Table of Contents

Table of Contents.................................................................................................................................2
Welcome and Introduction .............................................................................................................5
  Agenda .................................................................................................................................................5
  Session Focus .....................................................................................................................................6
  Prerequisites........................................................................................................................................6
  Expectation..........................................................................................................................................6
  Session outcomes ............................................................................................................................6
  Using this Guide ................................................................................................................................7
  XPLAN Components .......................................................................................................................8
  Logging into XPLAN ........................................................................................................................8
  Navigating the XPLAN Interface..................................................................................................8
  Searching..............................................................................................................................................9
  Navigation menu...............................................................................................................................9
  Page .....................................................................................................................................................10
  Getting Help.......................................................................................................................................11
Templates..............................................................................................................................................13
  Introduction........................................................................................................................................13
  Email Templates................................................................................................................................13
  Emailing Third Parties with Client Data ...................................................................................21
  SMS Email............................................................................................................................................22
  Sending Emails..................................................................................................................................23
  Send an email to users...................................................................................................................24
  Merge Templates..............................................................................................................................25
  Send letters to a group of clients .............................................................................................26
  Creating Templates ........................................................................................................................26
  File Note Templates .......................................................................................................................27
  Using a File Note Template..........................................................................................................27
  Task Templates .................................................................................................................................27
  Diary Templates ...............................................................................................................................28
Threads ..................................................................................................................................................30
  Threads Overview ...........................................................................................................................30
  Design your processes ..................................................................................................................30
  Building a thread..............................................................................................................................31
  Adding Tasks......................................................................................................................................32
  Linear Threads ..................................................................................................................................36
  Base Date Threads............................................................................................................................36
  Tasks ......................................................................................................................................................37
  Ideas on when to use threads .....................................................................................................37
  Printing...................................................................................................................................................37
  Task Management Reports ............................................................................................................38
Action Manager.....................................................................................................................................39
  Introduction..........................................................................................................................................39
  Creating the Authority to Proceed document .......................................................................40
  Upload to the document to the Templates area ...................................................................41
  Setting the Actions for the Document........................................................................................42
  Overview of how to create a WebDAV folder...........................................................................45
  Executing an Action Manager document...................................................................................46
  Check Pending and Completed Actions.....................................................................................46
Service Benchmarks .............................................................................................................................47
  How to create a Service Benchmark ...........................................................................................47
  How to create a Service Benchmark Set.....................................................................................48
  How to run a Service Benchmark against a client...................................................................49
  How to set Service benchmarks for multiple clients .............................................................50
Client Management Reports .............................................................................................................51
  Introduction............................................................................................................................................51
  Listing Clients ........................................................................................................................................51
  Database Mining (Searching)..........................................................................................................51
  Printing management reports .......................................................................................................52
  Exporting Data......................................................................................................................................52
  Professional Advisers and Referrers.............................................................................................54
  Campaigns ............................................................................................................................................56
  Introduction..........................................................................................................................................56
  Creating a Campaign........................................................................................................................56
  Assigning Clients to a Campaign ................................................................................................57
  Managing a Campaign ...................................................................................................................58
  Corresponding with Invitees ........................................................................................................58
  Viewing a Client's Campaign History.........................................................................................58
Invoicing .................................................................................................................................................60
  Introduction.........................................................................................................................................60
  Creating a template (product)......................................................................................................60
  Adding an Invoice ............................................................................................................................60
  Campaign Invoicing ........................................................................................................................61
  Updating an Invoice with payments..........................................................................................61
  Reconciliation reports ....................................................................................................................62
  Xmerge Invoice and payment receipts ...................................................................................62
Alerts Manager (Compliance) .......................................................................................................63
  Introduction........................................................................................................................................63
  Set up an automated exception rule........................................................................................63
  Multiple Criteria................................................................................................................................65
  Reports ................................................................................................................................................66
Conclusion............................................................................................................................................70
Support and Contacts ......................................................................................................................71

Welcome and Introduction

Agenda

Session Focus

This course is designed to give the trainee a detailed look at the practice management capabilities of XPLAN.

This is an interactive session where you will observe demonstrations as well as participate in activities that are structured to provide you with an understanding of XPLAN, and how you could use the system to provide advice to your financial planning clients.

Prerequisites

• Have attended one of the Core Courses.

Expectation

What you can expect from today’s session?

• Demonstrations

• Case study

• Hands on activities

Session outcomes

After completing this session, you will be able to

• Create email, note, task and diary templates

• Identify the application of threads and allocate them to clients

• Create Action Manager rules

• Create Service Benchmarks

• Create client lists in order to produce management reports

• Create campaigns and track and report on client responses to campaign invites

• Use the Invoicing module to create products and invoices

• Use the Alerts Manager module to run exception rules on both client and portfolio data.

Using this Guide

This guide has been written and structured to be as easy to follow as possible. To help you to navigate through this guide, a number of symbols are used to help identify key points or sections.

XPLAN Components

Logging into XPLAN

1. To login, access your designated website by typing in your website address:
2. The login page for your website is displayed
3. Enter your User ID and Password and click 
   

Navigating the XPLAN Interface

The XPLAN interface is composed of three areas, the Title bar, the Navigation menu, and the current Page.

Title bar

The title bar contains a number of links and functions, and is always displayed.
Home, Add and Quicklinks lists:

Xplan – This button name can be customised and the default name is XPLAN from v2.1 onwards. It contains links to your User Dashboard, News and administration and module functionality (depending on your User Capabilities only some links may display)

Add - allows for creating a new:

• Client

• Group

• Professional Adviser

• Referrer

• Supplier

• User

• Diary Event

• Note

• Task

• Thread

Quicklinks - a customisable list where you can add links that you frequently access. All links in the XPLAN list can be added as Quicklinks.

Icons

Notification messages are commonly generated by XPLAN when a report has been
generated. The number of unread notification messages displays beside the icon (as shown)

Open a Time Taken Ticker

Access XPLAN Help

Access your Preferences

Logout from XPLAN

Searching

The Quick Search box allows you to search for entities, notes or tasks.

Navigation menu

The navigation menu displays on the left of the currently accessed Page. It allows for navigation between modules and within the current module. When using a Wizard, the navigation menu can also display the pages within the Wizard, allowing you to move between pages as required.

From v2.1 the ‘Home’ navigation menu no longer displays – Click on the XPLAN button for the ‘Home’ menu.

You can collapse and expand the navigation menu by clicking the expand/contract button:

When collapsed, the current page expands horizontally to fill your web browser

Page

The current page displays in the Page area.

Client name - when a client has associated entities, such as a companies, trusts or SMSF, you can click the client's name and select an entity to access it.

Control buttons - buttons for the current page, such as for editing fields or moving between Wizard  pages, are always located on the top-right.

Panels - some interface elements display as panels. Each panel is controlled by panel buttons. Like pages, panels can also have control buttons for editing the data within the panel.

Panel buttons - each panel has its own control buttons. Depending on the functionality offered by a panel, some or all of the following buttons may display

Getting Help

Overview

XPLAN has an Online Help function which provides the most up to date information on the different components and tools in the system. Interactive Tutorials are also available for viewing Training Workshops. The Help files also provide updates on all new software versions.

Accessing Help

1. Click on the Help function located on top of the Title bar

   

2. The “Help” screen is displayed

3. Navigate using the menu bar located on the left.

   

4. You may also want to use the “Search” function available

Accessing Interactive Tutorials from within the Help Files

1. Select “Video Tutorials” followed by “Training Workshops” from the menu bar located on the left:

   

2. Click on the workshop you would like to view.

3. A video will start automatically with a chapter menu available from the left side menu bar.

Dashboard is the default ‘home’ screen to load. To navigate back to the ‘home’ screen, just click on the site logo. You can also open additional windows by holding down the ‘Shift’ key and click on the logo. ‘Ctrl’ and click will open new tabs. From v2.1 News is no longer in the navigation menu, but a dashboard tab

Templates

Introduction

In this topic we will create Email and File Note templates. Using templates ensures the correct information is captured and XPLAN is used in an efficient manner.

