[Account Owner] Deliverables
The Deliverables feature is included on your AdvicePay account and ready to use! To see a demo, please reach out to enterprise@advicepay.com. We highly recommend using this feature in conjunction with an Engagement.
In This Article:
AdvicePay helps you run your firm compliantly, giving you all the compliance tools necessary in one place -- including verifying deliverables. With our scalable Deliverables feature, you can review deliverables in real-time -- for ALL of your advisors -- and throw out that spreadsheet for good!
Why use Deliverables in AdvicePay? Deliverables is a key tool for oversight, and was specifically designed to support the work of Compliance Officers and Compliance Managers by enforcing workflows for their Representatives that meet regulatory guidelines. It helps you avoid the risk of regulatory fines and provide validation to regulators that the plan was delivered for the fees that were charged.
You will feel confident that things are not falling through the cracks, as every plan can be accessed and reviewed directly from AdvicePay...not just a sampling of them!
Get Started by Adding Deliverable Templates
Important: To allow/prevent Advisor Admin(s) from submitting Deliverables for their Advisor(s), there is now a Firm setting, located under Deliverables. On (green) will allow Advisor Admins to submit Deliverables.
When this setting is toggled off, Admins will only be able to prepare the submission of the Deliverable.
Once Deliverables is active on your account, navigate to Firm Settings > Deliverables to begin setting up your firm's desired templates.
1. Click Add New Template
2. Enter the Name of Deliverable and select whether the deliverable is One-time or Ongoing.
A One-time deliverable is available once, and then marked as complete. Issuing new deliverable requests for an advisor and the same client will need to be done manually. This is best used for a one-time engagement with a client.
An Ongoing deliverable will automatically generate another deliverable request after the initial deliverable is submitted. It can keep going indefinitely or only occur a certain number of times. This option is ideal for clients on subscription services that require regular deliverable submissions -- simply set it and forget it!
3. Next, set your Initial Due Date criteria and Evidence types accepted. For Ongoing deliverables, you will also specify Future Due Dates and End Date criteria (this will determine how many deliverables are automatically generated). Future Due Dates can be set based on the last submitted deliverable submit date or the last submitted deliverable due date.
When Future Due Dates and End Dates: Occurrences are selected, the number of occurrences selected will equal the total number of deliverables sent to the client (including the first deliverable).
How an Ongoing deliverable with Occurrences works!
Using the example shown in the screenshot below, a deliverable based off the template will create an initial deliverable that is due one (1) week after their client's agreement is designated as signed.
- After the first deliverable is submitted, the next deliverable will be opened with a due date set for six (6) months later. The subsequent due dates will be based on the date the previous deliverable was submitted.
- This automatic workflow will happen a total of three (3) more times after the first deliverable is created and submitted.
- The total number of deliverables owed by the advisor will therefore equal four (4).
Under Initial Due Date, options available are Custom Due Date or Automated Due Date.
Custom Due Date allows you to select any date you choose (past, current, or future) when creating a deliverable.
Automated Due Date criteria can be scoped to the timeframe Days, Weeks, Months, or Years. This can be specified based on the date an Agreement is signed, or when an Invoice is paid. When creating a deliverable, the system will automatically calculate the due date for you based off the date you enter for the agreement signed or invoice paid.
Accepted Evidence types include: File (.pdf, .docx, .png, or .jpeg), Notes, URL, Word Document (.docx), Screenshot (.png or .jpg), URL, Advisor attestation, Reviewer Attestation, and eSign Document.
You can add multiple/all evidence types (if desired), and select which types are required or remain optional. They will be able to submit evidence in all available types or just choose one depending on if there are required types. However, please do note that if eSign Document is included as an accepted Evidence type, it is always required!
4. Under Approval Settings, select whether you would like the Deliverable to go through an Approval process, the Attestation for the Reviewer, or the Attestation for the Advisor.
