Understanding and Using Deliverables

Learning Team

The functionality described in this article is available with our Mencia release and will not be available if your Practifi instance is not upgraded to this release.

Overview

Deliverables help track entitlements that your firm provides to clients across your book of business, giving advisors clear visibility into the service commitments behind every client relationship. This article outlines key aspects of Deliverables to help you understand how the feature works and how to apply it within your organization.

Please note: This feature is not automatically enabled within your Practifi organization. To enable this functionality or to answer any questions about this feature, please contact your System Administrator.

How Deliverables Work
Scheduling
Accessing a Client's Deliverables
Adjusting Deliverables for Specific Services
Fulfilling Deliverables
Completing or Canceling Deliverables
- Reactivating Deliverables
- Understanding Cancellation Behavior for Fulfillment Activities
  - System-Managed vs. User-Managed Tasks
  - Detailed Cancellation Behavior

How Deliverables Work

In your Practifi organization, the Deliverable functionality automatically generates a schedule of recurring client entitlements that advisors are tasked with delivering. This automation ensures that your service standards are met across the firm's book of business, reducing the manual effort required to track every commitment.

Once set up, each Service maintains a set schedule of Deliverables, which are fulfilled by linking them to Tasks and Events with our dedicated sidebar assistant. Over time, each Deliverable gathers a history of successful and unsuccessful fulfillment. This history forms the basis for a deeper understanding of client success outcomes, such as add-ons or churn, through reporting. As of our Barolo release, the Last Review Date and Next Review Date fields on Services are automatically populated based on Deliverables with a Deliverable Type of Service Review.

As of our Mencia release, creating and editing Deliverables uses a guided experience: schedules are set through plain-language questions with a live preview of the next few due dates, so you can see the effect of your choices before saving. Your Practifi Administrator configures your firm's Deliverable Types in the Settings app, and administrators control when configuration changes are applied to existing Deliverables.

For example, your firm has a new prospect, Ryan Beger, with an open Retirement Planning deal. Before you promote him to a Client, you'd make sure that your firm's Deliverables are set up for his eventual Service Type. Once created, the Deliverables are attached to Ryan's required Services, with clear, repeatable requirements that any team member servicing his account can follow.

Scheduling

The Schedule section on a Deliverable sets when it first becomes due, how often it recurs, and what each due date is anchored to. You set these through plain-language questions with a live preview of the next few due dates, rather than by filling in fields directly. The resulting date is shown in the Next Due Date field, so you can see when the client's Deliverable needs to be fulfilled. The sections below explain how each choice affects the dates.

How Often

For a recurring Deliverable, the first question in the Schedule section, How often?, sets how often it needs to be completed. Select the option that best reflects how often the client expects this Deliverable. This is the Deliverable's Frequency field, so it still appears as Frequency in reports and list views. The options are:

Monthly
Quarterly
Semi-Annually
Annually
Biennial
Triennial
Every N weeks
Every N months
Every N years

When you create a Deliverable, the Schedule section starts by asking Is this deliverable recurring or one-time?. Choosing One-time replaces the How often? question with When is it due?, which offers three options: a specific date, a specific calendar date, or relative to the Service start. The last of these asks for a number and a unit, so you can set the Deliverable a number of days, weeks, or months after the Service begins. Its schedule then reflects that single due date.

If you select one of the Every N options, a follow-up field appears where you enter the number, for example, Every how many weeks?. To make a Deliverable due every six weeks, select Every N weeks, then enter 6.

Choosing How Due Dates Are Calculated

When creating or editing a Deliverable, the Schedule section starts with two questions. How often? sets the interval. Each due date is calculated from: sets what each due date is anchored to. Depending on what you are changing, a When you save question may also appear between them. That one is explained at the end of this section.

A live preview shows the next three due dates as you make your selections, so you can confirm the schedule before saving.

There are four options:

The previous due date
The previous fulfillment date
The end of each calendar period
A specific day in each calendar period

The examples below all use the same Deliverable: a quarterly Deliverable called Check-in, last fulfilled on 23 July 2026, with a next due date of 26 October 2026. What its later due dates look like depends on which of the four options you choose.

If each due date is calculated from the previous due date, each new due date is the previous one plus the interval set in How often?. For example, Check-in is next due on 26 October 2026, so the dates that follow are 26 January 2027 and 26 April 2027. Fulfilling it early or late does not move them.

If each due date is calculated from the previous fulfillment date, each new due date is the date the Deliverable was last fulfilled plus the interval. For example, Check-in was last fulfilled on 23 July 2026, so its next due date becomes 23 October 2026. The schedule follows when the work actually happens.

