Get started in Practice CS

Get help

There are numerous sources of assistance available for Practice CS, including the Help & How-To Center, printed and electronic documents, and training classes.
Help & How-To Center
The primary documentation for Practice CS is provided in the comprehensive application help. See Getting help for information on accessing and using the Practice CS Help & How-To Center.
Printed and electronic documents
Get started and sample reports guides for Practice CS can be accessed from the help in Portable Document Format (PDF).
In addition to the PDF guides, you may also have received a printed Practice CS Getting Started guide.
Home Dashboard
The Home Dashboard in Practice CS provides a Resources portlet that contains links to the Help & How-To Center, Practice CS getting started guide, user bulletins, CS Home Page, Support information, the Tax & Accounting Community (formerly ARNE), and application downloads. Additionally, the Home Dashboard provides tabbed views that facilitate access to the CS Home Page, Help & How-To Center, and the Tax & Accounting Community.
Training
Thomson Reuters offers training classes for Practice CS and other applications. For a complete list of training classes, visit our website at Tax.ThomsonReuters.com.
Contacting CS Support
If you have questions not answered by the help, the getting started guide, or our website, please call CS Support at
800.968.0600
and follow the prompts. Normal weekday support is available from 9:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. eastern time.
You can also contact CS Support by selecting
Help
,
On the Web
, then
Product Support and Services
.
Other resources
Thomson Reuters offers additional resources to help you find the answers you need.
  • The
    Help & How-To Center
    offers quick access to the information you need while using Practice CS. From this 1 location, you can find details on new features, procedures for completing tasks, tips for increasing productivity or troubleshooting issues, alerts about timely issues, and more. You can also use the Help & How-To tabbed view on the Home Dashboard.
  • The
    Tax & Accounting Community
    (formerly ARNE) is an online community of people who use CS Professional Suite applications. Join the Tax & Accounting Community and post your question! To access the Tax & Accounting Community, visit our website at Tax.ThomsonReuters.com, or add the Tax & Accounting Community portlet to any dashboard.

Features and navigation

The following topics provide information about application features and navigation. Also see chapter 3, "Application Overview," in the Practice CS Getting Started guide.
  • Home Dashboard overview
  • Firm Dashboard overview
  • Staff Dashboard overview
  • Client Dashboard overview
  • Portlets overview
  • Staff In/Out Board overview

Application setup

Before you can begin using Practice CS for processing, you must perform numerous setup tasks, such as entering firm, staff, and client information, and tailoring the application’s features to work best with your firm’s established processes. For information on setting up Practice CS, see Application setup overview.

Time & expense entry

To start entering time and billing transactions in Practice CS, see Time & Expense Entry overview.

Billing

For assistance in using Practice CS for billing, see Billing overview.

Receipt & adjustment entry

For information about client receipts and other accounts receivable functions, see Receipt & Adjustment Entry overview.

Custom formats

For information about custom formats for reports, invoices, statements, letters, and labels, see Custom formats overview.

Reports

To learn about printing reports from Practice CS, see Print Reports screen overview and Printing reports.
For more information about specific reports, see the following topics.
  • List reports
  • Production reports
  • Billing reports
  • Collection reports
  • Reconciliation reports
  • Project Management reports
  • Client Management reports
  • Staff Management reports

Additional modules

Three separately licensed modules can add additional value to your Practice CS installation.
  • Project Management
  • Client Management
  • Staff Management