Two City firms 'road test' practice management plan

Alison Laferla reports

A new practice management system is to be launched this month by Resolution Systems.

Firmware, which is being beta tested by two undisclosed City firms, offers accounting, billing, time recording and management reporting modules. A case management module will also be available by the end of the year.

The company says the system comes into its own because it offers true client server architecture. The system operates off one relational database, so that all information is stored and retrieved from a single place. Microsoft Word and Excel are built into the product.

Steve Grob, managing director of subsidiary Resolution SQL, said that although most suppliers claimed to offer client-server support, few really did and that most just tacked on Windows to the front-end of the system. "Unlike most other systems, Firmware offers a true relational database level of integration," he said.

The company says the accounting package is multi-currency and can meet the needs of a firm seeking to globalise its services. It claims to have two multi-national law firms interested in the product and is looking to expand abroad.

The Resolution Group was born out of a merger between Resolution SQL, which has worked with client-server database technology in the City for six years, and Resolution Software, the author of a UNIX-based accountancy package called Firmcontrol.

"We have got together people who have spent their lives writing practice management software and others who have a thorough understanding of the latest client-server technology," said Grob.