The functionality described in this article is available as of our Mencia release and will not be available if your Practifi instance is not upgraded to this release.
| 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 configuration plans with your Practifi Customer Support Team for their assistance. |
Overview
Service Types define the distinct categories of work your firm performs for clients, from investment management and financial planning to tax preparation and insurance review. By configuring Service Types that reflect your firm's actual service model, you give advisors and operations staff a consistent, structured way to track client engagements, manage pipeline activity, and report on the services your firm delivers.
Practifi includes standard Service Types, and administrators can create additional ones to capture the full range of services your firm provides. Service Type records include settings that, when enabled, affect how Deals, Services, and Deliverables operate in your Practifi organization. As of the Mencia release in July 2026, Service Type configuration has moved to the Servicing section of the Entity Management page in the Settings app. The Servicing page has two areas: a Settings tab with firm-wide defaults controlling who can edit Deliverable settings, and a Service Types list where individual types are configured. This article covers creating new Service Types, managing existing ones, and understanding the implications of each available setting.
For more information on how Services and Deals work, please consult our Understanding Services and Deals article.
- Accessing Servicing Settings
- Service Type Configuration
- Creating New Service Types
- Managing Service Types
- Understanding Service Type Settings
Accessing Servicing Settings
Service Type configuration lives in the Settings app, on the Entity Management page. The left sidebar groups menu items by category. The Servicing category contains two items: Settings, which covers firm-wide Deliverable settings, and Service Types, which is where you configure Service Types and their associated Deliverable Types.
The Service Types Page Layout
The left rail of the Service Types page lists your Service Types, grouped into Active and Inactive. The list is searchable, with a New button to the right of the search bar. The right pane displays the details of whichever Service Type you select on the left.
Editing a Service Type Record
The right pane opens in read-only mode. Selecting a Service Type shows its current configuration. To make changes, click Edit on the relevant section, which opens a popup window containing only those fields. This keeps the page uncluttered and guards against accidental edits.
Service Type Configuration
When you click Edit on an existing Service Type, the popup window presents the configuration fields for that section. Two areas are worth understanding in detail.
Two toggles control which record types are used for Deals and Services of a given type: Use custom stages for deals of this type? and Use custom stages for services of this type? Turning a toggle on reveals a picker that lists the eligible custom record types, so you choose from valid options rather than typing a name manually. Turning it off clears the linked record type.
Each toggle remains disabled until your organization has a custom record type available to point to. Baseline and standard record types are excluded from the picker. For more information on custom stages, please see our Creating Custom Stages for Deals and Services article.
Creating New Service Types
Before proceeding, please note that Practifi triggers can automatically create Services when certain Asset types are created. Manually creating Services for Entities that already have asset-based Services might lead to duplicates. For a detailed breakdown, please see our Understanding Triggers article and view the Asset/Liability trigger explainer.
Practifi Administrators can create Service Type records from the Service Types page in the Settings app:
- Click the App Launcher and select Settings.
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In the Settings app, click the Navigation menu and select Entity Management.
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In the left sidebar, under the Servicing heading, click Service Types.
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At the top of the Service Types list, click the New button. A New Service Type window opens.
- Fill in the following information:
- Name (required) - Enter a name for the Service Type. Users will see this name when creating new Deals or new Services for prospects or clients.
- Short Name - Enter an abbreviated version of the Service Type's name if the name is lengthy. This field is not required for Service Type creation.
- Code (required) - We recommend entering a value that begins with SERV followed by a descriptive abbreviation of the service. For example, an Investment Management service could have the code SERVINVESTMGMT. This value is used in business rules and must be unique from other Service Types.
- Description - Enter a short explanation of the service being provided. This will be visible to end users in the New Deal and New Service workflows and on Deal and Service records.
- Life Cycle - Select whether team members can add the Service Type to Deals, to Services, or both. A notification beneath these options explains that Deal and Service stages can be customized through record types in Salesforce Setup, with a link to a help article, and toggles control whether the Service Type uses custom stages for its Deals and its Services.
