Sharepoint has to be enabled by an admin user via the Security page under account settings.
- Under the section "Integrations" they need to enable Microsoft SharePoint and click save to enable:
How does it work within a job?
- Click on the normal Attachment tool as above. Instead of selecting File (the current attachment option, or Link (to add a hyperlink) or Hard Copy (to add a placeholder to the index) select Sharepoint.
- The first time this is selected you will be asked to link to your Sharepoint directory. After that the link will be retained. Selecting the Sharepoint option will display as follows:
-
Click the Select From Sharepoint button and the following dialog will display, mirroring your Sharepoint directory. For example:
- Note in the above the Upload button. This allows files to be uploaded to Sharepoint say from your downloads directory from within Audit Assistant.
- Browse to and select the file you want and click to add:
- Click Add and the Sharepoint file is linked into the Audit Assistant step.
- The attachment is labeled as Sharepoint as follows:
- Notice there is no Preview option required for Sharepoint attachments.
- To view or edit the file click on it, and it will open directly in Sharepoint.
- Make any changes as required.
- Changes are made in real time so there is no Save button.
- Just close the tab with the document displayed and it is changed, saved and updated in both your Sharepoint and in Audit Assistant.
What about files that are preloaded as documents in Audit Assistant?
Some of our templates have Word and Excel documents included that can be downloaded and used in the template.
-
- These are normally opened and worked on then re-attached.
- These can be loaded directly into your Sharepoint so may be worked on within Audit Assistant.
Can we bookmark folders within our Sharepoint for quick access?
Not specifically, however after the first time you upload a file to a job AA will remember the path and take you right back to that folder next time you wish to add a file to that job.
What about the current Preview tool and PDF annotations?
Preview is not required for Sharepoint documents (clicking on them does the same thing plus allows editing). Preview will still be useful for files that are attached directly into Audit Assistant, for instance when gathering files from the client.
- So files added by a client on a shared page will still be stored the old way and able to be previewed.
- Firms may also wish to keep PDF files attached the "old" way (rather than in Sharepoint), as this will allow annotating within the preview function.
- Firms that do not use Sharepoint option can just keep operating as at present with the existing attachment tools.
What about changes made to files after a page is concluded?
When a page is concluded in AA attachments in Sharepoint are locked to that version, as indicated by the icon.
- So, any subsequent changes will not affect the audit file.
- This safeguards the integrity of the data in the audit file
- When a page is unconcluded, attachments remain locked to that version.
- An alert banner above the attachment preview clearly displays the locked version and date.
- If the attachment is not the latest version, it may be updates while the workpaper is in an unconcluded state.
- To remove the version lock entirely, select Edit above the attachment preview.
What happens to the Sharepoint files at rollover?
At Rollover files are copied from Sharepoint into the prior year Audit Assistant zip file, so that the final copy is stored with the finalised audit file.
What about other document management tools?
A recent survey of our users found an almost even split of Microsoft SharePoint, Google Workspace, FYI, Dropbox and OneDrive, with some users still just using their local server (presumably backed up). We have also noticed an upsurge in interest in SuiteFiles.
- Specific document management tools aimed at Accountants and other professional firms include SuiteFiles, FYI Docs and Karbon.
- These all integrate with Microsoft 365. SuiteFiles and FYI Docs both also require a Microsoft Business subscription.
- So although the interface is a bit different, they may be used with our Sharepoint integration tool.
- However Google Workspace, Dropbox and OneDrive are different platforms so will not provide the same functionality.