A report that is mostly copying
The adviser has met the client and decided on a recommendation. The paraplanner opens the firm's suitability report template in Word. Then comes the copying: client names and dates of birth, the objectives from the fact find, the list of existing plans, current values from the latest valuations, charges from the illustration, fund names, the risk profile outcome. Each figure is checked against its source, sometimes twice.
By the time the paraplanner reaches the part that needs thought, explaining why this recommendation fits this client, a good part of the day has gone. And if the adviser changes one detail, several pages need updating by hand.
Why the assembly is manual
Suitability templates grow over years. Each section is written in the firm's own voice, with optional paragraphs for different product types. That makes them hard to fill automatically with a simple mail merge, so firms give up and copy by hand.
The facts that go into the report also live in several places: the back office, the fact find, provider illustrations as PDFs, the research tool output. No single system holds them all, so a person becomes the join.
The cost of hand assembly
| Report element | Typical source | Risk when copied by hand |
|---|---|---|
| Client details and objectives | Fact find and back office | Out of date or mistyped details |
| Existing plans and values | Valuations and provider letters | Old figure used after a new valuation |
| Charges | Illustrations and key features | Charge copied from the wrong document |
| Fund choices | Research output | Fund name or share class mismatch |
| Standard wording | Template library | Paragraph left in that does not apply |
Report turnaround sets how quickly a client can act on advice. When paraplanners are stuck assembling, a queue builds, advisers chase, and file checks find errors that go back for rework.
Our approach to report assembly
- We go through your suitability template with your paraplanners and mark each field and optional section, noting where its data comes from.
- Client, objective and holding data is pulled from Intelliflo Office, Xplan, Curo or your records into the right places.
- Figures from provider illustrations and valuations are extracted from the PDFs and placed alongside a link to the source page, so the paraplanner can check each one.
- Optional sections are included according to rules your firm sets, such as product type or whether a transfer is involved.
- The draft opens in Word with the assembled facts filled in and the reasoning sections left for the paraplanner and adviser to write.
- A report tracker shows each case at draft, adviser review, file check, sent to client and signed.
We deliberately do not generate the recommendation or the reasons for it. A language model can help tidy wording that a person has written if your firm wants that, but the judgement and the words that carry it belong to your advisers.
What paraplanners notice first
They open a draft that already holds the right names, holdings, values and charges, each traceable to its source. Their time goes on the explanation. When the adviser changes a detail, the facts refresh without retyping. File checkers see fewer transcription errors, and the tracker shows where every report is without anyone asking.
The owner gains something too: a view of the report queue by adviser and stage. If reports are piling up at adviser sign-off rather than in paraplanning, that shows on the board, and the conversation about workload can start from what is actually happening instead of from who shouts loudest.
Templates also become easier to maintain. When your compliance lead changes a standard paragraph, it changes once in the library, and every new draft picks it up, instead of paraplanners working from their own saved copies of last year's wording.
Is your paraplanning team here?
- Paraplanners copy the same client details into every report.
- Charges and values are retyped from provider PDFs.
- File checks find copying errors more than reasoning issues.
- Nobody can see how many reports are in the queue and at what stage.
- Changing one figure means editing several pages.