If each due date is calculated from the end of each calendar period, each due date falls on the last day of the calendar interval set in How often?. For example, Check-in is quarterly, so its due dates fall on 30 September 2026, then 31 December 2026, then 31 March 2027, regardless of the previous due or fulfillment date.

If each due date is calculated from a specific day in each calendar period, the due date falls on a day you choose inside the period rather than at the end of it. A follow-up question, When in the calendar period?, offers three ways to set that day:

Specific day. Choose which month of the period, then a date. For example, set to the 15th of the first month of the quarter, Check-in falls on 15 October 2026, 15 January 2027 and 15 April 2027.
Relative day. Choose which month of the period, a position, and a day. For example, set to the third Thursday of the first month of the quarter, Check-in falls on 15 October 2026, 21 January 2027 and 15 April 2027. The date shifts each period because the calendar shifts.
Last day. Choose which month of the period, then a day type, for example the last business day.

When You Save

When you change a Deliverable's schedule, its next due date has to be worked out again, and that calculation needs a starting point. The When you save question is where you choose it. It appears while you are changing the schedule, and it offers two options: Based on Last Fulfillment Date, and Based on Recalculation Date, which is today's date.

The starting point only matters when due dates are counted forward from an earlier date. So it changes the result when due dates are calculated from the previous fulfillment date. For example, Check-in was last fulfilled on 23 July 2026, so editing it on 26 July 2026 gives 23 October 2026 under Based on Last Fulfillment Date, and 26 October 2026 under Based on Recalculation Date.

It makes no difference when due dates are calculated from the end of a calendar period or a specific day in a calendar period, because those land on a fixed calendar day whatever the starting point is.

The table below shows how each option plays out for the same quarterly Check-in Deliverable, last fulfilled on 23 July 2026 and next due on 26 October 2026:

Each due date is calculated from	Next due date	Why
The previous due date	26 October 2026	The current due date plus one quarter
The previous fulfillment date	23 October 2026	Last fulfilled 23 July 2026, plus one quarter
The end of each calendar period	30 September 2026	The last day of the current calendar quarter
A specific day in each calendar period, set to the 15th of the first month	15 October 2026	The 15th of the first month of the next quarter

Scheduling Considerations

Please keep in mind the following about the scheduling of Deliverables:

To ensure consistency, due date calculations will be the same for both initial and ongoing schedules. If the initial date is the 15th of every month, the subsequent due dates will also be the 15th.
If a Deliverable is fulfilled significantly earlier than the scheduled due date, the N-year cycle will begin counting from the early fulfillment date. This adjustment may lead to inconsistencies in the anticipated due dates every N years, as the cycle is reset based on the early fulfillment rather than the original schedule.
On the Deliverable Type record, there is a fulfillment setting called If It Isn't Fulfilled By Its Due Date, which can be configured as Treat it as overdue. With this configuration, a Deliverable can be fulfilled after its scheduled due date. Such cases may result in inconsistencies in the anticipated due dates every N years. In some instances, the Deliverable may skip expected frequency intervals if it is fulfilled significantly later than the original due date, as the cycle resets to the late fulfillment date rather than the original schedule.
There is a scheduled job for the Event record that checks for events due on the current day and fulfills any associated Deliverables in a batch. This job runs once daily in the morning, typically at 6 a.m. However, there is no mechanism to fulfill Deliverables on the same day if an event is created after this job has already run. For instance, if a user creates an event later in the day, scheduled between 2 and 3 p.m., the Deliverables for this event cannot be fulfilled until after 3 p.m. To address this, the page automatically refreshes when the user opens the Event record page after the event's end time, ensuring that the Deliverables are fulfilled. This approach prevents delays in fulfillment but relies on user interaction to trigger the process.

Accessing a Client's Deliverables

On the Client record, select the Services & Pipeline icon in the side panel.
Select the Deliverables subtab on the Services & Pipeline page view. A list of Deliverables attached to the client's active services will be displayed on this page.
Select the Deliverable Fulfillment subtab to view the Tasks and Events that have fulfilled past Deliverables for the client.
Deliverable information can also be accessed by selecting the Services subtab and selecting a Service record name.
Deliverable information attached to the Service displays under the Deliverables subtab on the Service record.
Selecting the Deliverable Name opens the specific Deliverable record, with additional information displayed in subtabs.

Adjusting Deliverables for Specific Services

Users can modify a Deliverable directly, if necessary, to provide specific clients with their agreed-upon entitlements, thereby supporting custom service arrangements without changing the firm-wide template. For example, changing the frequency of a check-in Deliverable from quarterly to monthly provides the customer with a higher standard of service than is typically included in the Deliverable Types template your firm created.

