Jeremy shows us how to automate your project workflows with features in Firm360. Let the machines get your clients' data next tax season and save your self some stress.

hey there thanks for joining me for this
quick video I'm Jeremy I'm with firm
360.
we have had a lot of people asking
recently about the automation features
within our system within firm 360. So
today we're going to go over an example
of what an automation sequence might
look like all right so that you can get
the most out of the system that really
means that we're going to cover three
things all right we're going to cover
the client actions or the to-do list
that we're going to send along to the
client we're going to cover the project
workflow which is just going to tell the
project where it's allowed to go next
and we're going to talk about the
project template which is where you're
going to make the rules you're going to
establish the rules for the project like
what triggers the project to move from
one status to the next and who's
responsible for that project at each
status and what are they even supposed
to be doing at that stage okay so if
you're ready we will go ahead and Dive
Right In
okay so the first place that we're going
to go is to our client section and I
have selected Thomas Gibson as our demo
client today we're going to take a look
at his stuff
we're going to come here to the tasks
tab
the first thing you're going to see are
the user tasks that's what your team is
responsible for on a day-to-day basis
you and I are going to take a look at
the client actions which is what I need
my my client to look at so Thomas needs
to submit his tax prep questionnaire
which we have created in a form and
we've included for him
we need him to send over his tax
documents and we can Define exactly
which ones we need and we need him to
book an appointment
and so you can kind of get an idea I can
link my own calendar to this to this
step so when it's time for him to book
an appointment he can just come right
here to my calendar so let me show you
what that looks like from his side so if
I'm your client I've logged into my
client portal here
here are my client actions my to-do list
right here on my dashboard so I'm going
to open this up here they are I need to
fill out this tax prep questionnaire so
you can get an idea of what that looks
like here's a here's just a sample
textbook questionnaire that we have put
together all right all of that's going
to be right here your clients can fill
that out
back to the dashboard I also need to
send over my tax documents and I need to
book an appointment all right once I
have selected all three of these as done
once all of these have been accomplished
that will move this project onto the
next status
okay so the next place that we're gonna
go is to the project workflows which is
really just where you're going to tell
the project where it's allowed to go
so we've built one out here as an
example these are the steps you know the
the status that it's going to be in the
Target status that it's going to go to
and the action that we have assigned it
that will move it from one status to the
next this makes sense to a lot of people
but for some people they need the
visualization which we have created here
so as you're building as you're building
your automation it will it will give you
this visual display of what's actually
happening each of these ovals is a
status all right and the pathway is the
action that's taking place from one
status to the next so the project will
begin in the not started status and then
it will automatically move to waiting
for client info
we've got some rules that we can apply
there the next step will will only be
pre-processing the documents and if once
we have all of those documents it'll
move on to preparation onto review
reviewer comments back to review
processing and delivery waiting on
client approval waiting for government
approval and completed okay so once we
have established that this is the
pathway then we're going to connect this
to an actual template so we're going to
use a project template and and put this
on top and layer the whole thing and add
some rules
all right so the last stop then is going
to be our project templates where we are
going to put all of this together rules
statuses everything in one place we're
going to scroll down
and select the tax return version two
again this is one that we've put
together ahead of time
this is just a basic information that
you need for for this project we've
named it tax tax return V2 we're using
the tax project workflow the target due
date is going to be 60 days all of
that'll be right here at the top I'm
going to scroll down a little bit the
tasks these are the checklist items that
we're going through in order to complete
this project Step One is review the data
step two is process the documents clean
up so on and so forth all the way down
to e-file accepted and government
approved here are the days that it takes
to complete this
and we can assign this to either someone
by their job title or by individually by
their name so if I need my my office
admin to take care of receiving the
documents and then they want to pass it
on to the junior accountant for example
all of that can be determined here and
here's the status that all of these
actions are going to occur at all right
I'm going to scroll a little bit farther
down the client actions if you'll recall
this is what we set up in the first
place I need my client to fill out the
tax questionnaire I need them to upload
their tax documents they need to book an
appointment those are all in their
client portal and then at the tail end
of the project I need them to review
their tax return and confirm it and so
that we so that we can submit it at the
end all right so that's those are the
steps that we need them to complete
here are some examples of status
transition rules so when the project
begins it's going to recur on January
the 1st all right so this project will
kick off by itself on January the 1st
and it will begin in the not started
status and since we don't have their
their documents in the first place
there's not much that we can do so the
rule is after 30 days have passed this
is going to move to waiting for client
info and another rule that we'll set is
it will automatically send along these
three client actions to their client
portal so that they can accomplish those
things all right another example might
be while we're waiting for the client
info
once all the documents have been
completed it will move this to
pre-processing documents all right so
this is what we'll set up our transition
rules and our triggers to automate this
project from one step to the next
and then finally down here the project
assignment rules who's responsible for
all of this at each step so
pre-processing the documents is going to
be my junior accountant preparation will
be the manager review will be the
partner in charge this is where we'll
set all of this up okay so again this is
this can be hard to sort of visualize
for a lot of people so again we've
created a visualization button
at the not started status it's
unassigned after 30 days is going to
transition all right to waiting for
client info then it's going to be
unassigned we need our clients to fill
out a form upload their documents and
book an appointment
once that happens it's going to move
this to pre-processing the documents so
on and so forth all the way down to the
very end I'm going to sort of scroll
slowly so you get an idea once we get to
waiting on government approval it will
assign it to the manager it will
electronically file this return with the
tax Authority and it will move this to
complete
hey thanks again for joining me today
if you've got any additional questions
that you'd like answered you can always
come here to our website
myfirm360.com and book a demo from right
here on this page and someone on our
team will get together with you and walk
you through the platform to help you
determine whether firm 360 is going to
be the best fit for you and your company
thanks again for your time we're looking
forward to talking with you soon

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