Understanding and Using Financial Products

Learning Team

Overview

The Financial Products object in Practifi provides a dedicated place to track and manage the financial products your wealth management firm offers to clients. These product offerings, together with the service and deliverable types configured in your Practifi organization, represent your firm's complete value proposition to clients and prospects. Having this data in Practifi means your team can manage product relationships, track performance, and collaborate using the same tools they rely on every day.

This article covers the financial product types available in Practifi, how each type is used, and the steps required to enable financial products in your organization. If you have questions about how your firm can best use financial products, please reach out to your Client Success Manager for assistance.

Understanding Financial Products
Using Financial Products
Enabling Financial Products
Available Fields

Understanding Financial Products

The Financial Products object supports several types of financial products, each designed to reflect how your firm structures and manages its investment offerings:

Private Investments, where your firm is raising funds to deliver a particular project, such as a real estate development.
Investment Products that your advisory firm offers your clients, such as ETFs and index funds.
Retirement Plans offered by US workplaces, such as 401(k)s.
Superannuation Funds are joined by Australian employees.
- Please note: Due to the specialized implementation nature of Superannuation Funds, this article does not describe the behavior of financial products when used to manage them.

Financial Product records are accessible from the app navigation menus in Practifi and use a section-based record page layout similar to those used for Entity, Division, and User records. Unlike Entity records, Financial Product records are not part of any single entity's comprehensive profile. Instead, they serve as a hub for related Deals, Services, and Assets.

Your firm may choose to use financial products in Practifi if:

Your firm wants to manage Private Investments or Retirement Funds manually.
Your firm uses Envestnet for generating proposals.
Your firm has another product offering you want to actively manage within Practifi and is willing to customize it to suit your needs.

The reasons for using the Financial Products object vary by product type. For Private Investments, the primary need is to track the investment’s full life cycle, pipeline, and performance. For Investment Products and Retirement Plans, having a single record page that consolidates product characteristics, related proposals, accounts, notes, and files provides an efficient, complete picture of each product. Bringing this data into Practifi allows your firm to achieve that consolidated view while using standard Practifi features to support team collaboration, engagement tracking, and document management. Field History Tracking, enabled by default on select fields, gives your firm greater visibility into data changes across the object over time.

Financial Products also integrate with other Practifi features, making them a useful building block in your firm’s broader configuration:

Rulebook: Use Financial Product records as the basis for Rulebook entries that automate monitoring across your client base.
RMD Tracking: Link financial products to assets to check Required Minimum Distribution eligibility.
Processes and Task Templates: Control which Processes and Task Templates are available for selection on client record pages based on the associated financial product.

Using Financial Products

The sections below describe how each financial product type can be used within your Practifi organization. The workflows available to your firm will depend on which product types are enabled and where your firm finds the most value. If you have questions about how your firm can best use financial products, please reach out to your Client Success Manager for assistance.

Private Investments

Private Investments allow your firm to manage the entire life cycle of a fundraising effort within Practifi, from early-stage pipeline opportunities through to fund collection and performance monitoring. Tracking this activity in Practifi means your team has a clear, current picture of each investment without relying on separate tools or manual reporting.

The sections below outline how to establish a Private Investment record and manage its related pipeline opportunities and performance data.

Investment Setup and Management

To establish a Private Investment record in Practifi:

Create the Service Type used to track the “agreement” a client makes to provide funds for the investment.
Create the Private Investment record using the New Private Investment button on the Financial Products or Private Investments app page.
Set a Start Date and End Date based on the expected fundraising period.
Link the Service Type created in step 1 to the financial product via the Service Type lookup field.
Use Practifi’s native capabilities to manage the product, such as the Feed, Processes & Tasks, Notes & Files, and Activities.

