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Soberman Goldstein & Associates

Owners Database/Portal Design Overview

Viveik Vivekananthan

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About Soberman Goldstein

Soberman, Goldstein & Associates is an accounting and consulting firm with over 30 years of experience, serving clients across North America.

The firm works with private, social, and not-for-profit sectors, offering tailored solutions to address critical challenges. They collaborate closely with clients to build skills, provide practical recommendations, and ensure lasting success.

With a deep understanding of each organization’s goals and challenges, Soberman, Goldstein & Associates helps clients make informed decisions and drive measurable results.

xcAbout Power Technology Solutions

Power Technology Solutions is a technology consulting firm dedicated to helping enterprises harness the full potential of modern technology. With a team of experts from Apple, Blackberry, Power Staffing and Silicon Valley startups, we combine deep technical knowledge with business insights to deliver impactful solutions. We help our enterprise partners create and narrate a clear technology strategy to solve core business optimization problems. We accomplish this by designing and delivering software and custom web and mobile applications, managing complex IT projects, and guiding digital transformation efforts for enterprises in financial & professional services, healthcare, artificial intelligence, data, and blockchain.

🏁 Product Alignment

💡 The Problem

Soberman Goldstein works with a large number of business clients across North America and has accumulated 30 years' worth of tax records for each. As the firm has grown, maintaining high levels of customer satisfaction has become increasingly challenging. The current process for clients to access tax documents is time-consuming and inefficient—clients must email the firm with their requests, and staff then manually locate and send the documents. This method is not only slow but also strains the firm's capacity to serve all clients effectively, including those who no longer reside in Canada.

Clients often experience frustration when they are unable to reach key contacts at the firm in a timely manner, further exacerbating delays. The growing client base makes it difficult to provide personalized, one-on-one service, leading to a decline in customer satisfaction.

To address these challenges, Soberman Goldstein plans to implement an "owners database or portal" that allows clients to self-serve by directly accessing and retrieving their tax documents through a personalized portal. This portal will enable clients to monitor the status of their tax filings, complete assigned tasks, and book appointments. Additionally, clients can find quick answers to common questions or request assistance with a single click, which will trigger an email notification to a Soberman team member for follow-up. By streamlining document access and providing a more efficient support system, the new portal aims to boost overall efficiency and significantly enhance the client experience.

🚀 The Solution

Phase 1:

The first phase will focus on two key components:

A secure, web-based Client Portal for clients/business owners to self-serve:

Access, view, and upload all CRA tax documents

Complete assigned tasks from SG team related to onboarding new/existing clients and their on-going tax filings

Book & manage in-person or virtual appointments with the SG team

Progress Bar allowing users to monitor the status and stage of their CRA tax filings, such as processing steps, outstanding returns, or pending assessments.

Access how-to guides

CRA integration to authenticate clients and automatically retrieve documents (feasibility TBD)

A secure, web-based Admin Management Dashboard for Soberman Goldstein’s team to:

Manage, view and upload documents

Manage users, and user permissions

Assign tasks to clients to gather information for onboarding and completing tax filings

Manage calendar bookings for in-person or virtual appointments

Please note: All final requirements, as well as any feature additions or modifications, will be subject to approval by Ali.

🎯 Phase 1 Goals & Success

✅ Build Client Portal

✅ Build Soberman Goldstein Admin Management Dashboard

✅ Build Backend Systems including CRA API integrations

✅ Provide hosting and on-going maintenance support

Other:

❓ Update

Soberman Goldstein Homepage⁠

(currently site is down )

📅 Timeline & Delivery

Please note that all timelines are subject to change based on the finalization of feature requirements and full scope.

Phase 1: Estimated: January 2025 delivery (before next tax season)

Phase 2: TBD

🍿 Product Demo: Client Portal Experience

Below are 5 pages illustrating a potential product flow for the SG Client Portal experience. These mockups are intended to offer a vision of where the product could go, with a focus on prioritizing the features that matter most to you.

Portal Home Page

Portal Documents Page

Portal Tasks Page

Portal Appointments Page

The goal is to gather feedback from Ali so that we can refine and adjust the product to align with your vision.

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Portal Home page w/ Progress Bar: Allow users to monitor the status and stage of their CRA tax filings, such as processing steps, outstanding returns, or pending assessments.

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Documents Page: Manage, access and upload all tax documents

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Tasks Page: Complete assigned tasks from SG team related to onboarding new/existing clients and their on-going tax filings

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Appointments Page: Book & manage in-person or virtual appointments with the SG team

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Flexible Pricing Structure:

As promised, I'm writing to provide you with the pricing options for the development of the accounting portal for Soberman Goldstein. We have crafted two options to accommodate varying feature sets and budget considerations:

Option 1: Fully Loaded Version - $150,000

This option includes all features outlined in the Phase 1 roadmap, delivering a comprehensive solution for both clients and the Soberman Goldstein team. Key features include:

Secure, web-based Client Portal for clients/business owners

Access, view, and upload tax documents

Task management for onboarding and ongoing tax filings

Appointment booking system (in-person or virtual)

Progress bar to track the status and stage of tax filings

Secure, web-based Admin Management Dashboard for the Soberman Goldstein team

Document management

User management and permissions

Task assignment and calendar bookings

CRA integration for automatic document retrieval (pending API research/authorized licences and feasibility)

Hosting and maintenance support and setup

Option 2: Streamlined Version - $97,500

This option provides essential functionality, excluding some advanced features, but still significantly improves the document management and customer interaction process. It includes:

Secure, web-based Client Portal for clients/business owners

Access, view, and upload tax documents

Task management for onboarding and ongoing tax filings

Secure, web-based Admin Management Dashboard for the Soberman Goldstein team

Document management

User management and permissions

Task assignment

Hosting and maintenance support (extra fees involved depending on support level)

The streamlined version excludes:

Calendar booking management for appointments

Progress bar for tracking tax filing status

CRA integration for automatic document retrieval

Both options are designed to enhance the client experience, improve operational efficiency, and modernize your document management system. We are targeting a delivery of end of January/early February 2025, just in time for the next tax season.

📋 Next Steps

Schedule a Follow-Up Meeting: Let’s arrange a second meeting to review your feedback, finalize the scope of work, and confirm any specific feature requests from Ali.

Clarify Scope and Deliverables: We’ll discuss any adjustments to the scope based on your feedback and ensure alignment on the project’s key deliverables.

Review Detailed Proposal: We’ll present a comprehensive proposal that outlines the agreed-upon scope, timeline, and pricing for your review.

Provide Feedback: Please take some time to review the proposal, and feel free to share any feedback or suggestions for revisions.

Finalize Contract: Once we have your approval on the proposal, we’ll proceed with sending a formal contract for your review and signature, which will include the terms, payment schedule, and project milestones.

Kickoff Meeting: After the contract is signed, we’ll schedule a project kickoff meeting to align on the next steps and begin the project execution.