Introduction to

5/29/15

Introduction to

Advisors Assistant

Client Marketing Systems, Inc.

880 Price Street

Pismo Beach, CA 93449

800 643-4488 805 773-7985 fax

www.AdvisorsAssistant.com [email protected]

expressed written consent of Client Marketing Systems, Inc. is prohibited.

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Table of Contents

Table of Contents ......................................................................................................................................................... 3

Getting Started ............................................................................................................................................................. 9

Starting Advisors Assistant ...................................................................................................................................... 10

The Advisors Assistant Menus ................................................................................................................................. 11

Getting Help With Advisors Assistant ...................................................................................................................... 11

Abbreviation Codes ................................................................................................................................................... 13

Advantages Of Using Lists ....................................................................................................................................... 14

Adding Abbreviation Codes ..................................................................................................................................... 15

Modifying Abbreviation Codes ................................................................................................................................ 16

Deleting/Combining Abbreviation Codes ................................................................................................................ 16

Adding Names ............................................................................................................................................................ 19

Exploring the View Screen ....................................................................................................................................... 20

Adding a New Name ................................................................................................................................................ 22

Modifying Name FlexFields .................................................................................................................................... 25

Automating Applications ......................................................................................................................................... 26

Adding Addresses .................................................................................................................................................... 27

Adding Phone Numbers ........................................................................................................................................... 30

Copying an Address to Another Name ..................................................................................................................... 31

Copying a Phone Number to Another Name............................................................................................................ 31

Finding and Modifying Names ................................................................................................................................ 32

Deleting Names........................................................................................................................................................ 33

Notes ........................................................................................................................................................................... 35

Adding Notes............................................................................................................................................................ 36

Scheduling Follow-up Dates .................................................................................................................................... 37

Personal Contact ..................................................................................................................................................... 38

Adding/Modifying Note Topics ................................................................................................................................ 39

Combining/Moving Notes ........................................................................................................................................ 39

Searching Notes ....................................................................................................................................................... 40

Linking Names ........................................................................................................................................................... 43

Linking Names ......................................................................................................................................................... 44

Adding Link Relationship Codes.............................................................................................................................. 45

Households/Groups ................................................................................................................................................... 47

Creating Households ............................................................................................................................................... 48

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Creating Groups ...................................................................................................................................................... 50

Markets/Areas of Interest ......................................................................................................................................... 53

Associating Files ......................................................................................................................................................... 57

Adding File Associations ......................................................................................................................................... 59

Linking Folders to a Name ...................................................................................................................................... 61

Things That Can Interfere with View Files Functionality ....................................................................................... 61

Printing Reports ........................................................................................................................................................ 65

Printing a Quick View Report .................................................................................................................................. 66

Selection Reports ..................................................................................................................................................... 66

Selection Report Options ......................................................................................................................................... 70

Printing a Current Client Report ............................................................................................................................. 71

The Tagged Names Report ....................................................................................................................................... 71

The Advisors Assistant Calendar ............................................................................................................................. 75

Calendar Views........................................................................................................................................................ 77

Customizing Your Calendar Settings ....................................................................................................................... 80

Adding & Modifying Appointments ......................................................................................................................... 82

Adding & Modifying Projects/Tasks/Phone Calls ................................................................................................... 83

Printing Calendar Reports ...................................................................................................................................... 85

Sending Letters Using The Calendar ....................................................................................................................... 87

Scheduling & Viewing an Associate’s Calendar ..................................................................................................... 88

Viewing Calendar Events ........................................................................................................................................ 90

Messaging ................................................................................................................................................................... 91

Sending Messages .................................................................................................................................................... 92

Replying to a Message ............................................................................................................................................. 93

Message Archiving .................................................................................................................................................. 93

New Business .............................................................................................................................................................. 95

New Business Tracking ............................................................................................................................................ 96

Printing New Business Reports................................................................................................................................ 97

Workflows vs. New Business .................................................................................................................................... 98

Automated Workflow .............................................................................................................................................. 101

Automated Workflows ............................................................................................................................................ 102

Master Workflow Templates .................................................................................................................................. 104

Assigning Active Workflows .................................................................................................................................. 106

Event Templates ..................................................................................................................................................... 109

Workflow Reports .................................................................................................................................................. 110

Workflows vs. New Business .................................................................................................................................. 111

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The Advisors Assistant Dashboard ........................................................................................................................ 113

The Dashboard ...................................................................................................................................................... 114

Setting Up Your Dashboard ................................................................................................................................... 114

Dashboard Features .............................................................................................................................................. 115

Merging with MS Word for Letters & Emails ...................................................................................................... 119

Printing Letters/Sending Emails ............................................................................................................................ 120

Logging Letters/Emails .......................................................................................................................................... 121

Printing Letters to Selected Names ........................................................................................................................ 121

Setting Up Your Letter/Email in Microsoft Word .................................................................................................. 123

Printing Letters/Sending Emails and Merging the Data ....................................................................................... 124

Printing Envelopes/Labels Using Microsoft Word ................................................................................................ 125

Outlook Synchronization ........................................................................................................................................ 127

Exporting to Outlook ............................................................................................................................................. 129

Exporting Client Notes .......................................................................................................................................... 130

Importing from Outlook ......................................................................................................................................... 131

Saving Criteria ...................................................................................................................................................... 132

Real Time Export ................................................................................................................................................... 132

Archiving Emails ................................................................................................................................................... 133

Autodialing the Phone ............................................................................................................................................. 135

Preferences, Tools & Admin Functions ................................................................................................................. 139

General Preferences .............................................................................................................................................. 140

Outlook Preferences .............................................................................................................................................. 140

Default Preferences ............................................................................................................................................... 141

Form Automation ................................................................................................................................................... 141

Tools ...................................................................................................................................................................... 141

Administrative Functions ....................................................................................................................................... 142

Backing Up Your Data........................................................................................................................................... 145

Restoring Your Data .............................................................................................................................................. 146

Maintenance .......................................................................................................................................................... 146

Event Marketing With Advisors Assistant ............................................................................................................ 149

Appendices ............................................................................................................................................................... 157

Hot Keys ................................................................................................................................................................ 158

Course Objectives

Utilize the Full Power of Advisors Assistant!

In this course you will learn to:

 Track your prospects, clients, policies, groups

and more

 Print letters, envelopes, and labels

 Customize FlexFields

 Print great looking reports for your clients

 Search client files for new sales

 Track follow-up dates

 Manage Workflows

 Merge with MS Word for letters & emails

 Log letters, emails, and phone calls

 Schedule appointments, projects and Tasks

 Market to current clients and prospects

 Build rapport with clients to keep them from

straying to other producers

 Synchronize with Outlook for mobile devices

Getting Started

In this chapter you will:

 Start Advisors Assistant

 Explore the Menu and Status Bars

 Identify and access HELP

Abbreviation Codes

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Starting Advisors Assistant

As with other Windows programs, Advisors Assistant can be

started in two ways. You can either start Advisors Assistant

using the Windows Start Menu, or add a shortcut to Advisors

Assistant on your Desktop.

When you installed Advisors Assistant it will have installed an

icon to your desktop. If you do not have the icon on your desktop

instructions for creating one are below.

How to Start Advisors Assistant

1. Make sure your computer is on.

2. Click on the Start button in Windows.

3. Select Programs.

4. Select the Advisors Assistant program group.

5. Select Advisors Assistant.

How to Add an Advisors Assistant Shortcut to your Desktop

1. Go to your Windows Desktop.

2. Right click on the Desktop.

3. Select New, Shortcut.

4. Click the Browse Button.

5. Click on the Down Arrow next to the “Look In” box.

6. Browse to the following directory: C:\Program Files\Client

Marketing Systems\Advisors Assistant.

7. Highlight the file “AdvisorsAssistant.exe” and click Open.

8. Click the Next Button.

9. Give the Shortcut Icon a Name (i.e. Advisors Assistant).

10. Click the Finish Button.

11. Double click on the Advisors Assistant Icon on your Desktop

to open Advisors Assistant.

Abbreviation Codes

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The Advisors Assistant Menus

Many of the maintenance and setup tasks you perform in

Advisors Assistant are accessed through the Menu Bar. Below

is a table describing the options available from each menu. For

some menu options more detail will be given in the sections that

apply to those commands.

Option

Description

File

Preferences: set up your user preferences.

Printer Setup

Exit

Edit

Common edit commands such as Cut, Copy, Paste

and Find which are used throughout Windows

programs.

Lookup

Allows different ways of looking up names, same

as the “binocular” icon in the Sidebar.

Tools

Has several tools to help run Advisors Assistant

Reports

Central listing of all reports in Advisors Assistant

Admin

Performs administrative tasks. (You must have a

security level of Administrator to access this

menu.)

Access

Only visible in MultiProducer Version – allows

users to change the list of names they are

accessing.

Help

Opens the Advisors Assistant Help, which

includes Videos, and has a utility to check for

updates to Advisors Assistant.

Getting Help With Advisors Assistant

Opening Help

Throughout Advisors Assistant there is context-sensitive Help

available at the click of a mouse. In fact there even Tutorial

Vides available in many help topics. If you have a question on

Advisors Assistant, you should first try the online Help before

calling our technical support staff. Most people find the answer

they’re looking for in the online Help, and it’s much quicker than

picking up the phone.

How to open Help

 Press the F1 key anywhere in Advisors Assistant or

Abbreviation Codes

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 Click on the Help Menu Item or

 Click on the Help Button in the middle of the View Screen or

the bottom of any other screen.

Using Help

Advisors Assistant has context sensitive Help, which means

once you have opened Help you will see the Help topic for the

section of the program you are currently in. When you select

Help from the middle or bottom of the screen you are currently

on, you access the context sensitive Help.

There are also Help Topics in the chapters not assigned to a

screen, such as overviews of a particular topic (i.e. WordMerge

Overview.) So it’s a good idea to go to the Contents Tab in the

help, which is laid out like a book with different chapters

covering different topics.

When you press F1 or use the Help Menu Option, you will be

taken to the main Help Contents. From this point you can select

a topic from the contents list, or search for the specific topic you

need.

Whenever you see a movie icon, that means the help topic has a

Tutorial Video you can view for additional help on that screen.

Just click on the movie icon to play the video. Internet access is

required – if you do not have Internet access to play the videos

contact Client Marketing Systems at (800) 799-4267.

The Help Tabs

Tab

Description

Contents

See a list of all of the help chapters. The Help is

arranged like a manual, which each chapter (book)

containing different topics on that subject. There

are help topics, such as overviews of a topic, that

are not attached to a screen.

Index

Search Help for a keyword

Search Help for a phrase or more than one

keyword

Favorites

Add Help Topics to your favorites list

Abbreviation Codes

In this chapter you will:

 Add Abbreviation Codes

 Modify Code Descriptions

 Delete Abbreviation Codes

Abbreviation Codes

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Abbreviation Codes

In order to maintain the integrity of the information added to

Advisors Assistant, and to make it possible for you to search on

that information later, many of the fields in the database use

abbreviations. You set up your own abbreviations, so they make

sense to you.

The ability to add or edit abbreviation codes may not be

available to you. If you do not have the Edit List option you can

contact your System Administrator.

Advantages Of Using Lists

Lists save keystrokes and give you consistency of data entry. By

picking abbreviation codes from a list, you are exactly

identifying which code you want. You avoid the confusion of

having information in your database entered several different

ways.

An example best explains how important it is that lists are used.

John Q. Agent entered a type of name as "Client" by

entering the code "CL" in a field. John hires an assistant

who decides that "CLIENT" and "GROUPCLIENT" are

more appropriate entries for other names and enters

several names that way. John agrees, but forgets that

Name Type Abbreviation Code List

Abbreviation Codes

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"GROUPCLIENT" is being used and he enters several

names as "GROUPCL."

When it comes time to search the database for clients, the

task would be almost impossible because there are now 4

different entries for clients. It would take 4 separate

searches to pull out all the names.

If John Q. Agent Had Advisors Assistant Using Lists

When John first went to put in "CL", he would have been

forced to add "CL" to the list of Name Types as an

abbreviation and would have had to define just what the

code CL meant, such as "Client". Then when any other

person entering data clicked on the Down Arrow next to

the Name Type field, they would have seen John's list and

they would have seen the CL item.

Even if they added their own abbreviation, they could

have gone back later and changed the new abbreviation

into CL automatically without having to find each name

containing the duplicated item.

Each time CL is used, it only needs to be picked from the

list. It doesn't need to be typed every time.

When you do a search for a particular code, you pick the

code from the list, so you know it's already an acceptable

abbreviation to search. You know your searches will be

accurate.

When you’re adding information to Advisors Assistant, keep in

mind that the more information you add to the database the

more useful the database becomes. If you fill out people’s

Occupations, then you’re able to get a list of, for example, all

Business Owners in your database and send them a targeted

mailing.

Adding Abbreviation Codes

Abbreviation codes can be added as you’re adding any

information in Advisors Assistant.

How to Add an Abbreviation

1. Click on the field to which you wish to add an abbreviation,

scroll to the bottom of the list, and select Edit List. You must

have security rights to edit abbreviations.

Abbreviation Codes

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2. You can view the lists by abbreviation or description by

clicking on the column name.

3. Type in the first few letters of the abbreviation code you wish

to add to make sure it is not already in the list.

4. If the code is not in the list, click on the Add Button.

5. Type in the abbreviation code you wish to add.

6. Type in a description.

7. Click OK when done.

You can also add and modify the abbreviation lists through the

Advisors Assistant Admin Menu.

Modifying Abbreviation Codes

If you have the appropriate security rights, you can modify the

abbreviations at any time.

How to Modify Abbreviation Codes

1. Click on the field to which you wish to modify the

abbreviation, scroll to the bottom of the list, and select Edit

List. You must have security rights to edit abbreviations.

2. Highlight the code in the list, and click on the Modify

Button.

3. Make your changes.

4. Click OK when done.

Deleting/Combining Abbreviation Codes

Advisors Assistant will only allow you to delete an abbreviation

code if it is not in use. Therefore it is usually easier to combine

a code with another code rather than deleting the code. If you

know that a code is not being used in any records, you can delete

the code from the list. If you try to delete a code that is being

used, Advisors Assistant will tell you where the code is being

used so you can change it and then delete it.

How to Delete an Abbreviation Code

1. Click on the Admin menu option.

2. Click on “Maintain Abbreviations.”

3. Select the Abbreviation List you wish to change.

Abbreviation Codes

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4. Highlight the code you wish to delete and click on the Delete

Button.

5. Confirm the deletion by clicking Yes.

6. Click OK when you’re finished deleting codes.

How to Combine Abbreviation Codes

1. Click on the Admin menu option.

2. Click on “Maintain Abbreviations.”

3. Select the Abbreviation List you wish to change.

4. Highlight the code you wish to combine and click on the

Combine Button.

