Enabling the Pershing Integration

Please note: This content is intended for Practifi System Administrators and is technical in nature. The steps described in this article may not be able to be completed without System Administrator permissions. Please discuss your integration installation plans with your Practifi Customer Support Team for their assistance.

Overview

Our integration with Pershing allows draft accounts in Pershing systems to be opened directly from within Practifi. The integration initiates the opening of the draft account, which must be reviewed and completed in Pershing’s NetX360 Advisor Portal after formalities with the end client, such as reviewing and signing the document or completing the necessary details required for the account, are concluded. The integration informs the Practifi Advisor of the account opening's status, which is either Draft or Opened.

In this implementation, Contact information is passed into Pershing to open a Draft Account and Practifi monitors the status of the Draft Account process and shows its status (In Draft, or Opened) and the Account Type.

This article outlines the steps to enable the Pershing integration within your organization and any considerations surrounding it. For more information about the Pershing integration, please consult our Using the Pershing Integration article. 

• Before You Begin
  • Integration Limitations
  • What You Will Need to Do 
  • What Practifi Will Do for You
• Installation 
  • Upload Authentication Certificate 
  • Create Named Credential
  • Create Remote Sites
  • Apply Advisor's rrCode Information
  • Modify Custom Settings
  • Schedule Sync Jobs
  • Add Pershing Office Numbers
  • Assign Permission Sets
• Contact Field Mapping
  • Pershing Contact information
  • Mapping

Before You Begin

This section outlines the information you need to know before beginning the installation and enablement of this integration.

Integration Limitations

Before turning on this integration, please carefully assess the following limitations:

1. This Integration cannot open full accounts end-to-end. It can only open draft accounts in Practifi. Advisors must log into Pershing NetX360 to complete the account opening.

2. This integration cannot open more than one account in the same transaction. For instance, it cannot support simultaneously opening multiple accounts for the same household. These will need to be handled as separate transactions.

What You Will Need to Do 

To begin the integration process, the Practifi customer (advisor firm) must engage with their Pershing Account Executive and inform them that they wish to integrate their Practifi system with Pershing. In particular, the customer needs to request to authorize the Open and update accounts APIs to be accessed by Practifi on their behalf.

The following information must be obtained from Pershing and supplied to Practifi:

• correspondentNumber - Firm (introducing broker-dealer or IBD) number
• officeNumber - Office number (there could be multiple office numbers per firm)
• rrCode - Advisor (investment professional, IP or registered representative) number, one for each

Presently, to complete the implementation of the Pershing Integration your Customer Success team will need to install some final screen elements on your system. This will be done during your integration's setup and activation stage, as a once-off operation.

What Practifi Will Do for You 

Practifi Custom Support will complete the following certificate signing process on behalf of each customer:

1. Generate a Certificate Signing Request (CSR) outside of Salesforce: use OpenSSL to generate a private key and CSR, to meet the Subject Alternative Name (SAN) requirement.

2. Email the CSR to Pershing to get it signed.

3. Pershing will review the CSR, and if it is approved, Pershing will email back a signed certificate. 

4. Upload the signed certificate into Salesforce: The signed certificate (.cer file) from Pershing has to be combined with the Private key from step 1 to create the jsk file to upload into the client's Salesforce org. 

5. Separately, a PLINK ID will be issued and emailed by Pershing to Practifi for this customer's advisor firm. Please note that a PLINK ID is issued per firm for the shared API entitlements across that firm.
6. Repeat this process twice: at first for the Pershing QA Environment; then repeat for the Pershing Production Environment once testing is completed.

To complete the configuration, the customer must supply (as issued by Pershing) to Practifi the following details for their firm:

• correspondentNumber - Firm (introducing broker-dealer or IBD) number
• officeNumber - Office number (there could be multiple office numbers per firm)
• rrCode - Advisor (investment professional, IP or registered representative) number, one for each

Installation

Enabling and installing the Pershing integration with Practifi requires setting up the following configurations:

Configuration	Location
Upload Authentication Certificate	Salesforce Settings
Create Named Credential	Salesforce Settings
Create Remote Site	Salesforce Settings
Apply Advisor's rrCode information	Salesforce Settings
Modify Custom Settings	Salesforce Settings
Schedule sync jobs	Salesforce Settings
Add Pershing office numbers	Salesforce Object Picklist update
Assign permission sets	Part of code install

Upload Authentication Certificate

One authentication certificate needs to be uploaded. This is a certificate that Practifi generates and requests Pershing to sign (see Before You Begin, above). The signed certificate is held in Practifi's Keystore and requested by Practifi from Pershing.