- When a Deal is won - This field appears conditionally when the Life Cycle is set to Deals or Both. The default value is "Add to an existing Service if there is one". The other options are "Always create a new Service" or "Ask the user each time". See more on this setting in the Understanding Service Type Settings section below.
- The Use custom stages for deals of this type? and Use custom stages for services of this type? toggles, when enabled, reveal a picker that lists the eligible custom record types, so you choose from valid options rather than typing a name manually. Turning it off clears the linked record type. These toggles remain disabled until your organization has a custom record type available to point to. Baseline and standard record types are excluded from the picker.
- How are these Services completed? - Select Manually (someone marks the Service complete) or Automatically (when its Deliverables are done).
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Does this Service Type manage client assets? - Enabling this setting reveals "Make this the default Service Type for managing client assets". When an asset is created and marked Under Advice, it links automatically to the client's default Service Type for managing client assets. For Service Types that manage client assets, a Fee Schedule appears once the Service Type is saved. It's empty by default; AUM tiers can be added to match how the firm prices its services. Tiers are added with a minimum AUM and an annual rate, and the schedule previews the annual fee for a sample client as tiers are entered.
- Click Save to finalize the creation of the new Service Type.
Managing Service Types
In addition to creating new Service Types, you can also edit or deactivate existing ones on the Service Types page in the Settings app. Keeping Service Types accurate and up to date helps ensure that advisors are working with options that reflect your firm's current service model.
Editing a Service Type
To edit a Service Type:
- Click the App Launcher and select Settings.
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In the Settings app, click the Navigation menu and select Entity Management.
- In the left sidebar, under the Servicing heading, click Service Types.
- In the left rail, select the Service Type you want to edit. Its details appear in the right pane.
- In the left rail, select the Service Type you want to deactivate. Its details appear in the right pane.
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In the right pane, click the Deactivate button. A success message appears.
Deactivating a Service Type
To deactivate a Service Type:
- Click the App Launcher and select Settings.
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In the Settings app, click the Navigation menu and select Entity Management.
- In the left sidebar, under the Servicing heading, click Service Types.
- Select the Service Type you want to deactivate.
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In the details panel on the right, click the Deactivate button. A success message appears.
Please note: If any Deliverable Types under a Service Type have unsynced changes, a notification appears at the top of the Service Type's detail pane on the Servicing settings page. Clicking Sync in the notification runs a sync for all unsynced Deliverable Types under that Service Type. The sync confirmation dialog asks which deliverables to update and how to handle next due date recalculation. For full details on the sync confirmation options, see the Creating and Managing Deliverables article.
Understanding Service Type Settings
Some of the settings on Service Type records significantly affect how Deals, Services, and Deliverables operate in your Practifi organization. Understanding these settings before enabling them helps ensure your configuration accurately reflects the way your firm works with clients.
Life Cycle
The Life Cycle setting determines how end users can initiate services of that type in your Practifi organization. This setting has the following options:
- Deals
- Services
- Both
This setting gives you the flexibility to align Practifi's workflows with your firm's actual business processes. For service categories that always begin with a prospect in the pipeline, you may want to restrict availability to Deals. For service categories added directly to existing client relationships without a sales stage, you may prefer Services or Both.
Choosing Services or Both enables a New Service button on Client records, changes how users progress through the Promote to Prospect and Promote to Client workflows, and controls which Service Types are available in the Create an Entity wizard when creating a client household.
New Service Button
If an active Service Type has its Life Cycle setting configured to Services or Both, end users will see a New Service button in the Services & Pipeline section of Client records. This allows users to create a Service directly for a client without first creating a Deal, which can be a useful shortcut for ongoing service relationships where a formal pipeline stage is not needed.
Please note: Only Service Types made available in the New Service action will be displayed for selection in the New Service workflow.
Promote to Prospect Workflow
If a Service Type's Life Cycle setting is configured to Services and a user selects that Service Type in the Promote to Prospect workflow, a message will inform them that a Deal will not be created. The Service Type is saved in the Potential Service field on the Entity record and will be suggested when and if the prospect is promoted to a client.