5. The code you’ve selected will be listed in the “Combine all

occurrences of” field. You need to select the code to which

you’re combining, which would be the code you wish to keep.

You can then decide if you wish to delete the original code

(which is recommended so it is not used again.)

7. Click OK to combine the codes.

Adding Names

In this chapter you will:

 Explore the Advisors Assistant View Screen

 Add a new name

 Modify Name FlexFields

 Add Addresses and Phone Numbers

 Copy Addresses & Phone Numbers to other

names

 Find and Modify a name

 Find a name using a phone number

 Delete a name

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Exploring the View Screen

The first screen you see upon opening the Advisors Assistant is

the View Screen. The name on the screen will be the name you

were viewing when you exited Advisors Assistant the last time

you had it open.

The top of the View Screen has the demographic, address, and

phone information for the name you are viewing.

The bottom half of the View Screen has the different Views that

are available. The tabs are color coded to indicate if data has

been added to the view.

In the middle of the screen are several Action Buttons that

perform specific functions.

Action Button

Description

Adds information to the active view.

Modifies information in the active view.

View Name with Workflow

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Deletes information in the active view.

Quick Report: creates a summary report of the

active view.

Opens MS Word for letters or emails

Exports the data in the active view to Excel.

Dials a phone number if a modem is set up.

Opens the HELP for the active view screen.

On the left is the Sidebar, which gives fast access to some of the

most commonly performed functions in Advisors Assistant.

Sidebar Icon

Description

Opens the Selection Reports.

Selects all of the data for the current name

being viewed and opens the Reports.

Lookup by Name by clicking on the main icon.

Lookup by Tax ID, Phone, Address, Email

Address or Web Address by clicking on the

small black arrow next to the icon.

Opens the Outlook Synchronization Screen.

Opens ReadyDoc™ or Imaging Assistant™

(optional modules) to scan a document for the

currently viewed name.

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Opens Laser App or Quik! Forms and passes

data for the currently viewed name over to the

application program.

Opens the Advisors Assistant Calendar.

Opens the Advisors Assistant Messenger.

Opens the Advisors Assistant Dashboard.

The Recent Names List is the last item in the Sidebar, and will

show a list of the recently viewed names for quick access to

those names. You can control how many names are tracked

through the User Preferences.

Adding a New Name

Before adding a name in Advisors Assistant, you should check to

make sure the name is not already in the database. If the name

is not in the database, you can quickly add it.

A name may either be an individual or an organization. All

names are entered in the same place in Advisors Assistant -

there is not a separate module for entering

organizations/groups.

How to Add a New Name

1. Click on the down arrow next to the name on the View

Screen

Click on the Binocular Icon (Lookup Name) in the Sidebar.

You can also click on the down arrow next to the icon to

lookup names in other ways – such as by email address or

Tax ID

Click on the Lookup menu and select By Name or by

another field.

Adding Names

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2. Type in as many letters of the last name or business name as

you know. For each letter you type you will move further

down the list of names. If there are several names with the

last name you are looking for, press Tab to go to the first

name and type in as many of the letters of the first name

that you know.

You can also click on any column heading, and lookup the

names based on that column. The column with the arrow

next to it is the column you are selecting by.

3. If the name is not in the list, click on the Add Button. (If the

name is in the list, you can modify the name. This is covered

in a later section.)

4. You now have a blank name screen. Enter the information

you have for that person. If the name is an organization, click

on the button “Change to Organization.” (Some of the field

names will change.) Definitions of each field are available in

the HELP.

Looking up a New Name

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It is recommended that you add your name and any other

producers first. Then you can designate them as the producer

when you’re adding the client names. You may enter as little or

as much information as you need.

What is the Name Type?

The type of name field describes who the person is. It allows you

to store several different “lists” of names in one big database so

you’re not switching between programs.

Some Name Type examples follow:

Client Vendor

Prospect Friend

Group Client Insurance Company

Mailing List Name Church Group Member

Agent Rep

There is a Primary Type for each name, and then you can add

Other Types. The Primary Type should be a broad definition of

the name, such as CLIENT, so you can easily get a list of all

clients. Then the Other Types can be codes such as FRIEND, or

a ranking such as A or B. If you have a Primary Type of Client

and an Other Type of FRIEND, that name will show up on a list

of clients and a list of friends.

Add/Modify Name Screen

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Modifying Name FlexFields

If Advisors Assistant does not have a field for something you

want to track, you can customize a FlexField to track that

information. Name FlexFields are attached to the Name Type,

so you can have a different set of 30 FlexFields for each Type of

person you enter, ie. prospect, client, vendor, etc. You can also

search on the FlexFields to pull information out of the database.

There are 30 Name FlexFields, and they can store three

different formats of data: text information, date information,

and numbers. You want to be careful when customizing the

FlexFields that you choose the correct format for the information

you will be entering (you don’t want to use a text field for

numerical data or a date.)

How to Modify a Name FlexField

1. As you’re adding the initial name information, you’ll notice

additional tabs across the top of the name entry screen. Click

on the second tab, FlexFields.

2. To change the name of the FlexField, click once on the

FlexField Labels. This takes you into the “Modify FlexField

Title Set” screen. The data entry boxes are now for the field

names themselves instead of the data.

Modifying FlexField Labels

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3. Choose the field whose name you wish to change. Be sure

you choose the right format for the data, ie. text or date:

FlexField #

Field Format

1-4

Numbers – 2 decimal places

5, 6

Numbers – 5 decimal places

7,8

Numbers – no decimal places

9-12

Text

13-16

Date

17-20

Text

21, 22

Date

23-30

Text

4. Type in the name of the FlexField (i.e. Retirement Date)

and click OK.

Automating Applications

Advisors Assistant will export data to third party application

automation programs, such as Laser App and Quik! Forms

(purchased separately,) to help you save time in filling out forms

and applications.

Basic information, such as name, address, and phone numbers,

is sent to the app program based on the data entered into

Advisors Assistant. But there is also an additional App

Automation screen that allows you to link information such as

dependents and beneficiary information.

How To Add Additional Information for Applications

1. From the Add/Modify Name Screen, click on the

Application Info tab across the top of the screen.

2. Enter the information that you wish to use for the

applications. If you select any of the fields (ie. joint

applicant, spouse) the name has to be entered into

Advisors Assistant so that the birth date, address, etc. can

be used on the application. You can click on the Get

Defaults button to automatically fill in information if you

have set up the relationships through Links. The HELP

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lists out which relationships can be used with the Get

Defaults option.

3. Additional dependents can be passed to applications using

the Household screen.

Once the information is filled out, you can click on the Export

button to open the application program and have Advisors

Assistant pass the data over. Then the applications can be

selected to print. You can also click on the Forms Icon in the

Sidebar at any time to print applications.

Adding Addresses

Once addresses have been added to Advisors Assistant, you can

right-click on any address on the View Screen and if you’re

connected to the Internet that address will be mapped with

Google Maps.

How to Add Addresses

1. Click on the “+” button in the address box

if there are no addresses added yet, click in the empty

address box.

2. Enter the address information. Be sure to select the

appropriate address location.

3. Make sure you designate one of the addresses as the Primary

address by checking the Primary box. The Primary address is

used when printing reports and letters.

4. Click OK when done.

Application Automation Screen

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Advisors Assistant stores zip codes and the city and county for

that zip code. Once you enter a zip code, if it’s on file the city will

be filled in automatically.

Add/Modify Address Screen

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Email Addresses

You can add an email address by clicking on the “+” button next

to the email address line. Multiple email addresses can be

entered for each name, and you can designate which email is the

primary address.

Web Site Addresses

You can add a web address by clicking on the “+” button next to

the web site line. Multiple web addresses can be entered for each

name, and you can designate which address is the primary

address.

Web addresses can be actual websites, or other addresses like

Facebook or LinkedIn.

Joint Addresses

If you wish to send correspondence addressed to both the

husband and wife, you can use an address location code named

JOINT.

In the Head Of Household’s name record, add a new address

using the JOINT location. For the greeting, enter both the

husband and wife’s name (ie. John and Mary) so your letters will

read “Dear John and Mary”.

For the Addressee, enter “Mr. and Mrs. John Smith” or how

you’d like the envelope to be addressed. When you send letters,

you will be able to select the JOINT Address Location, and your

letters will use the combined address name.

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Adding Phone Numbers

How to Add a Phone Number

1. Click on the “+” button in the phone number box

if there are no phone numbers added yet, click in the empty

phone number box.

2. Enter the phone number information. Be sure to select the

appropriate phone location.

3. Make sure you designate one of the phone numbers as the

Primary phone number. The Primary phone number is used

when printing reports and letters.

4. Click OK when done.

Add/Modify Phone Number

Joint Address Example

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Copying an Address to Another Name

When you have more than one name at one address, Advisors

Assistant will save you time by copying the address information

from one name to another.

If you are dealing with members of a household or group, you

can also link addresses to the members. This is detailed in the

Household/Group section.

How to Copy an Address to Another Name

1. Go to the name from which you wish to copy the address.

2. Click on the Down Arrow button next to the address to

open the list of addresses.

3. Highlight the address you wish to copy and click the Copy

To button.

4. Select the name to which you want to copy the address. If

the name is not in the database, add the name from the

Select Name screen.

5. Verify that the information Advisors Assistant filled in

automatically, such as greeting and addressee, are correct.

Turn the Primary check on or off (depending on if this will be

a primary address for the new person).

6. After copying the address, Advisors Assistant returns you to

the first person’s address screen. Click OK if done or copy an

address to another person.

This address has now been added as a new address to the person

you selected. You can look that person up to verify that the

address has been added.

Copying a Phone Number to Another Name

You can also copy phone numbers to other names in Advisors

Assistant without having to add the phone number each time.

If you are dealing with members of a household or group, you

can also link phone numbers to the members. This is detailed in

the Household/Group section.

How to Copy a Phone Number to Another Name

1. Go to the name you wish to copy the phone number from.

2. Click on the Down Arrow button next to the phone number

to open the list of phones.

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3. Highlight the number you wish to copy and click the Copy

To button.

4. Select the name to which you want to copy the phone. If the

name is not in the database, add the name from the Select

Name screen.

5. Verify that the information is correct. Turn the Primary

check on or off (depending on if this will be a primary phone

number for the new person).

6. After copying the phone number, Advisors Assistant returns

you to the first person’s phone list. Click OK if done or copy

a number to another person.

This phone number has now been added as a new phone number

to the person you selected. You can look that person up to verify

that the phone number has been added.

Finding and Modifying Names

How to Find and Modify a Name

1. Click on the down arrow next to the name on the View

Screen

Click on the Binocular Icon (Lookup Name) in the

Sidebar. You can also click on the down arrow next to the

icon to lookup names in other ways – such as by email

address or Tax ID

Click on the Lookup menu and select By Name or by

another field.

2. Type in as many letters of the last name or business name

as you know. For each letter you type you will move

further down the list of names. If there are several names

with the last name you are looking for, press Tab to go to

the first name and type in as many of the letters of the

first name that you know.

You can also click on any column heading, and lookup the

names based on that column. The column with the arrow

next to it is the column you are selecting by.

Adding Names

Page 33

3. Once the name you are looking for is highlighted on the

screen, you may:

Press Enter

Double click on the name

Highlight the name by single clicking and click OK.

4. To Modify information, click on the box with the

information you wish to modify.

5. To Modify an address or phone number not showing on

the screen, click on the Down Arrow next to the address

or phone section. Highlight the address or number you

wish to modify. Click on the Modify Button.

6. Click OK when done.

Deleting Names

When you delete a name, all references to that name and any

additional information such as notes, new business, etc. are

removed from the database. It is always a good idea to Back Up

your database before making large deletions.

How to Delete a Name

1. Find the name you wish to delete.

2. Click once in the Name Information Box.

3. Click on the Delete Button located at the bottom of the

screen.

4. Confirm that you wish to delete the name.

Notes

In this chapter you will:

 Add Notes to a name

 Modify Notes

 Add a Follow Up Date to notes

 Add/Modify Note Topics

 Search Notes

 Combine Notes

Notes

Page 36

Adding Notes

There is no limit to the number of notes you can add to each

name in Advisors Assistant. And each note can have a follow-up

date attached, which adds a Task directly to your calendar (or

another person’s calendar.) Advisors Assistant has free form

notes, so you can write as much or as little as you want.

Note Topics and Note Entries

In Advisors Assistant there are note topics and note entries.

Note Topics are designed to enable you to organize similar notes

together. In the View Notes Screen, you see 7 “Note Topics”, and

each of those Note Topics can have unlimited Note Entries.

How to Add a Note to a Name

1. Make sure you are viewing the name to which you want to

add the note.

2. Click on the Notes Tab at the bottom of the View Screen.

3. Highlight the Note Topic to which you wish to add a new

note and click on the Add Action Button. If you do not have

any Note Topics added to the name yet, the first time you

View Client with Notes

Notes

Page 37

click on the Add Action Button you’ll be asked to setup a

Topic before you can add the note entry.

4. Advisors Assistant automatically tracks the create date,

time, and the initials of the person adding the notes. If you

have the correct security access you can change the create

date, or add a Private Note. Begin typing your notes. You

can spell check your notes by clicking on the Spell Check

Button.

5. Click OK when done.

You can also add new notes at any time from the View Notes

Screen.

The View Notes Screen is opened any time you add or modify a

note.

To add a new note from the View Notes Screen, highlight the

Note Topic from the top of the screen to which you wish to add

the note entry, and click the Add Note Button.

Scheduling Follow-up Dates

Follow-up dates can be attached in many areas of Advisors

Assistant: Notes, Phone & Letter Logs, New Business Actions,

Add Note Screen

Notes

Page 38

and Markets. Once a follow-up date has been filled in, a Task is

added to your calendar. You can edit the follow-up to move the

Task to another person’s calendar.

How to Add a Follow-up Date

1. Add a new note to a name.

2. Enter a follow-up date. (Click on the down arrow next to the

date to pop up a calendar.)

3. Click OK to add the note. A Task is added to your calendar.

To add the Task to another person’s calendar, click on the

Edit Follow-up Button under the date. The Task window

will open with some of the fields filled in for you

automatically: the date, the description, and the notes. Use

the Calendars box to choose to whose calendars the Task will

be added.

4. Click OK to add the follow-up to the calendar. Then click OK

to add the note.

Personal Contact

Many producers wish to insure that they have a Personal

Contact with their clients or prospects (or top clients and

prospects) at least once every 60 or 90 days (or any time period

you specify.) The Personal Contact Checkbox is designed to help

View Notes Screen

Notes

Page 39

you track when you've had a personal contact with a client or

prospect, so that you can get a list of clients or prospects who

you haven't had personal contact with. The definition of

Personal Contact is up to you, but it would typically be a face-to-

face appointment or an actual phone conversation.

