- Written by Steve Mahy
Sticky Notes
Client notes have long been a feature of JCS. They can be linked to clients or specific cases, you can have as many as you like and, for many users, are an invaluable tool for recording notes from meetings, to-do lists, or general reminders.
The Notes window is easily accessed but sometimes you need something much more visible, which cannot be missed. Several users have requested a way to make reminders appear in JCS. This might be a simple check list that can stay on screen as you work, or a big bold red flag which shouts something you absolutely must not forget, such as essential policy reviews or sensitive client issues.
Sticky Notes provide a way of doing just that. Any standard Client/Case Note can be converted into a Sticky Note. You’ll see they’ve been inspired by Windows Sticky Notes, but in JCS these handy reminders will pop up just when you need them – either when the client’s Fact Find, or a particular policy page is opened. They’ll then remain on your screen, unmissable, until the policy page or client is closed.
- Written by Steve Falla
Aviva Platform Migration
Over the coming weekend, Aviva will be migrating their Aviva Platform Investments to a new platform. Full details of the migration can be found on the Aviva Platform migration hub here, but the areas of impact for users of JCS will be as follows:
- Client references and account numbers will be changing
- Bulk valuation files will no longer be available from the Aviva for Advisers website
- Minor changes to the electronic remuneration messages for adviser charges
Full details of each change, and how they affect your handling of Aviva Wrap policies in JCS are listed below.
Client references and account numbers
After the migration, all accounts will be allocated a new product reference to replace the account number previously used. This new reference will take the form of the wrapper id followed by a sub policy id. Example AV1234567-001.
All active Aviva Platform policies in JCS should be updated to reflect the new policy number, and Aviva will be providing a report to assist in this exercise. From the 22nd January 2018, you will be able to download this report from the Aviva for Advisers website at http://www.aviva-for-advisers.co.uk/adviser/site/public/ and access the report from Platform Services > Business Reporting > Client by Adviser > Generate
If you have a small number of policies and wish to manually update the information in JCS, please contact tech support to obtain a document for all the steps concerned to ensure that there will be no issues with Contract Enquiry Valuations or Electronic Remuneration processing.
If you have a larger number of policies, we have a tool available in the latest version of JCS that will assist in bulk transforming all Aviva Wrap policies. Please contact tech support, and they will guide you through the process.
We recommend that you perform one of these processes as early as possible to minimise any issues that may occur with electronic processing of adviser charges.
Bulk Valuation Files
In the past, JCS has been able to make use of a Back Office Valuation Report from the Aviva for Advisers website to update the value of policies. This report will no longer be available after the migration. To this end, we have been working hard to implement direct electronic integration with the Aviva Platform to access the real time contract enquiry valuation service. We aim to have this in place as soon as possible after the migration. Access will be via the usual JCS Contract Enquiry Connections using your Unipass digital certificate.
Electronic Remuneration Messages
If you are currently receiving electronic statements for adviser charges on the Aviva Platform, these will change slightly from Monday 22nd. For starters, all references will be using the new product reference rather than the legacy account number, so it is important that these are updated in JCS prior to processing any new statements. There will also be some extra information in the message about the legacy account number, so it is important to make sure you are on the latest version of JCS to ensure that all parts of the message are read correctly.
As always, if you need assistance, guidance or help in this area please contact our Technical Support team.
- Written by Steve Falla
Provider Valuations and Fund Mappings
If you regularly use JCS to electronically value policies against Providers' online services, and you perform valuations at the fund holding level, you will be aware that this was a rather cumbersome task, with very little in the way of suggestions to help the end user throughout the process.
In the November release of 2017, this part of JCS has been overhauled to assist the user as much as possible.
JCS will now attempt to make relevant suggestions for both Fund Providers and Fund Names based on the information made available by each provider. Although, it should be pointed out that not all providers are the same, and some supply very rich data, and others supply the absolute minimum of data.
