A few weeks back we told you about all the biggest enhancements coming in our May 19 Software Update. From our new financial planning billing features to help you consolidate your advisory fees, to our latest integrations and client experience enhancements that bring the Client Portal and mobile app closer together, this release is packed with product updates for every advisor using Orion.
In this article, we’ll not only recap the major highlights, but we’ll also including every single one of the tweaks and updates that will improve your Orion Connect experience when our release goes live this weekend.
Billing
Orion knows that your firm’s varied billing needs can be time consuming. But, getting paid is a critical aspect of keeping your business up and running. That’s why we’ve enhanced several billing features that directly impact your ability to calculate and process fees more quickly.
Highlights
- Enhanced Bill Pay Feature for Financial Planning and More
- Collecting Financial Planning Fees from Custodial Accounts
- Securing Financial Planning Fee Payments in the Client Portal
Read More About These Highlights
Additional Billing Updates
- Allow sleeve accounts to bill for the same time frame as the custodial account. This update impacts users who utilize sleeves and bill in arrears.
How to get there: Orion Connect > Firm Profile app > Options - Include a one-time Credit/Debit on a bill when an account is canceled.
How to get there: Portfolio Audit app > Account > Cancel Account Bill Generator > Bill Instance > Actions > Create Final Bill - Relate households to aggregate values for breakpoints, and all households are now included when running bills on Related Households. Orion’s system will notify you of the relationships when performing reruns or creating a bill instance.
How to get there: Portfolio Audit app > Household Level > Edit Household > Related Households OR Portfolio Audit app > Account Level > Edit Account > Billing > General > This Account Pays For - Run forecast bills for both future time frames and historic instances.
How to get there: Orion Connect > Bill Generator app > Bill Instance - We’ve updated our Fee Collection instance to include a “Process Charges for All” option that allows you to process both Credit Cards and ACH at the same time. We’ve also added the ability to process single or multi-selected lines within the grid, rather than having to process all payments at once.
How to get there: Bill Generator app > Fee Collection Instance > ACH section > Actions - Change your settings for newly created sleeve accounts to default to Account Billing status-Ready to Bill.
How to get there: Orion Connect > Portfolio Audit app > Registration > Sleeve Setup > Process - We’ve eliminated the need to create a payee for every new representative created in the Firm Profile app. From now on, anytime a representative is created, the payee is automatically created as well.
How to get there: Orion Connect > Firm Profile app > Representatives > Actions > New Representative > Payee - Create a Quarter End Dashboard based on a Tri-Annual billing period.
How to get there: Quarter End Dashboard > New Dashboard > Select Triannial option > Enter Title > Enter Start Date (1st day or previous tri-annual period)
Integrations
Orion’s commitment to integrations are critical that your advisor tech stack meets all your firm’s specific needs. But our work is never done! You’ll find new integrations and enhancements to existing partnerships that will help you keep workflows efficient and your team engaged with clients.
Highlights
- Storing MoneyGuidePro Probability of Success Scores in Orion
- Launching iRetire by BlackRock
- Support for Orion Connect in Salesforce Lightning
- Connect IncomeConductor’s segmented retirement income plans with Orion
Read More About These Highlights
Additional Integration Updates
- Better access your cloud storage on the Mobile App from Apple devices.
How to get there: Mobile App > Menu > Cloud Storage > Tap the Document - Quickly launch the Benzinga Pro website from the new Benzinga app in Orion Connect.
How to get there: Orion Connect > Benzinga Pro app - Link accounts from ByAllAccounts with corresponding shell accounts in Orion, without needing to submit linking requests to wait for manual processing. Accounts can now be linked at the same time you create shell accounts through the New Account Wizard or the Import New Accounts template.
How to get there:
Method 1: Creating a link while setting up a shell accounts: New Accounts Center app > Actions > New Account Wizard > find the new field called “ByAll Account ID” under the Account/Billing section. Method 2: Create links through Custom Imports: New Accounts Center app > Actions > Import New Accounts > Download File Template > “ByAll Account ID” column is included in the template - See date and time of notifications directly in Orion Connect’s Notifications pane, preventing the need to click on each notification to see its timestamp.
How to get there: Orion Connect > Notifications
Client Experience
Now more than ever, offering your clients access to their account information through mobile and digital tools can be a means for differentiating your firm! These updates make sure you can meet customer expectations with easier navigation for both parties.
Highlights
- Enhanced MoneyGuidePro Single-Sign On
- Deepened Riskalyze Client Portal Integration
Read More About These Highlights
Additional Client Experience Updates
- Better communicate to clients about password changes for the Client Portal. A message will now appear that reads: “Password Expired, for the security of your account, please create a new password below” when the client logs into the portal using a temporary password or after a password has expired.
How to get there: This is a system update, so there’s nothing you need to do! - Toggle user profiles in the mobile app, and enjoy support for iPhone X formatting when all previously-released mobile apps are updated in the coming months. The plugin supporting Android Bio-Metrics will also be available soon.
How to get there: This is a system update, so there’s nothing you need to do! - Includes tags for Representative contact information in the Engage app, including: name, address and contact details.
How to get there: Engage app > Statements > Edit Statement > Add Text - Sort the Client Portal’s account list by account number.
How to get there: Client Portal app > Admin Menu > Settings > Portfolio tab > Account Sort Order - Toggle the performance method displayed in the Client Portal between TWR or IRR.
