Overview
Households, Organizations and Individuals in Practifi use two methods to categorize their records, topics and definitions. This article outlines what topics and definitions are and how to add these to your firm's entity records.
What are Topics and Definitions?
Topics within Practifi are used to categorize Households, Organizations and Individual records in an unstructured and ad-hoc way. For example, these can be used to categorize someone you met at a recent function as a "Potential Lead" or flag that a client you're often in contact with loves baseball by attaching "Baseball fan" to their record. Topics can be of any value but do not have any other effect on the records themselves. This means that they do not affect where you view the records within Practifi and how they are displayed within your organization.
Definitions are used to categorize records in a structured way within your organization. For example, categorize your "Potential Lead" record as a Prospect once you've qualified them for business with your organization. The definitions available are predefined and can not be customized. This allows definitions to make changes within the system as each one affects where you find records in your app and what displays when they are opened.
Please note: For teams who are looking to restrict the tags that your firm's users can select, we recommend creating structured record tags by using Other Definitions rather than Topics.
Topics
Adding Topics
Topics are added to Household, Organization and Individual records by navigating to the Topics section in the record's side panel.
To add a topic, select the Search topics... search bar in the Topics section in the record side panel and begin typing the topic name that you would like to add. Topic suggestions will display as you type based on topics other team members of your firm have created on other records. Select one of these from the drop-down menu if applicable, or press Enter to add what you've already typed as a new topic within your organization.
Please note: Topics added are compiled within a Topic field on the Key Entity record. This field has a limit of 255 characters. Records with many topics added or topics with too many characters may experience topics over this character limit not being included in the Topic field. This can cause these records to not return as results when searching by these topics within your organization. It is recommended that added topic names are kept short and as accurate as possible to ensure proper searching.
Viewing Topics
Once the topic is assigned to the record, it will display alongside any other topics added in a series of badges beneath the search bar in the Topics section on the record side panel.
Topics are also visible when viewing record tables on your Directory, Clients, Pipeline and Influence app pages. You can narrow results on these pages by using the Topics filers to see records flagged with a specific topic. If looking for a specific topic, the table's search feature supports searching by topic.
When searching for a specific topic, the global search bar at the top of the Practifi page supports searching for a topic by name. Type the topic's name into this search bar and then select the topic result from the drop-down menu.
Selecting a topic from the global search bar opens a dedicated page that displays all the records this topic has been assigned.
Topics added are compiled within a Topic field on the Key Entity record. This field has a limit of 255 characters. Records with many topics added or topics with too many characters may experience topics over this character limit not being included in the Topic field. This can cause these records to not return as results when searching by these topics within your organization. It is recommended that added topic names are kept short and as accurate as possible to ensure proper searching.
Definitions
A record will need to be assigned a definition to take advantage of features built for certain kinds of relationships, like managing assets for clients. Definitions are based on two factors, Client Stage or Influencer Segment.
Client Stage, which is set to either Prospect, Client, Lost Prospect or Lost Client, captures the stage of the relationship between the entity and your firm. If the record is a client, their Client Segment, for example, Platinum Client, will display on their record. For prospect records, the Client Stage will display with either Prospect or Lost Prospect as the value.
Influencer Segment, which can be set to Standard, Important or Critical, captures the level of influence a client or prospect has with your firm. These will display in addition to the Client Stage on the record side panel.
Adding Client Stages
Client Stage is added to a client or prospect record using the Promote to Prospect and Promote to Client actions within the Actions menu on the record side panel. Upon the Household, Organization or Individual's promotion to a prospect, they will be assigned the Prospect Client Stage by default by the system.
To change the prospect's Client Stage, reselect the Actions menu on the record side panel and select either the Promote to Client or Mark as Lost Prospect action.
If the record is promoted to a client, the Client Stage of Client will be added to the record by the system after completing the promotion questions. When the prospect is marked as a Lost Prospect, their Client Stage will change to Lost Prospect.
When a client no longer has business with your firm, mark them as a Lost Client by reselecting the Actions menu on their Household, Organization or Individual record's side panel and choosing Mark as Lost Client from the drop-down menu.
After completing the prompted questions, the system will automatically assign the Client Stage of Lost Client to the record.
Adding Influencer Segments
Select the Actions menu on the record side panel and choose Add Influencer Segment from the drop-down menu to add an Influencer Segment to a record.