Important: If the Approval Setting is toggled on to require the Deliverable approval process, then once Advisors submit their evidence, the approval will be sent to the Reviewer (Selected or Home Office by default).
Ready to add Reviewers for your Advisors to choose from? Check out this article on how Home Office can add Reviewers
📍Read more: How to Set Permissions for Advisors to Choose their Reviewer
When these Approval settings are on it will be required before moving forward to completion.
5. Click Save
More Deliverable templates can be added with different criteria by selecting Add New Template again and repeating the steps above!
For context when the Advisor submits the deliverable the attestation will show as below, in which they must click Submit:
When a Reviewer Reviews and Approves the Deliverable, they will see the below, in which they will have to click Submit to move forward:
👉 Make a mistake or want to change the deliverable criteria? Select Edit or Delete next the template you want to update or remove.
Edits to deliverable templates will only influence future deliverables created from that template; existing open deliverables will remain as-is.
Review/Change Deliverable Notification Settings
Next, head to Firm Settings > Emails & Notifications > Deliverables to quickly review email notification behavior.
Firm Admin Users
By default, we will notify Home Office/firm Admins (including the Account Owner) of Deliverable activity by sending individual email notifications and a weekly summary email. You can elect to Just send a weekly summary email by clicking its radio button.
You can also add additional email recipients by entering the email and clicking Add Recipient. (They do not need an AdvicePay account!)
If you don't want Firm Admins/the Account Owner/additional users notified at all, toggle Notify admins directly when a deliverable is due with 30 days, becomes overdue, or an advisor completes an open deliverable to off.
Advisors
By default we will also notify advisors directly when a deliverable assigned to them is due within 30 days, becomes overdue, or an open deliverable has been created for them. We will send individual, email notifications and a weekly summary email. You can elect to Just send a weekly summary email to advisors by clicking its radio button.
If you don't want Advisors notified at all about Deliverables assigned to them, toggle Notify advisors directly when a deliverable assigned to them is due with 30 days, becomes overdue, or an open deliverable has been created for them to off.
Note: Daily summary emails are sent at 4pm ET/2pm MT during Daylight Savings Time and at 3pm ET/1pm MT during Standard time. Deliverables created after this time will be included in the next day's summary email.
Create Deliverables
Once you have your desired templates added and email notifications set, you can begin creating and assigning deliverables to advisors.
Is your firm using Engagements? It's best practice to set up an Engagement workflow using the Deliverable and let us automate everything for you! 💥
If not using Engagements, there are two ways to create a deliverable: independently or attached to a signed and completed eSignature document.
Option 1: Independent Method
1. Click Deliverables in the left-hand sidebar > select Create Deliverable (or Add Deliverable)
2. Under Type of Deliverable, select the desired Deliverable template from the drop down menu.
3. Assign an Advisor and their Client in AdvicePay. (Note: we will only display Client names who are assigned to the selected Advisor!)
4. Select the Date when the invoice was paid or the agreement signed. We will calculate and display on-screen when the Deliverable is due based on the template criteria established:
5. Click Save
Option 2: Attached to a Completed Document
1. Click Documents in the left-hand sidebar > click on the Completed column > click the drop down menu for the desired document and select Create Deliverable:
2. Under Type of Deliverable select a deliverable template that is based on the Agreement Signed date.
We will pre-fill the assigned advisor and client based on the document signers. We will also pre-fill the date the document was signed and completed in order to calculate the due date for the deliverable. You can adjust all of this information if desired!
3. Click Save. The deliverable and document are now linked! By viewing the Document details you can click its linked Deliverable, and vice versa:
You can also link multiple deliverables to a single document if desired.
Important: If the Deliverable requires Approval or Attestation -- following the submission of evidence by the Advisor or Home Office, the Reviewer will be required to Accept or Decline the Deliverable. 💥
Editing, Viewing, and Deleting Deliverables
All Deliverables in any status can now be deleted by the Account Owner or the Home Office — even those that are completed.