How to get there: Client Portal app > Admin Menu > Settings > Portfolio tab > Performance Calculation - View benchmarks assigned to the entity shown in the Performance tab of the Client Portal app in the bar chart at the bottom of the page. Up to three benchmarks will be displayed in the order they are assigned in the Benchmark Assignments app.
How to get there: Client Portal app > Admin > Settings > Portfolio > Display Benchmarks on Chart
Reporting & Portfolio Accounting
New reports, download formats, and more! Soon you’ll benefit from enhancements to various download formats for cleaner data, and upgrade your day-to-day reporting experience to help you find the right data faster and create the exact report you want every time.
Highlights
- Added New Growth of $1K Sub-Report
- Customized Time Periods for Composite Groups
- Additional Track Managed Account Changes
- Launching an Alternative Investment Data Download Format
- Enhanced Pershing Data Feed
Read More About These Highlights
Additional Reporting Updates
- Display Gross of Fees, Net of Fees, and Net Accrual composite numbers in the Composite Dashboard.
How to get there: Composite app > Dashboard > Composite Performance Summary > Cog > Settings - Determine inclusion of accounts/households with a $0 receivable value after selecting the related bill instance using the Advisory Fee Notification report in the Report Batches app.
How to get there: Report Batches app > Advisory Fee Notification > Include All Bills? - Enjoy more efficient date input for households requiring start date overrides by changing the minimum inception date at the household level to reflect all accounts within the household.
How to get there: Edit Household > Options > Performance Calculator > Minimum Inception Date - Send eStatement notifications without having a Client Portal link attached.
How to get there: Orion Connect > Report Batches app > Create New Batch > Email Notification
Additional Portfolio Accounting Updates
- Add Social Security Number and Tax ID to the Broker/Dealer record type with these newly added fields.
How to get there: Firm Profile app > Broker/Dealer > Additional Contacts > Edit - Experience more accurate reporting with our updates the Schwab BD Core download format, adding the mapping of an additional symbol field when there is no CUSIP or Ticker provided for a realized or unrealized tax lot within the files.
How to get there: This is a system update, so there’s nothing you need to do! - Provide users with access to a helpful FAQ document that covers common ACR questions and answers by adding an Asset Comparison notification.
How to get there: Open ACR Notification > Scroll to Bottom of Notification > Click “Here” to view the Asset Comparison Report – FAQ - View Created By, Created Date, Edited By, and Edited Date columns for local prices within the Products & Prices app. Additionally, a fifth column now exists that will indicate where a price originated: whether added manually, through historical import or added by programming during initial setup.
How to get there: Orion Connect > Products & Prices app > Local (Prices) > See New Columns - Accurately represent transactions for foreign assets and currencies, eliminating the need for manual adjustment with our updates the import process for Interactive Brokers.
How to get there: These changes will automatically update for all Interactive Broker feeds that receives transactions in foreign currencies. - Improve efficiency when making updates by select multiple products and exclude bill fees and payables en masse within the Products & Prices app.
How to get there: Products & Prices app > Multi Select your rows > Right Click to Edit in Mass > Field Category > Billing Field to Update > Exclude From Bill Fees and Payouts > Enter new field value > (Check the box for “True”, Uncheck the box for “False”) > Save - Make First Clearing/Wells Fargo dividend transactions consistent with how Orion handles them across other custodial interfaces and use dividend pay dates for the transaction effective date within the First Clearing/Wells Fargo feed.
How to get there: This is a system update, so there’s nothing you need to do! - Experience quicker navigation of portfolio levels by searching for specific transactions within the Portfolio Audit app by using a Transaction ID.
How to get there: Portfolio Audit app > Transaction Level > Transaction > Enter Transaction ID - Updates proceeds received in the download format Wachovia (First Clearing) for realized cost basis records to display an absolute value stored on the custodian realized cost basis table.
How to get there: This is a system update, so there’s nothing you need to do!
Trading
Trading is more than placing a trade order or rebalancing a model. You also have to select the right investment strategies. Our trading updates make it easier for you to create custom strategies or subscribe to strategies from other firms.
Highlights
- Aggregating Sleeve Strategies
- Updated Schwab Prime Broker Allocation File
Read More About These Highlights
Compliance
We know compliance can be tough, and regulations and requirements on your team are only increasing. That’s why we’re constantly expanding the tools included in our Compass app, now including a way to make supervisory oversight testing a simpler process.
Highlight
- Launching our new Compass tool: Supervise
Read More About This Highlight
Additional Compliance Updates
- Back in February, we told you about a new upcoming integration with LexisNexis for Anti-Money Laundering screenings. Have you looked at adding it to your compliance workflow yet? Now is a great time, because the integration is fully live and ready to go. The integration screens certain client information against prohibited person and entity lists published by the US Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control and Commerce Department and helps you easily identify if you have a client that matches a name on these lists, automating your workflow and saving you time from manually checking lists.
How to get there: Check out the integration in the Orion Social Integrations Group, and then access it in the Compass app once it’s enabled.
Ready to Begin Making the Most of Orion’s Latest Enhancements?
All of the updates you’ve read about in today’s Software Update and our previous highlights post will be available to you when the Orion software update rolls out on May 19.
Looking to learn more? Click here to sign up for our software update webinar on May 23, 2018 to find out how to put these enhancements to use in your business
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