When you're adding a note that resulted from a personal

contact, you can check the Personal Contact Box. Advisors

Assistant then has a Personal Contact Wizard (under the Tools

Menu) that will allow you to print a report or even add a

Calendar Task to the people who haven't had a Personal Contact

within the time period you specify.

Adding/Modifying Note Topics

When you add the very first note to a name, you will first need

to add a Note Topic. After the first note topic is added you’ll

need to add or modify additional topics from the View Notes

Screen.

How to Add/Modify a Note Topic

1. From the View Client With Notes Screen, click on the Modify

Action Button.

2. Click on the Add Topic Button in the top left of the View

Notes Screen to add a new note topic. Highlight an existing

topic and click on the Modify Topic Button to modify the

topic name.

Combining/Moving Notes

There are two ways of moving notes:

Moving a single note from one topic to another:

1. From the View Notes Screen, highlight the note entry you

wish to move.

Note Topic Section of View Notes Screen

Notes

Page 40

2. Click the Move Notes Button at the bottom of the screen.

3. Highlight the new Note Topic to which you wish to move this

note.

4. Click OK to move the note.

Combining one entire Note Topic into another Note Topic:

1. In the top left Topic Section, highlight the Note Topic you

wish to combine.

2. Click the Combine Topics Button in the topic section.

3. Highlight the Note Topic to which you wish to combine these

notes.

4. Click OK.

Searching Notes

You can search through the notes within Advisors Assistant to

find notes containing a specific keyword, or written within a

date range by a specific user.

You can search within just one client’s notes, or you can search

globally across all notes within the database. Performing a

global notes search can take some time.

How to Search a Client’s Notes

1. From the View Notes Screen, enter the criteria on which you

wish to search in the top right corner of the screen.

 Select if you wish to search within just one topic, or all

topics.

Notes

Page 41

 Select if you wish to search for notes written by just

one user, or all users.

 Enter a date range if you wish to limit the notes found

to those written within a date range.

 Enter a keyword(s) to find notes containing the

word(s).

2. Click on the Apply Filter Button to see the notes that match

the criteria in the grid.

3. Once the notes are selected you can print the list of notes by

clicking on the Print Notes Button at the bottom of the View

Notes Screen.

4. Click the Clear Filter Button to clear the search criteria

and enter another search.

5. Click the View All Button to view all notes on the screen.

How to Globally Search Notes

1. Click on the Tools Menu at the top of any View Screen.

2. Select Search All Notes.

 Select if you wish to search for notes written by just

one user, or all users.

 Enter a date range if you wish to limit the notes found

to those written within a date range.

 Enter a keyword(s) to find notes containing the

word(s).

6. Click the Apply Filter Button.

7. Once the notes are selected you can print the list of notes by

clicking the Print Notes Button, or highlight a note and

click the Go To Client Button to go to that client’s view

screen.

Notes

Page 42

Linking Names

In this chapter you will:

 Link two names together

 Add a new Link Relationship Code

Linking Names

Page 44

Linking Names

Advisors Assistant allows you to link names to each other so

that you can track different relationships between names in

your database. You can link family members together, link

employees to their company, and track the sources for your new

clients and prospects. Once two names are linked together, you

can easily switch back and forth between the name records.

Each link you add must have a Relationship. When you connect

one client to another, you must designate what that connection

is - their relationship. Examples of relationships are attorney,

accountant, or source of referral. You can link family members

together and use relationships like spouse and child, but you

might wish to add these names to the Household rather than

linking them.

Links are a great way to track referrals. In the sample screen

above, you can see that Jim was originally referred by George

Washington (Source of Referral) and that Jim referred Sam

Adams (Referral.)

The Reciprocal Relationship is the relationship of the person or

company to whom you're linking, back to the person being

linked. Each link relationship can only have one reciprocal code

– it’s a one to one relationship. So if you track other professional

View Client with Links

Linking Names

Page 45

relationships, you could use a relationship of “Accountant” and a

reciprocal of “Client of Accountant.”

How to Add a Link to a Name

1. Go to the View Screen for the person to which you want to

add a link.

2. Click on the Links Tab at the bottom of the screen.

3. Click on the Add Action Button.

4. Click on the Linked To Field to choose from the list of

names in your database.

5. Enter the person's last name or the organization's name. If

the person is not yet in your database, you can click on Add.

Click on the name to select it when it comes into view.

6. Back on the Add Link Screen, click on the Relationship

Field.

7. Select the relationship from the list. If the relationship is not

on the list already, and you have the appropriate security

rights you can click on Edit List to add a new relationship

code to the list.

8. If you’re adding a family link, such as a spouse or child, you

can also tell Advisors Assistant to add that person to the

Household by checking the Add Linked Name To

Household Box. The name to which you’re adding the link

must be marked as a Head Of Household.

9. Click OK.

Adding Link Relationship Codes

The link relationship code is an abbreviation code like all other

codes in Advisors Assistant, but there is one extra field for the

link relationship called the reciprocal code. You must have the

appropriate security access to edit codes.

When you’re adding links Advisors Assistant links two names

together, and the two names are linked together using the

reciprocal relationship codes. Since the reciprocal relationship

controls the two names being linked, it is important that the

link relationship codes be added with the reciprocal.

Since link relationship codes have a reciprocal code also, adding

new link relationship codes becomes a 3 step process. We will go

Linking Names

Page 46

through the steps of adding the two link codes of Brother and

Sister. Details on adding abbreviation codes are listed in the

Abbreviation Codes chapter of this manual.

How to Add link relationship codes

1. Add the first new link code, BROTHER. Leave the Reciprocal

field blank. Click OK to add the first code.

2. Click on the Add button again to add the second code,

SISTER. For the code sister, enter a reciprocal code of

BROTHER. Click OK to save the code.

3. Modify the code Brother by highlighting the code and clicking

the Modify button. Select the code SISTER for the reciprocal

code of Brother. Click OK to save the Brother code.

While the example of Brother/Sister is used to show how to add

link codes, a code of SIBLING is much better for designating

family relationships because it can be used for brother/sister,

brother/brother, and sister/sister.

Adding Link Relationship Codes

Households/Groups

In this chapter you will:

 Create a Household in Advisors Assistant

 Create a Group in Advisors Assistant

Households/Groups

Page 48

When you add an individual to Advisors Assistant the tab on the

View Screen says Household. When you add an organization to

Advisors Assistant the tab on the View Screen says Group.

Creating Households

The View Client With Household Screen allows you to group

members of a household together. These Households can then be

used for combined reporting, and it gives you quick access to the

other names just by double-clicking on the member's name.

How To Create A Household

1. Decide who will be the Head Of Household. Modify that

name and check the box “Head Of Household.” Enter the

Household Name.

2. From the View Client With Household Screen, click the Add

Action Button.

View Household Screen

Add Household Member

Households/Groups

Page 49

3. You can add a new member to the household by either

clicking on the Browse Button and selecting a name already

added to your database, or by adding a new name directly

into the Modify Household Screen. Select which option you’re

using to add the household member and click OK.

4. At the top of the Modify Household Screen select if you’d like

to have a specific Name Type added to each member of the

household.

5. Select if you’d like to have an address and/or phone number

linked to each member of the household. When you link an

address or phone number to household members, you only

have to change the address or phone number at the Head Of

Household’s record and it will be changed on each member’s

record.

The member has been added to the household, and you can add

new members directly from the View Household Screen.

You can also use the Dependent and Relation to HOH features

to expand the data that is sent to application automation

programs like Laser App. Check the Dependent box and select

the relationship.

Modify Household Screen

Households/Groups

Page 50

Creating Groups

If you add a company to Advisors Assistant, you can use the

Group feature to group the employees of the company together

for reporting purposes.

How To Create A Group

1. Modify the organization’s name and check the box “Group.”

Enter the Household Name.

2. From the View Client With Group Screen, click the Add

Action Button.

3. You can add a new member to the group by either clicking on

the Browse Button and selecting a name already added to

your database, or by adding a new name directly into the

Modify Group Screen. Select which option you’re using to add

the group member and click OK.

4. At the top of the Modify Group Screen select if you’d like to

have a specific Name Type added to each member of the

group. For example you could have all members of the group

have a Name Type of Group Participant.

5. Select if you’d like to have an address and/or phone number

linked to each member of the group. When you link an

View Group Screen

Households/Groups

Page 51

address or phone number to group members, you only have to

change the address or phone number on the company’s record

and it will be changed on each member’s record.

The member has been added to the group, and you can add new

members directly from the View Group Screen.

Modify Group Screen

Markets/Areas of Interest

In this chapter you will:

 Add Markets/Areas of Interest to a name

Markets

Page 54

Markets/Areas of Interest

A unique feature of Advisors Assistant is the Markets or Areas

of Interest. Markets/Areas of Interest can be used for tracking:

 Markets - products a person may be interested in like an

IRA, Universal Life or Term Insurance.

 Producers - products the producer specializes in.

 Areas of Interest - add codes for hobbies, clubs, or other

demographics you’d like to track. Some Areas of Interest

could be golf, Rotary Club, or their favorite sports teams.

 Mailings – flag names for newsletters, holiday cards or gifts,

etc.

 Ad campaigns – add markets for the different ads you’re

running, and track how well the ads are performing.

Markets work similar to an abbreviation list and allow you to

add as many Market codes as you’d like. The Markets area is

completely searchable, so you can pull out people who are

Prospects with a Market of ROTH IRA.

How to Add a Market/Area of Interest to a Name

1. Go to the View Client Screen for the name to which you wish

to add a Market.

2. Click on the Markets Tab.

View Client with Markets

Markets

Page 55

3. Click on the Add Action Button.

4. Click on the down arrow next to the Market Field to get a

list of markets already added. Highlight your choice and

click OK. As with other abbreviation code lists in Advisors

Assistant, if the Market is not on the list and you have the

appropriate security rights you can add the Market by

selecting the Edit List option.

5. Enter a Follow-up Date if you wish a Task to be added to

your calendar to follow-up on this Market.

6. Click OK when finished.

The Market/Area of Interest is now added to the name record,

and you will see it listed whenever you view the Markets.

You can select a list of people with the same Market using the

Selection Reports, and print a report, send an email, or print

letters and envelopes/labels.

Adding Markets

Associating Files

In this chapter you will:

 Add a new File Association to a name

Attachments

Page 58

The View Client With Files Screen gives you the ability to

associate files from anywhere on your computer or network to a

client or prospect stored in Advisors Assistant. You can then

double click on that file to open the program and file you have

associated.

With File Association you can:

 Use a document storage program to scan documents and

then associate them with your clients and view them from

inside Advisors Assistant.

 Store pictures of your clients

 Store letters created with your word processor. Mail

Merge letters can not be stored unless the letter has been

merged and saved with the name information.

 Store presentations and spreadsheets

 Store proposals in Adobe Acrobat .PDF format

 Store Morningstar Principia portfolios and open Principia

directly from Advisors Assistant, going right to that

client’s portfolio (Principia must be purchased separately.)

View Client With Files Screen

Attachments

Page 59

Adding File Associations

Advisors Assistant stores the path to the file that you are

associating. Once the file is on the client’s list, you can double

click on the file and Advisors Assistant will load the application,

which Windows associates with the file extension, and tell the

application to view or edit the file.

How to Add a File Association to a Name

1. From the View Client With Files Screen, click on the Add

Action Button.

2. Browse to the location of the file on your computer or

network. Before associating files, please read the section

in this chapter regarding file locations and network

environments.

3. Enter a Description and Category:

Description: allows you to further describe what is

contained in the file in the event the file name is not

enough of a description.

Category: designed so you can assign tags, such as

Application, Photo, or Letter. Then when you sort by

Category by clicking on the column heading, all of your

applications will be listed together.

Selecting the File to Associate

Attachments

Page 60

From the Add Associated File Screen you can click on the

Add Button to add another file, but it will have the same

Description as the first file. If you wish to add a new file

with a different description, click OK to add the first file

then click the Add Action Button from the View Screen to

add another file.

4. Click OK to save the file association.

How to Modify File Information

1. Highlight the file you wish to Modify.

2. Click on the Modify Action Button. You can then change

the Description or Category displayed. Don’t use this to

change the actual file. To change the file, double click on

the file to load the associated application.

How to Delete A File From The List

1. Highlight the file association you wish to delete.

2. Click on the Delete Action Button. Decide if you wish to

just remove the reference to the file in the Advisors

Assistant database, or if you wish to delete the file itself

from your computer or network.

Entering the Description and Category

Attachments

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Running An Application With The Referenced File

When you click on the file, if Windows contains an association

for the file extension, that application will load and run with the

file you clicked. In a network environment, each workstation

must have the application installed to view the file. For

Instance, if a .pdf file is associated with a name, each

workstation must have Adobe Acrobat Reader installed to open

and view that .pdf file.

Sorting The File List

To sort the list of files, just click at the top of the column. By

sorting on Category, you can list all of the forms, applications,

etc. together based on the categories you have assigned.

Linking Folders to a Name

Rather than associating a single file with a contact, you can also

associate a folder on your computer with that contact.

From the View Client With Files Screen, right-click on the Add

Action Button. You can then select the location of the folder.

Things That Can Interfere with View Files Functionality

Renaming, Moving, Or Deleting Files

Advisors Assistant stores the path to the file you have

associated, not the actual file itself. The list of files stored in

Advisors Assistant does not know when you move or delete the

actual file on your computer. Therefore, if you move, rename, or

delete a file, using Windows Explorer or another program, the

original reference will remain in Advisors Assistant. If you

double click on the file, you’ll get a message that the file cannot

be found.

Reassigning or Remapping Drive Letters

In a network environment, the C drive on one computer can be

"mapped" to a different drive letter when accessed by another

computer.

If you add a file to a client and it is referenced on Drive K from

the workstation and someone comes along and changes the drive

mapping to Drive Q, then as far as Advisors Assistant is

concerned, the file should be on K, and it will not be able to find

it.

Attachments

Page 62

Storing Files On Drive C

If you’re on a network, or ever expect to be on a network, DO

NOT reference files on Drive C. The reason is that each station

will have its own Drive C. If your Drive C ends up on a network

as "Station 1" and Station 2 is also running Advisors Assistant,

when Station 2 tries to double click on the file, Windows will

look on Station 2’s drive C, not Station 1’s drive C. Drive C is

always the local workstation drive.

Why You Should Not Reference Documents On Your C Drive

Your C drive is the ONLY drive that cannot be accessed from

another computer on the network as drive “C”. It can be

accessed as another drive letter, through drive mapping, but

another computer cannot click on a file associated with your C

drive and load the file. The reason is because the other

computer on the network has its own C drive and it will look on

its own C drive for the file.

