16964: Drake Portals - Website Upgrade

Drake Portal users access the Preparer portal site by logging in to their Drake Portals website (InsertYourSiteName.SecureFilePro.com) with an Administrator or Preparer login. The Preparer site is used to manage your Drake Portals account, access secure document exchange and other interactive functions as well as portal site settings, client and employee accounts, and reports. 

The Preparer portal site has been recently updated to include new features and functionality. Many of the Connect options available in the Drake Documents portals pane can now be accessed online from the Preparer portal site, allowing preparers to work with their clients while away from their computer and Drake Documents program. Plus, the new site design is more streamlined, and the new site is a mobile-friendly Web application, so it’s accessible from any computer or device through a Web browser.  

For an overview of the changes, watch the video Portals Transition. 

The new features of the Drake Portal Preparer site include:

Require MFA

As an extra layer of security, preparers are required to set up two-factor authentication for their Preparer portal site login. 

The first time a preparer logs in to the portal, he or she is presented with the settings to enable two-factor authentication on their account. Choose to use an application like Google Authenticator to receive a code, or to have authentication codes sent via text. See Related Links below for more information.

New Preparer Site Overview 

The Preparer portal site has a new look and feel. All the features preparers are accustomed to accessing from the preparer site are here, just organized in a more efficient matter, along with several new features.

General Navigation

The Home window lists Notifications, Clients, the Public folder, and the Private folder. Tap or click a section to expand and see its contents.

Preparer Portal Site - Old

Preparer Portal Site – New 

• The menu in the top right corner of the portal window includes access to Guest Exchange and portal settings, which are now organized into two sections - Firm Management and Account Settings. The menu also includes Reports and Help.

Preparer Portal Site - Old

Preparer Portal Site – New 

Notifications

• NEW - The Notification section lists all the actions taken by all clients.
• Use the Search field to search for a specific client.
• To filter the list of notifications by action, make a selection from the For drop list.

Clients

• The Client section lists all the client portal accounts. 
• Enter a name, ID #, or email address in the Search field to narrow the client list or locate a client in the list.
• Click Add New to add new client portal accounts. 

Preparer Portal Site - Old

Preparer Portal Site - New

• From the client list, click a client’s action button to access the options to:
  • Edit Client
  • Send Activation Email
  • New File Email
  • Delete Client
  • Delete Client Files

Preparer Portal Site - Old

Preparer Portal Site – New 

To access the portal features for a client, tap or click the client in the list. From this screen, access the following - 

• Notifications specific to the selected client
• The actions button for the client, located next to the client name
• Tabs of interaction features (previously, many of these features were accessible only from the Drake Documents portal pane) - 
  • Files tab, for exchanging files.
  • Questionnaires tab, where preparers can view and send questionnaire forms for the client to complete, and view a list of sent questionnaires with the option to view the data entered. 
  • New – Starting with Drake Tax 2020, you can now import Questionnaire data into the client’s tax return. The ability to import Questionnaires is accessible only from Drake Documents, since it requires the integration with Drake Tax.
  • Messenger tab, for sending instant messages for back-and-forth communication with clients.
  • Signatures tab, for viewing Signature documents sent to the client from the portals pane in Drake Documents. From here, preparers can resend signature document notification to clients and download documents. (Requires pre-purchased signatures; see Related Links below for details.)
  • Payment tab, for sending the client a bill to pay via credit card. (Requires enrollment in ePay Merchant Credit Card Processing Program, see Related Links below for details.)

Menu Options 

From the menu on the top right of the window, access the following:

Preparer Portal Site - Old

Preparer Portal Site – New

Guest Exchange

• Guest Exchange is used to securely send and receive files, without the need to set up a client portal. All the Guest Exchange options previously available from the Preparer portal site are accessible from here.
  • NEW – Click Send Invite to send an email invitation to a recipient.  The email includes instructions for accessing the Guest Exchange, and can include a custom, additional message.
• NOTE: Before the Preparer portal site was updated, all Settings were located on one page. Now, they are broken into two categories – Firm Management and Account Management.

Firm Management

• Includes all settings related to the portals firm: Employees, Backups, and File Maintenance 
• Employees tab lists portal employee accounts. 
  • Click Add New to add new employees. 
  • Use the Search field to search and filter the employee list.
  • Select the Actions button for an employee to Edit, Reset Password, or Delete client.
  • Tap or click a client name from the list to edit the employee’s information. 
• Backups tab - NEW feature that allows the firm to view and manage its backups. Choose to back up Drake Tax and other files to the Drake Portal, a secure choice for offsite backup. The backup takes place from within Drake Tax, from the Backup/Restore feature. 
  • View the backups by tax year, see the total size of all automatic backups, view a list of all manual backups, and see the total size of all manual backups. 
  • For each manual backup listed, click the Actions button to delete manual backups.
• File Maintenance tab – Options to delete and expire portal files are located here.

Account Settings

• The location for settings related to the portal account, including subscription plan information, program options, email settings, connect features, and account security. 
• Account tab
  • NEW – You can now enter more than one email address in the “Default Notification Email” section of Program Options.
  • NEW - The Primary Admin can select the time zone for the portal from the Program Options section. 
• Account Security tab – From this tab, the logged-in preparer can edit the account email and password,and make any changes to two-factor authentication settings. (NEW – Two-factor Authentication is required for preparers)

Reports

• NEW - Reporting capabilities have been expanded to include information not just on file actions (like upload and download activity), but other portal features: Files, Questionnaires, Signature Documents, Profile, and Payment activity.
• For each type of report, use the Search field to search the report list, the ALL drop list to filter by client or employee, and the Action or Status drop list to filter the report data further by the selected action.