Welcome to the Mclowd Practitioner Update for December 2016.
Introduction
The development Team at Mclowd have been running very hard in recent months, with their efforts spread across:
- Improvements to the core software, and
- Third party paid extras
Bank Data Allocations
Next week will see the release of improved filtering on the bank transactions page, allowing users to filter data across the following criteria:
- Date
- Description
- Amount
- Account category
- Verification status
A screen shot of the new interface.
The ability for users to create their own allocation rules is also on the to-do list for the New Year.
Practitioner Engagement
I would like to welcome Graham Donnelly from Goldrock Accounting to the Mclowd Community. Graham is one of a growing number of practitioners who are migrating to Mclowd.
Speaking of his participation Graham had this to say: “Mclowd enables me to manage a simple Fund for $45 per annum + GST, being the cost of a bank data feed and online lodgement. Even in its current form it also allows me to collaborate online with my audit partner (and the trustee client if they so wish). As an SMSF practitioner it’s all upside from here.”
Introductory Webinar
For the benefit of new users and those considering migration, a free Introductory Webinar will be held at 12:30pm AEDT next Thursday 8th December.
System Status Page
In terms of technology Mclowd has been built on Amazon Web Services. AWS is the industry standard for cloud hosting, and this is exactly the same environment chosen by the likes of BGL360 and Xero.
Providing transparency to the quality of this infrastructure is an important part of the governance of the Community and we have recently upgraded the System Status page on the website, which now provides real-time visibility to both system availability (uptime) and latency (response times).
The page can be accessed at any time via the website.
Marketplace
When Mclowd was originally launched the services Marketplace was an important element of the online Community which we were seeking to establish.
Connecting trustee users with suitably qualified service providers in a frictionless market offers both cost savings to consumers and an efficient channel to market for practitioners.
However the Marketplace was built as a standalone piece of custom software, and while early activity was promising, this architecture made it difficult to deliver an environment where demand and supply could be connected quickly and easily.
We have now replaced that code with an off-the-shelf solution that will be more tightly integrated into the Platform.
The service will go live shortly, and we will send out a dedicated note and update the User Manual accordingly.
Conclusion
2016 has seen material improvements to the core software, particularly in relation to the year end processes. However increased engagement from practitioner users means that the bar for 2017 has been raised yet again.
Myself and the rest of the Mclowd Team look forward to that challenge, and your continued participation in the Community.
Regards
Graeme McGuire
Product Manager
Mclowd Pty Ltd