1. Define and Standardize Your Workflow
- Leverage AuditDashboard’s Workflow Aid as inspiration to define your processes and ideal client experience.
- Encourage your team to tailor the process to meet specific client needs and requirements.
2. High-Quality Request Lists = Great Team and Client Experiences
- The best engagements occur when information is requested early and received on time.
- Create separate engagements for interim and year-end engagements.
- Create separate requests for specific items to establish a clear feedback loop.
- When selecting samples, attach your list of samples to one line item (e.g. “Revenue Samples”). When the client misses some information, or you need additional support, create a new request with a detailed description, so it’s easy to track what remains outstanding.
- Use due dates and assign-to-firm-user and assign-to-to-client-user fields to communicate expectations, such as who’s responsible for what and when it needs to be delivered. Requests with due dates and assigned users have shorter turnaround times.
- Use 2- or 3-digit numbering (e.g., “01” or “11”) to order or re-order your request list. If you want to add reference numbers, export your request list, use Excel’s concat function to add numbers to your references and re-import the request list before any files are uploaded.
Pro-Tip: Each request line has a unique URL, making sharing individual items and tracking progress simple.
3. Review Your Request List Before Adding Clients to Collaborate
- “Draft” the engagement for internal review before making it visible to the client.
- Efficient engagements (1) have complete request lists to give your client a clear picture of what you require, (2) have concise request lists that only ask for the information you require, and (3) are accurate. Managers should complete a review to ensure all three criteria are met.
- Once reviewed, change the engagement’s status to “In-Progress”, making it visible to Client Users.
- If you’re rolling forward a prior engagement, be sure to update the request list to reflect any new requirements or changes.
4. Client Introduction
- Leverage these best practices for introducing your client to AuditDashboard and this Pre-Registration Email Template before sending them an invitation.
5. Notifications and Activity Monitoring
- Modified requests become bold when a newly added comment or uploaded document is unread.
- Customize your instant notification settings so you can stay informed and respond promptly. For example, we recommend subscribing to notifications for document uploads after most files have been provided.
- Use the activity feeds available in-app to monitor and control an engagement’s progress.
- Flag requests to leave yourself a reminder for your next team discussions or client meetings. Flags are private and visible only to the user who creates them.
6. Complete and Close Engagements
- Mark engagements as Complete to remove them from dashboards, stop notifications, and restrict client access.
- Close engagements promptly to ensure your focus remains on active projects.