The future of Opti.Tax: How the user workshop went

On Monday 6 February 2023, hsp hosted a user workshop. As it was not an exclusively male workshop, the question arises as to why this name was chosen – we will do better in future. The event focused on the future of Opti.Tax. And everyone present agreed that this future lies in the cloud. In order to ensure further technical functionality, Opti.Tax needs to be further developed into a web-based interface. The aim of the future-planning workshop was to set the course for this further development.

The participants

Users from various sectors were invited. Tax advisers, business owners, employees and even working students took the opportunity to share their perspectives and experiences of using Opti.Tax with us. The hsp team, comprising Sandra (UI/UX), Fabian Klapproth (Senior Developer), Wolfgang Schönwaldt (Senior Consultant) and Samuel Königshoven (Customer Success Manager), was thus able to gain extensive insight into day-to-day operations – particularly with regard to process, procedural and value-added documentation.

The agenda

First, we discussed a few findings from the online survey, which had been sent out in advance via a newsletter. In this survey, all users had the opportunity to describe their experiences with Opti.Tax in detail. We are analysing the trends emerging from the responses, which we will take into account in the further development of the software.

The survey focused on four key areas: usability, functionality, integrations/interfaces, and platform & performance. Upon initial analysis of the responses received, we identified an interesting trend. Experienced Opti.Tax users place greater emphasis on the software’s functionality, whilst newcomers attach considerably greater importance to improving usability. The workshop therefore focused on these two most highly requested areas: the functionality and usability of Opti.Tax.

The workshop began with a joint review of the online survey and the objectives. After a short break, we moved straight on to the software. In this practical part of the workshop, five key topics were discussed to help participants understand how to use Opti.Tax in their day-to-day work:

• Getting started with Opti.Tax
• Getting started with the documentation
• Working with clients
• Visualisation of process chains using BPMN
• Presentation of the reporting

We were able to gain valuable insights into each of these subject areas.

Getting started with Opti.Tax

Participants noted that the Opti.Tax interface, with its project management, task management and information window, had a logical structure. However, the general consensus was that it would be beneficial if there were active notifications within Opti.Tax regarding upcoming tasks, completed tasks from the cloud and chat messages received. This would make getting started easier. The ability to view chat histories and provide feedback to the enquirer within the project management information window were also interesting ideas that were put forward.

Getting started with the documentation

The focus of this topic was on how to populate much of the documentation in advance with minimal effort, so as to be able to concentrate more on the core aspect afterwards – the clients’ processes.

Where can I obtain all the information quickly and easily? Can I access it? Should clients provide it themselves? These and similar questions were discussed. The majority agreed that clients’ willingness to assist with the entry of master data was rather low. When creating a new project, it is already possible to automatically retrieve data via interfaces from a leading system in order to collect master data in advance and save it in Opti.Tax. In future, it would be conceivable to carry out this retrieval as soon as clients are set up in Opti.Tax, so that this pool of master data can be used for further projects.

The guided interview feature already available when creating a project is regarded as a good idea and is intended to support users in the future when drawing up documentation as well. Such targeted queries help both with securing contracts and with the profitability of a process consultancy project. Users would be able to gain an overview, even before the project begins, of the workload this would entail for the company and the client, and would receive meaningful forecasts regarding financial considerations.

Working with the client

The core of any documentation lies in recording a company’s existing processes. Collaboration with the client is inevitably necessary. For small and tech-savvy companies, collaboration is possible via the existing Opti.Tax Cloud. For more complex projects, arranging a meeting with the client is certainly beneficial in order to gain an even better understanding of the client’s workflows.

Follow-up interview queries via the cloud offer significant added value and assist in finalising the documentation. Are these answers plausible? Do I want to include these answers directly in the documentation? By reviewing the interview responses before incorporating them into the project, the user could decide for themselves whether the information provided should be included. This functionality is also advantageous in terms of the creation history, as it allows deliberate omissions in the interview to be recorded.

Including videos within an interview to explain the core topic of the task helps users to find the answer.

The Opti.Tax Cloud can currently be used to share documents with various people within the cloud for proofreading. Comments entered within this PDF are automatically linked to the relevant taxonomy item in Opti.Tax, helping the user(s) with further processing.

Visualisation of process chains using BPMN

Opti.Tax not only allows processes to be documented, but also visualised. This is, in fact, easy to manage for smaller projects. The functionality for importing BPMN files into documentation to map and describe processes was also well received by the participants. The combination of process chains and continuous text is well implemented in Opti.Tax and could also be made available to clients in future as a process wiki.

In addition, there was a general call for the Live Chart to be further developed with new features. To save resources, the integration of other BPMN tools is being considered.

Presentation of the reporting

The documentation is generated from the fields entered for the individual taxonomy items. In addition, Opti.Tax provides a range of text modules, which are then customised for the respective company. Different text modules tailored to specific sectors are conceivable here. These would assist users in creating documentation.

In addition, there was a request for the option to flag content associated with a taxonomy item – whether from an import or a cloud interview – as such. This would simplify the evaluation of individual entries and the finalisation of the documentation.

Small features such as a full-text search across all recorded texts and the ability to insert tables add value to the presentation and will be taken into account in future web-based development.

Conclusion

The guests benefited from the collective wealth of experience of all those taking part. The hsp team’s solution-focused approach was also widely recognised.

Thanks to the insightful contributions and lively discussions from all participants, the hsp team was able to gain a uniquely deep insight into the actual processes. In order to take both the documentation and the overall software experience to the next level, hsp will incorporate the insights gained from the workshop into the further development of Opti.Tax.

In short: it was a great day! This is further evidenced by the fact that the participants would like to see this inspiring exchange continue. Consequently, contact details were exchanged afterwards with a view to turning the event into a regular occurrence.

The clear trends emerging from the online survey were not only confirmed, but also explored further and analysed in greater depth. Here at hsp, we are now more convinced than ever that dialogue with our users is essential to developing the best possible Opti.Tax for the future.

Many thanks to everyone who took part in this project.

Your hsp team