Pipeline Management

To manage potential Private Investment opportunities with clients or prospects:

Create a Deal record when a client or prospect has expressed interest in contributing funds. When creating a Deal or using the Promote to Prospect action:
- If the selected Service Type is related to one or more Financial Product records, you will be prompted to answer the “What financial product are they interested in?” question on the next screen.
- This prompt populates the Financial Product field on the created Deal record, keeping investment interest directly tied to the correct product.
Mark the Deal as Closed Won when a firm commitment to contribute funds has been made, but the funds have not yet been deposited. When a Deal record is marked as Closed Won in this context, a Service record is not created. This is because the client is making a one-off funding commitment rather than entering an ongoing service agreement. When funds arrive in the account, record the deposit using one of the following methods:
- New Funding Deposit button (found in the Investments section of the Financial Product’s record page): You will be prompted to select the Closed Won Deal record the deposit relates to. Once selected, you can update the amount value before saving. The created Asset record will have a Category of Funding Deposit.
- New Asset button (on the client’s record page): The Financial Product and Service lookup fields must be populated manually, and the Category field must be manually set to Funding Deposit.

Performance Tracking

The Targets and Performance section of a Private Investment record contains rollup fields that summarize the investment’s performance in real time. These fields are calculated using Lookup Rollup Summaries and are described below:

Number of Open Deals: The total count of Deals related to the Financial Product record that are not either Closed Lost, or Closed Won.
Number of Assets: The total count of Assets related to the Financial Product record that has a Category of “Funding Deposit.”
Potential AUM: The total AUM of Deals related to the Financial Product record that are not either Closed Lost or Closed Won.
AUM: The total Current Value of Assets related to the Financial Product record that has a Category of “Funding Deposit.”

Closing Investments

To close the investment, update the Stage to Closed and set the End Date to today’s date.

Please note: Closing an investment does not trigger any additional automation, such as closing open Deal records. These will need to be closed manually.

Retirement Plans

Retirement Plans are managed in the same way as Private Investments, using the workflows described in the Private Investments section above, with the following differences:

Create new records using the New Retirement Plan button rather than the New Private Investment button.
The Retirement Plan record page includes plan-specific fields not present on the Private Investment record page.

Please note: Unlike Private Investments, managing a client’s participation in a retirement plan may require ongoing attention, which may make a Service record appropriate. Services are not currently created automatically for these Deals and must be created manually if needed.

Investment Products

Investment Products are currently supported exclusively through the Envestnet integration. If your firm does not have the Envestnet integration enabled, this financial product type is not available. For additional information, refer to the Using the Envestnet Integration and Enabling the Envestnet Integration articles.

When the Envestnet integration is active, Investment Product records give your team a consolidated view of each product’s characteristics alongside all related proposals, eliminating the need to cross-reference data between systems.

Investment Product records are created automatically whenever an Envestnet proposal that includes a particular product is saved to Practifi. Use Practifi's native capabilities to manage the product, including the Feed, Processes and Tasks, Notes and Files, and Activities. Various product characteristics sourced from Envestnet are stored directly on the financial product record, organized into the following sections:
- Quick Facts: Product Type, Strategist Style, Asset Class, Risk Score, Risk Rating, Account Minimum, Inception Date, and Average Annual Turnover.
- Fee Notes: Billing Mode and Fee Disclosures.
- Portfolio Characteristics: Average Market Cap, Median Market Cap, Adjusted Price/Earnings Ratio, Price/Book Ratio, Return on Equity (1 yr), Debt to Total Capital, EPS Growth Past 5 Years, Current Yield, Model Weighted Average Gross Expense Ratio, and Model Weighted Average Net Expense Ratio.
- Asset Allocation: Types, asset classes, and percentages.
- Fee Schedule: Types, range, amounts, and percentages.
Proposals that include the product appear in the Proposal Registrations section of the record page, providing a single-page view of the product's characteristics and all related proposals.
The product’s Managing Firm is stored as an Organization record related to the Financial Product record. This differs from Envestnet, where this data exists only at the field level, and no record representing the firm is created. Use Practifi's native capabilities to manage the relationship with and regulatory obligations to the managing firm.

Please note: Envestnet products are not automatically associated with any investment accounts (Assets) created upon a proposal’s acceptance; only the proposals themselves are. If your firm would like these links to exist, they must be created manually.

Enabling Financial Products

To enable financial products in your Practifi organization, complete the following steps:

Add the relevant app pages to the navigation menus in Practifi.

