Overview
The Orion integration brings portfolio, account, holding, and billing data from Orion directly into Practifi. Once your System Administrator has enabled the integration and your firm’s clients are linked, household demographics, financial accounts, holdings, performance metrics, and receivables stay current in Practifi through a daily sync — no manual data entry, no jumping between systems to confirm the latest balance.
This article walks through what the integration does, how it shows up in Practifi day-to-day, and the workflows you’ll use to authorize Orion Connect, read portfolio data on Household records, and create new clients without breaking the sync. For details on enabling and configuring the integration, see the companion article, Enabling the Orion Integration.
- How the Integration Works
- What You Can Do
- Authorizing Orion Connect
- Viewing Orion Data in Practifi
- Working With Households and Contacts
- Working With Financial Accounts and Holdings
- Creating a New Client
- Frequently Asked Questions
How the Integration Works
The Orion integration runs on a schedule set by your System Administrator, typically once per day after Orion’s end-of-day data is available. Each run pulls the latest Households, Contacts, Financial Accounts, Holdings, and Receivables from Orion into Practifi, and pushes any demographic changes you’ve made to Households and Contacts back to Orion.
Most of the integration is inbound: portfolio numbers, balances, performance figures, and billing receivables come from Orion and update the matching Practifi records. Two-way sync is reserved for client demographics (Households and Contacts) so that an updated address or phone number stays in step across both systems.
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Practifi |
Most data flows one way from Orion to Practifi. Household and Contact demographic changes also flow back to Orion through two-way sync.
What You Can Do
With the Orion integration in place, you and your team can:
- See the full client picture in one place. Open a Household in Practifi and review the latest portfolio numbers, holdings, and performance metrics without switching to Orion.
- Trust the data. Performance metrics (MTD, QTD, YTD, one-year, three-year, five-year, and ten-year) update on every sync, so the figures on a Household record reflect what Orion last calculated.
- Update demographics once. Change a phone number or address on a Household or Contact in Practifi, and the next sync pushes that update back to Orion.
- Track receivables. Billing receivables created in Orion sync into Practifi as Installment records, complete with the calculated Final Amount.
- Use Orion Connect inside Salesforce. Embedded Orion Connect Visualforce pages let licensed users view Orion data without leaving Practifi.
Authorizing Orion Connect
Before you can view Orion Connect data directly inside Practifi, you need to link your Salesforce identity to your Orion identity through a bi-directional OAuth flow. This is a one-time step per user.
- Click the App Launcher in Practifi.
- Search for and select Orion Connect.
- Click the Authorization button.
- On the consent pop-up, click Accept.
- Complete the Orion authorization to link your Orion identity. Once complete, you will see confirmation that your identity is linked.
Please note: An Orion license is required to view Orion data through the embedded views. If you don’t have one, you can still see synced Orion data on standard Practifi records (financial account values, holdings, performance numbers); you just can’t use the embedded views directly.
Viewing Orion Data in Practifi
Once the integration is configured and clients are linked, Orion data appears in several places inside Practifi.
Client Household Record
The Household detail page is the central view for any synced client. Open a Household to see the Orion Status field, the embedded Orion Links and Orion Insights tabs in the Financials section, and a list of related Asset/Liability records representing each financial account.
Asset/Liability (Financial Account) Records
Open an Asset/Liability record to see synced account-level data: Account Number, Registration Type, Custodian, Cash Value, Initial Value, Realized and Unrealized Gains, performance metrics for MTD, QTD, YTD, twelve-month and thirty-six-month periods, billing details, and the related list of Holdings under the account.
Holding Records
Holdings show position-level information, including Holding Name, Balance, Price, Units, Product Code (Ticker), Segment Name, and Class Name.
Installment Records
Installments capture billing receivables synced from Orion, with Initial Value, Adjustments, and a calculated Final Amount tied to a specific Asset.
Orion Connect Visualforce Pages
Once authorized, Orion Connect provides embedded views directly inside Practifi. On the Client Household layout, the Financials section includes Orion Links and Orion Insights tabs that render Orion data using your linked identity and respect Orion’s own access rules.
Working With Households and Contacts
Households (Account records with the Household_Client record type) and Household Members (Contacts with the Person record type) are the only objects in the integration with two-way sync enabled. That means demographic updates flow in both directions.
Updating Demographic Information
Update a name, address, phone number, email, or salutation on a Household or Contact in Practifi the same way you would for any other record. The change saves to the Practifi record immediately, and the next sync run pushes the update to Orion.