A Deliverable is considered customized when its settings have been changed to differ from its Deliverable Type's defaults. When your Practifi Administrator updates a Deliverable Type and applies the changes to existing Deliverables, customized Deliverables keep their customized settings unless the administrator deliberately chooses to include them, so the arrangements you've made for specific clients are not overwritten.

Please note: As of our Mencia release, your firm controls who can edit a Deliverable's schedule using the Who can edit Deliverable settings? setting. Depending on your firm's configuration, editing may be available to administrators, users with the Manage Deliverable Settings permission, Deliverable owners, or any user, and the selection can differ by Service Type. If you cannot edit a Deliverable, please contact your Practifi Administrator. After the upgrade, this setting is set to Administrators and Users with the Manage Deliverable Settings permission. Administrators can change it at any time, firm-wide or per Service Type.

Editing a Deliverable's Schedule and Fulfillment Settings

Editing an individual Deliverable uses a guided experience. Clicking Edit on a Deliverable's Schedule or Fulfillment section opens both sections together in a single edit view.

Editing the schedule presents plain-language questions with a live preview of the next few due dates, so you can see the effect of a change before saving. When you change the schedule, the guided view also asks under When you save where the recalculation should count from. This choice is required, so due dates never shift silently. See Choosing How Due Dates Are Calculated for how the two options work.

The fulfillment settings control the activity created for each due date: whether one is created automatically, what kind of activity it is, how many days before the due date it is created, and what happens if the Deliverable is not fulfilled in time. Activities are created by the same scheduled job that has handled fulfillment activities in earlier releases.

Resetting a Customized Deliverable

If a Deliverable has been customized and you want to return it to its Deliverable Type's defaults, use the Reset to Default action. This returns the Deliverable's settings to the type's defaults in one step, so each change does not need to be undone by hand.

The Deliverable Type Description Field

Deliverables inherit their description from their Deliverable Type, but the description can be edited on an individual Deliverable to suit the specific client or service. When a Deliverable has its own description, a read-only Deliverable Type Description field appears on the record showing what the type's description currently says, so the two can be compared at a glance. The Deliverable's own description can be edited again at any time, while the read-only field keeps tracking the type's current description, including any later updates made to the type.

Creating Ad Hoc Deliverables

To add a Deliverable for a specific client's Service:

On the Client record, select the Services & Pipeline icon in the side panel.
Select the Service Name for the Service to which you would like to attach the Deliverable.
Click the caret icon in the page actions to expand the actions drop-down menu, then select New Deliverable.
The guided builder opens. Enter the Deliverable's details, then answer the plain-language schedule questions. A live preview shows the next few due dates as the schedule takes shape, and the settings can be adjusted before saving. The fulfillment settings work the same way as when editing an existing Deliverable (see Editing a Deliverable's Schedule and Fulfillment Settings).
Click Save to finalize the Deliverable creation. This change will apply only to this specific client's Service and not to every client's Service across your organization. For changes across the entire organization, your Practifi Administrator can adjust the Deliverable Type in the Settings app.

Fulfilling Deliverables

When it comes time to record a Deliverable you've successfully met, you will do so from the Task or Event record page that did the job, using the sidebar assistant on the right side of the record page, keeping fulfillment activity tied to the actual work that delivered it. To use the sidebar assistant:

Create a Task or Event record within your system, or select the Activities icon in the Client record side panel and select the desired record from the list of Tasks and Events.

Please note: Depending on how your firm has set up Deliverables, there might be a dedicated Task created to fulfill a given Deliverable.
In the sidebar on the Task or Event record, click to expand the Deliverables heading.
In the Available for Fulfillment area, click the plus icon to the right of the Deliverable that the Task or Event fulfilled. Dates highlighted in red indicate overdue Deliverables.
- Please note: A single Task or Event may fulfill multiple Deliverables. If this is the case, click the plus icon beside each Deliverable that the Task or Event fulfilled.
The Deliverable you selected appears in the Marked for Fulfillment section. For Task records, the Deliverable will be fulfilled when the Task is marked as complete. For Events, the Deliverable is fulfilled when the Event takes place.
- Please note: If your firm's Practifi Administrator designated a Task to fulfill a specific Deliverable, it will already appear in the Marked for Fulfillment area of the sidebar. The Deliverable will be fulfilled when the task is marked as complete.
To remove a Deliverable from the Marked for Fulfillment section, click the trash can icon to the right of the Deliverable's name.

Please note: If the Task record is designated to fulfill a particular Deliverable, the trash can icon will be disabled, and you will not be able to remove the Deliverable from the Marked for Fulfillment section.