Adding Steps to Navigation Menus

Navigate to the Lightning App Builder in Salesforce Setup. Financial product app pages are labeled identically when viewed in the App Launcher. Accessing them from the Lightning App Builder lets you view their underlying names, which include the name of the app each page belongs to (for example, Practifi - Advisor - Financial Products Page).
- For Private Investments and Retirement Plans, dedicated app pages are available. If you are enabling only those product types or want them clearly separated in your navigation, use the dedicated pages for each. For Investment Products, only the Financial Products page is available.
Open the app pages for the apps you want to enable financial products for, then click the Activation button in the upper-right corner.
In the Activation modal, click the Lightning Experience tab, select the corresponding app from the list, and click the Add Page to App button. Then, place the page in the desired position in the navigation menu.
- Please note: App navigation menus hide the last 13 visible items. Position the Financial Products item higher than that in the menu to ensure it remains visible to users.

Review Field History Tracking to confirm it meets your firm’s needs. The Available Fields table below identifies which fields have Field History Tracking enabled by default.
Review the object’s compact layout to confirm that the displayed fields suit your firm’s needs. Because this object supports a wide range of use cases, the compact layout requires customization. By default, only the record name appears in this layout.
For Private Investments and Retirement Plans only: Confirm that the following Lookup Rollup Summary fields are activated in your organization:
- Number of Open Deals
- Number of Assets
- Potential AUM
- AUM

Available Fields

The table below shows field availability by financial product type. Standard fields such as Name and Created Date are not included, as they are available across all financial product types and do not require additional context.