Email Templates

Setting up email templates Setting up email templates can increase your efficiency in communicating to your client base. To set up an email template:

1. . Go to Administration Functions and select Templates.
   
2. In the side menu, select Email Template.
3. In the top right hand corner click the Add button.
4. . Enter the Recipient Type. In this example we will be emailing the client and therefore the recipient type will be ‘client’.
   
5. Once you have selected the recipient type you will then get another drop down to indicate what TYPE of email this will be.
   • Normal is for standard emails
   • Diary is for emails that are sent from diary events, such as custom appointment reminders. Note: Diary email templates can be attached to Diary events allowing for emails to be generated detailing the time and date etc. of the client meeting. Diary emails are not available for use from the normal email area.
   • Campaign is for emails that we can send through the Campaign Module of XPLAN
   • Task is for emails that we send through Tasks.
     In this example we will choose the ‘Normal’ option.
     
6. Give a Brief Description – This is for internal use and will allow other users to get an idea of what the template will be used for. We will call this template – ‘Quarterly Newsletter 2011 – Q1’.
   
7. Enter a Subject line for the template – this will appear in the subject line of the email.
    
8. A Return receipt can also be requested by ticking the ‘Return Receipt’ tick box.
   
9. . The ‘From Address’ field can be used to set the default sender email address. Tick ‘This
   Address Only’ to 'lock' the sender details, preventing users from changing the sender email
   address.
   
10. In the main body of the email you are now able to type in the standard text for the body. However if you would like details to be automatically populated in the email, such as the clients first name you will need to use what we call ‘XPLAN CODING’.
    On your email toolbar locate the ‘coding icon 
    Once you click on this a pop up box will appear that looks like the picture below. This is the coding box.
11. When using the XPLAN coding you need to identify to the system who you would like coding for; Recipient, Sender or Attached Client’ by choosing this option in the drop down on the ‘From/To’ field. We would like the ‘CLIENTS’ first name and therefore we will use the ‘Recipient’ option.
12. In the category drop down box we will choose ‘Key Details’ as this generally holds all of the
    codes for the clients personal details on the main Client Focus screen in the clients account.
    Since we are looking for the clients first name, this field itself will be located under the ‘Key
    Details’ section.
    
    Once you have chosen ‘Key Details’ you can then indicate which information you would like to prepopulate into the email. In this case I would like the Recipients first name and therefore I choose ‘First Name’.
    

    

    Then click  for the codes to be inserted into the email.

13. Type in the standard text as shown below;

    

    As this email template may be used as a bulk email we will be showing you how to use the software to put in an ‘Unsubscribe’ option for the recipients to use.

14. Locate the Hyperlink Icon on your email toolbar 

    

    Once you click on this ICON you will get a pop up box which looks like the below picture.

    There are a few things you are able to do from this area.

    

    URL: Allows you to add in a URL into the email.

    Link to Anchor Text: Allows you to create a link within the email that will take you to a body of text in another part of the email.

    Email: Allows you to create a link which if the recipient were to click on will automatically open outlook and have certain details filled in.

    We will use the ‘Email’ option to create an Unsubscribe link

15. Once you have chosen the ‘Email’ option, fill out the details that you would like to pre-populate when the recipient clicks on the link.

    

    Once you have done this click OK to insert the link.

    

    In addition to the Email link go back and add in a URL to the email template. Your

    Facilitator will help you through this.

    We will now finish up by placing in the Senders First and Last Name.

    As this is a template that many people in the office can use, it is better to use coding for this. This will ensure the appropriate name will appear despite whoever uses this template to send emails.

16. To do this we will need to go back to the CODING icon and change the From/To list to

    ‘Sender’This is how it should look to pull through Senders First Name
    This is how it should look to pull through Senders Last Name
    
    Also make sure you leave a space between the First and Last name

    Your email template should now look like this;
    UPLOADING ATTACHMENT:
    As with other emails attachments are added via the Attachments tab on the Email Tabs.

    • Click on the ‘Attachments’ Tab
    • Browse to find your document in this case the Quarterly Newsletter
    • Then click on the Attach FILES button to upload.
      
      THE MISCELLANEOUS TAB
      The Miscellaneous tab is used to set visibility permissions, and also ensure that a copy of the email sent to the client is stored as a file note against the client record.
      
      XMERGE/IPS
      The left hand navigation menu allows for a coded Xmerge document or a Portfolio (IPS) report to be added to the email template.
      
    • Syntax Check can be selected to ensure you have the correct syntax for your codes
    • Select Save on the top right hand side to save your Email Template.
      
      Once you click save you will be taken back to the area which holds all the email templates. You should be able to locate you email template in that list.
      
      You have now successfully created an email template.
      Activity: Create an Email Template to be used for Campaigns
      We will be creating a Campaign later today and require an Email template that can be used when inviting the client to the Campaign. Therefore, create an Email template addressed to the client. The Campaign date and time will need to be added manually as these are not available as merge code fields.
      Activity: Create a Diary Email Template ready for attachment to a Diary Template
      Create a Diary Email Template listing the details for the Diary Event (You will need to copy and paste some of these codes from the Help files: Xplan Help > Use Xplan > Diary > Diary Event Notifications). NOTE: Ensure this template is of a generic
      nature as we will use it for all different types of client meetings.
      
      Dear <:let has = False:><:if
      $recipent.first_name:><:=$recipient.first_name:><:if
      $recipient.has_partner:> and
      <:=$recipient.partner.preferred_name:><:let has =
      True:><:end:><:end:><:if not
      has:><:=$recipient.superfund_name:><:=$recipient.company_name:><:=$r
      ecipient.trust_name:><:end:>
      Further to our discussion today, I wish to confirm the following
      details:
      Location:
      <:for location in $event.locations:>
      <:=location:>
      <:end:>
      Schedule: <:=$event.schedule:>
      Please allow about one and half to two hours for this meeting however I will be guided by how much or how little you need to hear. Thank you for your time and please do not hesitate to contact me should you have any questions beforehand.
      Regards,
      <:=$recipient.adviser.first_name:> <:=$recipient.adviser.last_name:>
      Telephone <:=$recipient.adviser.preferred_phone:>
      Email <:=$recipient.adviser.preferred_email:>
        
      

      Emailing Third Parties with Client Data
      Creating a Third Party Email Template
      If you ever need to send an email to one person (for example a referee) with details of a client, then you can do this by using the Third Party Email function. A copy of the email will be saved to both the referee and the client’s record. The client is referred to as the “attached client”.
      To create a Third Party Email:
      

    • Locate the email recipient and either click on the email address
      
    • When coding, you use a new option in the From/To list: Attached Client as shown below:
      
      For example, a letter to a company superfund regarding a member may look something like this:
      Dear <:=$recipient.first_name:>,
      Re: <:=$attached_client.first_name:> <:=$attached_client.last_name:>
    • Once you have coded your email, go to the Recipients/Clients tab and click the Add button (as highlighted below), and attach a Client, Supplier, Professional Adviser or Referrer.
      
      In the Search box, type the required client and press the Enter key on your keyboard (or the Search button). Select the required client from the resulting list and then click on OK. Repeat until the required clients are selected. Each client name will be shown in the Attached Clients section.
    • . When complete, click on the Send button. A separate email will be sent to the recipient for each of the attached clients; therefore, if there are 3 attached clients, the recipient will receive 3 emails.
      
