Overview
Settings → Records requests holds what your team starts from when asking clients for records. It has three tabs: Document categories, Templates and Chasing. See Records Requests for creating and sending requests.
Starting from nothing? While there are no categories or templates yet, click Add the starter set on either tab to add our suggested categories and the Year-end accounts, VAT quarter and Self assessment templates. Edit them to suit your firm afterwards.
Document Categories
A document category groups the rows on a request, such as Bank accounts or Sales invoices. Each category can have:
- A Colour, to tell categories apart at a glance
- A Default section, where files uploaded against rows in that category are filed
- Default instructions, which fill in a row's instructions for the client when someone picks the category. Write them in plain words, as the client will read them
Type a name in Add a category, e.g. Bank accounts and press ↵ to add one. Drag categories to change their order, and use Archive to retire one without affecting requests that already use it.
Templates
A template is a ready-made set of rows for a kind of work, for example a year-end accounts request. Staff pick a template when they create a request, and a process type's template is what a process drafts its request from.
- 1Open the Templates tab and click New template
- 2Enter a Name and an optional Description
- 3Under Documents, add the rows the client should be asked for, each with a category and instructions
- 4Under Chasing, choose whether requests made from this template chase automatically, and how often
- 5Click Save
Click a template to edit it, or delete it from the template's sheet. Changing a template doesn't change requests already made from it.
Chasing
The Chasing tab sets how new requests chase the client for what is still outstanding:
- Chase new requests automatically turns chasing on for every new request. It is off unless your firm turns it on
- Days between chases sets the gap before each chase. Each chase email is firmer than the last, and the final one says you will call
Chase emails go to the client's portal users who have request emails turned on. When every chase has gone, the request's owner gets a task to phone the client. A template can set its own schedule, and staff can change it on any request. Changes here apply to requests made from now on. Only staff who can manage organisation settings can change these.
What's Next?
- Records Requests — create, send, chase and review requests
- Process Templates — move a process on when a records request is sent or answered