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| Document Production System | |
| The Document
Production System (DPS), a product of Advanced Logic Systems, is a
comprehensive program for document creation. It includes a fairly wide array
of documents, with an attractive interface. With state-specific forms at a
reasonable price, this system provides a comprehensive inventory for speedy
document production. Installation from the CD-ROM was easy. The program comes with a number of 10-minute tutorials for many of the documents produced, explaining the data to be entered. Interestingly, you also can create your own guides, which would be particularly useful in training personnel to use the system. Presently, the system includes four areas of document production: Corporations, Limited Liability Company, Estate Planning and Probate documents. I found the product reflects its home state of Iowa, and the document production is therefore not identical from state to state. I started out creating some corporate instruments. I found the DPS interface easy to use. Like many document systems, you enter your firm information that will find its way into many of the documents you produce. Then, upon entering the program, you open an existing client or create a new client. The program asks you to select an area of practice from a tabbed screen. Upon making your selection, you move forward with a series of pertinent questions relevant to the document to be produced. For example, when I selected Corporations, and my state, New York, I could then choose to produce any of the following: bylaws, minutes, securities, tax forms or miscellaneous documents. Subsequent choices ease the production of documents further. For example, will there be common stock, preferred stock or both? Do you want stock certificates issued? Who will sign them? The program allows you to review an outline of the screens answered and pending at any time within your session. You can create a printable input sheet that you can use in gathering and preparing the data to be entered by another employee. In addition, I used the program to create a guide for my staff, which they could later use in creating documents using my guide as well as the input sheets. This allowed me to delegate document production to a paralegal who would have at his or her desktop the guidance within the program for our typical answers. Like most document production systems, the beauty of it lies in its ability to save the data and use it again elsewhere. You can go back into the program, change a few answers as necessary, and produce the documents as revised. Once you have completed answering the questions, you select to produce the document from within the program. You can print the documents produced from within Document Production System. Alternatively, you can choose to export the documents to Microsoft Word (in rich text format) or Corel WordPerfect; the lower left-hand area of the “Export” window allows you to indicate your preference. Exporting documents will permit you to further edit and tailor them for the particular client. You can add special formatting and handle the document as you would any other word processing document. Answers to particular questions for that client remain unchanged in Document Production System. One nice feature of DPS is the ability to enter the “edit” mode to modify documents produced by the program. This is useful if you have certain language that you, as a practitioner, prefer in your documents. The warning that comes when you select the “edit” mode protects the system’s documents, but I would recommend the “edit” mode only be available with password protection — not everyone should be able to change the master document. One complaint I have is the system doesn’t have the most up-to-date versions of some forms. For example, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) issued a new SS-4 in January, but only the older version is included in the program. There were also older forms of acknowledgments on the New York forms, reflecting, I am sure, the fact that the program is produced in Iowa. In all, the program has an attractive, easy-to-use interface. It contains all the required bells and whistles of a data production program, including transferability of data. The documents produced are professional and accurate, although they can reflect certain provinciality for state-specific documents. The federal documents and estate plans were professional and accurate, and for the price, the system is worth a look. |
Advanced Logic Systems (800) 454-7703 www.dps.cc Price: Starts at $495 per year for entire suite of programs; each program can be purchased separately. Windows 95/98/Me/NT/2000/XP Reviewed by Denise P. Ward, Esq., Grean & Ward, Port Chester, N.Y. PROS CONS VERDICT |
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