Review week, and the logins begin
An adviser has six reviews next week. For each client, the administrator logs into the platforms they use, downloads valuations and transaction histories, then looks up the legacy pension that only reports by annual statement, and the offshore bond that sends a PDF by email. The figures go into a review template, along with performance and charges information.
Some platforms feed into the back office automatically, some do not, and some feed but with a delay. So the administrator checks every figure anyway, because nobody wants to present a client with last quarter's number.
Why valuation gathering stays manual
Most firms already have some valuation feeds into Intelliflo Office, Xplan or Curo. The trouble is the gaps between them. Not every provider feeds, feeds fail quietly, and legacy plans only produce paper or PDF. Because staff cannot tell which figures are reliable, they re-check all of them, which undoes the benefit of the feeds that do work.
The review pack itself is often rebuilt from scratch for each client, in a slightly different format depending on who prepares it.
Timing adds to it. Figures pulled on Monday from one platform and on Thursday from another do not sit comfortably side by side, so careful administrators leave all the downloads until the last day, which is exactly when they are busiest.
The cost of review preparation
| Holding type | How the figure arrives | What goes wrong |
|---|---|---|
| Main platform accounts | Feed into back office | Feed fails silently, figure goes stale |
| Secondary platforms | Manual login and download | Time, and figures taken on different dates |
| Legacy pensions | Annual statement | Statement months old at review time |
| Bonds and policies | PDF by email or post | Retyped, sometimes into the wrong field |
Preparation time limits how many reviews the firm can hold. When it gets squeezed, packs go out inconsistent, and advisers find themselves apologising for a figure in the meeting.
How we automate review preparation
- We list every holding type your clients have and how its valuation reaches you today.
- Existing feeds into your back office are monitored, so a feed that stops updating is flagged rather than trusted.
- Where platforms offer data access your firm is entitled to use, we pull valuations directly on a schedule.
- Provider PDFs and statements arriving by email or scan are read, and the figures and dates extracted into the client record for a person to confirm.
- Every figure carries its as-at date, and anything older than your chosen threshold is highlighted.
- A review pack is assembled in your firm's format, ready for the adviser, a set number of days before each booked review.
We do not log into platforms with staff credentials to scrape screens. Where a platform has no permitted data route, the task stays with a person, and the tool simply tells them which ones need doing.
What review week looks like instead
Consistency matters more than it first appears. When every pack is built the same way, clients can compare this year with last year without the adviser explaining a new layout, and the adviser can prepare faster because they know where everything sits on the page.
The administrator opens a list of upcoming reviews and sees, for each, which figures are current, which are stale and which need a manual download. Most of the pack is already there. Advisers receive packs in the same layout every time. And the failing feed that used to hide for months shows up the day it stops.
Is review preparation eating your week?
- Staff log into several platforms for each review.
- You re-check feed figures because you do not trust them.
- Review packs look different depending on who prepared them.
- Legacy plans are valued from old annual statements.
- Advisers sometimes present out of date figures.