1. Once Pershing has sent the certificate, navigate to Salesforce Setup under the wheel-cog icon at the top right corner. 
   
   
   
   
2. In Salesforce Setup, use the Quick Find search bar to search for and select Certificate and Key Management.
   
   
   
   
3. Select the Import from Keystore button.
   
   
   
   
4. Select the name of the certificate received from Pershing. The Keystore file for production access to the Pershing system for the customer will have already been received by Practifi for installation. Its details, including the password, are held in Bitbucket. 
   
   
   
   
5. Once this information has been selected, click Save.

Create Named Credential

1. In Salesforce Setup, use the Quick Find search bar to search for and select Named Credentials.
2. Select the New Named Credential button.
   
   
   
   
3. Supply the following information:
   • Label - We suggest entering Pershing_ Prod
   • Name - Leave this as the default value
   • URL - <Production URL TBA>
   • Identity Type - Named Principal
   • Authentication Protocol - Password Authentication
   • Username - <Production credential TBA>
   • Password - <Production credential TBA>
   • Generate Authorization Header - Checked
     
     

Create Remote Sites

The Pershing Remote Site reference is set up individually within each Client Organization.

1. In Salesforce Setup, use the Quick Find search bar to search for and select Remote Site.
2. Select the New Remote Site button.
   
   
   
   
3. Supply the following information:
   • Remote Site Name - We suggest entering Pershing_Prod
   • Remote Site URL - <Production URL TBA>
     
     
     
     
4. Once this information has been entered, select the Save button.

Apply Advisor's rrCode Information

This step requires the Advisor or their IT System representative to go to the Advanced User Details section of their Salesforce Settings.  

1. Pershing will allocate every advisor a "rrCode," which is included in the draft account setup process and added to the Edit Team Member panel.
   
   
   
   
2. Select the Edit button to enable editing of the user's advanced details.
   
   
   
   
3. The Pershing rrCode field will display. Enter the Advisor's rrCode into this field.
   
   
   
   
4. Once this information is entered, select Save at the bottom right. Each Advisor can apply this update to their profiles. 

In the event this value is not set or is not valid when the Advisor tries to create a Pershing account, the following message will display:

 

Modify Custom Settings

Another set of data required relates to some defaults for opening a Draft Account. These are set in a Custom Object in Salesforce Setup.

1. Locate the Pershing Integration Settings in Custom Settings in Salesforce Setup.
   
   
   
   
2. Select Manage, then select the Edit button.
3. Supply the following information:
   • Correspondent Number -  3CR, Issued by Pershing for the firm
   • Credentials - The name of the Named Credential created earlier
   • Draft Acct Open Srce Code - PCOB
   • Enabled - Checked 
   • Base URL - <Production URL TBA>
   • Request Per Batch - 20
   • Verbose Logging - Leave unchecked. Otherwise, the integration log will become quite long after normal usage. This is intended for problem diagnosis.
   • Expired Draft Account Cleanup Duration - 90 (days)
     • Please note: If a Draft Account request has been left as a draft for this number of days, it will be deleted from the Pershing Accounts list of Accounts.  This matches Pershing’s time limits for the conversion of a Draft Account to a Full Account.
   • Draft Status - UNKN
   • User Id - <the PLINK supplied by Pershing>
     
     

Schedule Sync Jobs

1. Go to the Quick Find search bar in Salesforce Setup and search for and select Apex Classes.
2. Select the Schedule Apex button.
   
   
   
   
3. Look up Pershing_ScheduleSync and select this as the Apex Class. Apply the required schedule, bearing in mind the end-of-day completion jobs on the Pershing system.
   
   
   
   
4. Once this has been set, select Save.

Add Pershing Office Numbers 

Add the list of office numbers assigned to the Advisor firm by Pershing to the list of valid office numbers for this customer. Office numbers are listed as a picklist on the practifi__Pershing_Account__c object, under the practifi__Office_Number__c picklist field.

