Reviewing a Silverfin file – Training plan for managers

Introduction

This training plan has been designed to cover the review process in Silverfin for managers (and partners that want to be more involved in the functionality of the platform). Some managers they may have already completed the full Silverfin training guide (located here) and we would encourage everyone to undertake this (although perhaps for this audience without doing the case study in full) as we have found that the more you use Silverfin the quicker it will become second nature.

This guide has however been designed to cover the main points  - those that have undertaken the full training should go to the section titled Silverfin Review Process below.

Before we start therefore, please can you:

  1. Make sure you have received emails providing access to Silverfin and links to introduction videos.
  2. Can actually have access to Silverfin (email Adrian Logan if you are having difficulty here) - obviously if you are reading this within the FC Help pages in Silverfin, you have already achieved this!

As we have developed Silverfin, we have found it to be very flexible with many useful and different ways of undertaking common tasks. Whilst we have tailored it significantly for FC , we would welcome all further suggestions as to how we can refine the firm’s approach and use of Silverfin as we go forward – this will obviously be more relevant in our first year as we roll out Silverfin and we continue to learn how it functions.   

General familiarity with Silverfin

Before we turn specifically to the Review process, you should run through the below steps to learn the basics of Silverfin.
1) Watch, if you have not already, the four general Silverfin videos ( Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4). Note the ability to jump straight to clients or reconciliations though the use of Ctrl J and the use of new Tabs on the same client to show, for instance, journals, review points and trial balance at the same time. 
2) Watch the general FC introduction video here (8 mins)
3) Learn how to access the FC Help pages within Silverfin by clicking on the below symbol located at the top right of any Silverfin screen and selecting  PKF FC Help Site:  

This is your main support facility and we have extensive FC tailored guides to nearly everything relevant within Silverfin and this is then supplemented by the Silverfin help desk, accessed through the same symbol.

4) View the general guidance documents within the Introduction category in the FC Help Site, comprising the Aims,  Roll out and development focus and most importantly the Silverfin policy and procedures document - note that adopting Silverfin does mean we have made substantial changes to our procures incorporating the output of the BPR exercise we have undertaken over recent years. It is therefore key you understand the new policies we are adopting.
5) It will also be useful to scan the terminology ( here) and symbology ( here) guides in the FC help pages to start to acclimatise to a new vocabulary.

We do know it will take some time to get used to Silverfin and we are likely to have some issues with both the platform and technology as we roll it out. Please do make allowances for this - we have done extensive testing and taken extensive references before we made the decision to adopt it, but we do know that, especially in year one, there will be additional time in learning the new system. It will be worth it with the time savings and better access to client information we will see after the initial set up. 

Background training

As with the complete training, there should be a specific client set up for you in Silverfin called "Z Your Name FC Silverfin Training Co" - you can access this throughout the training to gain experience with how Silverfin actually works. If you cannot find your client, please contact support.  Your opening screen on this client should be on the 2020 period showing the four workflows (the client home screen). - we have already completed for you 2.1, 2.2, and 3.1 of the  main training guide as these are less relevant for you. If your client starts on the  "Whoops! Looks like you haven't got any bookkeeping data for this period yet" screen then email Mark Greaves or Adrian Logan in the short term.  

1) Accessing your clients - From the Silverfin Home screen (access via FC logo in top left of screen), select Clients and you will see a list of all clients in Silverfin. This can be tailored further by selecting a segment from the drop down box - from the 1. Overall Workflow Status segment you can see the workflow status for clients that you follow from this screen: it will be blank until you start following clients (see this guide and return to this screen when you have followed your first file as below). Note it will take some time to populate if you follow a lot of clients as it is doing a lot of work.

The below videos are taken from the full Silverfin training guide and should now be watched if you have not completed that training:

2) Overview of client home page & workflows – Here (5 mins)

3) Reconciliations and checklists - Here (9 mins) - a guide to the main nominal ledger reconciliations is here.     