What To Do If You Are A Single User, or Not On A Network Now, But May Be

Later

If you are on a single user system, you should still use a drive

other than drive C because someday you may want to network.

This is easily accomplished by creating another drive partition,

such as drive D or drive F on the same disk. Software, such as

Partition Magic, can do this easily and safely. Partition Magic is

available anyplace business software is sold.

Tips and Hints

Map Drives

Map the drive(s) you refer to with a drive letter. That way, if

you move the drive or the folders to another computer, you

simply have to map that drive with the same drive letter.

If you use the Universal Naming Convention, such as

\\MikesComputer and Mike leaves or his computer gets

renamed, then all of your file pointers in Advisors Assistant will

be looking for a computer that does not exist.

Map Drives Consistently

When you map drives, it’s very important to reference all drives

with the same drive letter.

For example: If you install a new hard drive to hold your

document scanning files, have all computers on the network

Attachments

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refer to the drive with the same mapped drive letter. In our

office we use Drive S (for Scan). All computers refer to the drive

with the documents as Drive S.

Printing Reports

In this chapter you will:

 Print a Quick View Report

 Select a list of names using the Selection

Reports

 Print a report using the selected names

 Save frequently used Selection Reports

 Print Current Client Reports

 Select names using the Tagged Names Report

Reports

Page 66

Printing a Quick View Report

At the click of a mouse button, you can quickly print a report for

the information you are viewing on the screen. If you are

viewing notes, it prints a summary of the notes. If you are

viewing Markets, it prints a summary of the Markets.

The Report Action Button in the middle of the screen will print

reports for one person at a time – the person on your View

Screen. The Selection Reports Icon in the Sidebar prints reports

for many people at a time, or one person.

How to Print a Quick View Report

1. Put the information you want on your report on the View

Screen.

2. Click on the Report Action Button.

3. The report will be generated and you’ll first be viewing it on

the screen. To print the report click on the printer icon at

the top of the screen.

4. To close the report without printing it, click on the Exit

Button at the bottom of the window.

Selection Reports

The power of a database is in not only storing your information,

but also making it easy for you to sort that information for

marketing purposes. Advisors Assistant has made data

retrieval easy through our Selection Reports.

The Selection Reports allow you to go into Advisors Assistant

and select data based on the criteria you specify. The

combinations of selections are limitless, and you can save sets of

selections that you run on a frequent basis. The Selection

Reports are also a powerful feature of Advisors Assistant that

will help you increase sales.

You can use Selection Reports to search for:

 Birthday Lists

 People in specific age ranges or income levels to tell about

certain products you sell

 Clients investing in a particular security, category, or sector

(if you’re using the Advisors Assistant Investment Module)

Reports

Page 67

 Clients with a specific type of insurance for contacting about

a new benefit (if you’re using the Advisors Assistant

Insurance Module)

 Prospects that you have coded with a certain market to

contact them regarding that market

 Anniversary Date reports

 Clients turning 70 who have an IRA (using either the

Investment Module or Markets)

 and much more

Once you have “selected” the names, you can then print reports,

print letters, labels, or envelopes, or send emails to the group

you’ve selected.

How to Run a Selection Report

We’ll run a selection report on Clients who have a birthday in

June.

1. Click on the Selection Reports Icon in the Sidebar.

You will now see the main Selection Reports Screen. The

Name Selection Screen

Reports

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first set of information you see is the name information.

There are additional Tabs on the bottom of the screen that

allow you to navigate through the selection screens and

select on the Name Flex Fields, and depending on which

modules you own the Investment and Policy information.

2. First click on the empty box or arrow next to Type of Name to

select the type of person we’re looking for, in this case Client.

Select the Client abbreviation from the list and click OK.

3. Then click on the empty box or arrow next to Birth Month,

select June, and click OK.

4. Click Search to start the search once all your selection

criteria have been entered.

After you click OK Advisors Assistant will begin searching

through all of your records to find names that match the

criteria you just entered. Once the search is done, you will be

on the Report Selection Menu Screen. The number of names

that have been selected is in the top right hand corner of the

screen. From this screen you can print reports, send the data

to Microsoft Word to print letters and envelopes or send

emails, or export the data to use it with another program.

Report Selection Menu

Reports

Page 69

Include All Investment Data or Include All Insurance

Data: When you’re searching for names based on investment or

insurance information, Advisors Assistant does not select every

product the client has unless you tell it to – only the product you

are telling Advisors Assistant to search for would print on the

report. If you want all of the investments or policies to be

printed on the report, the Investment and Insurance Selection

Screens have a box you can check to include all products. You

can also use the Current Client Report Icon in the Sidebar to

select all of a single client’s products for reports.

Printing Reports using Selected Names

Once you’ve searched for the names you want, you can print

reports for those names. As you’ll see from the Report Selection

Menu Screen, there are many reports to choose from. The best

thing is to print them out at some point to see which reports you

like best.

How to Print Reports Using Selected Names

1. Run your search for the names you want to select.

2. Highlight the report you wish to print. Click the Report

Button at the bottom of the screen or double click on the

report.

You are now in the view report screen. You can move around

the report while viewing it, or just print or save the report.

3. Click on the Printer Icon to print the report or the Floppy

Disk Icon to save the report to another format, such as a PDF

file.

4. Click Exit to return to the Report Selection Menu Screen,

New Search to run another search, or Add To Search to save

the names you’ve just selected and add a new list of names to

the first list.

5. Click Finished to return to the Advisors Assistant View

Screen.

Saving Frequently Used Selection Reports

You may find yourself running some selection reports on a

monthly, weekly or even daily basis. Rather than entering the

Selection Criteria in each time you need to run the report, you

Reports

Page 70

can save that selection report and load it whenever you need to

run it.

Advisors Assistant also automatically saves the last Selection

Report that was run. If you’ve exited Selection Reports and

decide you need to run the same search again, you can load the

previous search (see “How To Load Selection Reports” below.)

How to Save Selection Reports

1. Open Selection Reports.

2. Enter the criteria you wish to select. Be sure to include any

Product or Flex Field information.

3. Click on the Save Button.

4. Give the saved selection a name.

5. Click OK.

How to Load a Saved Selection Report

1. Open Selection Reports.

2. Before entering any criteria, click on the Load Button.

3. Highlight the saved Selection Report from the list and click

OK.

4. The criteria you saved will appear on the screen. Click OK to

start the search.

Selection Report Options

Once your names have been selected, you have other options

available. The following buttons are available across the bottom

of the Report Selection Screen:

Exit: exit out of Selection Reports

Report: run the highlighted report (you can also just double-

click the report.)

Export: export the selected names to another file, such as an

excel spreadsheet.

Word: send the selected names to Microsoft Word to print

letters or send emails. This function is described in detail in the

“Merging With MS Word” chapter.

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Manage: take the names you’ve selected and perform a function

with all of the names. For example, you can add a market to all

of the names selected or change the producer name for all of the

names selected.

Subset: take the names you’ve selected and work only with

those names from the main View Screen. When you create a

subset your View Screen will be yellow to indicate you’re

working within a subset of names. You can turn off the subset

just by unchecking the box in the bottom left corner.

New Search: open a blank selection criteria screen.

Add to Search: put the list of names you’ve selected aside, and

add a new list of names to the first list. You can keep adding

new names by using the Add To Search Button again after your

next search. This performs an “OR” search. For example, you

can build a list of people that have the Market golf OR the

Market boating.

Footnote: if you have security rights to edit report footnotes,

clicking this button will take you to the report footnotes so you

can edit them.

Printing a Current Client Report

At the click of a mouse button, you can quickly access all of the

reports in Advisors Assistant for the name you are viewing on

the screen.

How to Print a Current Client Report

1. Make sure the name for which you’re printing reports is on

the View Screen.

2. Click on the Current Client Reports Icon in the Sidebar.

3. All of the contact and product information for that name will

be selected, and you’ll be taken to the Report Selection Menu

Screen to select the report you wish to print.

The Tagged Names Report

The Tagged Names Report works similarly to the Selection

Reports. Instead of filling out the criteria for what you’re

searching on, you can just go down the list of names in the

database and “tag” them to select them.

When you “tag” a name, the name is moved to the bottom half of

the screen to show that it has been selected. Once you have

selected all your names, you will move to the Reports menu and

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have all the same options available as you do through the

Selection Reports.

How to “Tag” Names

1. From any View Screen, click on the Tools menu at the top of

the View Screen.

2. Select Tagged Names Report.

You are now on a screen similar to the Lookup Name Screen.

There are a few ways to find the name you want to select:

 You can click on any column tab to sort the list by that

column. If you’re sorting by last name, type in the last name

and then first name in the boxes at the top of the screen (just

like when you’re looking for a name in the database.)

Advisors Assistant will narrow down the list as you put more

letters in, and the names will appear in the grid.

 To go through the complete list, you can use the arrow keys

on your keyboard to scroll through the list. Then you can tag

the names as you look through the list.

3. Once you’ve found the name you want to “tag”, there are

three ways to actually “tag” the name which moves the name

to the bottom half of the screen:

 Double click on the name

Tagging Names For Selection Reports

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 Highlight the name and press Enter

 Highlight the name and click the Blue Arrow Button in

the middle of the screen

4. When you’re finished tagging all of your names, click on the

OK Button to move to the Reports menu. From the reports

menu you can print reports with those names, or merge with

a word processor; just as with other Selection Reports.

The Advisors Assistant Calendar

In this chapter you will:

 Customize your calendar settings

 Schedule appointments

 Schedule Tasks and Phone Calls

 View your calendar

 Print your calendar

 Schedule and view an associate’s calendar

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The Advisors Assistant Calendar

The Advisors Assistant calendar is fully integrated with the

main database, so you can set up appointments with any person

you have in the database and have all of their information

available at your fingertips. Follow-up dates are also

automatically carried over into the calendar when you add them

to a note, market, or new business action.

Advisors Assistant Calendar Features

 The calendar opens in its own window, so it can stay open

throughout the day while you work in Advisors Assistant.

 Each person in your office who is a user of Advisors Assistant

can have his or her own calendar. You can also set up “office”

calendars.

The Main Calendar Screen

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 You can keep your calendar private or selectively give rights

to others to view your calendar and add appointments and

tasks.

 You can transfer blocks of tasks, phone calls, or

appointments from one calendar to another.

 Any follow-up dates you enter for notes, Workflows, letter

logs, phone logs, markets or new business comments will

automatically create Tasks and be copied to a calendar note.

 Tasks can roll forward if they are not completed.

 You can be notified of pending calendar events.

 You can set up recurring events, such as calling a client for a

review on the first Monday of every June for the next 3 years.

 You can print various schedules.

 You can see a graphical depiction of your entire office's

calendar quickly and easily.

Calendar Views

You can view your calendar by week, month, year, or day.

Weekly Calendar View

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Weekly View

To see a weekly view of your calendar, click on the word Week

at the top of the screen.

You can add an event by double clicking in an empty time period

on the screen, or you can modify an existing event by double

clicking on the event. You can change the length of an existing

appointment by single clicking to highlight the appointment,

and clicking and dragging the bottom or top border of the

appointment.

You can change weeks by using the right and left arrow buttons

at the bottom of the screen. You can always change back to the

current day by clicking on the Today Button at the bottom of the

screen.

Monthly View

To see the current and next month’s calendar events, click on

the word Month at the top of the screen.

Monthly Calendar View

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You can move to different days in the month by clicking on a

new day, and then clicking on the word Day at the top of the

screen. You will then be looking at the day you just selected.

You can change months by using the right and left arrow

buttons at the bottom of the screen. You can always change back

to the current day by clicking on the Today Button.

Yearly View

To see the year and change between months and years, click on

the word Year at the top of the screen.

You can change years by using the right and left arrow buttons

at the bottom of the screen. You can always change back to the

current day by clicking on the Today Button.

Associate’s Schedules

To see the times other users have available in their calendars,

click on the word Schedule at the top of the screen.

Viewing Associate’s Schedules

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You will see all of the calendars to which you have access for the

current day you are viewing. You can double-click on any events

to modify the event.

Customizing Your Calendar Settings

Before you start using the calendar, you should set up the

calendar options. Your settings are saved under your initials,

and every time you log into Advisors Assistant it will

automatically bring up your calendar settings.

How to Set Up Your Calendar Options

1. From any View Screen, click on the Calendar Button in the

Sidebar.

2. The first time you enter the Calendar, you will be prompted

to customize your settings. If you have already bypassed this

screen, click on the Setup Button at the bottom of the

Calendar screen.

3. Enter your preferences:

 Select the users you want to have access to your calendar.

Click on the “+” Button and select who you wish to have

access to your calendar.

 Select whether you want your tasks to automatically roll

over to the next day if they are not completed.

 Select if you wish to have your Monthly View show

Saturday and Sunday in different boxes, or grouped

together.

 Select whether you would like to be alerted when an

appointment/task comes up. If you want to be alerted,

you need to set how long before the appointment or task

you want the alert. If you opt to be alerted you can select

if you wish a sound to play with the alert and if so which

sound.

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 Select if you wish to always have a “With” name selected

in your calendar events. This will allow you to only add

events for a name that is in Advisors Assistant.

 The last section is for the calendar defaults. You can set a

default event time and priority, and you can set the

default colors for appointments, calls, and tasks. These

defaults automatically appear when you add a new

appointment or task. You can also change the color that

appears on the two calendars indicating you have an

event on a particular day.

4. Click OK when you’re finished.

To change your calendar settings at any time, click on the Setup

Button at the bottom of the calendar screen.

Calendar User Setup Screen

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Adding & Modifying Appointments

How to Add Appointments

1. From any View Screen, click on the Calendar Button in the

Sidebar.

2. Select the day of the appointment, and double click on the

time slot to which you would like to add the appointment.

3. Enter the details of the appointment:

 Date. The date you originally selected will be filled in, but

you can change it.

 Beginning and ending time. Check the box if it’s an all

day appointment or over multiple days.

 The Sub-type of the appointment. You can set up sub-type

codes to group calendar events together for reporting.

Your System Administrator can also link colors to specific

Sub-types.

 A description and notes

Appointment Screen

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 Who the appointment is with. Click on the “+” Button in

the With Box to choose the names from the database.

 On whose calendar the appointment will be. If you do not

select a name the appointment will automatically be

added to your calendar. Click on the “+” Button in the

Calendars Box to choose the user names. Be sure to

select your name also if you wish the appointment to be

on your calendar as well as the other calendars.

 How often the appointment will recur. Once you select

how often the appointment recurs you’ll be able to select a

recurring pattern.

 The color you’d like to have appear next to the

appointment

4. Click OK when you’re finished entering the appointment

information.

