Before you dive in to learning how do to anything in AdvisorEngine CRM, it can be valuable to learn what the basic components are and how they relate to each other. None of the parts exist in a vacuum; they are all related to other components. Learning about the overall structure of the system allows you to see how each piece fits into the landscape of your CRM when you learn the details of that piece later.

Records: The Center of Everything

As a Client Relationship Manager, it should not be surprising that people are at the center of everything. Records are the primary container for storing everything you need to know about a household, business, vendor, or any other entity you might track. Each distinct entity gets its own Record.

Attached to Records: Everything Else

All the other areas of AE CRM that store information are each attached to one or more Records. Items like an Action or an Opportunity cannot exist by themselves, they must belong to or be about a Record to mean anything.

Here are some of the main components that all relate back to a given Record:

• Action: Lets you make a log of something you did or need to do relating to a Record. This could be as simple as making note of the contents of a phone call or as complex as every step in an onboarding process.
• Document: Store a file that pertains to a given Record.
• Asset (or Liability): An entry regarding a given Record’s financials.
• Opportunity: Track an opportunity for new business with a given Record.
• Insurance: Log insurance policies owned by a given Record.

Using Your Data: Reporting

It’s good to put all that valuable information in your CRM. But that’s not the end-goal. Getting your information out in meaningful ways is the goal. AE CRM has a number of tools to assist you in order to see your data the way you want.

• Grids and Workspaces: Every Grid in AE CRM is a report. With searches, filters, and other customization, you can see exactly what you need to and even bring that Grid out into Excel for further work. A Workspace is simply a Grid for one kind of data (for example, the Records Workspace or the Actions Workspace).
• Advanced Search: Use Boolean logic to work off of almost any data point and get a list of Records, Actions, or other components that meet your exact criteria.
• Report Assistant: Turn the results of an Advanced Search into a printable report.
• Built-In Reports: AE CRM has a number of pre-built reports with the most popular data requests right at your fingertips.

Using Your Data: Communication

Put your data to work further with AE CRM’s Correspondence Assistant. By storing and maintaining your client contact information within Records, you can quickly create a mailing, print mailing labels, or even email clients right from within your CRM. Combine this with Searching features and merge fields to quickly create personalized communications for entire lists of clients, whether in print or emailed. Have these correspondences automatically logged on the Records with an Action and copy of the correspondence content.

Automation Tools

The major remaining parts of AE CRM all exist to put automation into what you’re already doing to help you streamline your workload and drive consistency in your client relations. The major automation features include:

• Workflow Templates: Pre-fill details of an Action or even define multiple Actions that make up a process at your firm.
• Recurring Action Definition: Have an Action automatically entered into the system on a regular calendar schedule.
• Service Monitor: Ensure you’re keeping up to date with client services by logging when a service was last performed for a Record and being reminded with an Action when the next occurrence is due based on the last time it was fulfilled.
• Outlook Add-in: Have your Outlook inbox and sent items continually scanned for communication with clients and have those emails automatically saved in your CRM, attached to Actions that log the interaction.
• Asset Imports: Bring in client asset information daily by exporting from your Portfolio Management System and bringing that data to you CRM en masse.