If an active Service Type in your organization has its Life Cycle setting configured to Deals or Services (or Both), and a user chooses that Service Type in the Promote to Prospect workflow, they will be asked whether they want to create a Deal.
If the user chooses not to create a Deal, the Service Type is still saved as the Potential Service on the prospect record, and it will appear as a suggestion in the Promote to Client workflow.
If all Service Types in your organization are configured for Services, the Promote to Prospect workflow will not create Deals. Users will select a Service Type as usual, be informed that no Deal is being created, and the selected Service Type is saved as the prospect's Potential Service for pipeline reporting purposes.
Promote to Client Workflow
If an active Service Type in your organization has its Life Cycle setting configured to Services or Both, the Promote to Client workflow will present the option to close one or more Deals for the prospect or create a new Service.
- If users choose to close existing Deal(s) and create Service(s), they are presented with the option to close a single Deal in the prospect's pipeline or multiple Deals (if available) and create corresponding Services.
- If users choose not to close existing Deal(s), they can select a Service Type and create a standalone Service.
If a user goes through the Promote to Client workflow and there are no existing Deals to close, they will be notified that no Deals will be closed. Instead, a new Service record is created as part of the promotion process. Users can create multiple Services simultaneously during this action. The Service Type value saved in the Potential Service field during the Promote to Prospect action will be the default selection to create a new Service record.
Potential Service Field
The Potential Service field was added to the Entity object with the Pinot Blanc release. This is a lookup field to the Service Type (Category) object. The Potential Service field serves as a reference to the Service a prospect is interested in. Additionally, this field is utilized to prefill the Promote to Client action. It also facilitates retaining the Service Type name the prospect is interested in for pipeline reporting. The Potential Service field is populated with the Service Type selected during the Promote to Prospect action.
The Potential Service field is located in the Overview section on the Basics tab, in the Key Measures section, below the Potential Annual Revenue field, on a Prospect record page. If the user hasn't selected a Service Type during the Promote to Prospect action, the Potential Service field remains blank. This allows users to manually input a Service Type value later.
Logic for populating the Potential Service field:
- If there are open Deals on the Entity, regardless of the client stage, the following criteria are applied:
- If all open Deals have Annual Revenue populated, the ST with the highest value is selected.
- If one or more Deals lack Annual Revenue but have AUM populated, the Service Type with the highest AUM is chosen.
- If none of the Deals have AUM, the Service Type with the highest Annual Revenue is selected.
- If none of the Deals have Annual Revenue, the Service Type that was most recently updated is chosen.
Create an Entity Wizard
The Create an Entity wizard gives your team a guided way to create new entity records in Practifi, including client households. As part of this workflow, users are prompted to select a Service Type, which drives how the new entity's Services are set up from the start. Getting this right at the point of entity creation means fewer corrections downstream and a cleaner record from day one.
The Service Types available for selection in the Create an Entity wizard follow the same rules as the New Service action. When creating an entity with the Client Stage set to Prospect, only Service Types with their Life Cycle setting configured to Deals or Both will appear. When creating an entity with the Client Stage set to Client, only Service Types with their Life Cycle setting configured to Services or Both will appear.
If Service Types are not appearing when creating prospects and/or clients in the wizard, review each Service Type record's Life Cycle setting and confirm that the relevant types are set to Deals, Services, or Both.
Please note: Changing a Service Type's Life Cycle setting will also affect its behavior in the New Service button on Client records, the Promote to Prospect workflow, and the Promote to Client workflow. Review the Life Cycle section above to understand the full impact before making changes.
When a Deal Is Won
The When a Deal is Won setting, which appears conditionally when the Life Cycle setting is set to Deals or Both, controls what happens when a Deal is marked as Closed Won. This setting has the following options:
- Add to an existing Service if there is one
- Always create a new Service
- Ask the user each time
Please note: These options apply only when the Mark As Closed Won action is used on a single Deal. For mass actions, the default option, Add to existing Service (if available), will be applied.