Your appointment has been added, and will now show up on

your schedule with the time blocked off.

How to Modify an Appointment

1. Open the calendar.

2. Double click on the appointment you wish to change.

3. Enter your changes.

4. Click OK when you’re finished.

How to Delete an Appointment

1. Open the calendar.

2. Double click on the appointment you wish to delete.

3. Click on the Delete Button.

4. Confirm the deletion.

Adding & Modifying Projects/Tasks/Phone Calls

Projects, Phone Calls, and Tasks are considered similar entries,

and are entered into the same area of the calendar.

When you’re looking at the Daily View, you can Right-Click on

the Task/Call and move directly to the name record the Task is

with.

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How to Schedule a Project/Task/Phone Call

1. From any View Screen, click on the Calendar Button in the

Sidebar.

2. Click on the Add Button at the top of the Task/Call list. You

can also double click on the daily schedule where the

appointments are listed, and change the Type to Task or

Call.

3. The event will default to Task, which can also be a project

you define in the Description. To separate phone calls change

the Type to Call.

4. Enter the details of the Task/Phone Call. The fields are the

same whether you have selected a Type of Task or Call:

 Beginning and Due date and time. Tasks and Calls will

show as overdue after the due date.

 The Sub-type of the event. You can set up sub-type codes

to group calendar events together for reporting.

 A description and notes

Task Screen

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 Who the event is with. Click on the “+” Button in the

With Box to choose the names from the database.

 On whose calendar the event will be. If you do not select

a name the event will automatically be added to your

calendar. Click on the “+” Button in the Calendars Box

to choose the user names. Be sure to select your name also

if you wish the event to be on your calendar as well as the

other calendars.

5. How often the event will recur. Once you select how often the

event recurs you’ll be able to select a recurring pattern. Click

on OK when you’re finished.

The Task/Call has been added to your list of tasks. You can sort

your tasks by any of the columns listed. When the event has

been marked completed, a YES appears in the completed

column. Uncompleted events can be rolled over to the next day

until they are completed. The roll over option is part of the

initial Calendar Setup.

To mark a Task/Call as completed, you would modify the event.

How to Modify a Task/Call

1. Open the calendar.

2. Double click on the event you wish to change.

3. Enter your changes.

4. Click OK when you’re finished.

How to Delete a Task/Call

1. Open the calendar.

2. Highlight the event you wish to delete.

3. Click on the Delete Button.

4. Confirm the deletion.

Printing Calendar Reports

You can print calendar reports by day, week, and month and for

appointments, Tasks, Phone Calls, or all events. The calendar

reports are great reports to run in the morning to see what you

have planned for your day.

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The calendar reports work similar to other reports in Advisors

Assistant. First you select which data you’d like on the report,

then you select the report format.

How to Print a Calendar Report

1. Open the calendar.

2. Click on the word Reports at the top of the screen.

3. Enter the criteria you wish to use to select the calendar

events for your report.

 Select what Type of calendar events you’d like on your

report: all, just appointments or Tasks or Calls, or a

combination

 Select if you’d like to limit the events selected by other

fields such as sub-type, only completed events, or priority

 Select the date range you’d like on the report – you can

enter any date range from a day to a couple years

 If you only want to see calendar events that have been

changed recently, enter the change date range

Calendar Reports

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 Select the one name you’d like to see calendar events for,

or you can print it for all names

 You can print just one user’s calendar, or you can add

users to the list and also print their calendars on one

combined report (use the + sign in the Search Calendars

section to add users). If you wish to have separate reports

for each user, only select one user at a time, print their

report, and then select another user to print their report.

 If you’re printing letters to people regarding calendar

events, you can select to only pull calendar events that

have a name in the “with” field. This will keep you from

getting letters with blank addresses.

4. Click on the Search Button to see a list of the calendar

events you have chosen on the screen before printing them.

Click on the Report Button to select a report format or print

letters.

5. Once you have selected your report, click on the Printer

Icon on the toolbar at the top to print the report.

Sending Letters Using The Calendar

With the Advisors Assistant Calendar, you can select a group of

events (such as all appointments next week) and send a letter to

the people with whom you have those events. Printing letters

with the Calendar works the same as printing letters using the

Selection Reports, you’re just selecting different data and the

data file sent to Word has Calendar Event information instead

of just name information. For details on Merging Letters with

MS Word, please see the Wordmerge section in this manual.

How To Send Letters Using The Calendar

1. Open the Calendar.

2. Click on Reports at the top of the calendar screen.

3. In the Filter Options section, fill in the criteria to search for

the clients to which you wish to send letters.

4. Click on the Display Button to see the events you selected.

5. Click on the Report Button to bring up the Calendar

Reports Screen.

6. Click on the Word Button at the bottom of the screen and

choose the letter you want to merge.

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NOTE: To avoid merging blank names, make sure you check the

box for “Has Name in With Field” in the Filter Options section.

Scheduling & Viewing an Associate’s Calendar

If another Advisors Assistant User has given you rights to their

calendar, you can schedule appointments and tasks for them.

There are two ways to schedule for an associate. You can view

their calendar just like you view yours and add an appointment

or task, or you can copy an appointment you’re making in your

calendar to their calendar.

How to Schedule an Associate’s Calendar

1. Open the Calendar.

2. Click on the arrow next to your name at the top right hand

corner of the screen. Select the associate’s name for the

calendar you’d like to view.

3. Add an appointment or task to their schedule the same way

you would add one to yours (see Scheduling an Appointment

above.)

If you are unable to add the appointment, you must not have

rights to their calendar. Ask your associate to give you rights.

How to Copy an Appointment/Task to an Associate’s Calendar

1. Open the Calendar.

2. Add an appointment to your calendar as described above.

3. In the Calendars Box, click the “+” Button and select the

associate’s name from the list. Be sure to select your name

too if you wish to have the event on your calendar.

4. Click OK.

If you are unable to add the event, you must not have rights to

their calendar. Ask your associate to give you rights.

How to View All Associate’s Schedules

If you’re trying to set up an appointment with several associates,

you can view their schedules to see when they have free time.

1. Open the Calendar.

2. Click on the Schedule Button.

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You will see a graph of the calendars to which you have access,

and the times they have blocked off for that day.

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Viewing Calendar Events

The calendar allows you to view your calendar events on a day

by day basis. You can also view all of the events that are

associated with a particular name.

With the View Perspectives, you can view All of a names’

calendar events (appointments and Task’s), just Pending events,

just Completed events, or those calendar events that are

scheduled for Today. Calendar Events can also be added,

modified, and deleted through the View Client With Events

Screen.

How To View Calendar Events

1. Select the name for which you want to view events.

2. Click on the Events Button to move to the Events View.

3. Select the Perspective you wish to view.

View Calendar Events Screen

Messaging

In this chapter you will:

 Send a message to Advisors Assistant users

 Reply to a message sent

The Advisors Assistant Messenger

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Sending Messages

With Advisors Assistant, you can send a message to other

Advisors Assistant Users. If you are on a network, the message

will be sent to the computer that User is logged onto. If you are

using the system Single User, the message will be sent to that

User and they can retrieve it when they log onto the system.

How to Send Messages

1. Click on the Messaging Button from the Sidebar.

Sending Messages

Advisors Assistant Messenger

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2. Select the User(s) you are sending a message to. The users

currently logged into Advisors Assistant are indicated with

an asterisk (*). Check “All Users” to select all users in the

database.

3. Type in your message.

4. Click Send.

Replying to a Message

To reply to a message, highlight the message and click on the

Reply Button. Advisors Assistant defaults to including the

previous message in your reply (Quote In Reply option.)

Click the Send Button to send your reply.

Message Archiving

Messages you’ve received will stay on your main Messenger

screen until you archive them. Messages can be deleted

permanently from your Messenger from the Archive. You can

also view messages you’ve sent in the Archive.

Messenger Archive – Sent Messages

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 To view your archived messages, click the View Archive

Button.

 To view the messages you’ve sent, click the Sent Button.

 To permanently remove messages from the Messenger,

highlight the message and click the Remove Button.

New Business

In this chapter you will:

 Add New Business Actions

 Print New Business Reports

New Business Tracking

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New Business Tracking

With Advisors Assistant you can track New Business Action

Items to make sure that specific tasks are being completed for

prospects and clients.

For prospecting, New Business can be used to track which stage

of the sales process a prospect is in.

The New Business section allows you to add action items to a

contact's name and even assign follow-up tasks relating to the

action item. You can then print reports of all outstanding new

business actions, and have a history of what actions have been

completed.

How to Add a New Business Action

1. Go to the View Client With New Business Screen.

2. Click on the Add Action Button.

3. Click on the Action Field to select a New Business Action

from the abbreviation list. The Description of the action is

carried down to the Description field, but you can edit it. The

Description field shows on the screen and prints on reports.

4. Select a Priority.

View Client With New Biz

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5. Select a vendor name from the list of names in the database,

if applicable.

6. The Requested Date is automatically filled in with the

current date. You may change this date if you’d like.

7. Enter a Follow-up Date to have the Follow-up added to your

calendar.

8. Enter Notes.

9. Click OK when done.

When the Action is completed, you can Modify the Action and

enter a Completed Date.

Printing New Business Reports

You can print several reports for the policies you have in

Underwriting. The Completed Date controls whether a policy is

in Underwriting or not; if the Completed Date is left blank,

Advisors Assistant considers the policy to be in Underwriting.

Once you fill in the Completed Date, Advisors Assistant removes

the policy from the Underwriting Reports.

How to Print New Business Reports

1. Open the Selection Reports.

Add/Modify New Business Action

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2. Click on the New Business Tab across the bottom of the

screen.

3. Select the New Business Type of Contact New Business.

4. Click on the No Completed Date Box if you wish to only see

action items that have not been completed.

5. Enter any other criteria you wish to search on. You can also

include criteria from the name selection screens.

6. Click Search to run the search.

7. Once the search is completed and you have the list of reports,

be sure to select the Report Type of New Business to see the

new business specific reports. Double click on the report or

highlight the report and click the Report Button.

Workflows vs. New Business

Both the Advisors Assistant Workflow feature and the New

Business feature track processes. However they are both

different and complementary.

The Workflow Concept

New Business Reports Selection Criteria

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Workflows are step-by-step events that are both fixed and

predictable. They tend not to vary in both the steps taken and

the order of those steps.

For example, during the sales order processing it would be rare

for a new requirement to immerge in the middle of the

processing that could not be predicted. If you have the product,

you package then ship. If you don't have the product, you order

it, put it on back order, contact the customer, then package

when it comes in, and ship. The packaging is not going to

change based on some non-controllable outside force that will

force an entire new, unpredictable set of steps.

The New Business Concept

With New Business, the steps and events are not so predictable.

They can be controlled by outside influences that are unknown

at the time the goal is established.

For example, the task of getting the approval of a life insurance

policy between the time the application is sent to underwriting

and the issued policy is placed or delivered to the client. You

have no idea of the complete health history, and cannot predict

which and how many doctors' statements will be required, what

additional tests will be required, the time between each task, or

even what those tasks will entail. One day the underwriter may

ask to have the blood pressure checked on 3 separate days, and

a week later they may ask for a doctor's report from a doctor

which was not on the application.

The New Business process must be both flexible and fluid. The

time frames are usually rushed and "as soon as possible" and

there is no predictability of the steps. This requires a different

process.

Complementary Concepts

Often a Workflow will be followed by a New Business process.

The workflow may take client up to the point of sale as various

fixed processes were performed to set up meetings and generate

proposals.

At that point, the process may become fluid when a product is

sold and it must be tracked through an additional process, such

as underwriting a policy which is not predictable.

The New Business process may then be followed by a Workflow

that will deliver the product and set up the next client meeting.

Automated Workflow

In this chapter you will:

 Create Master Workflows

 Add & Modify Workflows

 Create Workflow Templates

 Print Workflow Reports

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Automated Workflows

A workflow is a series of functions (workflow events) to be

performed in a sequence designed to accomplish a particular

business process or objective.

Each event is one step of the workflow. An event appears in the

Advisors Assistant calendar as a task. When the event or the

task is completed, the calendar item is deleted, but the event

history remains and can be viewed in the View Client With

Workflows Screen.

Example Of A Workflow Sequence

How Workflows Operate

When you set up an active workflow, the first workflow event

becomes active and a task with a due date is placed in the

calendar for the person assigned the execution of the event.

As the assignee executes the event, based on the instructions

included in the event, they can make notes.

Once the event is completed, the person marks it as complete by

assigning a completed date and who completed the event.

When an event is completed, the task is automatically removed

from the calendar and the next event's task is placed in the

calendar for the person assigned to that task. However, if there

are several events due on the same day, the next event is not

assigned until the last task for that day is completed.

Once the final workflow event is completed, a workflow is

considered completed.

Workflow Setup Step-By-Step

Advisors Assistant has streamlined setting up workflows

through the use of Workflow Event Templates and Master

Workflows.

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Step 1: Outline Each Function Of The Process

The first step in setting up an effective workflow is to

gather the people who perform the business function and

dissect each step (event) of the process.

For example, outline the process on a white board or use

post-its so that you can move the steps as the

stakeholders in the process suggest how each step should

be accomplished.

Only after you have analyzed the steps of your workflow

process are you ready to enter it into Advisors Assistant.

Step 2: Create Master Workflows

Workflows are designed for processes that are repeated in

your business. Creating a Master Workflow will allow

you to simply copy the master to a name and assign the

people who should execute the various events.

Workflow Masters do not have begin and end dates. They

have durations and wait days between their events. The

actual dates are calculated when the master is copied to a

name.

Step 3: Assign An Active Workflow to a Contact

Active Workflows are associated with an individual

contact.

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Master Workflow Templates

Master workflows are designed to save time. A master workflow

is designed as a template which can be copied to a contact every

time this particular sequence of events is needed.

Setting up workflow masters is controlled by the role based

security, so the database administrator controls who can set up

master workflows.

Workflow Library

Advisors Assistant has created a Workflow Library from which

you can import Master Workflow Templates. You can access the

Workflow Library from Advisors Assistant’s Resource Library –

from inside Advisors Assistant click on the HELP Menu at the

top of the screen, then select the Resource Library. You’ll see

the Workflow Library listed in the Resource Library.

How to Setup a Master Workflow

1) Click on the Tools Menu or the Admin Menu at the top of

the screen.

2) Select Workflow | Maintain Workflow Masters.

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3) Click on the Add Button.

4) From the Add/Modify Master Workflow Screen, select a

Workflow Type and enter a Description for your

Workflow.

5) Click the Add Button to add a Workflow Event.

a. Event Type: this is a predetermined list setup by Advisors

Assistant of specific types of events used in workflows.

b. Description: enter the description of this workflow event.

c. Duration: this is the number of days allocated to

accomplish the event. The duration cannot be less than 1,

and the current day is considered day 1 of the duration.