The first thing that stands out, is the colour system being used to indicate the status or type of suggestion. This is simple to remember:
Fund name is already mapped to an existing fund in JCS
Fund is not mapped, but the highest ranked suggestion is an existing Fund Provider/Fund Name in JCS
Fund is not mapped, but the highest ranked suggestion is to create a new Fund Provider or Fund Name in JCS
Unless you think a mistake has been made, the entries in green can be ignored as they have all been mapped previously.
All suggestions are made on a ranking basis, the highest ranking suggestion being the first/top item in the drop down list, with other entries below in descending order of ranking.
Suggestions may be existing Fund Providers/Fund Names, or the suggestion to create a new Fund Provider/Fund Name in JCS.
The ranking algorithms involved are heavily dependant on the data within JCS, and previous choices made by users, meaning the more you use it, the more the algorithms will be able to assist by making better suggestions.
Take for example, the Fund Description of "Standard Life Asian Income Fund". With no other information, previous mappings, or existing providers in JCS, should the Fund Provider be "Standard" or "Standard Life"? In this situation, the highest ranked suggestion would be "Standard", with a Fund Name of "Life Asian Income Fund". However, as soon as the Fund Provider "Standard Life" is selected, created and mapped, all future suggestions will place "Standard Life" higher than "Standard".
It is now also possible to auto suggest, map and unmap individual funds, so that you can work your way through the list of funds and save any work along the way.
When a fund has not been seen before and is unmapped, it will start off as being empty. If you click on the "Auto" button on the right hand side, it will automatically select the highest ranked suggestions, which will fill with either blue or red suggestions. If the fund type and unit type are still unknown, then these will need to be selected before being able to click on the "Map" button. This entire line will then turn green to show it is mapped.
If you make a mistake, or find an incorrect mapping, you can now unmap a fund from the same screen. It might be that a previous user selected the wrong fund type, unit type, or that you just want to create a new fund with a cleaner name. Just click on the "Unmap" button, and then go through the same process as above.
Sometimes, a fund description does not contain enough hints as to what fund type or unit type it is. However, if the provider also supplies any industry standard fund codes, these will be shown on the screen, and it is possible to double click on the code itself to open an Internet browser. This will either take you to a provider own fund information website, or perform a simple google search. The type of search is dependant on the provider. We have found throughout testing, that ISIN codes return the best results when using a search engine.
Whilst these updates cannot assist that much when using providers that supply limited information, we hope that these changes will make fund mapping just a little bit easier for you.
- Written by Maxine Le Cheminant
|
- Written by Steve Falla
Calculating a Client's Tapered Annual Allowance
The annual allowance for pension contributions is currently £40,000, and after the recent budget announcement, it has been confirmed that this will stay the same into the 2018/19 tax year as well.
However, for anyone who is deemed a higher earner, this allowance may be restricted/tapered anywhere from the full £40,000 down to £10,000, based on the individual's Adjusted Income amount.
The calculations can be relatively easy for an individual with a simple salary and pension arrangement, but they can quickly become almost indecipherable and time consuming when an individual has a mixture of income types, occupational pension schemes, personal pension schemes etc, and you need to work out the individual's Net Income, Threshold Income, Adjusted Income, and then get confused between Adjusted Income and Adjusted Net Income and a multitude of other amounts required for a full Income Tax Calculation.
The good news is that JCS can do all that work for you with a click of a button. Just make sure that you have selected to let JCS calculate Income Tax and NI Automatically for the client in question, and then click on "Details" next to Income Tax.
Looking at the full details of the Income Tax computation, it is possible to see total pension inputs, employer contributions, the calculation of the Annual Allowance (in this example, this has been tapered), as well as the amount of excess contributions and the charge made against excess contributions, in the current tax year.
So the next time you find yourself trying to calculate a client's Tapered Annual Allowance on a scrap of paper, plug the details into JCS and let it do all the hard work instead.
