Advice Request Best Practice

Hi michael.kitselaar 

I have seen a variety of ways Advisers and Paraplanners communicate for Advice production.

What I have found the most important things to consider are:

• What is the information needed by the Paraplanner to produce the advice document?
• What information is already in XPLAN at the time of the request?
• What activity is being completed by the adviser in XPLAN before sending the request to the paraplanner?

Based on these items, the solution created in XPLAN should:

• Minimise double data entry;
• Ensure a visual overview of where things are at in the process;
• Ensure data is shared securely;
• Maximise the tools you have available to you now (i.e. XPLAN). 

Options I have seen work in the past (in order of preference) are:

A Paraplanning Request Wizard:
A wizard is one way. It is a favorite of mine. The benefit of a wizard is that the Paraplanning Request wizard and the SOA production wizard can share data entry. So your process might be:

• 1. Complete the Paraplanning request wizard
• 2. Create a file note with an attached merge report with the instructions as per the wizard
• 3. Activate a Task / Thread to the paraplanner
• 4. Link the wizard, the file note and the task to an active Case.

Once the Paraplanner completes their work and starts the Advice Wizard, any data entry like Scope of Advice, Fees, and Strategy, would already be there saving them time from re-entering this data. A workflow process helps the adviser see what stages the Paraplanner is at. The file note provides a secure way to communicate back and forth between the adviser and the paraplanner. 

A Merge Report
If there were barriers to creating a wizard (This might be based on the XPLAN site you are on, the expertise of the end user, or the cost to create a wizard), then a Merge Report would be my next suggestion. This merge report could bring through data stored within XPLAN in a Form Format for the adviser to complete. The data already entered in XPLAN can come through so there is no double entry on things such as objectives and planned retirement dates etc. I would still recommend using File Notes, Tasks, Cases etc. to minimise client personal data being sent by email. 

A File Note Template
Assuming there were barriers with a Merge Report, then a File Note Template could also work. The File Note Template could be in a table format, ensuring the Adviser enters all the relevant information required by the Paraplanner. They can link attachments to the file note (Reverse Fact Finds, Statements from Providers, Other notes) to assist the paraplanner in completing their work. 

All of the above solutions are ways to get the message to the paraplanner. In all three of these suggestions, a Workflow process built within Cases, and secure communication via File Notes is needed in conjunction with the initial request. XPLANs Opportunity area would also be recommended to track the client's progress through the advice journey. I hope this provides some initial insights and if you have any additional questions or need more in-depth information on one of the above solutions, please let me know.