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d. Wait Days: This is the number of days AFTER the

completion of the event before the next event should start.

This number cannot be less than 0.

When the next event is to be executed during the same

time as the current event, use 0 wait days. This should

only occur when the next event is to be executed by a

different user than the current event.

e. Revenue Step: check this box if revenue is expected to be

generated by this step. An additional field will appear on

the Active Workflow Screen so that the amount of revenue

can be entered.

f. Default User: you can assign a default user name to the

event, which is the calendar to which this event will be

added. If you leave the user name blank at the master

level it can then be assigned when you add the workflow

to a contact.

g. Instructions: this is an important field because it allows

the person who owns the Workflow Master to provide

details about how they expect the event to be executed. It

will help prevent mistakes and streamline training.

h. Templates: templates are described in further detail later

in this chapter. You can use templates to save time in

adding workflow events.

6) Click OK to add the first event.

7) Click the Add Button to add another event, or the Modify

Button to modify an existing event.

8) Once the steps have been added you can highlight an event

and use the Move Up and Move Down Buttons to change

the order of the events.

9) Once the events are complete, click OK to add your Master

Workflow.

Assigning Active Workflows

Once your Master Workflows have been created, you can then

assign an Active Workflow to a contact record.

How to Assign an Active Workflow

1. From the View Client With Workflows Screen, click on the

Add Action Button.

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2. Select the name of the Master Workflow from the list.

3. Enter a Begin Date and Priority.

4. Select a primary User. This user name will be used for any

event step that did not have a default user selected.

5. Click the Next Button.

6. The workflow events will be listed out with each begin and

due date. At this point you can double-click on any individual

event to make changes. You can also make changes in the

future. If you change the Due Date of any individual event

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you will need to confirm that each begin date of all future

events will also shift.

7. You can enter a Reference, and/or click on the Account or

Policy Buttons to link this workflow to an account or policy

number for that contact.

8. You can select a name to be notified when the workflow has

been completed, or if it is terminated (such as a manager’s

name.)

9. If there is a revenue step, you can double-click on that event

that is the revenue step and enter the revenue amount to

track the revenue.

10. Click OK to save the Workflow to the contact.

Workflow Notes

Once the workflow is added to the contact name, you can double

click on each individual event to edit the event as you’re working

through the workflow.

Notes can be added to each workflow event to track the progress.

The F2 key can be used to date each individual note entry, F3

can be used to add a date and time to the notes.

You can also read any notes that have been entered under

previous steps using the “Other Notes” tab.

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All notes added under Workflows are also available under the

View Client With Notes Screen.

Event Templates

Event Templates make your Workflow Events reusable as you

set up your Master Workflows. Set up a template when you will

be using the same event with the same instructions in several

Master Workflows.

Since these templates are used over and over, care should be

taken to make sure they are complete, especially in the

Instruction Note.

How to Add an Event Template

1. Click on the Admin Menu at the top of the screen.

2. Select Workflow | Workflow Event Templates.

3. Click on the Add Button to add a template.

4. Enter the fields for this event. Remember this is a template

that can be used with multiple Master Workflows. So you’re

not entering detailed information.

Once your templates have been added, when you’re adding an

event to a master you can use the Load From Template

Button to add an event from a template.

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Workflow Reports

There are many reports available to track the progress of your

Workflows, as well as charts that are available through the

Advisors Assistant Dashboard.

How to Print Workflow Reports

1. Click on Reports at the top of the Advisors Assistant Screen.

2. Select Workflow Reports.

3. The Workflow Selection Criteria Screen is set up to

automatically select all Active and Overdue workflows. But

you can also use the criteria screen to target specific

workflows by filling in the fields depending on what type of

workflow you’d like to select.

4. Once you’ve entered your criteria, click Search.

5. The next screen will give you a list of pre-formatted reports

to choose from that will list out the workflows that have been

selected based on the criteria you’ve entered.

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Workflows vs. New Business

Both the Advisors Assistant Workflow feature and the New

Business feature track processes. However they are both

different and complementary.

The Workflow Concept

Workflows are step-by-step events that are both fixed and

predictable. They tend not to vary in both the steps taken and

the order of those steps.

For example, during the sales order processing it would be rare

for a new requirement to immerge in the middle of the

processing that could not be predicted. If you have the product,

you package then ship. If you don't have the product, you order

it, put it on back order, contact the customer, then package

when it comes in, and ship. The packaging is not going to

change based on some non-controllable outside force that will

force an entire new, unpredictable set of steps.

The New Business Concept

With New Business, the steps and events are not so predictable.

They can be controlled by outside influences that are unknown

at the time the goal is established.

For example, the task of getting the approval of a life insurance

policy between the time the application is sent to underwriting

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and the issued policy is placed or delivered to the client. You

have no idea of the complete health history, and cannot predict

which and how many doctors' statements will be required, what

additional tests will be required, the time between each task, or

even what those tasks will entail. One day the underwriter may

ask to have the blood pressure checked on 3 separate days, and

a week later they may ask for a doctor's report from a doctor

which was not on the application.

The New Business process must be both flexible and fluid. The

time frames are usually rushed and "as soon as possible" and

there is no predictability of the steps. This requires a different

process.

Complementary Concepts

Often a Workflow will be followed by a New Business process.

The workflow may take client up to the point of sale as various

fixed processes were performed to set up meetings and generate

proposals.

At that point, the process may become fluid when a product is

sold and it must be tracked through an additional process, such

as underwriting a policy which is not predictable.

The New Business process may then be followed by a Workflow

that will deliver the product and set up the next client meeting.

The Advisors Assistant Dashboard

In this chapter you will:

 Configure your Dashboard

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The Dashboard

The Advisors Assistant Dashboard is a place where data is

summarized in a format which is easy for you to read and

understand. It’s made up of different widgets, and you can

decide which widgets you wish to have show up on your

Dashboard.

The type of widgets you have available for your Dashboard

depends on which modules you are using with your Advisors

Assistant.

You can open your Dashboard at any time by clicking on the

Dashboard Icon from the Advisors Assistant Toolbar. You can

also have the Dashboard open as the first screen you see every

time you open Advisors Assistant by checking the “Show

Dashboard On Startup” box at the bottom of the Dashboard

Screen.

Setting Up Your Dashboard

To select the widgets you wish to appear on your Dashboard

you’ll need to setup your Dashboard.

How to Setup your Dashboard

6. Click on the Dashboard Icon to open the Advisors Assistant

Dashboard.

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7. Click on the Setup Button at the bottom of the Dashboard

Screen.

8. The list of widgets that are available is on the right. You can

add and remove widgets from the Active Widgets section

using the Add and Remove Buttons.

a. Sample widgets are sent with Advisors Assistant, so if

you have no open space available click on a widget and

it will be highlighted in blue. Then click on the

Remove Button and it will move it back to the

Available Widgets list.

b. Highlight the name of the widget in the Available

Widgets list, and click the Add Button to add the

widget to your Dashboard. Hovering over the name of

the widget will provide additional information about

that widget.

i. Pie Chart widgets get placed on the right side of

the Dashboard in the square boxes.

ii. List and Bar Chart widgets get placed in the left

side of the Dashboard in the rectangular boxesx

c. Some widgets require additional setup. Highlight the

widget, and click the Setup Button to customize your

settings.

d. Click the Exit Button once you’re finished.

Dashboard Features

The Dashboard is very interactive, and has additional

features you may find helpful for the data you’re viewing.

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The features that are available depend on the widget you’re

viewing.

Icon

Description

Zooms in to a closer look at the chart you’re

viewing

Takes you directly to reports for the data you’re

viewing

Exports the data you’re viewing to an Excel

spreadsheet

Refreshes the data in the widget

Chart Hover Reports

When you hover over a section of a bar chart or pie chart, you’ll

notice that it pulses. If you click on just that one section of the

chart, you’ll be taken to reports for that type of data. The reports

will only include the data for that section of the chart you

clicked.

RSS Feeds

RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication. It's a way to deliver

up to date information, but takes a special "RSS Reader." Your

Dashboard has an RSS Reader built in. It can provide up to 3

different RSS Feeds.

RSS Feeds are topics that you can click on to read the

underlying news article. Clicking on the RSS Topic on the

Dashboard will take you to the article on the web.

Use the Setup Button to put the RSS Reader on your

Dashboard. You can see more about how to set up the feeds in

the setup help for the RSS Reader.

How to Setup an RSS Feed

1. Go to a web site such as www.WSJ.com. Use your browser.

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2. Look for a topic about RSS Feeds. In the case of the Wall

Street Journal, search for "RSS" by pressing Ctrl-F and

typing RSS. It's at the bottom of the page.

3. Click on RSS Feeds on the page and then click on the feed

you want to monitor. For Example WSJ Markets. Then pick

the feed from the Market Feeds. In this case, click on Get

Feed.

4. Copy the link shown by highlighting it and pressing Ctrl C.

Paste the link into the Address 1 field.

5. Click Ok, then Click Exit. Advisors Assistant will go and get

the headlines as long as you have Internet access.

Note: Use the Refresh Button to refresh the feed. The RSS

Reader does not constantly interrogate the web site for the

latest feed.

Merging with MS Word for Letters &

Emails

In this chapter you will:

 Merge Advisors Assistant data with Microsoft

Word to print a single letter or a mass mailing

 Merge Advisors Assistant data with Microsoft

Word to send a single or broadcast email

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Writing Letters/Sending Emails with Advisors Assistant and Microsoft Word

Advisors Assistant will automatically merge the information

from your database into letters, emails, and other documents in

Microsoft Word. This means that any information you’ve stored

in Advisors Assistant can be inserted automatically into your

letters and emails. No longer will you have to type names and

addresses into your letters – let Advisors Assistant do the work

for you.

When you click on the Word Button from the View Screen or

Selection Reports, Advisors Assistant will send your information

to Word in a format it can read, and open Word for you. You just

need to pick the letter you’re sending from the list (or create a

new one), make any changes you want to the letter, and print it.

And this process works the same whether you’re sending one

letter or hundreds of letters.

Printing Letters/Sending Emails

There are two main areas in Advisors Assistant where you can

instantly link to Microsoft Word and transfer data over: from

any View Screen and from the Selection Reports. You can also

print letters from the Calendar.

Sending a quick letter or email to one person in your database is

extremely easy with Advisors Assistant.

How to Print a Quick Letter/Email to One Person

1. Put the person you’re printing a letter to or sending an email

on the View Screen. Make sure you check that the phone and

address you want in the letter is also on the screen.

2. Click the Word Action Button.

3. Select the document you want to print from the list. Advisors

Assistant defaults to the My Documents\Advisors

Assistant\Word Merge subdirectory as described above. The

AA Master Letter and AA Master Email documents are

designed as templates to help you write new letters and

emails.

4. Advisors Assistant will build your data file and open

Microsoft Word for you.

You can also send one letter or email to several or even

hundreds of names in your database. This is a great prospecting

tool, and can help with your marketing efforts.

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Logging Letters/Emails

Every time you print a letter or send an email using Advisors

Assistant, you can add a letter log to the name record. You can

also attach a follow-up date to the letter log, and insure that you

are following up on any prospect letters you send.

Letter logs can be added whether you send a document to a

group of selected names or if you just send a document to one

name. The Letter Log pops up after you close the letter or email

and return to Advisors Assistant.

How to Add a Letter Log to a Name

10) Click on the Word Button in Advisors Assistant and open

your letter or email in the word processor you’ve chosen to

use.

11) Print your letter or send your email.

If you want a copy of the whole letter in the letter log, click on

the ABC Button to view the name, highlight the complete letter

(CTRL-A) and copy it into the clipboard (use Edit Copy or click

on the Copy Icon) so you can paste it into the letter log.

12) Close the word processor and return to Advisors Assistant.

13) The Letter Log window is now up on the screen. Enter who

signed the letter and a summary, and you can also store the

name of the document if you wish.

14) Click the OK Button.

If you’ve sent this letter to a group of selected names, each

person will have the letter log added to their record. In this

instance, though, the letter log does not allow you to add notes

and a follow-up date to each record. This saves you from

inadvertently giving yourself hundreds of phone calls in your

calendar. You can always print out a short list of names of the

people the letter was sent to, and add one follow-up to your

calendar to call those people.

Printing Letters to Selected Names

To “mail merge” a direct mailing, you would first select out the

names you want to send letters to using our Selection Reports.

Advisors Assistant then has a direct link from the Selection

Reports to Microsoft Word.

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How to Print a Letter to Selected Names

1. Run your selection for the names you’re sending letters to.

2. Click on the MS Word Button at the bottom of the Selection

Reports screen.

3. Select the address, phone, and order you wish to use for the

letters. If you’ve selected product data, be sure to check the

appropriate box to include the products in the letters. If you

select a particular Address Type like HOME, and a name

does not have a HOME address, the PRIMARY address will

be used.

4. Select the letter you want to print from the list. The AA

Master Letter is designed as a letter template to help you

write new letters.

5. Advisors Assistant will build your data file and open

Microsoft Word for you.

Sending Letters & Envelopes/Labels to a Joint Address

If you have two spouses in your database and they are both

clients, you will often wish to send just one letter to the house

that addresses both clients/spouses. To do this you use a

combination of the “Head Of Household” field and the Joint

Address.

First you’ll need to make sure that one of the spouses is marked

as the “Head of Household”. Single clients and prospects should

be marked as Head Of Household Field.

In the Head of Household record you can add an additional

address with a location of JOINT (you’ll need to add the JOINT

location to your list of Address Location Codes.) This Joint

Selecting an Address for Merging with Word

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Address can have a greeting and addressee that includes both

spouses:

Greeting: James and Dolley

Addressee: Mr. and Mrs. James Madison

When you are doing a mailing, on the selection reports criteria

screen make sure you select “Only The Heads of Household.”

And when you perform a Mail Merge make sure you select the

Joint Address for the address to mail to.

Setting Up Your Letter/Email in Microsoft Word

When you click on the Word Button, Advisors Assistant will

open Microsoft Word for you, and you will then have the

letter/email you selected from the list open on the screen.

You will notice some new toolbars and menu options in Word,

which Advisors Assistant set up for you automatically to make

merging easier. The Mail Merge Toolbar will be showing on your

screen with your other Toolbars, and we added a Mail Merge

Menu Option.

Adding Merge Fields to Your Letter/Email

You can insert as many Merge Fields to your letters and emails

as you’d like to customize and personalize your documents.

How to Add Merge Fields to your Letter

1. Position your cursor to the exact location where you want the

field.

2. Click on the Insert Merge Field Icon.

3. Double-click on the Merge Field you want inserted into your

letter. Close the Insert Merge Field window.

