Understanding and Using Follow-up Assistant

The functionality described in this article is available as part of our Pinot Meunier release and will not be available if your Practifi instance is not upgraded to this release. 

Overview

Follow-up Assistant is an AI-powered feature that automatically analyzes your meeting notes and suggests relevant follow-up actions on Client and Prospect records in Practifi. Instead of manually creating processes and tasks after client meetings, you can let Follow-up Assistant recommend specific workflows, templated tasks and custom tasks based on what was discussed.

Follow-up Assistant bridges the gap between basic AI notetaker outputs and Practifi's sophisticated workflow capabilities. Many firms use AI notetakers that create simple to-do list items, but these tools often lack understanding of your firm's established processes and templated tasks. Follow-up Assistant leverages your existing Practifi workflows to suggest more powerful, standardized actions for your clients while also supporting advisors who prefer manual note-taking.

Please note: To request access to this feature, please contact your Client Success Manager or Practifi contact. Enabling Follow-up Assistant requires signing additional data processing agreements due to our AI provider partnership.

• How Follow-up Assistant Works
  • AI Notetaker Integration
  • Manual Notetaking
  • Understanding Recommendation Types
  • Confidence Scoring
  • Recommendation Scope
  • Note Compatibility
• Accessing Follow-up Assistant
  • Home Page
  • Client/Prospect Record
• Using Follow-up Assistant
  • AI Notetaker Integrations
  • Manual Notes
  • Reviewing Suggestions
    • The Complete Follow-up Window
• Improving Recommendation Quality
  • Writing Process and Task Template Descriptions
  • Best Practices for Notetaking
• Troubleshooting

How Follow-up Assistant Works

AI Notetaker Integration

If you use an AI notetaking tool that integrates with Practifi, your AI notetaker automatically creates the complete note in Practifi. Analysis begins immediately, and suggestions appear within 30 seconds to one minute.

Manual Notetaking

You can also use Follow-up Assistant when you manually type a note or copy and paste content from an AI notetaker or another external source into a note. When your note is complete, navigate to the Follow-Up Assistant area on the Home page or the Client or Prospect record page where you created the note and click the refresh icon. Recommendations appear within 30 seconds to one minute.
 

Once suggestions appear, the process is the same regardless of how your note was created. You can review recommended processes, templated tasks and custom tasks, then accept, decline or customize suggestions before creating actual work items in Practifi.

Understanding Recommendation Types

Follow-up Assistant provides three types of suggestions:

• Processes: Complete business workflows that trigger multiple related tasks and activities. For example, your firm may have processes that align with the different services you offer. When a prospect is promoted to a client, these processes are attached to the client's required services and become highly repeatable with clear requirements for any team member servicing their account.
• Templated Tasks: Pre-built task templates from your firm's library with standardized descriptions, priorities and compliance guidelines. Examples include:
  • Send a client gift for a significant milestone (within firm spending guidelines)
  • Schedule a quarterly portfolio review meeting
  • Prepare compliance documentation
• Tasks: Custom tasks generated specifically from your note content for unique situations. Examples include:
  • Research alternative investment options for a retirement portfolio
  • Contact a client about specific market volatility concerns
  • Prepare documents for an upcoming compliance audit

Confidence Scoring

Each recommendation has a confidence score indicating how relevant the AI believes the suggestion is to the content of your note. Practifi Administrators can set a minimum threshold (typically 50%) so you only see suggestions that meet your firm's quality standards. For instructions on adjusting the confidence threshold, see Enabling Follow-up Assistant.

Recommendation Scope

Follow-up Assistant only suggests processes and task templates you have permission to access. In multi-division firms, you'll only see workflows relevant to your division. Suggestions are filtered based on your firm's workflow availability settings.

Note Compatibility

Follow-up Assistant works with notes that are uploaded to Client, Prospect and Organization records in Practifi. Notes can be linked to events and other record types.

Accessing Follow-up Assistant

Follow-up Assistant appears in two locations within Practifi:

Home Page

The Follow-up Assistant area on the Home page sidebar displays all your notes with recommended follow-ups for all clients and prospects. The most recent three items are shown by default. You can click View All to view the complete list.
 

Each entry shows the note name, related entity, creation date and number of recommendations.

Client/Prospect Record

The Follow-up Assistant area in the side panel of a Client or Prospect record shows follow-up recommendations specific to that entity. This area also displays the three most recent items and a View All link.

Please note: Users must be granted a special permission set to access Follow-up Assistant. For instructions on how to assign permissions, see Enabling Follow-up Assistant.

Using Follow-up Assistant

AI Notetaker Integrations

If your firm uses an AI notetaker that is integrated with Practifi, suggestions will automatically appear in your Follow-Up Assistant within approximately one minute of your note being sent to Practifi.

Manual Notes

Follow-up Assistant also works with notes you type in Practifi or content you copy and paste into a note. 

1. On the relevant Client or Prospect record, click to expand the Notes & Files heading in the side panel.
   
   
    
2. Click the caret to the right of the Notes area and select New. A pop-up opens.
   
   
    
3. In the pop-up window, enter a title for your note.
4. Type or paste the content of your note into the text area.
5. When your note is complete, click Done. A confirmation message appears.
   