Name	Field Type	Field History Tracking Enabled by Default	Envestnet Investments	Private Investments	Retirement Plans	Super Funds	Description/Notes
AUM	Currency	✅	✅	✅	✅	❌	Rollup field calculated using Lookup Rollup Summaries. Appears as read-only in page layouts when viewed by standard and super users but appears as editable to system administrators. The total Current Value of Assets related to the Financial Product that have a Category of “Funding Deposit."
Account Minimum	Currency	❌	✅	❌	❌	❌
Adjusted Price / Earning Ratio	Number	❌	✅	❌	❌	❌
Asset Class	Text	❌	✅	❌	❌	❌
Average Market Cap	Currency	❌	✅	❌	❌	❌
Average Annual Turnover	Percent	❌	✅	❌	❌	❌
Batch	Lookup	❌	❌	❌	❌	❌
Billing Mode	Text	❌	✅	❌	❌	❌
Current Yield	Percent	❌	✅	❌	❌	❌
Debt to Total Capital	Number	❌	✅	❌	❌	❌
Description	LongText Area	✅ Changes only, not old and new values	✅	✅	✅	✅
EPS Growth Past 5 Years	Percent	❌	✅	❌	❌	❌
End Date	Date	✅	❌	✅	✅	❌
External Id	Text	❌	✅	❌	❌	❌
Fee Disclosures	LongText Area	❌	✅	❌	❌	❌
Group	Text	❌	❌	✅	✅	❌
Inception Date	Date	❌	✅	❌	❌	❌
Investment Due Date	Date	✅	❌	✅	❌	❌	The date by which the fundraising goal needs to be reached.
Investment Minimum	Currency	✅	❌	✅	❌	❌
Investor Eligibility	Picklist	✅	❌	✅	❌	❌
Managing Firm	Lookup	❌	✅	❌	❌	❌
Median Market Cap	Currency	❌	✅	❌	❌	❌
Model Weighted Average Gross Expense Ratio	Percent	❌	✅	❌	❌	❌
Model Weighted Average Net Expense Ratio	Percent	❌	✅	❌	❌	❌
Number of Employer Prospects in Hierarchy	Number	❌	❌	❌	❌	✅	Rollup field calculated using Lookup Rollup Summaries. Appears as read-only in page layouts when viewed by standard and super users but appears as editable to system administrators. The total number of employer prospects related to a fund below this one in the fund hierarchy.
Number of Assets	Number	✅	❌	✅	✅	❌	Rollup field calculated using Lookup Rollup Summaries. Appears as read-only in page layouts when viewed by standard and super users but appears as editable to system administrators. The total count of Assets related to the Financial Product that have a Category of “Funding Deposit."
Number of Open Deals	Number	✅	❌	✅	✅	❌	Rollup field calculated using Lookup Rollup Summaries. Appears as read-only in page layouts when viewed by standard and super users but appears as editable to system administrators. The total count of Deals related to the Financial Product that are not either Closed Lost or Closed Won.
Number of Employer Prospects in Fund	Number	❌	❌	❌	❌	✅	Rollup field calculated using Lookup Rollup Summaries. Appears as read-only in page layouts when viewed by standard and super users but appears as editable to system administrators. The total number of employer prospects related to this fund.
Number of Employers in Fund	Number	❌	❌	❌	❌	✅	Rollup field calculated using Lookup Rollup Summaries. Appears as read-only in page layouts when viewed by standard and super users but appears as editable to system administrators. The total number of active employers related to this fund.
Number of Employers in Hierarchy	Number	❌	❌	❌	❌	✅	Rollup field calculated using Lookup Rollup Summaries. Appears as read-only in page layouts when viewed by standard and super users, but appears as editable to system administrators. The total number of active employers related to a fund below this one in the fund hierarchy.
Number of Member Prospects in Fund	Number	❌	❌	❌	❌	✅	Rollup field calculated using Lookup Rollup Summaries. Appears as read-only in page layouts when viewed by standard and super users, but appears as editable to system administrators. The total number of member prospects related to this fund.
Number of Member Prospects in Hierarchy	Number	❌	❌	❌	❌	✅	Rollup field calculated using Lookup Rollup Summaries. Appears as read-only in page layouts when viewed by standard and super users, but appears as editable to system administrators. The total number of member prospects related to a fund below this one in the fund hierarchy.
Number of Members in Fund	Number	❌	❌	❌	❌	✅	Rollup field calculated using Lookup Rollup Summaries. Appears as read-only in page layouts when viewed by standard and super users but appears as editable to system administrators. The total number of active members related to this fund.
Number of Members in Hierarchy	Number	❌	❌	❌	❌	✅	Rollup field calculated using Lookup Rollup Summaries. Appears as read-only in page layouts when viewed by standard and super users but appears as editable to system administrators. The total number of active members related to a fund below this one in the fund hierarchy.
Number of Participants	Number	❌	❌	❌	❌	✅
Parent Financial Product	Lookup	❌	❌	❌	❌	✅
Plan Type	Picklist	✅	❌	❌	✅	❌
Potential AUM	Currency	✅	❌	✅	✅	❌	Rollup field calculated using Lookup Rollup Summaries. Appears as read-only in page layouts when viewed by standard and super users but appears as editable to system administrators. The total AUM of Deals related to the Financial Product that are not either Closed Lost or Closed Won.
Price/Book Ratio	Number	❌	✅	❌	❌	❌
QDIA	Text	✅	❌	❌	✅	❌	The Qualified Default Investment Alternative for a retirement plan.
Related Divison	Lookup	❌	✅	✅	✅	✅	The Primary Division of the record owner.
Return on Equity (1 yr)	Number	❌	✅	❌	❌	❌
Risk Rating	Text	❌	✅	❌	❌	❌
Risk Score	Number	❌	✅	❌	❌	❌
Service Type	Lookup	✅	❌	✅	✅	❌
Set As Created Date	DateTime	❌	❌	✅	✅	✅	This field is to facilitate the setting of the Created Date field with Bulk API upsert. This is not intended to be used for any other purpose and should not be populated from any other context.
Sharing Scope 2	Text	❌	❌	✅	✅	✅
Sharing Scope 3	Text	❌	❌	✅	✅	✅
Sharing Scope 4	Text	❌	❌	✅	✅	✅
Sharing Scope 5	Text	❌	❌	✅	✅	✅
Sharing Scope	Text	❌	❌	✅	✅	✅
Stage	Picklist	✅	❌	✅	✅	❌
Start Date	Date	✅	❌	✅	✅	❌	The default value is today’s date.
Strategist Style	Text	❌	✅	❌	❌	❌
Total Account Value in Fund	Currency	❌	❌	❌	❌	✅	Rollup field calculated using Lookup Rollup Summaries. Appears as read-only in page layouts when viewed by standard and super users but appears as editable to system administrators. The total currency value of active accounts held by members related to this fund.
Total Account Value in Hierarchy	Currency	❌	❌	❌	❌	✅	Rollup field calculated using Lookup Rollup Summaries. Appears as read-only in page layouts when viewed by standard and super users but appears as editable to system administrators. The total currency value of active accounts held by members related to a fund below this one in the fund hierarchy.
Type	Text	❌	✅	❌	❌	❌