How the Sync Decides Which System Wins
Each two-way object has a Sync Regulator field that controls which system is the source of truth at sync time. In day-to-day use, the most recent change on either side flows to the other system. If a return sync from Practifi to Orion fails (for example, because a record is missing a Rep value), the next inbound sync will overwrite the Practifi value with whatever Orion still holds. Watch the Errors tab for sync failures so you can reapply changes that didn’t propagate.
Rep Field Requirement
Records that need to sync back to Orion must have a Rep value populated. Without it, the return sync drops the change. If you find yourself repeatedly updating the same field, check that the related Household has a Rep assigned.
Working With Financial Accounts and Holdings
Financial Accounts (Asset/Liability records) and Holdings sync inbound only, meaning Orion is the source of truth, and changes you make in Practifi do not flow back to Orion. Use Practifi to read, report on, and reference Orion data — not to edit it.
What Syncs and When
Each scheduled run pulls Account-level fields (Account Number, Registration Type, Custodian, Bill Cycle, performance metrics, Cash Value, Initial Value, Realized and Unrealized Gains, Trading Instructions) and Holding-level fields (Holding Name, Balance, Price, As At date, Units, Product Code, Segment, Class).
Why Some Accounts Don’t Appear
Financial Accounts sync from Orion only if they meet at least one of three criteria: were edited in the last 30 days, hold a non-zero value, or have at least one transaction in the last 30 days. Dormant zero-value accounts with no recent activity are excluded by design. If a client mentions a missing closed account, this is usually the reason — not a sync error.
What Happens to Closed Accounts and Disposed Holdings
When an account is closed in Orion, its value updates to zero, and the Closed Date is set on the Asset/Liability record in Practifi. Disposed holdings also zero out. The records remain in Practifi for historical reference but no longer contribute to AUM calculations.
Creating a New Client
After the initial sync is complete, you’ll create new clients in both Orion and Practifi as part of the normal onboarding process. Use the workflow below to ensure new clients are correctly matched between the two systems and to avoid duplicate Households.
- Create a shell Household record in Practifi with basic identifying information (name, demographics).
- Wait for the matching Household to be created in Orion. Once it exists, populate the Orion ID fields on the Practifi Household. Coordinate with your System Administrator if you have not done this for new clients before.
- In Orion, navigate to Portfolio Audit > Household, right-click the Household, and select Edit Household.
- Open Options > Salesforce Integration and check the Sync to Force.com box.
- On the next sync run, Orion will sync data into the existing Practifi Household record using the matching Orion ID, instead of creating a new one.
Frequently Asked Questions
How often does Orion data refresh in Practifi?
The sync runs on a schedule set by your System Administrator, typically once per day after Orion’s end-of-day data is available. Ask your System Administrator what time your firm’s sync runs so you can set expectations with clients on data freshness.
Can I edit Orion data inside Practifi?
Demographic fields on Households and Contacts: yes, those flow back to Orion through two-way sync. Account-level data, holdings, performance metrics, and receivables: no, those are inbound only. Make those changes in Orion; they’ll appear in Practifi on the next sync.
I updated a phone number in Practifi, but it’s back to the old value. What happened?
The return sync from Practifi to Orion likely failed, and the next inbound sync overwrote your update with the old Orion value. The most common cause is a missing Rep value on the related Household record. Ask your System Administrator to check the Errors tab on the Orion Data Sync page.
A client asked about a closed account I can’t find. Why isn’t it in Practifi?
Financial Accounts only sync if they were edited in the last 30 days, hold a non-zero value, or have at least one transaction in the last 30 days. Dormant zero-value accounts are excluded by design. If you need historical data, your System Administrator can check Orion directly or request a one-off pull.
I created a new Household, but the data isn’t appearing. What did I miss?
Two things: confirm the Orion ID fields on the Practifi Household are populated, and confirm the Sync to Force.com flag is checked on the matching Orion Household. The next sync run should pull in the data.
Do I need an Orion license?
Only if you want to view Orion Connect Visualforce pages directly inside Practifi or use the Single Sign-On app. The synced data on standard Practifi records is available regardless of whether you have an Orion license.
Where do I see whether the latest sync ran successfully?
Your System Administrator can check the History and Errors tabs on the Orion Data Sync page. If you suspect a sync issue affecting a specific client, share the Household name and the time you noticed the issue with your System Administrator for the fastest resolution.
Who do I contact for help?
For questions about how to use Orion data inside Practifi, contact Practifi Support at support@practifi.com. For questions about the underlying Orion data (portfolio calculations, performance methodology, billing setup), contact your Orion account manager directly.
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