      SMS
      XPLAN has the ability to send SMS emails, in conjunction with third party SMS gateways, to one or  more clients simultaneously.
      To set up SMS Email contact details for your clients:
      

    • Enter the SMS email address in the Contacts section of the client file. (e.g. SMS Email mobilenumber@smsserviceprovider.com.au) where the mobile number is the client’s mobile number and the smsserviceprovider is the sender’s SMS service provider. Note: You need to choose the Type as SMS Email.To send a SMS in bulk:
      

      1. With the relevant clients listed and/or selected, select the SMS hyperlink at the top of the list. If a client in the list doesn’t have an ‘SMS Email’ address they will be appear in the ‘Recipients/Clients’ tab as described in point 4 below.
         
         

      2. The email/sms editor will be displayed.
         

      3. Create your email or use email templates as normal. Note: that some SMS providers will limit the total characters in the message to 160 characters.

      4. Go to the Recipients/Clients tab to view the sms addresses. Note the SMS column is set to Yes for each of the recipients.

      5. Click the Send button when you have finished. A copy of the SMS will be saved in the client's file notes automatically.
         
         Sending Emails
         Sending a Single Email
         The simplest way to send an email to a single client is to click the on the icon next to a client’s name and select Email > Send to Client. This can be done from the client list as a result of a search. You could also select Recent > Client name > Email > Send to Client. You can also simply click on any hyperlinked email address.
         

         Once you have a new email form showing you can choose to use either a template or simply start writing an email.

         If you want to use an email template, select the template in the top drop down list and it will populate the email for you.

         If you are writing an email from scratch, complete the Subject field and the text section.

         Click the Preview button to view the email before it is sent to your client.

         Click the Send button once you are satisfied with the email.
         
         Sending a Group Email

    • From the Title Bar of XPLAN, select List > Entire List from the menu in the top right hand corner.

    • Reduce the list using the search Criteria function if necessary.

    • Once you have the reduced list, select multiple clients by using the checkboxes at the left hand side of the client names and then click the Email column heading. If you want to send to all of the listed clients, you don’t have to use the check boxes…just click the Email > Email All column heading.

      

    • Once the email form is open, select the email template and preview the email if necessary. The preview will only show the first of the recipients to receive the bulk email.

    • Check the Recipients/Clients tab to make sure that all of the clients are on the email list. Each of the clients showing on the screen will receive an email and if you have used XPLAN coding then it will be personalised for each of those clients.

    • If you want to copy others on the message, use the Add button, and select from the list. Select cc or bcc as required – Note: cc and bcc should be used with caution – see Hints and Tips below for more information.

      

      Automatic Email Note when sending Emails
      It is possible to direct XPLAN to attach the sent email as an Email Note against the client record. This is done via the Miscellaneous tab when creating an email, and can be applied to an email template (as discussed earlier) or an ad hoc email.
      
      Send an email to users

      Sending bulk emails
      Bulk emails can also be of use for dealer groups or advisors wishing to email a number of users (employees) at once.

    • Select the Xplan > User Functions > Administer Users

    • Reduce the list using either the search Criteria function or you can use the Group filter menu item to create a list for a group within the dealership.

    • Once you have the reduced, or filtered list, either click on the email address for each user (for individual messages) or select multiple users by using the checkboxes and then click the Email > Email All column heading (for a ‘bulk’ email).

      Either select an email template or fill in the details as required and send – this email will appear in the notes section of the Users record.

      Merge Templates
      
      Note: Creating a letter template is covered in the Coding Workshop.
      Creating a Template Category

      1. Access Template Management by clicking Xplan button, select Administration Functions > Templates

      2. Click Add Category button. The Report Category Details editor displays.

      3. Enter a Category Name and (optionally) a Description for the new category.

      4. Click Create. The category is created and its details display.

      5. Click Edit.

      6. The following settings can be modified:

         • Category Owner - sets the owner of the category

         • Only Editable By Category Owner - if set to Yes, only the category owner can edit the category

         • Visible to All - controls if the category is visible to all users. To restrict visibility to certain groups, set to No.

      7. Click Save.

      8. On the navigation menu, select Groups.

      9. Tick a group to make the category visible to the group.

         Adding a template to a Template Category

         1. Access Template Management by clicking Xplan button, select Administration Functions > Templates

         2. Click  the icon next to your chosen Category to expand this category.

         3. A list of existing templates in the category is displayed.

         4. Click Add Template button. The Report Template Details editor displays.

         5. Enter the Template Name and Description.

         6. Select the Report Type for the template.

         7. Click Create. The Report Category Details window displays.

         8. On the navigation menu, select Files.

         9. Click Browse, find and select the template to upload.

         10. Enter a Description of the template file.

         11. Click Upload

Send letters to a group of clients

The Merge Report facility allows you to create templates with XPLAN coding (similar to the email templates above). Once created, templates can be sent to an individual client or you can send to many clients at a time.

Mail Merge

1. Select List > Entire List from the menu in the top right hand corner.
   

2. Reduce the list using the search Criteria function if necessary.
   

3. If you want to send only to a selection of clients in the list then use the checkboxes at the left hand side of the client names to denote those that will receive the letter; otherwise, just leave the clients unchecked.
   

4. In the left hand side menu select Reports > Merge Reports.
   

5. Select to send to All Listed Clients or Only Selected Clients as required.
   

6. Select the appropriate Report Category  
   

7. Click the   icon of the letter you want to send to clients.

8. If you want the merged document to be linked to the client record as an attachment to a client note, select the Add merge result as document note checkbox at the bottom of the page.

9. XPLAN can export Xmerge outputs electronically to 3rd party services, who can print and mail the documents directly to clients. Selecting Send report by post allows documents to use this facility.

10. Click the Execute button in the top right hand corner.

Creating Templates
If you want to create a standard for a document, such as meeting minutes, you can do so by using the Template function in Document Library

This workshop does not cover the production of merge templates. Another workshop – Coding Workshop - will provide you with lots of information to code templates for your business.

File Note Templates

1. Create a word document with the standard format that you wish to use for meeting minutes.

2. Open Document Library by selecting Xplan button > Document Note Functions > Document Library.

3. Click the Template category and then click the Add button.

4. A new note will display…set the Type, and if appropriate the Subtype.

5. Copy and Paste from the Word Document into the Note section to create the template.

   
6. Click the Save button.

Using a File Note Template

1. To use the Note template, create a new note and select the Template button.

   

2. . Select your new Meeting Minutes template and start typing.

Task Templates
Task templates can be created in the same area as email templates, and can be created for any tasks that are likely to be repeated by practice staff. In this example we will create a Task Template of ‘Return Client Call’ which can be invoked whenever a client calls and a practice employee is required to return the clients call.

1. Select Xplan >Administration Functions > Templates > Tasks and Thread Templates >

   Task Template.

2. All current task templates will be listed.

3. To create a new Task template select the Add button on the top right of the screen.

4. Fill in the task templates details the same way that a task would be filled out. The only compulsory detail is the Subject, all other information is optional. Any information that is added to the template will be automatically placed into a task when the template is used.

5. The Description could be something similar to ‘Client phoned. Please return phone call. If could not be contacted - update task comments”

6. Enter other details on the Details tab.

7. The Secondary tab should be completed if you wish to force the user to complete a comment and state the time taken to complete the Task.

8. The Notification tab should be completed with details relating to who will be automatically notified of the Task being created.

9. The Share tab dictates the visibility setting for the template.

10.  The Outcomes tab could be completed with directing the user to complete a File Note.

11. O0nce complete, Save the Task Template, and it is added to the list of Task Templates.

12. Run through the scenario of a client requiring a return call and applying the Return Call Task Template to an example client.

Diary Templates

Diary templates can be created in same manner as Task Templates.

1. Navigate to Administrations Functions > Templates > Diary Template.

2. Select Add.

3. Enter the default details for the template.

4. Use Client Email Template to use custom diary email templates. NOTE: It is possible to attach an Email template to the Diary template and have it automatically generate an email to the client with the details of the meeting etc.