When this option is selected, a pop-up will display where you will select the Influencer Segment to attach to the Household, Organization or Individual. Once added, the Influencer Segment will display with the Client Segment on the record's side panel.
To change an Influencer Segment after one has been added, select the Actions menu and select Change Influencer Segment from the drop-down menu. This option will have you select an Influencer Segment from the drop-down menu similar to adding the segment for the first time, and upon saving, the record will reflect this change.
To remove an Influencer Segment, select the Actions menu and chose Remove Influencer Segment from the drop-down menu. This will remove only the Influencer Segment from the record and will not impact the Client Stage information.
Adding Other Definitions
The Other Definitions option on your firm's Key Entity records allows you to set a piece of additional information when defining your Key Entity as a Prospect or Client. This is especially helpful when needing to designate a Prospect or Client as an Accountant, Attorney, Broker Dealer or other provider types. The values selected in the Other Definitions field will display as part of the record's definitions as it appears in record tables and the record page's header.
To add an Other Definition, navigate to the Key Entity record and select the Actions menu and chose Manage Other Definitions from the drop-down menu. This will display a pop-up menu with the following default options:
- Accountant
- Attorney
- Broker
- Broker Dealer
- Custodian
- Insurance Agent
- Insurance Company
- Lending Institution
- Personal Banker
- Solicitor
These options can be modified by your firm's System Administrator to add or remove options to suit your firm's needs. Records can be filtered by their Other Definition values within the Directory making it easier to quickly find your Key Entity providers in your organization.
Viewing Definitions
Definition values, meaning both Client Stage and Influencer Segment, appear when searching for Households, Organizations and Individuals on pages such as Directory, Clients and Influence. These values will display on the page view in the Definitions column and filtered based on Client Segment to narrow the results displayed.
Definitions will also display below the entity's name in the record header located on the side panel of the record page. You can locate information about when a record entered a specific Client Stage in the Stage History section under the Basics tab in the record's Overview.
Record Visibility and Page Layout
Below is a summary of how Client Stages and Influencer Segments affect record visibility and page layout:
Client Stage
| No stage | Prospect | Lost Prospect | Client | Lost Client | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Visible in app pages | Directory | Directory, Pipeline | Directory, Pipeline | Directory, Clients | Directory, Clients |
| Navigation items on record page | Overview, Activities, Relationships, Feed | Overview, Activities, Pipeline, Processes & Tasks, Relationships, Feed | Overview, Activities, Pipeline, Processes & Tasks, Relationships, Feed | Overview, Activities, Financials, Services & Pipeline, Processes & Tasks, Relationships, Feed | Overview, Activities, Financials, Services & Pipeline, Processes & Tasks, Relationships, Feed |
| Available actions on record page | Promote to Prospect | Promote to Client, Mark as Lost Prospect, Change Stage | Change Stage | Mark as Lost Client, Change Stage | Change Stage |
Influencer Segment
| No segment | Any segment | |
|---|---|---|
| Visible in app pages | Directory | Directory, Influence |
| Navigation items on record page | Existing items based on Client Stage | Existing items based on Client Stage, plus Influence |
| Available actions on record page | Add Influencer Segment | Change Influencer Segment, Remove Influencer Segment |
Definition Action Availability
Availability of Definition Actions is based on the values present in the Client Stage, Influencer Segment and Type fields. The impact these have on action availability is summarized below:
Client Stage
| No value | Prospect | Client | Lost Prospect | Lost Client | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Change Stage | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | |
| Promote to Prospect | ✔ | ||||
| ✔ | |||||
| Mark as Lost Prospect | ✔ | ||||
| Mark as Lost Client | ✔ |
Influencer Segment
| No value | Standard | Important | Critical | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Add Influencer Segment | ✔ | |||
| ✔ | ✔ | ✔ | ||
| Remove Influencer Segment | ✔ | ✔ | ✔ |
Type
| Household | Organization | Individual | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Add Household Member | ✔ | ||
| Add Organization Member | ✔ | ||
| Add to Household |
|
✔ (if they're not a client, prospect or influencer) | |
| Add to Organization | ✔ (if they're not a client, prospect or influencer) | ||
| ✔ (if they're a client, prospect or influencer) | |||
| Add to new Organization | ✔ (if they're a client, prospect or influencer) |
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