1. Using Object Manager in Salesforce Setup, navigate to the Pershing Account object.
   
   
   
   
2. Navigate to Fields and Relationships, and then select the Office Number field.
   
   
   
   
3. Locate the Values section and add the required Office Numbers using the New button.
   
   
   
   
4. When these values are added, select Save to finalize the changes.  

Assign Permission Sets

Assign the Practifi - Pershing permission sets to the users who need access to the Pershing Integration.

1. Navigate to Salesforce Setup, and search and select Permission Sets.
2. Select the Practifi - Pershing permission set from the list of permission sets. This row will already be present.
   
   
   
   
   
3. Select the Manage Assignments button.
   
   
   
   
4. Then select the Add Assignment button.
   
   
   
   
5. Select the users that should have access to the integration and then select Assign.

Access to Pershing integration will allow the users to see a list of Pershing Accounts on the integrations page and the Sync Pershing Accounts button on this page.

Please note: If Pershing is the only integration added to the Practifi system, then Pershing will not appear as a dropdown choice on the Integrations tab. The Pershing accounts will appear immediately on the mapping panel without needing to select Pershing specifically.

Users with this permission set will also be able to view the Open Pershing Draft Account button, which is located on the client entity page in the record side panel.

Contact Field Mapping

Pershing Contact Information

The following information is passed in one block to Pershing for the opening of a Draft Account:

• Primary Account Holder [from Contact, must be one]
• Additional Account Holders [from Contact, none to many]
• Address(es) of Primary Account Holder [from Account, none to two]
• Address(es) of each Additional Account Holders [from Account, none to two]
• Phone number(s) of Primary Account Holder [from Contact, none to all of Work, Home, Mobile]
• Phone Number(s) of each Additional Account Holders [from Contact, none to all of Work, Home, Mobile]

Mapping

The following table shows the mapping of Practifi UI fields to Pershing.

Practifi UI field	From	Direction	Pershing Form field	Note
First Name	Contact	🠞	First Name	For the Primary Account Holder
Last Name	Contact	🠞	Last Name	For the Primary Account Holder
Postal Street	Account	🠞	Address Line 1 (Account)	For the Primary Account Holder
Postal City	Account	🠞	City (Mailing)	For the Primary Account Holder
Postal Postcode	Account	🠞	ZIP/Postal Code (Mailing)	For the Primary Account Holder
Postal State	Account	🠞	State/Province (Mailing)	For the Primary Account Holder
Postal Country	Account	🠞	Country (Mailing)	For the Primary Account Holder
Location Street	Account	🠞	Address Line 1 (Legal)	For the Primary Account Holder
Location City	Account	🠞	City (Legal)	For the Primary Account Holder
Location Postcode	Account	🠞	ZIP/Postal Code (Legal)	For the Primary Account Holder
Location State	Account	🠞	State/Province (Legal)	For the Primary Account Holder.  If the Country is CA or US, 2 letters required
Location Country	Account	🠞	Country (Legal)	For the Primary Account Holder.  Hardcoded to US presently.
Gender	Contact	🠞	Gender	For the Primary Account Holder
First Name	Contact	🠞	First Name	For each Additional Account Holder
Last Name	Contact	🠞	Last Name	For each Additional Account Holder
Postal Street	Account	🠞	Address Line 1 (Mailing)	For each Additional Account Holder
Postal City	Account	🠞	City (Mailing)	For each Additional Account Holder
Postal Postcode	Account	🠞	ZIP/Postal Code (Mailing)	For each Additional Account Holder
Postal State	Account	🠞	State/Province (Mailing)	For each Additional Account Holder
Postal Country	Account	🠞	Country (Mailing)	For each Additional Account Holder
Location Street	Account	🠞	Address Line 1 (Legal)	For each Additional Account Holder
Location City	Account	🠞	City (Legal)	For each Additional Account Holder
Location Postcode	Account	🠞	ZIP/Postal Code (Legal)	For each Additional Account Holder
Location State	Account	🠞	State/Province (Legal)	For each Additional Account Holder.  If the Country is CA or US, 2 letters required
Location Country	Account	🠞	Country (Legal)	For each Additional Account Holder. Hardcoded to US presently.
Gender	Contact	🠞	Gender	For each Additional Account Holder
Home	Contact	🠞	Home	For each Primary and Additional Account Holders, up to three for each.
Mobile	Contact	🠞	Cell	For each Primary and Additional Account Holders, up to three for each.
Work	Contact	🠞	Work	For each Primary and Additional Account Holders, up to three for each.