IRIS OpenSpace within Taxfiler by IRIS

IRIS OpenSpace is a safe, simple and secure online collaborative tool for accountancy practices and clients to share documents with each other and get client approval electronically.

You can publish documents to the IRIS OpenSpace online portal directly from Taxfiler by IRIS. Your clients are then able to log into IRIS OpenSpace to view and/or approve the documents.

The approval status of the document is automatically updated in Taxfiler by IRIS when the document has been approved by your client.

IRIS OpenSpace:

  • allows you to upload, store and approve documents online

  • offers a high-level security – only you and your clients can view documents

  • can be customised with your own logo and colour scheme

  • is fully integrated with Taxfiler by IRIS

For more information on IRIS OpenSpace, see IRIS Support.

Set up IRIS OpenSpace integration within Taxfiler by IRIS

  1. Go to the Connections screen and select the IRIS OpenSpace tab.

  2. Select Connect to IRIS OpenSpace, and enter the IRIS OpenSpace Username and Password. If the account is found in IRIS OpenSpace a message will be displayed confirming 'Your account has been connected to IRIS OpenSpace'.

You are now ready to upload files to IRIS OpenSpace.

Create a new IRIS OpenSpace account

For Pro and Team pricing plans, you will be able to link to an existing IRIS OpenSpace account or create a new IRIS OpenSpace account from within Taxfiler by IRIS (includes 1GB of storage).

To create a new IRIS OpenSpace account:

  1. Select Create IRIS OpenSpace account

  2. Enter your details and select Create.

  3. You will be sent an email in order to authorise your account and set up a password for your new IRIS OpenSpace account.

  4. Go to the Connections screen and select the IRIS OpenSpace tab. Select Connect to IRIS OpenSpace and enter the IRIS OpenSpace User name and Password.

A message will display confirming: Your account has been connected to IRIS OpenSpace.

You are now ready to upload files to IRIS OpenSpace.

Create a tax return and upload to IRIS OpenSpace

  1. Once you have prepared a tax return, select the Review & File tab within the tax return.

  2. Once all errors have been cleared, and warnings considered, you will have the option to Prepare for filing.

  3. Select Prepare for filing.

  4. Select Upload to IRIS OpenSpace. In the new window, choose to include the Tax computation and the option to use a duplex print layout by inserting ticks in the relevant boxes.

You must ensure that you use the same client codes between Taxfiler by IRIS and IRIS OpenSpace.

If a client doesn't exist in IRIS OpenSpace, Taxfiler by IRIS automatically creates a folder for the client and you are then required to create an IRIS OpenSpace user account for your client.

This account allows your client to login to IRIS OpenSpace and approve documents that are uploaded. This is only required to be setup the first time you send a document via IRIS OpenSpace for this client, the details will be saved for subsequent uploads in Taxfiler by IRIS.

Your client will receive two emails from IRIS OpenSpace:

  • advising that you have created an account for them and they are required to activate the account (example below, actual email may differ slightly).

  • that you have sent them a document for approval with a link to that document.

Taxfiler by IRIS stores the details of the user that you set up to approve documents, so you are not required to repeat this process again. Should this user need to be edited / changed or a different user added this can be done within your IRIS OpenSpace account, in the Edit clients screen.

If you require the documents to be sent to multiple persons, you can set up additional client details in your OpenSpace account. When sending documents for approval, Taxfiler by IRIS lists the users that you can send the document to for approval. Select Any user to send the document to all listed users.

The Review & File tab is updated to show the document has been sent for approval via IRIS OpenSpace and gives you the option to open your IRIS OpenSpace account.

Taxfiler by IRIS keeps a record of documents that have been uploaded for each client in the clients file, under a new tab for IRIS OpenSpace.

Once the client has activated their IRIS OpenSpace accounts and approved the document, you can see this displayed in the Review & File tab and the clients file will be updated.

You will receive an email from IRIS OpenSpace confirming these events and within Taxfiler by IRIS and the Review & File tab and the clients file will be updated to reflect that the document has been approved.

Select Goto IRIS OpenSpaceto access your IRIS OpenSpace dashboard. Here you can view the status of all the documents that you have sent using your IRIS OpenSpace account.

The Dashboard tab gives a view of all unread files that have been received, documents that have been sent for and are awaiting electronic approval, those that have been approved and rejected.

From the main screen, sort the files displayed by client name, file name and description, date uploaded, size and owner.

The Clients tab gives the option to view all clients assigned. Functions available here are; export a full client list, add a new client from here or search for client information using the search bar.

Information can be edited for an existing client by ticking the checkbox to the left of the client name and selecting Edit Client in the top right-hand corner.

Clients can be sorted here by client ID, name, status, last login, total files and storage size being used.

The Upload file tab allows you to add additional documents to the clients file.

Account

Account settings allow the user to alter details, change their password or view the various policies and conditions held within the system.

The user can also log out from here.

Deleted items

Select the dustbin to view a list of all recently deleted items.

Settings

The settings tab allows the client to customise all aspects of the OpenSpace system.

  • Users -from this tab new practice users can be created or imported. Existing staff member profiles can be edited, including assigning staff members to clients and changing permissions.

  • Practice Details - practice information can be edited, including the administrator email address. The email address is used by IRIS to send any important alerts and announcements. The default folder structure can be edited for each client. This will alter the files that each new client sees, depending upon how the practice wishes to organise its files.

  • Customisation - this tab contains all the functionality to enable branding and customisation of the OpenSpace portal.

  • Audit Log - the audit log contains details of every action within the system. This can be sorted by date, user, action, client and data.

  • eApproval Logs - e-approval logs track all documents that have been uploaded for electronic approval including the status of the document, who it has been approved by and when it was last interacted with.

Subscription

Your subscription

This tab is where storage requirements are managed and where current usage can be viewed. The right-hand side of the page displays the total files, clients and users on the system.

Files and folders can also be viewed within the client screen. These can be sorted by file size, to find the largest files, if for example, space allocation is incorrect.

Additional space can also be purchased, to be used on OpenSpace account.

Select the link for more information on IRIS OpenSpace.