   
    
6. In the record side panel, scroll down and click to expand the Follow-up Assistant heading.
   
   
    
7. Click the refresh icon in the Follow-up Assistant area. 
   
   
    
8. A message appears at the top of the screen, confirming the system is analyzing your note.
   
   
   
   Please note: You must click the refresh icon after adding a note in order for recommendations to appear.

Reviewing Suggestions

Recommendations appear in the Follow-up Assistant area approximately one minute after a note is imported via integration or after a note is manually created and the refresh icon is clicked. 

A badge appears on each item in the Follow-up Assistant area to indicate the number of recommended follow-up items. Click the checkmark icon to launch the Complete Follow-up window.

The Complete Follow-up Window

In the Complete Follow-Up window, you can view recommendations for action items based on your notes.

Here are some of the features of this window:

• Click the Refresh button to get updated recommendations if you've edited your note since the recommendations were generated.
• Edit the subject line of the note to provide more context about what the meeting covered.
• Use the Related Event field to connect the note to a specific event in your calendar.
• Review suggested processes, templated tasks and custom tasks:
  • For each recommendation, you can review the details, including subject, description and suggested due date.
  • Click the X icon to decline any suggestions.
  • Edit task names, descriptions, assignees and due dates as needed.
• Add your own items:
  • The AI might not catch everything, so you can click the plus icons to add processes from your firm's available workflows, templated tasks from your task template library or create custom tasks for unique situations.

After you've reviewed and customized your selections, click Complete to generate the work items. 

You'll be taken to a confirmation page that shows all the action items you've created. You can click the hyperlinks to view the process and task records.

Tasks are created immediately and appear on the Processes & Tasks page. Processes launch in the background and may take a minute or so to fully initialize; you'll receive a notification when they're ready. 

Please note: Follow-up Assistant is designed to enhance your existing workflow, not replace your professional judgment. Always review suggestions carefully and customize them to meet your specific client needs and firm requirements.

Improving Recommendation Quality

Follow-Up Assistant's effectiveness depends on three key factors you can control: the quality of your firm's process and task template descriptions, the content of your notes and your confidence threshold settings. All three need to be optimized to generate the most relevant suggestions.

Writing Process and Task Template Descriptions

Your process types and task templates need descriptions that help the AI understand when to recommend them. Most firms have minimal or no descriptions in these templates, but they become crucial for generating relevant suggestions.

These descriptions aren't for human readers—they're for AI matching. The system uses artificial intelligence rather than simple keyword matching, so you don't need to be perfect or overly comprehensive. Focus on clearly explaining what the template is for and when to use it. Avoid extremely long descriptions as they can confuse the matching logic.

Ensure your template descriptions use the same language that appears in your notes. If your templates reference "retirement planning," use that exact phrase in your notes rather than "planning for retirement." Include multiple ways clients might express the same need in your descriptions: "Portfolio review, investment analysis, asset allocation review, performance evaluation" or "Estate planning, will preparation, trust setup, inheritance planning."

Include These Elements:

• Trigger scenarios: "When clients need comprehensive financial planning" or "For new client onboarding situations"
• Key topics: Related concepts like "investment review, estate planning, insurance analysis, retirement planning"
• Client situations: "High net worth clients, pre-retirees, business owners, inheritance planning"
• Related keywords: Terms that might appear in notes like "beneficiary, coverage, premium, rebalancing, allocation"

Example Description:

"Comprehensive Annual Review process for existing clients. Triggered when clients mention portfolio performance concerns, life changes, retirement planning, estate planning needs, or annual check-ups. Includes investment analysis, insurance review, tax planning, estate planning updates. Suitable for all client types requiring full financial reassessment."

Best Practices for Notetaking

Your notes are the primary input for AI analysis. To maximize recommendation quality, ensure your notes use the same terminology that appears in your template descriptions.

• Include Specific Action Language: Use clear phrases that signal follow-up needs.
  • "Need to follow up on..."
  • "Client requested..."
  • "Action required..."
• Mention Specific Services and Products: Reference the exact services your firm provides.
  • "Discuss life insurance options"
  • "Review investment portfolio performance"
  • "Estate planning documentation needed"
• Include Timing and Urgency Indicators: Help the AI understand priority and deadlines.
  • "Urgent: Policy expires next month"
  • "Annual review due in Q2"
• Be Comprehensive and Specific: Write detailed notes that capture the full context.
  • Example: "Met with John Smith to discuss retirement planning concerns. He's worried about market volatility affecting his 401k and wants to explore conservative investment options. Needs beneficiary information updated on all accounts. Expressed interest in long-term care insurance. Action items: research bond allocation strategies, schedule beneficiary update meeting, prepare LTC insurance quotes."
  • Why it works: Specific person, clear concerns, multiple actionable items, references specific services your firm likely provides.

Ensure your notes and template descriptions use the same language for similar concepts. Use language your clients actually use in meetings, not just industry jargon, and regularly review and update your template descriptions based on what you learn about matching patterns.

Troubleshooting

Issue: Notes Not Appearing in Follow-Up Assistant

Most Common Reason: No recommendations met your firm's confidence threshold. This is normal for notes that don't contain actionable content or don't match your available workflows.

Other Possibilities:

• Note is still being processed (wait 1-2 minutes)
• Note isn't attached to any record, or is attached to custom objects outside the standard Practifi data model (notes attached to any standard Practifi objects like clients, prospects, contacts, events, services, etc. are automatically processed)
• The user doesn't have proper permissions