Completing or Canceling Deliverables

As of the Pinot Blanc release, Deliverables can be completed or canceled if they are no longer needed, keeping each client's active service schedule accurate and reportable. The difference between these two actions is the status applied to the Deliverable. As you might expect, completing a Deliverable sets its status to Completed, while canceling it sets its status to Canceled. When a Deliverable's status is set to Completed or Canceled, the following things happen:

The Deliverable no longer appears in the sidebar on Task and Event records.
The Next Due Date field's current value is deleted and stops recalculating.
Fulfillment activities are not created.

You can include the Status field when reporting on Deliverable fulfillment.

Please note: Tasks with a status of Canceled will display Deliverables in their sidebar, but they will not have plus icons next to them because canceled Tasks cannot be used to fulfill Deliverables. If a Task that was automatically created as a fulfillment activity for a Deliverable is canceled, the Deliverable will appear in the Available for Fulfillment area of the sidebar. Another Task or Event can fulfill it.

To complete or cancel an individual Deliverable:

Open the Entity record with the Deliverable you want to complete or cancel.
In the record side panel, click the Services & Pipeline navigation icon.
On the Services & Pipeline page, click the Deliverables tab.
In the record list, click the caret on the right-hand side of the row for the desired Deliverable, then select Complete Deliverable or Cancel Deliverable.
In the pop-up window, click to confirm that you want to complete or cancel the Deliverable.

To complete or cancel multiple Deliverables in a list view:

Check the boxes next to the Deliverables you want to complete or cancel.
At the top of the list view, click the Complete Deliverables or Cancel Deliverables button.
In the pop-up window, click to confirm that you want to complete or cancel the Deliverables.

Reactivating Deliverables

If you want to restore one or more completed or canceled Deliverables, you can reactivate them. The Reactivate Deliverable action is available on Deliverable records and as a row action or mass action for Deliverables with a status of Completed or Canceled.

The Reactivate Deliverable action changes the Deliverable's status from Completed or Canceled to Active. Attempting to reactivate a Deliverable that already has an Active status will result in an error.

Please note: Reactivating a Deliverable means it will become available for fulfillment on Tasks and Events, will start generating fulfillment activities (if enabled), and its Next Due Date field will be recalculated based on the calculation method used when it was first created. If the calculation basis is the Service's start date, then the current date (today's date) will be used instead.

Alternatively, you can manually set the due date using the Next Due Date field in the Reactivate Deliverables window.

Understanding Cancellation Behavior for Fulfillment Activities

When you cancel a Deliverable with fulfillment activities attached, the system handles the associated tasks intelligently, depending on whether they were created by the system or manually linked. Understanding this behavior helps you anticipate how related tasks will behave and avoid unexpected work items remaining in your system.

System-Managed vs. User-Managed Tasks

The system distinguishes between two types of tasks when determining cancellation behavior:

Pre-nominated tasks are system-managed fulfillment activities that are automatically created based on Deliverable Type settings. These are typically auto-created reminder tasks or process tasks that the system generates to fulfill the Deliverable. Since users may not always remember that these tasks exist, when the Deliverable is canceled, the system also auto-cancels the system-managed task to prevent orphaned Task records that no longer make sense.

Manually linked tasks are user-managed activities that users explicitly attach to a Deliverable via the Deliverables sidebar. When you manually link a task to a Deliverable, you have chosen that task yourself. The system assumes you are aware of it and may still need it for other work, so it does not automatically cancel the task when you cancel the Deliverable. Instead, the system removes the link. If you no longer need the Task, you can cancel or close it yourself.

Detailed Cancellation Behavior

Here's how Practifi handles the following scenarios:

Deliverable with a single, pre-nominated task: If the task is the Deliverable's pre-nominated fulfillment activity and it is only linked to that Deliverable, canceling the Deliverable will also cancel the task. This applies to automatically created tasks. What matters is that the system pre-nominated the task.
Deliverable with a single, manually linked task: If you manually linked a task to the Deliverable via the Deliverables sidebar, canceling the Deliverable does not cancel the task; the task is just unlinked from that Deliverable and stays open.
One Task linked to multiple Deliverables: If a task (whether pre-nominated or manual) is linked to several Deliverables and you cancel one of those Deliverables, the task stays open because the other active Deliverables still need it. The task is detached from the canceled Deliverable. Only when a task is exclusively linked to the canceled Deliverable (with no other active Deliverables) will the system auto-cancel that task.

This intelligent handling keeps your task list clean and relevant without accidentally removing tasks that are still needed for other work or other Deliverables.