Add to an Existing Service If There Is One
Choose this option if you want to associate all closed Deals with a single Service record. If an Entity has an existing Service and a Deal with the same Service Type that is marked as Closed Won, the Deal will be merged into the existing Service. If the Entity does not have an existing Service of that type, a new Service is created.
Always Create a New Service
Choose this option if you want a new Service record to be created every time a Deal is closed. A new Duplicate Service will be created regardless of whether the Entity already has an active Service of the same type.
Ask the User Each Time
Choose this option if you want to give the end user a choice of actions when using the Mark as Closed Won action. The user will be asked if they want to add the Deal to an existing Service or create a new Service.
How Are These Services Completed?
This setting is intended for transactional services, such as tax preparation or account onboarding, rather than ongoing services like investment management. When set to Automatically (when its Deliverables are done), a Service's status is updated to Complete once all of its related Deliverables have been completed or canceled.
This works in conjunction with the Complete after X fulfillments setting at the Deliverable Type level, which allows Deliverables to be automatically marked as complete after being fulfilled a set number of times. Together, these settings can significantly reduce the manual effort required to close out transactional engagements, so your team can stay focused on client work rather than administrative follow-up.
Whenever a Deliverable's status is updated to Completed or Canceled, and this setting is active, the system checks all other Deliverables related to the same Service. If every Deliverable has been completed or canceled, the Service's stage is set to Completed.
- If this occurs as part of a single-record Complete Deliverable or Cancel Deliverable action, the user who invoked the action receives a system notification informing them that their action has completed the related Service.
- If this occurs as part of a Complete Deliverable or Cancel Deliverable mass action, a system notification informs them of the number of services that were automatically completed because they have no more active Deliverables.
Leave this setting on Manually (someone marks the Service complete) if you do not want this automation to apply to the Service Type.
Managing Client Assets
When an Asset record is marked as Under Advice, Practifi can automatically generate and associate a Service for the related Entity. The Does this Service Type manage client assets? toggle on a Service Type controls whether it participates in this behavior and whether it is designated as the default for this scenario, helping ensure that asset-based Services are created consistently and without manual intervention.
To designate a Service Type as the default for managing client assets, enable the Does this Service Type manage client assets? toggle, which reveals the Make this the default Service Type for managing client assets option. Toggle on that option to set this type as the default.
After saving, a Fee Schedule section appears on the Service Type's record page where you can configure tier-based fee rates by AUM. Add tiers with a minimum AUM and an annual rate; the schedule previews the annual fee for a sample client as tiers are entered. A maximum of 7 tiers is allowed, Band 1's minimum AUM must be 0, and each subsequent band's minimum AUM must be higher than the one before it.
Please note the following about the Managing Client Assets setting:
- Only Service Types with Does this Service Type manage client assets? enabled are eligible to be designated as the default.
- Default Service Priority: If multiple Service Types qualify, priority is given to the one with the default designation enabled and the lowest Order value.
- Fallback Criteria: If no default exists or there are duplicates, the most recently modified Service Type is selected.
- If an asset-managing Service already exists for the entity, the asset is linked to it. Otherwise, a new Service is created and appropriately associated with it.
When an Asset record is marked as Under Advice, the system selects and associates a Service using the following logic:
If no existing asset-managing Service exists:
The system looks for Service Types where Does this Service Type manage client assets? is enabled and the default designation is checked. Selection priority is given first to the Service Type with the lowest Order field value. If the Order field is tied or blank, the system uses the most recent Last Modified Date. If no default exists, the same logic is applied to all asset-managing Service Types. A new Service is then created, and the asset is associated with it.
If an asset-managing Service already exists:
- If one Service exists, the asset is linked to that Service.
- If multiple Services exist, the asset is linked to the most recently modified Service.
In both cases, the Asset record's Service field is populated, and the Service record's Assets tab displays the linked asset.
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