The Merge Field will be put in your letter or email at the point

where your cursor was. To see the data instead of the Merge

Field Name, click on the View Merged Data Button.

If you insert an Investment or Policy Merge Field but no product

data shows in the letter, you either did not select on any product

data in Selection Reports or you were not Viewing the product in

Advisors Assistant before you clicked on the Word Button to

open your letter.

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Printing Letters/Sending Emails and Merging the Data

Your letter or email is finished and ready to print or send, and

now you need to tell Word to merge the data and either print a

letter or send an email. If you’re printing a mass mailing, you

should do a test merge print to verify that everything is printing

correctly before printing all of the letters.

How to Print Your Letters with Merged Data

There are three ways you can print your letters and merge the

data.

1. When printing a single letter, if you have already clicked the

View Merged Data Button and are looking at the name

itself on the screen rather than the Merge Field Names, just

click your Word Printer Icon from the standard Word

toolbar. This will send the letter directly to the printer

without allowing you to change printers, copies, or print just

one page. This only applies to printing a single letter.

2. If you want to change printers or other printer settings, you

can click the Merge to Printer Icon. First select if you wish

to print to all names or select a record number range. This

option will merge the data whether you are viewing Merge

Fields or Data on the screen. You always need to use this

option to print a mass mailing (more than one name.)

If you are printing a mass mailing you should choose print

option #2 and tell it to print records from 1 to 3. This would give

you a test print run.

How to Send Emails with Merged Data

When sending emails, click the Merge To Email Icon from the

Merge toolbar. Enter a subject. This will send the emails directly

to Outlook into the Outbox.

After your letter/email(s) print and you exit Word, you will

return to Advisors Assistant. A Letter Log window will be up on

the screen. You can enter your Letter Log information and a

Follow-up date if you have merged a letter to just one person, or

click the Cancel Button to exit the Letter Log. Advisors

Assistant will not allow you to add a follow-up date to the letter

log if you have done a mass mailing – you wouldn’t want to have

100 To Do’s created from a Letter Log follow-up.

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Printing Envelopes/Labels Using Microsoft Word

Advisors Assistant has some label formats set up on the

Selection Reports menu. If you need a different label format, you

can create your own labels using Microsoft Word and merging

the data from Advisors Assistant.

Advisors Assistant also sets up a #10 Envelope with your master

document templates.

Due to the changes in merging with different versions of MS

Word, if you wish to create more label or envelope documents

please contact technical support.

Where are my documents stored?

Advisors Assistant creates a directory (folder) where it saves all

of your word processing documents. Each Workstation has its

own folder. This is the directory Advisors Assistant defaults to

when opening and saving documents, but you can always move

documents to other folders just like with other Windows

programs. The directory created is:

My Documents\Advisors Assistant\WordMergeDoc

Your Advisors Assistant will come with some documents already

set up, such as the Master Letter and Master Email. These have

some merge fields set up in them already, and can be used as

document masters for other letters and emails you write.

How Do I Know What Information is Sent to Word?

When you’re printing a quick letter or sending a quick email to

one person, the information that is put into the data file depends

on what you have on the View Screen.

 If you are looking at the name information, only the name

information will be put into the Data File. If you have more

than one phone number or address for that person, the phone

number and address that is currently being viewed will be

sent to Word. (The fax and mobile numbers are always sent.)

 If you are looking at the policy or investment information for

a contact, that product information will be sent along with

the name information.

If you are printing letters or sending emails from Selection

Reports, the same rules apply as with printing reports. If you

select only on name information, only the name information is

sent to Word. If you select on product information, the product

data will be sent to Word also.

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Outlook Synchronization

In this chapter you will:

 Synchronize Advisors Assistant data with

Microsoft Outlook

 Setup the Email Archiver

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Advisors Assistant has a direct link with Microsoft Outlook

(2003 or later only,) Outlook 365, or Exchange that can be used

to combine the power of Advisors Assistant with MS Outlook.

You can use Outlook to synchronize your Advisors Assistant

calendar and contacts with your mobile device or for auto

archiving your email correspondence to your contact’s notes.

Advisors Assistant’s Outlook Integration will do all this and

more with ease.

Since Advisors Assistant integrates with Outlook, it will work

with any mobile device that synchronizes with Outlook. Almost

all mobile devices on the market, including smartphones,

synchronize with Outlook. You may have to check with your

manufacturer for instructions on how to synchronize your device

with Outlook.

You must be using Outlook 2003 or later to synchronize

Advisors Assistant with Outlook.

Advisors Assistant can synchronize both Contact and Calendar

data with Outlook. You choose the data that is synchronized

with Outlook - contact data, calendar data, or both. You can also

turn on the "Real-time Export" for Advisors Assistant Calendar

Events with Outlook.

Contacts

Advisors Assistant will synchronize Contact data with Outlook,

including 3 addresses, 4 phone numbers, 3 email addresses, 1

web address, birthdates, wedding anniversary dates, categories

(with the Name Type field in Advisors Assistant,) and notes.

If you send birthdates and anniversary dates to Outlook,

Outlook will set up an event in the Outlook Calendar for those

dates. You can opt not to send these dates to Outlook. If you

send these dates your synchronization can take a long time and

you may not be able to use your Outlook until it is finished.

Advisors Assistant only synchronizes with the main Contact List

in Outlook. When you import from Outlook, all Contacts will be

imported unless you specify just one category to import.

Calendar

Advisors Assistant can synchronize Appointments and Tasks.

You get to choose to synchronize Appointments and/or Tasks

each time you synchronize.

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There are 3 options for transferring data between Advisors

Assistant and Outlook.

Export from Advisors Assistant to Outlook

Update Outlook with additions or changes from Advisors

Assistant.

Import from Outlook to Advisors Assistant

Update Advisors Assistant with additions or changes from

Outlook.

Both Export and Import

Advisors Assistant will be updated by Outlook changes and

Outlook will be updated by Advisors Assistant in one easy step.

You do not actually have to use Outlook in order to synchronize

it with Advisors Assistant. Outlook must be open, but it can be

used to just hold the data from Advisors Assistant so that the

PDA can grab it.

Exporting to Outlook

Advisors Assistant will export any data you select directly to

Outlook.

Outlook Export Options

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How To Export To Outlook

1. Click on the Outlook Icon in the Sidebar.

2. The Outlook Synchronization Screen will appear. Select the

synchronization direction of Export from the drop down

options.

3. Select the information you want to export:

 Export Calendar: Select which calendar events you wish to

export to Outlook. Uncheck this box if you do not want to

export calendar events to Outlook.

 Export Contacts: Select which contact data you wish to export

to Outlook. You can narrow the list of names exported using

the Type Field or Markets. Uncheck this box if you do not

want to export any contacts.

 Export Birthdays/Anniversaries: lets you export the dates of

birth and wedding anniversary dates. Outlook will convert

them to reminders in the Outlook Calendar. Your device

may treat them differently.

4. Click the OK Button to begin the Export.

The export to Microsoft Outlook is very dependent on your

computer’s speed and memory. You can watch the progress by

switching over the Synchronization Window.

Exporting Client Notes

Advisors Assistant will export notes that you have entered for

your names. Due to the notes limitations in Outlook and the

mobile devices, though, Advisors needs to know which notes to

export. Only one set of notes can be sent back and forth to

Outlook.

To export notes to Outlook, create a new note for the name in

Advisors Assistant called Outlook Notes. Any notes entered

into this note called Outlook Notes will be exported to Outlook.

Any notes you want to export must always be added to this set

of notes. The name of the note is not case sensitive, so you can

call it outlook notes without caps if you prefer.

Subsequent Exports

Advisors Assistant tracks all the records exported. If you update

a record in Advisors Assistant and export it again, Advisors

Assistant will change the record in Outlook that will

subsequently change it on your mobile device.

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Importing from Outlook

If you’ve made changes to the information in your mobile device

while you were out of the office, you can import those changes

back into Outlook and then update the names you’ve changed in

your Advisors Assistant.

Advisors Assistant will import all of the names in the main

Contact Folder in Outlook. If there are some names in your

Contact Folder you do not wish in Advisors Assistant, you

should move them into another Contact Folder in Outlook.

How To Import From Outlook

1. First make sure you have synched your mobile device

with Outlook so that all the changes are in Outlook before

you import them into Advisors Assistant.

2. Click on the Outlook Icon in the Sidebar.

3. The Outlook Synchronization Screen will appear. Select

the synchronization direction of Import from the drop

down options.

Outlook Import Screen

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4. Select the information you want to import:

 Import Calendar: Select which calendar events you

wish to import from Outlook. Uncheck this box if

you do not want to import calendar events from

Outlook.

 Import Contacts: Select which contact data you

wish to import from Outlook. Be sure to select a

Producer Name and if you wish to only import one

Outlook Category. Uncheck this box if you do not

want to import any contacts.

5. Click the OK Button to begin the Import.

6. The names and calendar will automatically be updated in

Advisors Assistant based on how they are in Outlook. If

you added a note to your mobile device and that name did

not have a note called Outlook Notes already, a new note

will be created called Outlook Notes.

Both Import and Export

If you wish to perform both an import and export in one step,

select this option from the drop down list. Then enter the

criteria for both the import and export.

Saving Criteria

You can save the criteria you’ve entered so that when you click

on the Outlook Icon, the main function you perform will

automatically be setup.

Enter your criteria. Click the Save Criteria Button. The next

time you open the Outlook Synchronization Screen this criteria

will already be filled out for you.

Real Time Export

You can tell Advisors Assistant to automatically send any

additions or changes to calendar events to Outlook.

How To Setup Real Time Export

1. Click on the File Menu, and select Preferences.

2. Click on the Outlook Tab at the top of the screen to open the

Outlook Preferences.

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3. Click on the radio button to turn ON Real Time Export for

Calendar Events.

The Real Time Export only sends calendar events added by you

to your calendar over to Outlook. Due to Outlook Security, if

another user adds or edits events to your calendar you’ll need to

perform a full export to have all of your calendar events

exported to Outlook.

Archiving Emails

The Email Archiver is an optional tool that you can turn on if

you're using Outlook (2003 or later only) as your email program,

and you wish to archive incoming and/or outgoing emails to the

contact's Notes in your Advisors Assistant Database.

You must be using Outlook 2003 or later to archive emails

in Advisors Assistant.

The Advisors Assistant Email Archiver will archive all incoming

and outgoing emails that are sent through Outlook if the

contact's email address is in your Advisors Assistant Database.

The text of the email is saved in the contact's Notes in a read-

only Note Topic called Archived Emails.

Outlook Preferences Screen

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Before you begin using the Outlook Email Archiver you must

turn it on through your Preferences.

How To Setup Email Archiving

1. Click on the File Menu, and select Preferences.

2. Click on the Outlook Tab at the top of the screen to open the

Outlook Preferences.

3. Enter your preferences:

 Email Account To Monitor: enter the email account

you wish to monitor for capturing emails. Advisors

Assistant will monitor one email address unless you’re

using an Outlook Exchange Server in which case you

would select the first option. Be sure to check the

boxes to turn on archiving for incoming and/or

outgoing emails.

 Forward Email Account: if your broker dealer has an

email account they monitor for compliance, you can

enter that email address and Advisors Assistant will

automatically forward a copy of emails to that email

address.

 Process Email Received: This is a look back feature

which is especially valuable the first time you do the

email archive. It tells Advisors Assistant how far back

to look for emails when you begin archiving. If you

want Advisors Assistant to look back 3 months, you

could set 90 days and then change the number of days

to Today or Since Yesterday once the first archiving is

complete.

4. Click OK to save your preferences. The next time the

Send/Receive function begins in Outlook the email archiver

will start.

Depending on how far back you are looking through Outlook to

archive emails, it could take some time. Daily archiving does not

take noticeable time.

Autodialing the Phone

In this chapter you will:

 Dial the phone using the Advisors Assistant

Autodialer

Outlook Synchronization

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Dialing the Phone with Advisors Assistant

Advisors Assistant uses the Windows TAPI dialer to take

advantage of all the features that come with some of the new

modems. So instead of having a setup for your dialer preferences

in Advisors Assistant, you actually set up your dialer

preferences through Windows.

How to dial the phone using Advisors Assistant

1. Go to the name you want to dial.

2. Click on the Dial Action Button.

3. Highlight the number you want to dial, and click on the Dial

Number Button or SKYPE Button at the bottom of the

window. You need to set up with SKYPE, and Internet phone

system, to use the SKYPE Button.

4. Click the Disconnect Button from the Windows dialer at the

top of the screen to disconnect the modem from the phone

once it has dialed the number. This does not hang up the

phone.

5. A Phone Log will automatically open with the number you

dialed, or you can add the note to a different Note Topic. You

can enter a phone log for the person at this time, and attach

a follow-up date to the log. Click OK when done or Cancel if

you don’t want to add a phone log.

The Phone Log is being timed while you have it open, so

when you click OK the total time is entered into the note.

The Phone Log will be added under the Notes Tab on your View

Screen, along with Letter Logs and other Notes.

Autodialing with Advisors Assistant

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Preferences, Tools & Admin Functions

In this chapter you will:

 Explore User Preferences

 Explore Tools

 Explore Administrative Functions

 Update your database

 Back up your database

 Perform Database Maintenance

Preferences, Tools, and Admin Functions

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General Preferences

User Preferences are available from the File Menu and can be

set independently for each user.

Recent Names List

You can select how many names you’d like Advisors Assistant to

track in your recent names list. 7 names will show in the list,

and a scroll bar will become active if you choose to list more than

7 names.

Name Lookup Screen To Use

If you have a large database, you can choose to show only a

partial list of names in the Name Lookup Screens to load the

screen faster.

Selected List Item Color

If your Windows Display is set to a darker color for selected list

items, you may not be able to read the view screen items easily.

So you can change the color that is shown in Advisors Assistant.

Sort and Locate List Items

When looking at abbreviation lists, choose if you wish to sort the

list by abbreviation code or description. This effects what you

would type in to find an abbreviation on the list.

Outlook Preferences

Advisors Assistant to Outlook Sync

If you wish to synchronize with Outlook, you must first turn on

the synchronization.

Real Time Export for Calendar Events

Select if you wish to have additions and edits to calendar events

automatically sent to Outlook.

Archiving and Forwarding

If you wish to turn on the Email Archiver in Advisors Assistant,

you need to set up the email address you’ll be monitoring and

turn on the archiver.

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Default Preferences

Default Address Location

You can set a Default Address Location so that every time you

ADD a new address the location defaults to your choice.

Default Phone Location

You can set a Default Phone Location so that every time you

ADD a new phone number the location defaults to your choice.

Default Producer

Select the Producer Name you would like to be entered as the

default when you add a new name to Advisors Assistant.

