Cons
Even though the dashboard is an upgrade from the old home page, it still has a 1.0 feel to it. Because it is static, advisors cannot customize it or move individual elements. Given the otherwise excellent graphical interface here, I expected more.
The opportunity finder is a good initial step, but more could be done here, too. Since thresholds are subjective, and since some advisors will want to vary their threshold depending on their market outlook, this function should be advisor-controlled.
The program's documentation is somewhat improved, but I'd still like to see more detailed help screens.
Browser Support
Browser support is an increasingly critical issue for Web-based applications. A substantial number of advisors prefer a Windows browser other than Microsoft's Internet Explorer, and since a small but growing number of advisors are turning to Apple computers, I'm turning an increasingly critical eye toward those firms that only support Microsoft's browser. This issue is even more critical for Finance Logix, since arguably one of the product's most enticing features is its client-facing portal. Financial planning clients are probably even less likely than the advisors to be satisfied with a portal supported by Internet Explorer alone.
In that regard, Finance Logix does a satisfactory job, since it supports both Internet Explorer and Firefox in Windows. But there is room for improvement here, too. I tried using my current browser favorite, Google's Chrome, but the experience was less than satisfactory. The program works with Firefox on Apple computers. Officially, Finance Logix does not support Safari, but it seemed to work OK for me. Chrome seemed to work with the program the same way on a Mac as it did on Windows.
Evaluation
With the release of version 3.0, Finance Logix is beginning to realize some of its potential. The core financial planning capabilities of the application will still fall somewhat short of the category's leaders, but they are good enough now that they will likely satisfy many users. In addition, you get valuable business building tools, dynamic updates and a functional, flexible and graphically pleasing client-facing financial planning portal. For many readers, the total sum of the parts is enough to justify the purchase of the product.
Over the years, I've learned that one critical differentiator between the better software developers and the also-rans is that the better ones constantly raise their game by improving their products. Although my history with Finance Logix is rather short, the evidence so far suggests that this firm consistently strives to improve. If it continues to build on the progress of the last two years, the firm and its users should have a bright future ahead of them.