4) Document storage – Here (4 mins)

5) Planning – Here (15 mins)

Please make sure you have read all the guides in the FC Help section - Planning

Interactive exercise: Go into your client file ("Z Your Name FC Silverfin Training Co") and follow this client (guide). Now go back to the Silverfin home screen (click on the PKF FC logo) and select 1. Overall Workflow Status to see how your list now starts to be populated. Then complete the planning (note: there is no information provided here, just simply take some time to familiarise yourself and complete the templates included within planning). Allocate checklists across all Planning and Completion, star what you will be completing in Preparation.

6) Internal communication - How to raise, view and clear review points – here (12 mins). Note you may start to get daily emails from Silverfin but these should be quite limited and comprise reminders of files that need reviewing or where all review points that you raised have been cleared. There are two good help articles that you can refer to for more information here and here

Interactive exercise: work with a colleague (if possible) to raise points on your own and each other’s files, making sure to raise communication via the 3 methods: general, in-document and in-line. For the purposes of this exercise only tag them to see how it then flows through - remember though that tagging is only for action needed now.

Hopefully the above will have given you the ability to navigate Silverfin and learn some of the basic operations.

Silverfin Review Process

We have created a standard review process that is both efficient but also allows for managers/partners to perform more or less work as they feel appropriate for that client and accounting period.

This mirrors our overall aim to achieve a streamlined overall process for accounts production, automating where possible, but also taking into account the differing circumstances for our varied client base (which may of course vary year by year). 

This does start with the planning exercise where, before work is started, the preparer should be talking to you. We are trying to encourage all of our partners and staff to really think about their clients, reflect on risk, fee and recoveries, and then designing the right approach for that client and ensure we are not overworking the data or freely doing work that a client should be charged extra for. This should allow the preparer to then complete the Planning workflow and leads us to the start of the review process.

Review of Planning

We start here with the FC Policy:

The planning workflow must be reviewed and signed off by the assignment manager before further work is undertaken in the Preparation and Accounts workflows.   Review is carried out in the Workflow Review screen, with each section to be marked as reviewed by the manager (Silverfin will automatically record who presses the “Mark as reviewed” button).

Review is evidenced by the manager in the Manager Review checklist by answering the questions therein– this checklist must be assigned to the manager (and this should be done by preparers during their process in setting up planning, when they remove the anyone option here).

Please now watch this video here (13 mins) to show you how this can done. 

Interactive exercise: Review the planning section you started to complete above (don't forget to review the workflow, review and complete the checklists). Also work though the Preparation workflow noting how reconciliations can be starred or unstarred.

Completion Review

Again, we start with the FC Policy

Completion - All workflows must progress to 100% to finish a file. This means all relevant (starred) reconciliations must be complete (green circle or yellow square), all checklists complete and all review points cleared. Workflows 1, 2 are straight forward to complete - 3 (accounts) and 4 (completion) have certain questions that can only be cleared once the accounts have been signed/approved by the client, but then must be fully finished before the file is then locked

Completion review – similar with Planning process, but preparer, manager and partner all have specific checklist to be signed off (the preparer ones are built into the individual reconciliations as part of the Communications panel on the right of the screen).


Please now watch this video here (8 mins) to show you how this can done. 

Interactive exercise: Work through your file (ignore the fact it is not complete) going through Preparation (review reconciliations - ignore Workflow Review screen on this Workflow), Accounts (use Workflow Review) and Completion. Also complete the checklists in Completion -  Please note that the other workflows (Preparation and Accounts) do not have specific manager or partner review checklists as they are covered in the Completion workflow.

Round up

You have now completed the review training exercise. Please remember that this is a new system and it will take some time to get used to - you may remember how long it took you to learn the DAPA/DAP/Excel routine. It will become easier, the more you use it - this was proved repeatedly within Johnston Carmichael and our initial testing.

Also note we can adapt it extensively if needed, so please now take a few minutes to reflect on this training and let us know:

  1. if anything in this course didn't make sense; or
  2. where you think we could improve Silverfin.

Note

Once you have completed this training course, we will arrange for your test client to be deleted after a short while (we are charged by Silverfin for each client active) - remember you can always access this page, the training videos and the complete training client if you wish a refresher on any aspect of the above.