Form Automation

You would only need to visit this option if you have installed

both Quik! Forms and Laser App to your computer.

Tools

The Tools Menu contains many features that are also available

through the Sidebar Menu. These features have also been added

to the Tools Menu for use with voice recognition software.

Additional tools are also available:

Change Password

Allows you to change the password you use to log into Advisors

Assistant.

Search All Notes

Allows you to globally search the notes within Advisors

Assistant based on keywords or date ranges.

Personal Contacts Wizard

If you’re using the Personal Contact option in the Advisors

Assistant Notes, this wizard will walk you through finding

names that have not had a personal contact within a date range

you specify.

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Combine Names

When you find you have two duplicate names in the database,

you can use the Combine Names utility to combine the two

names together. You’ll need to decide which name will be

remaining in the database (the surviving name) and which

name will be deleted, and all data from the deleted name is

added to the surviving name.

Advisors Assistant is unable to add data to the General Name

Information Screen, so be sure your surviving name has all of

the data from the name you’ll be deleting.

Tagged Names Report

This report is detailed in the Reports Chapter of the manual. It

is opened through Tools.

Administrative Functions

The Admin Menu is only available to users who have Admin

access. If you do not have an Admin menu, you do not have

Admin access. Figure out who has Admin access in your office

and have them perform the appropriate function.

Activate Advisors Assistant & Modules

These sections are for activating the main Advisors Assistant

after Trial Period, and for activating any optional modules you

have purchased.

Maintain Users

This feature is used to Add, Modify, and Delete users to the

database. A user is defined as a person who is able to log into

the database using their given ID and Password.

Maintain Security Roles

When a user is added to the database, they are given a “role.”

The security roles control what a user is and is not able to do in

the database. You can set up as many security roles as needed

for your office.

Maintain Calendars

When a User is added to Advisors Assistant, a calendar is

automatically added for that User. But you can also add “Office

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Calendars” to Advisors Assistant that you can give the complete

office access to, such as a Conference Room calendar.

This section also allows you to delete calendars, or move

calendar events from one user’s calendar to another. The user

must be deleted from the database before their calendar can be

removed.

Maintain Producers

Advisors Assistant has a Producer List that it maintains so you

can add producers to names in the database for reporting

purposes. You can add people to the Producer List through this

feature, and additional third-party id’s and passwords can also

be stored for producers under their name.

Maintain Access Rights

For MultiProducer and Enterprise systems, Advisors Assistant

has additional security that limits the list of names a user can

see based on the Producer attached to the names. This feature is

used to set up to which producer lists a user has access.

Maintain Reports

Advisors Assistant has a Basic Report Designer that allows you

to create your own basic custom reports. Through Maintain

Reports you can add new reports, or copy basic reports and edit

them.

Maintain Master Pages

To use the Pages feature in Advisors Assistant, you must first

add a Master Page through this menu option.

Maintain Abbreviations

If you have the appropriate security access, you can edit

abbreviation lists directly from the field in the database. This

feature allows you to delete and combine abbreviation codes (for

duplicate codes.)

Maintain Postal Codes

When you install Advisors Assistant, the complete list of US

Postal/Zip Codes is also installed. The Postal Codes are sent

with Advisors Assistant so that when you add an address and

enter the Postal/Zip Code, the City, State, and County fields are

filled in automatically.

Preferences, Tools, and Admin Functions

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Advisors Assistant will update the Postal Code list periodically,

but you may need to make a change to a Postal Code before the

list is updated by Advisors Assistant. You can make changes to

Postal Codes at any time.

Maintain Area Codes

When the phone company changes an area code in your area,

you can have Advisors Assistant go through your database and

automatically change everyone who had that old area code to the

new area code.

Phone numbers are made up of three parts: the area code, the

prefix (the first three digits of the phone number), and the line

number (the last four digits of the phone number.) When an area

code is changed, it is changed for specific prefixes in your area.

You can get a list of the prefixes that have changed from the

phone company.

Maintain FlexField Labels

You can edit FlexField Labels directly from the modify screens,

or you can use this feature to edit the labels.

Maintain Mailing Lists

Advisors Assistant will allow you to import any comma

delimited (CSV) file into your database. This feature walks you

through importing the list, which entails “mapping” fields so

that Advisors Assistant knows where to put the data that is

being imported from your list.

Only basic name, address, and phone data can be imported.

FlexFields can also be used for the import. A list of the fields

available during the import is available in the Advisors

Assistant Help.

Reports

Administrative reports such as process logs and database

statistics.

System Preferences

There are some system-wide preferences that you can set, such

as “Strong Passwords.” They’re available through this feature.

Preferences, Tools, and Admin Functions

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Backing Up Your Data

Computers break! It’s a fact. Your computer will break. If you

are not backed up, you will have a 100% probability of losing all

your data sooner or later. You need a “Backup Strategy”. Here’s

what we suggest. It doesn’t matter whether you use floppy

disks, tapes, CDs, DVDs, or USB Drives to backup.

Backup Strategy

1. Backup at the end of each day. If you use our built in

backup, it will only take a few minutes, even on the largest

database.

2. Never, never backup on the same set of disks/usb drives each

time. Your data will become worth thousands of dollars.

Invest in a set of disks/drives. We recommend 5 to 10 sets of

backups. When you rotate through the last set, start back on

the first one.

3. Label your backup sets Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday,

Thursday, Friday, Week 1, Week 2, Week 3, Week 4 and

January through December (one disk for each month.)

4. Take your weekly and monthly backups home or to another

site.

Only a user who has Administrator rights to the server or

computer on which the database is installed can Back Up

Advisors Assistant. This is for security purposes. You don’t

want just anyone to backup your data and take the backup

away.

How to Backup Advisors Assistant

1. From the computer to which the SQL Database was

installed, go to Start | Programs | Advisors Assistant

|Database Maintenance/Backup/Restore.

2. Click on the Backup Database Button.

3. Select the location to which you are backing up.

Advisors Assistant will automatically name the file with the

date in the name, but you can change the name if you’d like.

4. Click Save.

You can set a default backup path and encryption level through

the Backup Preferences. Click on the Preferences Button on

the same screen as the backup routine.

Preferences, Tools, and Admin Functions

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Restoring Your Data

If your hard drive crashes, or you get a new computer, you will

transfer the Advisors Assistant data to the computer by

restoring the backup you made.

When you restore your data to Advisors Assistant, it will

overwrite anything that is in the current database. If you have

existing data in that database, and it is different than the data

you are restoring, you will lose the information in the existing

database. Restoring puts an exact duplicate of the data from the

backup into the existing database.

How to Restore Advisors Assistant

1. From the computer to which the SQL Database was

installed, go to Start | Programs | Advisors Assistant

|Database Maintenance/Backup/Restore.

2. Click on the Restore Database Button.

3. Select the location where your backup file is located.

4. Confirm that you wish to restore the data. Remember, this

will overwrite all data in the Advisors Assistant to

which you are restoring.

Maintenance

Database Maintenance is important. Maintenance compresses

and reindexes the database and should be performed on a

regular basis. If you use notes often, file maintenance will also

reduce the size of your notes file.

Before File Maintenance is performed, Advisors Assistant will

be backed up. You do not need to do a separate backup the same

day you perform File Maintenance.

If you are on a network, no one else may be in Advisors

Assistant while you are performing Maintenance.

How to Perform Maintenance

1. From the computer to which the SQL Database was

installed, go to Start | Programs | Advisors Assistant

|Database Maintenance/Backup/Restore.

2. Click on the Maintain Database Button.

3. Since a backup is created before maintenance is performed,

select the location to which you are backing up. Advisors

Preferences, Tools, and Admin Functions

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Assistant will automatically name the file with the date in

the name, but you can change the name if you’d like.

4. Click Save.

Event Marketing With Advisors Assistant

Advisors Assistant can be used to implement and

track any type of event marketing program by

performing the following functions:

 Record all the events held and the agent

responsible for holding them.

 Enter prospects who sign up for the event

 Write a series of pre-event letters using Advisors

Assistant’s link to Word or its built in word

processor.

 Track the source of each signup.

 Create call lists to remind signups of the event.

 Change the category of prospects from Signup to

Attendee for those signups who attend.

 Write post event letters to attendees.

 Record areas of interest for attendees who

complete the event form for marketing of future

events and products.

 Contact non-attendees about future events.

 Change the category of an attendee to a client

when business is written.

 Use Advisors Assistant to market future events

and products to the established client.

Event Marketing

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Tracking Events with Advisors Assistant

Advisors Assistant can be a powerful tool in tracking the event

and seminar process. The steps outlined in this document focus

mainly on events held to gain prospects, such as seminars. But

the same steps can be used for tracking client appreciation

events.

If the goal is to only market to each person once, Advisors

Assistant will only make the process more efficient. If the goal is

to build a database of signups, attendees, and clients, then

Advisors Assistant can put enormous marketing power at your

fingertips.

This document gives an overview of how you would track events

in Advisors Assistant. For details of how to perform the different

steps referenced here, please refer to the Advisors Assistant

Help. Not described here is the process of reading mailing lists

into Advisors Assistant, printing letters and envelopes, and

adding teasers to envelopes that will encourage them to be

opened. This will cause mailings to pull more replies than just

putting labels on envelopes.

Recording The Event

The event is entered into Advisors Assistant as a name with a

Type of Name equal to Event or Seminar. The event is entered

Seminar Record Set Up

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as an “organization” vs. an “individual.”

The View Screen above shows how a seminar record provides

convenient information to refer to for address and phone

information. You can use FlexFields to record additional

information about the seminar or event, and you can use the

addresses and phone numbers to store the contact people that

are helping to set up the seminar or event.

Entering Signups

As prospects sign up for the seminar or event, it’s important to

enter their name into the database. This will build a database

of names that can be used for marketing later.

As shown on the View Screen, only a few data fields need to be

entered at the signup level. However, every attempt should be

made to get the address and phone number. “Please give me

your address so we can send you the ticket and confirmation

letter” can be used.

Tracking The Source Of Each Signup

To track how the signup heard about the seminar, you can use

the Markets/Areas of Interest (as shown on the screen above.)

Initial Signup Record Only Needs Name, Address, Phone & Type

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When you are entering the seminar signup into the database,

add a Market to their name to show how they heard about the

seminar.

Using Selection Reports, all names that responded to invitations

(or any other source) can be selected from Advisors Assistant

and invitations to other seminars can be sent to them. Or you

can use Advisors Assistant to give you the number of clients who

resulted from Seminar Invitations and compare them to the

number of clients who resulted from newspaper advertising. You

can get a total number who resulted from a particular source,

and you can narrow it down to how many heard about a

particular seminar through each source.

You’ll be able to track which of your advertising campaigns

worked best and is worth the investment.

It is very important that each respondent be asked where they

heard about the seminar.

Link The Signup To The Seminar

Once the Signup’s name is entered, it’s important to establish a

permanent link between the Signup’s name and the Seminar’s

name.

Linking the Seminar to the Signup

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The View Screen shows how the signup is linked to the seminar.

The relationship is “Seminar”. This maintains a permanent link

even if the type of name changes to Attendee or Client, you can

always get a list of all Signups using this link.

Sending a Confirmation Letter

Click on the Word Icon on the signup’s screen to send a

confirmation letter just after the person is entered into the

database.

Creating Call Lists

Prior to the event, all Signups can be called. By using the

Selection Reports and searching for the “seminar signups,” you

can print a report with phone numbers.

Of all the fields on the Selection Screen, you only need to fill in 2

fields. You want all those people linked to the seminar name

who have a relationship of Seminar Signup.

Once the selection of names is complete, print one of the lists of

names that contains phone numbers.

Tracking Attendees

After the event, working from a list of attendees, simply change

the Name Type for each person who attended from Signup to

Attendee.

Selection Report Screen Showing Signup Search

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By making this change, you can get a list of people who attended

the seminar for follow-up, and you can get a list of people who

signed up for the seminar but did not attend it. You can send a

letter to the people who did not attend letting them know of

future events.

Note: We can still track all the signups for any one seminar or

signups for all seminars even though we change the Name Type

to Attendee. We linked each signup to the particular seminar

they signed up for, so by using Selection Reports and searching

on the Relationship of “Seminar Signup”, we can always retrieve

the original signup list.

Writing Post-Seminar Letters To Attendees

Previously we demonstrated setting up the selection report

search for Signups. By searching for Name Type of Attendee vs.

Signup, you will get a list of Attendees for the event or seminar.

Searching for a list of Seminar Attendees

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After performing the search, you can write a letter to all

Attendees using the MS Word button at the bottom of the report

list.

Recording Areas of Interest for Attendees

Have attendees fill out a Workshop Questionnaire indicating

their interests and return it to the agent or rep. These interests

can then be converted to “areas of interest” in Advisors

Assistant and tracked in the Markets.

You can use the Selection Reports to search on various Markets

immediately after the event or for future mailings. You’ll know

exactly what each attendee is interested in.

Contacting Non-Attendees about Future Events

The type of name for any signup who did not attend the seminar

remains “Seminar Signup.” Only the Attendees are changed to

“Seminar Attendee.”

By using the Selection Reports and searching based on Name

Type of “Seminar Signup” linked to the seminar, you will get a

list of all of the Signups who were not changed to Attendees.

Recording Areas of Interest from Workshop Questionnaire

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Changing Name Type To Client When Business Is Written

The Name Type progresses on to Client when a policy is written

or investment sold. The original source of the name (ie. event

ad) and the original event are retained through the links and

markets established earlier.

Appendices

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Appendices

Included in this chapter:

 Hot Keys

Appendices

Page 158

Hot Keys

There are many “Hot Keys” throughout Advisors Assistant.

These keys are shortcuts that allow you to perform functions

with just a couple keystrokes. To use the hot key commands, you

hold down the key(s) listed (i.e. ALT) on your keyboard and

press the second key.

Description

Hot Key

Name Lookup

Alt+Q

Phone Lookup

Alt+P

Scan File

Alt+Shift+S

View Scanned/Stored File

Alt+Shift+V

Store File

Alt+Shift+Z

ACTION BUTTONS

Ctrl+Alt+

Add

Modify

Delete

Report

Word

Excel

Dial

VIEW CLIENT SCREENS

Alt+

Investments

Insurance

New Biz

Notes

Markets

Links

Group / Household

Appendices

Page 159

Files

FlexFields

Pages

Events

OTHER HOT KEYS

Copy

Ctrl+C

Paste

Ctrl+V

Cut

Ctrl+X

Modify A Telephone Number

Ctrl+T

Modify An Address

Ctrl+R

Modify A Contact Name

Ctrl+N

Insert your cursor at that

point

Single Left Click

Highlight an entire date or

numeric field

Double Left Click