Engagement CS license expiration 2020 - frequently asked questions

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Warning

Product support for the Creative Solutions Accounting platform ended on September 30, 2020.

Help & How-To Center content for the Creative Solutions Accounting platform may be outdated and is used at your own risk.

What happened on September 30, 2020?

Engagement CS was discontinued. This means that phone, email, and chat support will not be provided after September 30, 2020 and there will be no additional product updates.

Note: Your Engagement CS licenses permanently expired, and cannot be renewed under any circumstances on March 1, 2020. The normal 60-day grace period for expired Engagement CS licenses still applies in this case, but we have extended that grace period to end on September 30, 2020 (if you renewed Engagement CS in 2019). After the end of the extended grace period, you will have limited access to some features in the application and therefore limited access to your client data. For detailed information about expired licenses, see CS Professional Suite Accounting Products: Information about expired licenses (PDF).

Can I access my historical data?

That depends on the type of licenses your firm has. Perpetual licenses allow Engagement CS to continue to work as usual, but without product updates or access to support. Annually Renewable licenses have some limitations after they expire. See Information about Creative Solutions Accounting expired licenses for more details.

Virtual Office CS and Software as a Service users: Shortly after the September 30, 2020 grace period conclusion, we will remove the Engagement CS and Creative Solutions Accounting (CSA) applications from the Virtual Office CS and Software as a Service environments. You can keep a local backup of data from these applications as follows.

  • Virtual Office CS users can install a local version of these applications and store backup data there. See Backing up data from Virtual Office for instructions.
  • Software as a Service users cannot install a local version of the application. Instead, you can copy client data files locally to convert to replacement software, or you can export data from the application to a format such as Microsoft Excel spreadsheets or Adobe PDF that can be accessed outside of the application.

What does Thomson Reuters offer as a replacement product?

We offer both Workpapers CS and AdvanceFlow as replacement products for Engagement CS, depending on how you're primarily using Engagement CS. Contact your Sales Representative to discuss which product is the best fit for you.

Will I be able to export tax information?

There will be no 2020 (or beyond) tax codes released for UltraTax CS, GoSystem Tax RS, CCH ProSystem fx, Lacerte, or ProSeries. Tax codes will be updated allowing integration with these tax applications for the tax years 2018 and 2019.

Will I have access to the Trial Balance and Financial Reporter features after Engagement CS expires?

The Trial Balance and Financial Reporter modules have the same expiration date as Engagement CS. Both Workpapers CS and AdvanceFlow offer equivalents for these features; contact your Sales Representative to discuss which option is best for you.

How long will it take to convert my data?

This transition impacts your business, so as in many business scenarios, it's best to plan early. We've provided a two-year window so your firm can plan to transition when it's most convenient for you; however, for the most successful transition we recommend starting to plan now so you can allocate sufficient time for the process.

When is the best time to convert?

You can convert your client data at any time. We suggest that you wrap up your current engagement in Engagement CS and then convert to your replacement software.

What does the transition process look like?

There are a number of prerequisite steps you should take to prepare for a smooth conversion of client data from Engagement CS. When you are ready to convert your data, we recommend beginning with a couple of your smaller, less complicated clients to familiarize yourself with the conversion process (and with your replacement software). Refer to one of the conversion articles below for more information.

Special information for Software as a Service customers

Can I access both Engagement CS and Workpapers CS while I'm transitioning?

Yes, as long as it is before September 30, 2020.

Which Software as a Service profiles include Workpapers CS?

If you're using Accounting CS already, Workpapers CS is accessed as an additional module in the Accounting CS application. You can find Accounting CS in the Full Service and Accounting SaaS profiles.

If you're not currently using Accounting CS, you can access Workpapers CS as a standalone application in the Tax SaaS profile.

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Internal only

For more information (like transition data or email communications), see the project on the Hub.

Why is Engagement being discontinued? See this talking points article.

How do I know which product to recommend they convert to?

Technical and Customer Support should direct this question to the firm's Sales Representative, and not make a recommendation. It's okay to answer product functionality and feature questions though.

Engagement CS support

Engagement has been a pink-only queue since June 1, 2018. Conversion questions can be handled by the Workpapers and/or AdvanceFlow queues.

Verifying license type

To verify the type of license go to Flash > CSI Products > License Column:

Unlimited = Perpetual

AnnRen = Annually Renewable

Changing license types is NOT an option.

Moving CSA data off of Virtual Office

See the "Install CSA locally" and "Download your clients from Virtual Office" sections in the CSA: Terminal Server detected. A Server-Based computing license is required article.