The Date is editable on Open or Past Due, deliverables! To do this, click the drop-down menu for the Deliverable and select Edit Deliverable.
If you need to change other key details, or if you no longer want the Deliverable, you will need to select Delete deliverable instead. All Deliverables can now be deleted by the Account Owner and Home Office even if it is completed.
When an advisor submits Deliverable evidence, the status will update to Complete if no review is required. If a review is required for the Deliverable, the status will update to Pending Review and will move to Complete once Approval is received from the Reviewer. To see the evidence submitted, select View deliverable. From here you can click to read/download/access the provided evidence along with associated details like Submitted Date!
Searching, Filtering, & Exporting Deliverables
On the Deliverables page you can view all deliverables that have been created for advisors. We'll display the Status (Open, Past Due, Signature Required, or Complete), Due Date, Advisor, Client, and Deliverable Type:
You can use the Search area to search your created Deliverables by any of the information displayed (e.g. status, advisor name, etc.) -- or you can use the Filters button for more advanced sorting!
Filter options include:
- Status
- Open (Any deliverable that has not been saved or submitted with a due date in the future)
- In Progress (Any deliverable where progress has been saved by a user)
- Pending Submission (Any deliverable an advisor admin has prepared submission for. Advisor can see a list of deliverables they can review/edit and submit)
- Pending Review (Any deliverable that has been submitted for reviewer approval)
- Pending Signatures (Signatures are still needed for eSign Document)
- Approval Rejected (Any deliverable that has been rejected by a reviewer)
- Complete (Any deliverable that has been submitted and approved by the reviewer)
- Due Date (timeframe)
- Submit Date (timeframe)
- Client
To export a Deliverable report to an Excel file, select Actions > Export to .XLSX:
Items on the report include:
- Status (upcoming, open, pending_signatures, past_due, complete)
- Client Name
- Advisor Name
- Deliverable Type
- Due Date (blank if status = upcoming)
- Submitted Date (blank if not submitted or status = upcoming)
- AdvicePay Engagement ID
- External Engagement ID (If applicable)
- Engagement Name
Email the Home Office will Receive when a Deliverable is Submitted
Frequently Asked Questions
What happens if a client with an Open, Past Due, Pending Review, or Completed deliverable is assigned to a new advisor?
If a deliverable is Open, Past Due, or Pending Review, that deliverable assignment will move to the new advisor. Completed deliverables for the client will stay under the old advisor's name.
How long are uploaded Deliverable files stored?
Indefinitely!
We are using Ongoing deliverables. Why didn't a new Open deliverable generate for an advisor after evidence was submitted?
When you don't see a new Open deliverable, this means that we've reached the last deliverable owed based on the End Date specified in the Ongoing deliverable template! The deliverable arrangement is now complete. If you need to start again, you will create a new deliverable request for the advisor. 🙂
I set the Deliverable due date condition to "after Invoice paid." When will the Deliverable be created -- when the client approves the subscription/one-time charge, or at the time the payment is successfully charged?
The Deliverable will be created after the charge is initiated and we were able to successfully charge the payment method!
If you manually mark a payment as Paid, the Deliverable will be immediately created.
What Happens after Creating a Deliverable?
If advisor email notifications are active, the assigned advisor will either receive an immediate notice about the Deliverable or a daily summary email! (Clients are never notified about Deliverables.) No Login advisors will not receive an email -- instead, a notification is sent to the Account Owner.
Once created, advisors can submit Deliverable evidence for the clients through their AdvicePay account. (Advisor Admins may or may not be able to submit deliverables but they can prepare submissions depending on the Firm Settings> Deliverables> Allow admins to submit deliverables).
Account Owners and their Home Office Admins + Managing Advisors (also Office Managers) and their Admins can all submit Deliverable evidence on their advisors' behalf.
When evidence is submitted on an Ongoing deliverable, the system will automatically generate a new Open deliverable.
📍Read more: