We’ve talked about mindset and what it takes to truly be an Xplan champion. But before you can start serving up five-star advice, you need to get your kitchen in order.
In Xplan, this means building solid foundations to establish how your site operates. Without a consistent foundation, your data will be inconsistent, your team will be inefficient and your client experience will be less than ideal.
Not every advice practice is the same, so not every Xplan site should be set up the same. A little bit of planning at the start can make a huge difference to your team’s experience and, ultimately, your end client’s experience – just like ensuring your pantry is stocked with all the right ingredients.
Your pantry: configuration and personalisation
Think of your Xplan site as a well-organised pantry. Just as a pantry's setup ensures you have everything you need at your fingertips, site configuration allows you to customise the look and feel of your site, making sure your team has easy access to their most frequently used functions.
Here’s how to get your pantry in order:
- Creating a theme: Develop a unique flavour for your site that reflects your brand’s colour palette.
- Uploading logos: Ensuring all logos (Site, User Group, and Report logos) are uploaded means your brand is easily reflected in all that you do.
- Configuring defaults: Setting default site and client focus settings that align with how the majority of your team work will ensure their most used ingredients are easily accessible.
- The app title: A small tweak, but updating the browser tab title from “Xplan” to something more unique can give your Xplan site a signature dish of its own.
- Updating chart visuals: Aligning chart colours with your brand presents a cohesive image to your clients. You can even adjust chart settings, like opting for an exploding pie chart.
- Establishing email signatures: Implementing a site-wide email signature, means every communication sent to your clients is brand-aligned and professional as well as ensuring licensee and business details, along with any compliance required text is always included.
- Quick links: These are the chef's go-to shortcuts. Include ‘mise en place’ links to external URLs that your team uses frequently, allowing them to navigate quickly and easily to external websites from directly within Xplan.
Recipes for your site's default settings
Xplan site default settings are the fundamental rules of your Xplan kitchen. They ensure everyone on your team is operating from the same recipe book, no matter what they're working on.
Here, we're talking about things like:
- Economic and asset class assumptions: These are the core ingredients used in all your modelling and projections. These should be aligned with your licensee’s assumptions on site set up and reviewed regularly.
- Risk profiles: These define the final flavour profile for each of your clients. Have you set up your ‘spice levels’ from mild to extra spicy? You can also configure your risk profile questionnaire into Xplan so the system can take the clients’ responses and calculate the end risk profile for you.
- Interface design: This is your kitchen layout. If you’ve ever renovated your kitchen at home, you’ll know about kitchen layout rules, of “the work triangle” aimed at creating efficient workflow between the sink, refrigerator, and stove.
Design your Xplan interface with a similar focus on the optimal “work triangle” for your team. Keep your naming conventions similar to the standard so your team can benefit from the standard training resources in Iress Community and Iress Learning Centre. - Field definitions: We advocate for using standard Xplan fields all the way. Some of these fields should be configured to align with how you work. Note, and task types and subtypes are one of these areas. Plan your types and subtypes well. You want a comprehensive, descriptive range that covers all areas of the advice process without becoming a messy 'potluck'.
- User and client dashboard configuration: These are your 'prep stations'. Set up practical site-wide default dashboards across daily activities, workflow, and practice management so your team has access to everything they need to know at a glance.
These are the recipes for your success. These recipes should be reviewed regularly to ensure they continually meet the evolving needs of your business.
Ready to serve?
Taking the time to get your Xplan site's foundations right is an investment in your practice's five-star restaurant review. It's the difference between a chaotic kitchen and a well-oiled Michelin-star restaurant experience.
Next week, we take you through perfecting your team's roles and stations.
Don’t let a messy kitchen hold you back. Block out some time this week to audit your Xplan site. And get cooking! You and your clients will taste the difference.
Xplan Expert