5. Set the permissions to use and edit templates is controlled by Shared and Owner Edit Only.

6. To activate a thread by creating a diary event, select the thread from the Thread Template list.

7. Click Save
   

Activity: Create a Diary Template and attach the Diary Email Template created earlier

Create an appointment Diary Template, and ensure the Diary Email Template created earlier is attached. NOTE: Ensure this template is of a generic nature as we will use it for all different type of client meetins

• Hyperlinks can be added to templates by highlighting the word that is to become the hyperlink and then selecting the Hyperlink symbol and entering the web address.

• Images can be added to email templates by first saving the image as an attachment to a Note within a category of the Document Library. When creating your template yo our template you can select the Image icon and navigate to the Note and Attachment to select the Image.

  

• When you send an email from XPLAN it automatically saves a copy in the client’s file notes –

  check the miscellaneous tab for these settings.

• If a new client is added to any automatically created To: list, then while they will be entered on the list, they will actually be ‘bcc’.

• By default, a separate letter is produced for each client. This can make it difficult if you are

  printing many letters…however, it IS the way to go if you want to attach the individual letters to each your clients.

• You can use the Options menu to Merge the result into one single document …however this should NOT be used in conjunction with the option to add the document to each client as they would get a document with all other client data!

• A workaround is to do the merge twice…once to merge the letters as single items and to attach to each client record – this merge is NOT printed.

• Then untick attach to client option and do a second merge where the option to merge to a

  single document is selected – this merge is the one to print Please note that if you cc or bcc a person in on the email then they will be copied into every email sent.

• You need the relevant capabilities as well as your email address listed against you as a user to email from XPLAN – please contact your System Administrator if you do not have either of the above.

• Codes which start with a ‘For’ statement and end with an ‘End’ statement, will contain individual codes for the group of information that you are trying to extract. These individual items can be moved around to make the output correct. An example would be an original code of:

  <:for item in $recipient.address:>
  <:=item.postcode:>
  <:=item.suburb:>
  <:=item.street:>
  <:=item.state:>
  <:end:>
  being amended to:
  <:for item in $recipient.address:>
  <:=item.street:>
  <:=item.suburb:>
  <:=item.state:>
  <:=item.postcode:>
  <:end:>

Threads

Threads Overview
Quite simply, a thread is a series of tasks that are related. This allows you to build your businesses processes directly into XPLAN.
What this allows you to do:

• Guides your staff through standard processes you define for your business.
  

• Automates the creation of documents during a business process.
  

• Allows users to actively manage their task lists (e.g., if they are going away on leave they can pull a report of their upcoming tasks and reassign to the most appropriate) – giving users the opportunity to be proactive, rather than reactive.
  

• Improves communication within businesses as notifications can be set – a reminder that acts as a backup.
  

• Allows your business to report on the effectiveness of your processes, tracking time taken
  between tasks.
  

• Implement efficient workflow management in your office.

Minimum threads recommended by XPLAN are:

1. New Client / Prospect
   

2. SOA Preparation
   

3. SOA Implementation
   

4. Review
   

Process for building threads

1. Map / design your processes
   

2. Code templates that support your process (e.g. letters, fact finds, etc.) and upload to your site
   

3. Build the thread
   

4. Test the thread by activating it against a client and going through the tasks, make sure to check all the relationships you have built.

Design your processes
The quickest way to design your process is to use a flow chart to represent it. You don’t need software to do this – a piece of paper will do. Once you have documented the process, it is a good idea to pass it around to others who work that process on a regular basis and get them to ‘sign it off’ before implementing the process as a thread in XPLAN.

Building a thread

1. Xplan button, page Administration Functions > Templates

2. In the Templates screen, use the menu to select Task & Thread Template and then th Thread Template function.

3. In the Thread Template list click the Add button.

   
   

4. In the screen above (which opens when adding a new thread) defines the thread structure, give the thread a name and specify it’s availability to groups.

   Note: Remember we are creating a template and do not need to assign this to any particular client.

5. Once a thread has been created and tasks are attached you will be able to edit the thread and add triggers for when the thread is flagged as completed.

6. If you have mapped your process thoroughly you will be able to identify the tasks which may trigger the completion of the thread – it may not be just the last task.

7. See below for the extra details required to complete a thread:

   

Adding Tasks

1. Click the Add button once you have saved the new thread.
   
   
2. Add details to your task.
   
   
   • Go through the tabs and add the required information. For an explanation of functions of the different tab, refer to the table below.
   • Once you have added all the details of your task, click the Save button.
   • Continue adding tasks and then click the Back button to return to the Threads list in Manage Templates. Note: Remember to go back and edit the thread and then enter the criteria for when the thread will be flagged as complete.

Below are details of functions of the different tabs

Linear Threads

• Activating conditions are the circumstances under which the task within a thread should be
  activated.
  
• In the case of Linear Threads the condition usually depends on the completion of a previous task.
  
• An example of this is:

                                                                            Book an appointment
                                                                            Confirm appointment
                                                                            Conduct appointment
I.e. you can’t conduct the appointment if it hasn’t been booked and below is how you might complete this in XPLAN.

Note that the Type is set to the outcome of another task.

Base Date Threads

• Base dates allow you to create threads around key dates.
  
• These dates significant tax or year end dates, dates of birth or a specific client-related date, such as when the next review is due.
  
• An example of this is:
                                             
  
  
• The only difference is that when you a set the activating conditions, you use the Base Date
  Option and then define when the task will be activated in relation to the thread base date.
• The thread base date is usually defined when it is first created on a client.
  

Tasks

Viewing tasks
Once a task is activated you can view your tasks to do in a couple of places:

1. From your XPLAN menu, click the Diary & Task > Task menu; you will be taken to your task area where you can view tasks which need to be completed.
   
   To open a task, click on the details in the Subject column

2. If you have customised your Dashboard with your preferences you can also view your
   outstanding Tasks from here.

Task Status

As you action each task you should use the Status to define what actions have been done. Below are a few ideas on when to use the different status’.

• Unactioned - This appears when the task is first assigned to you.
  

• Actioned - If the task has been worked on but not yet complete, use this status.
  

• Pending - If you are waiting further information or actions from others.
  

• Review - This appears when a task further along the process has been aborted and this
  previously completed task has been reopened for review.
  

• Complete - It is important to use this status when you have completed the task as it may trigger other tasks.
  

• Aborted - Use this status if the task is to be cancelled.

Ideas on when to use threads

• For standardisation of daily administration processes (such as New Business process)
  

• For annual or semi-annual job for example, a margin lending thread that sets a reminder to
  advisers 30 days before end of the financial year. The tasks may be to send out a mail merge to remind clients to review their investment and tax status
  

• Estate planning thread
  

• Prepaying insurance/tax effective investment before end of a financial year.

Printing

Printing from the task list
There are 2 methods for reporting on tasks:

1. From your home page menu, click the Diary & Task > Task menu, at the top of the home page. A list of tasks will appear.
   
2. Use the Task filter options to select what you would like on your report, see below:
   
   
3. To print out the report, click on the PDF button,
   
   
4. Confirm whether you would like to include Descriptions and Comments and then click Okay
   button.
   
   

Task Management Reports

1. Obtain a list of clients
   

2. Click on the Reports menu and then select Management Report.
   

3. Using the drop down list for the Select Report field, choose the report and set any parameters required
   
   

4. Click the Run button at the top of your page. The report will be sent to the message envelope.

Action Manager

Introduction
Documents generated by Xmerge can have a unique system generated barcode inserted into the document. This barcode can be associated with one or more Actions. When a document that contains one of these barcodes is scanned and uploaded into XPLAN, it will automatically carry out any Actions associated with the document.
It is the Actions associated with Action Manager that  An Action could be to automatically save the scanned document as a File Note against client; or for a Task to be automatically completed or activated upon the scanning of the document; or a Thread to be Activated; or for a certain field to be automatically changed; or that an email be automatically sent.

In this training session you will learn how to:

1. Create an Authority to Proceed Xmerge document that will have an Action Manager
   barcode
   

2. Upload the Xmerge document to the Templates area of XPLAN
   

3. Assign a Variable to the Template
   

4. Assign a number of Actions to the Template. The Actions are for a :

   • File note to be automatically added to client record
     

   • Task to be assigned
     

   • A Thread will be activated
     

   • A field in the client record will be automatically changed
     

   • An email will automatically be sent to the client
     

5. Overview of how to create a WebDav folder
   

6. View the Pending Jobs and Upload Queue.

Creating the Authority to Proceed document

First we need to create our Xmerge document with the Action Manager barcode code inserted into the document.

Below are some examples of codes that can be used to bring through the barcode:

1. Select the Home button, Document Library > Training Notes > Action Manager Training folder, and download and save to your local computer the Authority to Proceed document
   

2. Open the document
   

3. In the top left hand corner type or copy/paste the following code:
   <:=$barcode.make(font_size=10):>
   <:=$var(‘%label%’):>
   The first part of this code will bring through the barcode. The second part of this code will allow us to assign a name to the barcode that will be visible when merged NOTE: it is not obligatory to have the second part of the code.
   

4. Save the document

Upload to the document to the Templates area

1. Now we need to upload this Xmerge document into XPLAN so it can be merged against client records.
   
   

2. Select the Xplan button, Administration Functions > Templates
   

3. Click the  icon next to Action Manager Training category

4. Select Add Template

5. Name the Template ‘your initials Authority to Proceed Templates’. Enter the description, and a Report Type of Entity

6. Select Create
   As explained earlier in this workshop, the Main area can be used to define certain parameters for the Template
   

7. Select Files

8. Browse for the Authority to Proceed Xmerge document you have created
   

9. Enter a Description and select Upload
   

10. The file is uploaded to XPLAN
    

11. Select Variables
    

12. Left click on the word ‘label’
    Within the Value field enter whatever wording you wish to appear underneath the barcode (in this example call it ‘Authority to Proceed’)
    

13. Select Save
    

Setting the Actions for the Document

The Actions that XPLAN can perform are:

• Create a new Task from a Task template
  

• Create a new Thread from a Thread template 

• Attach the scanned file to a Document Note

• Change the status of a Campaign invitee
  

• Change the status of a linked Task
  

• Send an email or SMS
  

• Set the value of a field.

We will assume that once this Authority has been signed by the client, it is scanned into XPLAN. The following Actions will be activated:

1. The first Action will be that a File Note will be added to the client record with a copy of the
   scanned document attached
   

2. The second Action will be that a Task will be assigned to the receptionist to retrieve the
   application form from the adviser and post it to the insurance provider
   

3. The Insurance Implementation Thread will be automatically activated against the client record
   

4. Then a field denoting if the client is an ‘Insurance Client’ will be set to Yes
   

5. And then an email will be sent to the client to confirm receipt of the Authority to Proceed and that work has begun

To create the first Action:

1. Select Action Manager from the left hand menu

   

2. Select Add Action

3. Select the first Action type – ‘Attach document to docnote’

4. Set the Action Parameters

5. Attach to a brand new docnote

6. Select File Note Template of ‘Returned Authority to Proceed’

7. Select Save
   

To create the second Action:

1. Select Add Action
2. Select Add task from template
3. Choose the Task Template ‘Retrieve App Form and Post to Insurance Provider’.
   
   

To create the third Action:

1. Select Add Action

2. Select Add thread from template

3. Choose the thread template ‘Insurance Implementation thread’
   
   
   

To create the fourth Action:

1. Select Add Action
   

2. Select Set Field value on associated entity
   

3. Select Field [Entity] Insurance Client Set value Yes

   
   

To create the fifth Action:

1. Select Add Action
   

2. Select Email/SMS to a recipient
   

3. Select the email template ‘Authority to Proceed returned - NO DO DELETE’
   

4. Select if it’s an email or a SMS

   
   In order to enable these Actions you need to:
   

   • Select Edit

   • Change Enable Action Manager to Yes

     

Overview of how to create a WebDAV folder

Once documents have been scanned they will need to be uploaded to a WebDAV (Web-based Distribution Authoring and Versioning) folder. A WebDAV folder allows you to map a virtual directory in Windows which connects to your XPLAN server.

To create a WebDAV folder using WindowsXP (instructions on creating a WebDAV folder using Vista
and Windows 7 can be located in the Help Files > Search for ‘Setting up WebDAV folders’) :

1. Open Windows Explorer

2. Select My Network Places

3. Deselect the Folders option at the top of the screen

4. Select Network Tasks > Add a network
   

5. Work through the Windows Wizard to setup the WebDAV folder

6. Select Choose another network location

7. The Internet or network address will be /dav/actionman/

8. Enter your XPLAN Username and Password and tick Remember my password

9. Select OK

10. Enter a name for your WebDAV folder

11. Select Finish

    The WebDAV folder will appear in your Windows Explorer. Scanned documents should be dragged and dropped to this folder. XPLAN will then process those documents and activate any Actions that have been assigned to them.
    

Executing an Action Manager document

With the WebDAV folder created and the Xmerge Document (with the Actions) uploaded to XPLAN we can now execute the template:

1. Select your client

2. Select Merge Report

3.  Select the Category Action Manager Training Category

4. Select the Template ‘your initials Authority to Proceed template’

5. Select Execute to merge the document

6. Select the Envelope to download the document

   The document would then be printed and sent to the client to sign. When the document is signed and returned it would be scanned (supported file types are PDF, PNG, GIF, TIFF, TIF and JPG) and dropped into the WebDAV folder you created. The Actions associated with the template would be activated.

Check Pending and Completed Actions
To view the pending actions and also those that have been completed:

1. Select Xplan button, Administration Functions > Action Manager

2. The Pending Jobs section displays those items that have been merged and that we are waiting to be scanned back into XPLAN. Here you will see the template that we have just executed.

3. The File upload queue displays those documents that have been dropped into the WebDAV folder and that we are waiting to be uploaded and processed.

1. Using a label template for a sheet of labels, XPLAN can generate a sheet of identical labels for a client. These can be used similar to above, to create ‘Authority to Proceed’ labels for a client that can be attached to documents sent out to the client.

2. It is recommended that all barcode scans are a minimum of 300dpi resolution.

3. When processing a file which contains multiple barcodes, the following rules apply:

   • Only valid XPLAN barcodes are recognised by XPLAN

   • The first barcode found will create a new document that includes all pages before the first barcode and all pages following the first barcode up to the second barcode

   • Excluding the first barcode, any page containing a unique barcode will be treated as the first page of a new file. This file will contain all following pages until another page is found that contains a valid barcode

   • Multipage support is available for PDF and TIFF files

4. You can setup actions that can be used for ‘On-the-fly’ Xmerging. This involves creating an Xmerge template which contains no template documents, and then setting an option to associate the template with ‘On-the-fly’ Xmerging. This Xmerge template can have Action Manager Actions set. When you upload a template file ‘on-the-fly’, you select Xmerge template to execute the Action Manager Actions

Service Benchmarks

XPLAN offers client Service Benchmark functionality to measure the levels of service activity against a client. A Service Benchmark is used to check if a certain item (such as a Document Note) has been completed a set number of times.

Multiple Service benchmarks are grouped within Service Benchmark Sets, which are then used to examine and report on an individual client’s service levels. The generated benchmark reports show the expected benchmarked activities against the actual delivered actions.

In this training session you will learn how to :

• Create a Service Benchmark

• Create a Service Benchmark Set

• To run a Service Bench Set against a client record

• To set Service benchmarks for multiple clients

How to create a Service Benchmark

1. Select Xplan button, Administration Functions > Service Benchmarks

2. Select Benchmarks from the left hand menu

3. Select Add

4. The default Edit Benchmark screen is displayed
   

5. . Enter the details for the type of Benchmark you wish to create. Depending on the Category of Benchmark chosen other information fields may need to be completed

6. In this example we will create a Service Benchmark of holding 3 client meetings. We will use the Diary Event Outcome of ‘Held’ as our Benchmark. (However, this sort of Benchmark could be monitored through the use of DocNotes, or Tasks i.e. any item that would allow you to monitor how many meetings the client has attended). We will also give this a Benchmark Cost of $500.
   
   The Service Benchmark is saved and listed when the Category is set to Meeting.
   Which User Groups within the site can see the Service Benchmark can be defined through the Visibility option.
   

How to create a Service Benchmark Set

Service Benchmarks can be grouped by using Service Benchmark Sets

1. Select Xplan button, Administration Functions > Service Benchmarks

2. Select Benchmarks Sets from the left hand menu

3. Select Add

4. Enter a Name for the Benchmark Set

5. Select a Benchmark
   
   

6. Visibility for this Benchmark Set can be set through the Visibility option.

   

How to run a Service Benchmark against a client.

1. Navigate to the client record and Admin > Snapshot.

2. In the Client Service Benchmark list select the service benchmark set to use.

3. Click Generate Service Delivery Report. 

   

4. The Service Delivery Report dialog box displays.

5. Select the End Date for the report.

6. Select the Period to be examined of either:

   • One Quarter - 3 months up to the End Date

   • Half Year - 6 months up to the End Date

   • Three Quarters - 9 months up to the End Date

   • One Year - 12 months up to the End Date

   • Two Years - 24 months up to the End Date.

7. Select Ok.

8. The benchmark set will be checked against the client and a report will be generated by a background process and sent to the message envelope. Open and download the most recent notification message

How to set Service benchmarks for multiple clients

1. Generate a list of clients.

2. Select (tick) the clients you wish to modify.

3. On the navigation menu select Functions > Modify All. The Modify Selected Clients page displays.

4. In the Target Clients list select one of the following:

   • All Listed Clients - to modify all of the clients listed in Client Focus

   • Only Selected Clients - to modify only the clients previously selected in Client Focus.

5. In the Function list select Change... To....

6. In the Parameters list select [Key Details] Service Benchmark.

7. Select the Service Benchmark to apply to the selected clients.

   

8. Click Run.

9. The modifications will run as a background process and the report will be generated detailing the Benchmark Items and potential Revenue.

   

Individual Service Benchmarks Service Benchmarks do not include the time period data to be tested. This is set when a Service Benchmark Set is to be run against a client. For example, a service benchmark with a Benchmark Value of 2 will be tested to confirm that the action has been completed twice without the selected reporting period.

This Xmerge syntax can be used to merge Service Benchmark information into a report, where "example" is the name of the Service Benchmark being reported on

<:=$client.service_benchmark(“example”).table.year_to_date:>
<:=$client.service_benchmark(“example”).table.previous_year:>
<:=$client.service_benchmark(“example”).chart.year_to_date:>
<:=$client.service_benchmark(“example”).chart.last_year:>
<:=$client.service_benchmark(“example”).chart.outstanding_year_to_date:>
<:=$client.service_benchmark(“example”).chart.outstanding_last_year:>

Client Management Reports

Introduction
XPLAN gives you the ability to create client management reports through the use of the Management Reports area. These reports are divided into 10 categories; Client Access, Client List, Movement, Diary, Insurance, Task, Practice Management, Portfolio, Referral and Miscellaneous reports.

Listing Clients
To look at your entire client list, click on the List > Entire List in the top right hand corner.
You can narrow down the list by using the search filters at the top of the screen.

Database Mining (Searching)

1. To search for a list of clients with specific criteria, click on Advanced > Advanced Search in the top right hand corner.

   

2. Click the Add button. Find the field that you would like to search on (example below shows searching for all males).

   

3. Then click the Add button.

4. Click the Search button to generate the list. It is from this list that you can then create

   management reports.

5. If you want to narrow the list by adding more fields (e.g. just males over the age of 55) you repeat the actions above
   

Printing management reports

1. Select List > Entire List

2. Use the search functions to filter the list of clients for your reports.

3. If required this list of clients can be further filtered by selecting the check boxes.

4. Click on the Reports menu and then select Management Report.

5.  Using the drop down list for the Select Report field, choose the report and set any parameters required. The parameters will change depending on the report chosen.

   1. When - set the time when the report should be generated. Large reports can take a significant period and resources, and can be run at non-peak times

   2. Email on Completion - generate an email to notify on completed report

   3. Email on Failure - generate an email if the report fails

6. Decide if the report is to include all clients on the list or only those clients that were selected.

7. Click the Run button at the top of your page and then wait for the message envelope

Exporting Data

It is also possible to export data for the clients on the client list that has been created. The exported data can be used for mail merges.

1. Select the Functions and then Export Data from the left hand menu.

2. This first area dictates when and if you are notified by email upon completion of the export.

   

3. The ‘Load Criteria’ option allows previous export criteria to be saved

   

4. The ‘Target Client’ option dictates which clients will be included in the export.

5. The ‘Partners’ option defines if partner entity information is exported separated.

6. When mail merging for mailing lists, change ‘Option’ to ‘Mailing List’.

7. The ‘Export Name’ is the name that you can give to your search criteria.

8. It is then possible to export the data in different file formats. ‘.csv’ is generally used to export data in a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet format. ‘.doc’ and ‘.txt’ can be imported into Microsoft Word and are generally used for Mail Merges.

   

9. The next section defines what fields of data are exported. This defaults to ‘Entity Fields’. The list of fields can be expanded by selecting the  symbol, and then a selection can be made for those fields that are required to be exported.

   

10. ‘Entity List Items’ displays the group data from XPLAN. Again, selections can be made as

    required. When a selection is made it is possible to add a ‘Filter’ (see Database Mining

    (Searching) for information on how to create filters).

    

11. To select all items for export, tick ‘Select All’ at the base of the screen.

12. Select the ‘Export’ button, and when completed download from the message envelope.

Professional Advisers and Referrers

To print a list of Professional Advisers or Referrers

1. Xplan button, Administration Functions > Key Relationships

2. Click either Prof. Advisers or Referrers from the side menu.

3. Use the criteria functions to filter the list of advisers.

4. Click the PDF button at the top of the list to produce a list of advisers and their contact details.

To print a merge report for a list of Professional Advisers or Referrers

1. Xplan button, Administration Functions > Key Relationships

2. Click either Prof. Advisers or Referrals from the side menu.

3. Use the criteria functions to filter the list of advisers.

4. Use the Reports menu to select the merge document to run.

• To search using dates. When using dates as criteria the follow information applies: Choose an Operation with 'date' at the end, as these a specifically designed for date functions.

  'Equal Month', 'Older than Month', 'Less than Month' operations search only in the month field, and  ‘Older than' and 'Later than' are specifically designed to search for notes, although may be used elsewhere.

• To use 'OR/AND/NOT' criteria

  By default results must meet all criteria, however by using the boolean functions of AND, OR and NOT searches can be generated where results can meet one of multiple different requirements.

  i. AND - all criteria within the AND function must be met.

  OR - results will meet any one or more criteria in the function.

  NOT - inverts the other two functions (returns the opposite results). NOT AND returns clients that don't meet all the criteria in the AND function, and NOT OR returns clients that don't meet any of the criteria.

• Examples: Using 'OR/AND/NOT'

  The below example shows a simple search for clients who are either younger than 30 years old OR older than 40.

  

• By modifying the OR filter and enabled the NOT (Negate the filter list result) checkbox, the

  function is changed to find the inverse of the previous function, i.e. NOT younger than 30 years old OR older than 40. This returns any client aged between 30 and 40 years.

  

• The power of the OR/AND/NOT filters is demonstrated by the below search, which finds all

  clients who are either aged 20 AND male, OR are full-time AND smokers.

  

• To use the Manage Professional Advisers and Referrers feature you must have the correct ‘user capability’.

