Summary
Reportance acts as a central hub where accounting information is collected from client accounting files, compiled into a common format, and then used in the production of Workpapers and Reports.
The relationship is best illustrated by the following diagram:
The Reportance File
The Reportance file itself is a small database file that stores all the information for a single client group. The file has a .rep extension and is designed to be portable, and can be saved, copied, emailed, and moved just like any other windows file.
Commonly, these files are stored in an accounting firm's document management system, in a cloud storage service such as Dropbox, or on a local or server based hard drive.
Workpaper
The workpaper is an Excel file that contains all the information for that workpaper. It contains a static snapshot of the relevant trial balances at the point they were last exported from Reportance. The Reportance toolbar in Excel contains a 'Refresh Data' button which allows a user to pull a fresh copy of the trial balance into the workpaper from Reportance, which will reflect any changes made to data in the Reportance .rep file.
The workpaper should be treated like any other Excel document, and saved into a secure location.
For the 'Refresh Data' concept to work, the Workpaper stores the location of the related Reportance .rep file to which it is linked. If the Reportance .rep file is moved or deleted, you will be required to update the Connection Settings in the Reportance Excel toolbar to point to the current location of the Reportance .rep file that you wish to use to update the trial balance.
Report Document
Reportance creates an Excel file which serves as a report. It contains a static snapshot of the relevant trial balance and other client information at the point they were last exported from Reportance. The Reportance toolbar in Excel contains a 'Refresh Data' button which allows a user to pull a fresh copy of the client information from the Reportance .rep file into the Report, and compile a report using the existing report settings that were used to create the original report.
The report should be treated like any other Excel document, and saved into a secure location. From within Excel you can print the report or export it into a PDF format.
Like the workpaper, for the 'Refresh Data' concept to work, the Report Document stores the location of the related Reportance .rep file to which it is linked. If the Reportance .rep file is moved or deleted, you will be required to update the Connection Settings in the Reportance Excel toolbar to point to the current location of the Reportance .rep file that you wish to use to update the client information in the report.