Now that your highly-trained team is in place, it’s time to ensure the equipment they use is perfectly calibrated.
Precision tools can make the difference between a good dish and a great one. A perfectly-calibrated oven, a razor-sharp knife, a precise sous-vide machine – these are what allow a chef to execute a recipe flawlessly, time and time again.
In your advice practice, your Xplan advice tools serve the same purpose. Dialing in your core equipment, approved product list (APL), model portfolios and fee scales is what ensures every financial "dish" you create is precise, consistent and of the highest quality.
Your approved product list (APL): the hand-selected ingredients
A top chef doesn't just use any ingredient; they use a curated list of approved suppliers known for their quality and reliability. Your APL is your practice's list of hand-selected ingredients. Configuring this correctly within Xplan’s tools helps your team to create portfolios built from the best "produce" available.
Insurance menu
In Risk Researcher, your APL functions like a tiered pantry system for your insurance products.
You can establish lists at three levels: Global (the default for the whole restaurant), Group (for specific kitchen teams) and User (a chef's personal list). If a specific team doesn't have its own list, Xplan works up the hierarchy, ensuring they always use an approved set of ingredients.
You can even mark certain products as “preferred” to highlight the star ingredients you want your team to use first. For more information, see here.
Product comparison menu
Within WealthSolver, the APL is used to restrict which products are available and used in comparisons.
Think of this as ensuring your kitchen only uses specific, preapproved brands for a key part of your recipe. You can control which teams see which products by managing visibility based on user groups.
This requires specific permissions, ensuring only authorised kitchen managers can modify these crucial ingredient lists. For more information, see here.
Investment portfolio menu
For your investment portfolios, the APL is your master list of pantry staples, the individual securities and funds you use daily.
You can stock your pantry by adding products one by one, searching for them by code, or you can perform a bulk order by importing a list from a CSV file, getting your kitchen stocked with everything it needs quickly and efficiently. For more information, see here.
Model portfolios: the signature recipes
Every great restaurant is known for its signature dishes; the ones that are so consistent and beloved that customers return for them again and again. In Xplan, your model portfolios are the secret to that consistency.
Think of a Target Set, in IPS, as the master recipe card for a specific investment portfolio.
In a kitchen, a recipe card lists the exact ingredients and their precise measurements to create a consistent dish every time. A Target Set does the same thing for your investments: it lists the specific securities (the ingredients) and their exact target percentages (the measurements).
Then WealthSolver Model Portfolios are the final, plated dishes on your comparison menu. These are the specific dishes you present to clients. Model Portfolios can be created by:
- importing from Portfolio Target Sets, or
- manually within the tool
Just as a head chef signs off on every plate, this process ensures every financial dish you serve is meeting the standards of your practice. For more information, see here.
Assumptions: the science of your cooking
Every great kitchen is built on the science of cooking: the foundational rules that ensure bread rises and sauces emulsify. Your economic and asset class assumptions are the core scientific principles of your financial kitchen.
These are your base ingredients, like inflation rates and expected returns, that are used in all your modelling and projections. By setting these centrally in Xplan, you ensure every adviser is operating from the same set of fundamental rules.
These assumptions must be reviewed regularly to ensure they align with your licensee’s guidelines and reflect the current environment. For more information, see here.
Risk profiles: defining the flavour
Before a chef cooks, they need to know the customer's preference. Do they like it mild, medium, or extra spicy? Your Risk Profiles serve this purpose, defining the flavour for each client.
- Setting the spice levels: First, you must define your 'spice levels' from mild to extra spicy (e.g., Conservative to Aggressive). Each level corresponds to a specific asset allocation, so your team knows exactly what "medium spice" means in terms of ingredients.
- Questionnaire: This is the conversation with the diner. By configuring your risk profile questionnaire directly into Xplan, the system can take a client's responses and calculate their preferred flavour profile. This removes guesswork and ensures you aren't serving a fiery vindaloo to someone who ordered a mild korma.
For more information, see here.
FUM scales and custom products
A Michelin-star chef would never guess the amount of a critical ingredient; they measure with absolute precision. Your funds under management (FUM) scales must be configured with the same exactitude.
Setting up your FUM scales in Xplan ensures that your fee calculations are always accurate and consistent, removing ambiguity and ensuring fairness.
Similarly, sometimes a dish requires a unique ingredient not found in the regular pantry. Configuring custom products in Xplan allows you to add these bespoke elements to your financial recipes while still maintaining control and consistency within your system. For more information, see here and here.
Scenario templates in Xtools
Modern kitchens are equipped with smart tools that can execute complex cooking processes at the touch of a button. Scenario templates in Xtools function in much the same way. By creating templates for common financial modelling scenarios, you equip your team with a powerful tool to run complex projections quickly and accurately.
This is like having a preprogrammed setting on a smart oven, it ensures the "cooking" process is efficient, reliable, and produces a perfect result every time, freeing up your team to focus on the client rather than the mechanics. For more information, see here.
The taste of quality
The behind the scenes work of configuring your advice tools is a critical ingredient in providing a Michelin-star client experience.
Just as a client tastes the quality of the ingredients in their meal, your clients feel the quality that comes from precisely calibrated advice tools. It manifests in the clarity of your advice documents, the consistency of their experience and the confidence they have in your service.
Don't let uncalibrated tools compromise the quality of your service. Take the time to review your advice tool configuration. Are your APLs, model portfolios and FUM scales set up to deliver the precision your clients deserve?
Xplan Expert