• Here are a few reports you might want to consider:

  • Client Access Log - details of who of your clients uses the Client Access facility and when they last used it.

  • Client Listing – name, address and contact details are shown in this report.

  • Client Review List – details of client, review type, review date and other comments.

  • Policy Details Sorted by Underwriter – list of risk policies grouped by Underwriter.

  • Current Threads – a great way to find the status of your business processes. The report shows the Threads which have been activated for each clients and whether the individual tasks in the thread have been actioned or not!

  • Incomplete Tasks – use this to find bottlenecks in your process by using the Overdue filter in this report.

Campaigns

Introduction

The Campaign function in XPLAN is an event and response/attendee tracking system. The module allows a dealer group or adviser to manage clients targeted in campaigns such as, mail outs, conferences & seminars, newsletter initiating responses. Additionally, tracking, reporting and analysis of campaigns can be generated.

Key Components of a Campaign:

• Campaigns are setup with time schedules for diary integration, and detailed customisable locations and places, and campaign types.

• Campaigns can be set as active/inactive to manage the list of currently active campaigns.

• Campaigns can be set as private or made visible to relevant user groups and editable options (editable by owner or all).

• Customised outcomes can be set per campaign and these recorded for each client’s response.

• Maximum number of participants can be set per campaign and an auto running tally of available places maintained based on acceptances.

Creating a Campaign

To create a campaign:

1. Xplan button, click on Administration Functions > Campaigns
2. Select Campaigns > Campaigns from the left hand navigation menu.
3. Click on Add to insert the campaign details, below is a guide to the fields:
   
   • Title: The name assigned to the campaign
   • Type: Identifies the type of campaign. (This drop down list is managed using the Edit Field Definition functionality)
   • Status: Campaigns can be set as active/inactive to manage the list of currently active
     campaigns.
   • Place: Identifies the geographic location of the campaign.
   • Location: Identifies the venue in which the campaign will be held (if applicable).
   • Start/End Date/Time: Identifies the period over which the campaign will be conducted.
   • Costs, both direct and indirect associated with the Campaign
   • Max Attendees: The maximum number of participants can be set per campaign and an auto running tally of available places is maintained based on the acceptances.
   • Outcomes: Customised outcomes can be set per campaign.
   • Responsible Person: select a user to be responsible for the campaign. This user can see all clients in a campaign list, regardless of the visibility of the client to the user
   • Shared tab: Campaigns can be set as private or made visible to relevant user groups and editable by owner or all users as required.
   • Diary tab: when a User is added to a campaign, the user's Diary can be set to block-out the campaigns time as a diary event. When enabled, you can then select the Diary Template to use for the created diary event.
   • Thread tab: Threads can be executed depending on the outcomes with individual clients
   • Invoice tab: Auto Invoice can automatically generate invoices against clients
   • When one of these set stages occurs for a campaign invitee, XPLAN will automatically send an email to the invitee using the set email template.
   • Email tab: Email templates can be set to run:
     • On Invite
     • On Acceptance
     • On Attendance.
   • When one of these set stages occurs for a campaign invitee, XPLAN will automatically send an email to the invitee using the set email template.

Assigning Clients to a Campaign

• Once a campaign has been created, clients may be assigned/invited to it.

• There are three ways to assign clients to a campaign:

Method 1

• Xplan button, click Administration Functions > Campaigns
• You will be able to view the maximum number of attendees and current number of acceptances as seen below:
  
• Click on Add to add a client to the list.
• Enter the client name in the Entity field.
• Click on the Save button when you have finished. The client will now be listed as an invitee to the campaign.

Method 2

• From a client list, select the  icon, and then Add > Add Campaign
  
  
• Select the campaign from the drop down list.
• Enter the details required and click the Save button.

Method 3 (Adding multiple clients at one time)

• Create a list of clients that you wish to add to the Campaign using the List or Search function.
• Click the icon and select Add Campaign to All.

Managing a Campaign

As client responses are received, participant records can be updated from within the Entity listing. As records are updated in the Entity list for a campaign so are the individual client records. Providing a history for future reference and reporting.

Campaigns may be set to active/inactive from the Campaign list. Use the Status filter to manage the view between active and inactive campaigns.

Corresponding with Invitees

Once the clients are added to the Campaign you can correspond with them easily by sending an email or using Xmerge Reports.

The types of correspondence may include an invitation to a seminar or documentation if the client has indicated interest in a particular marketing mailout.

Emails

Emailing is done by simply clicking on the Email column heading participant list in the Entity list.

• To email all listed entities use Email Entity.

• To email invitees only use Email Invitees.
  
  Choose the Campaign email template that we created earlier today.
  

Reports

To use an Xmerge Report for campaign participants select Reports > Merge Report from the navigation menu and find the appropriate Xmerge template.

1. Select the appropriate Report Category.

2. Click the Run button of the letter you want to send to clients.

3. If you want the merged document to be linked to the client record as an attachment to a client note, use the checkbox at the bottom of the page.

4. Click the Execute button in the top right hand corner

Viewing a Client's Campaign History

While campaigns may be managed at the global level, it is also possible to view an individual client's 'Campaign History'. This enables the dealer group/adviser to analyse the client's responsiveness to campaigns as well as providing a historical reference as to campaigns participated in or declined.

To view a client’s campaign history:

1. Locate the appropriate client (either by searching or via the recent client box in the Title Bar).
2. Select Admin > Campaigns.

• Reports can be generated from the Campaigns > Reports option.
• By default, a separate letter is produced for each client. This can make it difficult if you are printing many letters…however, it is the way to go if you want to attach the individual letters to each of your clients.
• You can use the Options menu to Merge the result into one single document …however
  this should not be used in conjunction with the option to add the document to each client as they would get a document with all other client data!
• A workaround is to do the merge twice…once to merge the letters as single items and to
  attach to each client record – this merge is not printed.
• Then untick attach to client and do a second merge where the option to merge to a single
  document is selected – this merge is the one to print.

 Invoicing

Introduction

You can generate one-off or recurring invoices which can be linked to FUM or Campaigns. Once a payment is received and noted in the system you can then generate reconciliation reports which collate information at client or adviser level (for example).

Creating a template (product)

You can standardise any regular invoices being sent to clients by creating a product in the Invoicing module.

1. Xplan button, Administration Functions > Invoicing
2. Select Products from the left hand menu and then click the Add button to create a new product.
3. . In the Product screen you can:
   • Add a Description
   • Define the Nature of the invoices – General, FUM, Time Taken and XPLAN Group
   • Define the standard fee for this invoice (FUM invoices will use details logged against the client in Client Focus).
   • Choose the Category.
   • Select the groups who will use the invoice product.
4. Click the Save button when you have completed creating your new product.

Adding an Invoice

When adding an invoice, you initially enter basic details regarding the type of invoice (this helps in reporting) and then you enter the invoice items using the product template if you have created one. Recurring Invoices can be managed for such billing items as FUM fees. FUM Invoicing requires that you have set up FUM Scales (found in Administration Functions) for your business and that there are fee details in each appropriate client record (Client Focus > Category > Adviser Fees).

1. Xplan button, Administration Functions > Invoicing
2. Select Invoices (or Recurring Invoices) and then click the Add button to create a new product. (You can also add a new invoice from a client’s record.)
3. In the Invoice screen you can:
   • Select an Entity and User
     Enter Invoice Date, Date of Service and Due Date.
     Define Market Type and Source.
     Enter Comments and select to Notify other users.
4. Click the Add button to create the invoice items.
5. Click the Save button when you have completed adding in your invoice

Campaign Invoicing

Creating invoices automatically

Creating invoices automatically for seminars or workshops is simple. Use the Invoice tab when creating a new campaign in Campaign Manager to indicate whether to create invoices for each participant.
You must then go to Invoicing to select your new campaign (it shows as a Product) and complete
remaining details (such as Category and Type).
The cost of the campaign is defined when you add a client (entity) to your campaign immediately
creating an invoice entry.

