Understanding and Using Deliverables

Overview

Deliverables help track entitlements that your firm provides to clients across your book of business. This article outlines key aspects of the Deliverable functionality to help give a broad understanding of the feature and how to use the functionality within your organization.

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

• What is a Deliverable?
• What are Calculation Basis Fields?
  • Frequency
  • Initial Calculation Basis
  • Ongoing Calculation Basis
• Accessing a Client's Deliverables
• Adjusting Deliverables for Specific Services
• Fulfilling Deliverables

What is a Deliverable?

The Deliverable functionality in your Practifi organization provides the ability to automatically generate a schedule of recurring client entitlements that advisors are tasked with delivering. This automation ensures that your standards of service are being met across the firm's book of business. 

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, like add-ons or churning away, via reporting. As of our Barolo release, Last and Next Review Date fields on Services are automatically populated based on Deliverables with a Deliverable Type of Service Review.

For example, your firm has a new prospect, Ryan Beger, who has an open deal with your firm for Retirement Planning. 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 the Deliverables are created, they attach to Ryan's required Services and become highly repeatable with clear requirements for any team member at your firm servicing Ryan Beger's account. 

What are Calculation Basis fields? 

Within the Deliverable, the calculation basis fields are set to determine when the Deliverable is initially started, how often it occurs and when it is due on an ongoing basis. By setting the Frequency, Initial Calucluation Basis and Ongoing Calculation Basis fields, the system will then calculate the due date of the Deliverable. This calculated date is then displayed in the Next Due Date field, giving your team members a clear day when the client's Deliverable needs to be fulfilled. 

Frequency

The Frequency field in the calculation basis fields sets how often a Deliverable needs to be completed. From the drop-down options for the Frequency field, you will select the option that best suits how often the client would expect this Deliverable. The options available in the Frequency field are as follows: 

• Monthly
• Quarterly
• Semi-Annually
• Annually
• Biannual
• Triennial 

Initial Calculation Basis

The Initial Calculation Basis field sets the Next Due Date field when the Deliverable is first created and works in conjunction with the Frequency field. This field's setting tells the system if the Deliverable's first Next Due Date should be based on the Service's start date or based on a calendar period. 

The Based on Service Start Date option in this field means that the Next Due Date will be calculated as the Service Start Date plus the interval length defined by the Deliverable's Frequency field. This means that if you have set the Frequency field to Quarterly and the Service has a Start Date of July 15th, then the Deliverable's initial Next Due Date will be October 15th. 

Alternatively, the Based on calendar period option means that the Next Due Date will be calculated as the end date of the nearest calendar interval as defined by the Deliverable's Frequency field. This means that if the Frequency is set to Quarterly and the Service has a Start Date of July 15th, then the Deliverable's initial Next Due Date will be September 30th, as this is the last day of the third calendar quarter. 

Ongoing Calculation Basis

The Ongoing Calculation Basis field sets the Next Due Date for the Deliverable after it is fulfilled and, like the Initial Calculation Basis, works in conjunction with the Frequency field. The Ongoing Calculation Basis can be based on the completed Deliverable's due date or based on the date the previous Deliverable was fulfilled. 

The Based on Due Date option for the Ongoing Calculation Basis field means that the Next Due Date for the new Deliverable will be calculated from fulfilled Deliverable's Next Due Date plus the interval length defined by the Deliverable's Frequency field. If the frequency is Quarterly, was fulfilled on July 15th, but the Deliverable had a Next Due Date of September 30th, then the Deliverable's updated Next Due Date will be December 31st. 

If the Ongoing Calculation Basis is set to Based on Fulfillment Date, the Next Due Date will be calculated as the date the Deliverable was fulfilled plus the interval length defined by the Deliverable's Frequency field. For example, if the frequency is Quarterly and the Deliverable is fulfilled on July 15th, then the Deliverable's updated Next Due Date will be October 15th. 

Accessing a Client's Deliverables

1. On the Client record, select the Services & Pipeline icon in the side panel.
   
   
2. Select the Deliverables subtab on the Services & Pipeline page view. A list of Deliverables attached to the client's active services will display on this page.
   
   
3. Deliverable information can also be accessed by selecting the Services subtab and selecting a Service record name. 
4. Deliverable information attached to the Service displays under the Deliverables subtab on the Service record.
   
5. Selecting the Deliverable Name will open the specific Deliverable record with additional information included in subtabs.

Adjusting Deliverables for Specific Services

Users can modify the Deliverable record directly, if necessary, to give specific clients their agreed-upon entitlements. 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 created by your firm. To add additional Deliverables for a specific client's Service:

1. On the Client record, select the Services & Pipeline icon in the side panel.
   
   
2. Select the Service Name for the Service you would like to attach the Deliverable.
3. Click the caret icon in the page actions to expand the actions drop-down menu. 
   
4. Select New Deliverable from the drop-down menu.
   
5. In the New Deliverable pop-up, enter the following information about the Deliverable:
   • Deliverable Name - Enter the name of the Deliverable as you would like it to display in Practifi.
   • Frequency - Set how often you should complete the Deliverable from the drop-down options.
   • Last Fulfillment Date - The date you fulfilled the last Deliverable of this kind. This field is not required and can be disregarded when creating a Deliverable for the first time.
   • Set Reminder - Check this box if the system should send a reminder to complete this Deliverable.
   • Type - Select the type of Deliverable from the drop-down options.
   • Ongoing Calculation Basis - Set to either Based on Due Date or Based on Last Fulfillment Date. Determines how the next Deliverable's due date is calculated.
   • Next Due Date - Set to the date the first Deliverable of this type will need to be completed. 
     • Please Note: This field is required when creating a new Deliverable for a specific client to have the system know when you expect the first Deliverable to be completed. After the first Deliverable is completed, the system will calculate the Deliverable's due date based on the Ongoing Calculation Basis setting.
   • Days Before Due Date - If the Set Reminder checkbox has been checked, enter the number of days before the Deliverable's due date the reminder should appear.
6. Select Save to finalize the Deliverable creation. This change will only apply to this specific client's Service and will not apply to every client's Service across your organization. For changes across the entire organization, adjustments should be made to the Deliverable Type template.

Fulfilling Deliverables

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

1. Create a Task or Event record within your system or select the Activities icon in the Client record side panel and select the record from the list of Tasks and Events.
2. The Deliverable sidebar assistant will display on the Task or Event record page. Select the checkbox located beside the name of the Deliverable that the Task or Event fulfilled. 
   • Please note: A single Task or Event may fulfill multiple Deliverables. If this is the case, select each checkbox beside each Deliverable that the Task or Event fulfilled.
     
3.  Press Save on the Deliverable sidebar assistant.
4. Select Save to confirm you would like this Task or Event to complete the Deliverable in the Relate Deliverables pop-up message. Once you fulfill the selected Deliverable, only an administrator can make changes to them. 
5. A success message will display when the Deliverable is completed, and the Deliverable will move to the Fulfilled section of the Deliverable sidebar assistant.