Intacct Software Technology Review

An Independent Intacct Accounting & Financial Software Review

Software Technology & Customizations

Intacct is a fully hosted, multi-tenant SaaS application and is not available as an on-premise system or in a private cloud deployment. The Intacct technology stack is made up of Linux, Apache, Oracle and PHP. The company has also used technologies such as Adobe Flex for their Global Consolidations module. Reminents of Adobe Flash technology have been removed from the software. Intacct client information (database records, transactions, etc.) is separated through tenant identification codes. Intacct offers application-level security as well as individual session management for granular security permissions.

Much of an organizations business proceses can be configured without incurring software programming. The SaaS accounting system uses wizards to define custom fields or field attributes so you can add additional data to the application. Smart Links, Smart Events and Smart Rules permit administrators or users to define automated, workflow-like actions, such as sending a notification email alert when a transaction meets a certain criteria, or even for reaching out to another information system to retrieve or exchange data with your accounting system.

For greater extensibility and software customization, Intacct offers a Platform tool. Similar to a Platform as a Service (PaaS) solution, the Intacct Platform permits software enhancements, or new software development of add-on capabilities. More technical information can be found at the Intacct Platform portal.

The web services that are made accessible through the Platform via the open API XML allow customers to leverage the solution's back-end capabilities with additional front-end functionalities provided by other applications and partners. Because the Intacct ERP system is accounting and financial oriented, the framework built around the financials engine enables financial accounting integration to many applications. Within the financials and accounting workspaces, Intacct features a flexible business process management engine that permits customers to build individualized business processes based on specific needs.

Intacct supports real-time data connectivity between disparate systems with its ConnectERP™, a powerful web services integration platform, and ManageERP™, an easy-to-use web portal for deploying and managing applications, customizations, and integrations across multiple sites and entities. This allows a bidirectional data flow between multiple systems, platforms, and databases. The solution also features a WebSphere-based software adapter, which automates real-time workflows between Intacct's web-based ERP suite and stand-alone systems such as e-commerce, manufacturing, and workforce optimization for larger customers that use IBM WebSphere as their service-oriented architecture (SOA).

Integration Capabilities

Intacct is capable of integrating with many other third party applications, owing to its open framework and API. The Intacct framework is comprised of SOAP, XML, HTTP, and web service technologies that can be used to integrate to third party or legacy applications. Developers can use several major software development environments, languages, and tools, including Eclipse, J2EE, .NET, AJAX, Ruby on Rails, and PHP, to communicate with Intacct Web Services over the Internet.

Intacct offers prebuilt connectors for SalesForce.com, OpenAir, Adaptive Planning, ADP, Clarizen, LucidEra, and several other business software applications. System integration can also be done using extract, transformation, and loading (ETL) applications such as Boomi or Pervasive. The Boomi and Pervasive business connectors allow more flexibility when configuring integration between disparate systems and can leverage (depending upon setup) Intacct's utiliites, services, referential integrity and system fault tolerance.

The compay offers the Intacct On-Demand Ecosystem for more of a packaged or plug-and-play integration exchange. Modeled after the Salesforce.com AppExchange ecosystem, but significantly smaller in scope and partner solutions, the ecosystem makes it easier to adopt other best of breed SaaS applications without incurring third party system integration costs. The number of third party SaaS business applications in the Intacct On-Demand Ecosystem is small, but includes integration services support for key functions such as sales tax calculations, signature automation, sales compensation, content management, payroll, budgeting and planning, CRM, project management, e-commerce, and BI applications, as well as some key players such as ADP, Bill.com, CompuPay, EchoSign, IBM, JasperSoft, QuickArrow, SpringCM, SuccessFactors and Zuora.

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