Updating an Invoice with payments

Once a payment has been received you can apply that payment across invoices and invoice items by using the Payments function in Invoicing.
When you add a payment it is linked to a client first and then you allocate across any outstanding amounts; use the Save and Add Allocations button to do this when you enter the payment details.

To allocate funds you can manually type in amounts or use the Auto Fill button to enter amounts up to the Amount received.

Reconciliation reports

A set of standard reports are also available for reconciliation purposes.

What report to use when you want to…

Most reports can be grouped by adviser or client so the reports are great tools to keep an eye on any bottlenecks in your business.

Xmerge Invoice and payment receipts

• By setting up an entry in either Invoice or Payments you can easily generate notices to clients by using the Xmerge facility.
• Create an invoice (or receipt) and then use the flags in the Quick Merge facility of the Report Template section of XPLAN where your Xmerge template is held. Don’t forget to flag the user groups – use the I and P checkboxes – if they require access to your new invoicing and receipting payments.
  

Alerts Manager (Compliance)

Introduction

While the name suggests that only a dealer group may use this feature, this unique exception
reporting function can be an important tool for an adviser by notifying them of sales opportunities or monitoring portfolios for movement outside a set benchmark.

Different levels of actions can be applied – notify, warn and breach. Each of these levels defines
whether action needs to be taken.

Set up an automated exception rule

1. Xplan button, Administration Functions > Alerts Manager

2. Click the Add button to create a new rule

3. In the Primary tab:

   • You can Import an Alert rule from another site.

   • Give the Alert a name

   • Select the Entity Type to be examined

   • Notify Entity by Email – when set to Yes this will send an email to the breaching entity - Entity Email Template is used to generate an email to breaching entities; Entity Xmerge Template is used to generate a PDF which is attached to sent emails.

   • Select who to notify

   • Select the notification method, either by Email or Message Envelope

   • Notification Type - for email notifications, select either:

     Brief Details - information similar to the Brief Details shown when you view a list of breaches

   • Extended Details - information similar to the Full Details shown when you view a list of breaches

   • Xmerge Template - select an Xmerge template to use to generate the content of the email.

   • Assign the user that will be assigned a task when the rule breaches. Dynamic User allows for the assigned user to be either relative to the client who breaches the rule, or a Group Role for the client adviser's Primary group.

   • Assign a Type of either Compliance or Marketing (a sales opportunity)

   • Assign the category (useful for reporting and viewing).

   • Select the breach level. Notify and Warn do not require action from the assigned user. Breach does require action

   • Override Breach Message allows for the default breach message to be replaced with a custom breach message

4. In the Schedule tab

   • Set the schedule to run yes or no.

   • Set the schedule for the report.

5. In the Criteria tab:

   • Define the exception criteria for your rule

     Example: No meeting notes made against a client file within last 6 months

     

     

     

6. In the Permission tab:

   • Select whether the rule will be shared

   • Set who can edit the rule.

7. Outcomes tab for auto generation of Tasks and Threads based on the outcome of the Alerts rule

   • Do not create task/thread - no tasks/threads are created by this alert rule.

   • Auto create at most one task/thread per entity per alert - a breaching entity will have a task/thread created only if the entity does not already have a task/thread for previously breaching the alert rule.

   • Auto create one task/thread per entity per occurrence - a breaching entity will have a task/thread created. Each time the entity breaches the alert rule a new task/thread will be created.

8. Click the Save button when finished.

Multiple Criteria

Multiple criteria can be searched for simultaneously by using AND, OR and NOT filters:

• AND - all criteria within the AND filter must be met

• OR - results will meet any one or more criteria in the filter

• NOT - inverts or negates the other two filters (returns the opposite results). NOT AND returns clients that don't meet all the criteria in the AND filter, and NOT OR returns clients that don't meet any of the criteria
  

To use these filters:

• Select either an AND or OR filter

• Tick NOT if you wish to negate the filter's function.

• Click OK. The filter criteria is added.

• Now click  on the filter to add criteria to the filter.

• Select the criteria settings.

• Click OK. The criteria is added to the filter.

• Continue to add the alert rule to be searched for

Reports

A variety of reports can be generated which summarises or details the result of the rules exception run; these are available from within the Alerts Manager function of XPLAN.

Types of alerts manager reports

1. Entities matching an alert rule.

   • Generates a report on which clients have breached a specific alert rule on a certain date.

   • Alert Rule - select the alert rule to report on

   • Dates - select the date that the alert rule was processed

   • Previous - tick to only report on clients who also breached the alert rule on a previous date

   • Sort - choose how the report information will be sorted:

2. Summary matching alert rules

   • Generates a summary of select alert rules between two dates. The summary includes tabular and graphical results of:

   • total number of breaches per rule

   • total number of breaches per adviser

   • total number of breaches per user group.

   • Date Range - the two dates that define the period to be reported on

   • Alert Rule - tick the alert rules report on.

3. Unresolved breaches for x days

   • Generates a report on all breaches that have been unresolved for a selected period of days.

   • Days - the number of days that a breach has been unresolved for

   • Sort- choose how the report information will be sorted.

The rules will be run on the scheduled day between 7pm and 8am. If the rule is not completed in that time it will pause and recommence the next evening.
Examples of Alert Rules:

1. Portfolios which have returned less than 5%(IRR) in the last 12 months

   

2. No financial needs recorded

   

3. Portfolios which are outside the agreed minimum or maximum asset allocation

4. Clients whose last FSG was provided more than 12 months ago

   

5. . Portfolios exposed to a single fund manager by more than 30%

   

6. Exposure to any one asset sector by over 60%

    

7. More than three products in a portfolio which are not in a specific (Licensee prescribed) APL

    

8. Clients exposed to a HunterHall product who earn less than $80k

   

   

   

9. Any holding traded in and then out within the last 60 days

   

Conclusion

Summary

Congratulations! You have completed the Practice Management course The Practice Management workshop is designed to give a good grounding in the fundamental practice management features of XPLAN, such as creating templates and threads. Using the Invoicing, Action Manager and Alerts Manager module, and how to create Management reports.

Review Learning Outcomes

You have learned how to:

• Create email, note, task and diary templates

• Over of threads and how to allocate them to clients

• Creating Action Manager rules

• Creating Service Benchmarks

• Create client lists in order to produce management reports

• Create campaigns and track and report on client responses to campaign invites

• Use the Invoicing module to create products and invoices

• Use the Alerts Manager module to run exception rules on both client and portfolio data

Support and Contacts

What do I do if I have problems using XPLAN?

• Contact the XPLAN support centre on 1300 1300 69 (option 1)
  

• Email your enquiry to xplansupport@iress.com.au
  

• Contact your Account Executive

The Help Desk will be operative from 7am – 6 pm Monday - Friday.

Customised Training

We offer a wide range of training and consulting services to get the most out of XPLAN for
your business.

IRESS offers customised XPLAN training for any dealer groups or financial planning practices that
require tailored training solutions for their staff. We discuss your specific needs, agenda items and
timeframes, and develop an agreed training agenda based on your requirements. This training is
chargeable based on the number of attendees, time and location of training required.

For further information contact your Account Executive or the National Training Manager:

Andrew Roberts
National Training Manager
03 9018 5813
aroberts@iress.com.au

Consulting Services/Tailored Solutions

IRESS' consulting service offers a focused review of a dealership/practice and identifies how
our Wealth products can improve business efficiency.

IRESS' consulting service offers a focused review of a dealership/practice and aims to identify
how XPLAN can be better utilised to improve business efficiency. While all aspects are covered, key
areas may include

• Assisting with the development and implementation of workflow processes
  
• Fine tuning SOA
• Designing and implementing SOA.

For further information contact your Account Executive or the Senior Project Consultant:

Andrew Wootton
Senior Project Consultant
07 3011 4700
awootton@iress.com.au