The move raises the specter of developers being able to take CCH code and produce new applications for sale. While the company has not yet approved that method, the subject is under discussion. For the moment, integration means developers can hook their code into the CCH platform and its common database. For example, one CPA firm that has an electronic filing status application utilized the tools so that it could pull electronic filing data from CCH applications.

Among the companies already working with CCH are AccountantsWorld, XCM Solutions and Templeton Solutions. Templeton, West Palm Beach, Fla.-based CPA firm, raises some interesting issues as it has utilized Microsoft Dynamics CRM to build TC Practice Management which is competing against CCH in the practice management software market.

"There will be some overlap in functionality and we are open to working where there is the most sense," noted Jerry Connor, CCH's senior manager of shared technology services.

CCH lists a wide range of applications and organizations that it sees as candidates for the program including payroll, accounting software, CRM, performance management, resource scheduling, expense management, custom reporting/specialty; implementation/consulting firms; and system integrators.