December 2021 Update

This month’s updates introduce conditional stages – a big step to advanced workflow automations based on the ‘IF-THEN’ conditions, only applied for whole stages. The next step is client-specific automations that will allow you to build a more flexible workflow using all TaxDome capacities.

More flexibility in CRM: schedule sending emails for later and archive accounts added. Organizers, client portal and mobile app have been revamped to facilitate your clients’ user experience. We’ve strengthened the Windows desktop app capabilities by the option to scan paper documents directly into TaxDome, and much more. 

Let’s see what we’ve got to have you enjoy your holidays and be prepared for the next tax season.

🤖 Workflow Automation

Conditional stages

You can now add conditions to entire stages of your pipelines, allowing Jobs to proceed to certain stages in your pipeline based on tags or skip stages if they don’t have certain tags. See last month: Advanced Workflow Automations: The First Step to Conditional Pipelines

Example: you can have a conditional stage ‘Extension’ in your regular 1040 pipeline that runs based on the tag ‘Extension’. If you determine that a client needs an extension, apply the tag to their account, and this job will enter an extension stage where you can have a task created for your admin to file it. Those without this tag will skip to the next stage, bypassing the extension phase. 

Another use case is to use conditional stages to help allocate work amongst your team. Let’s say you have a large tax practice, servicing 5000 clients. In such a scenario, you likely have ~10 preparers working on returns. With conditional stages, you can have a different stage for each preparer, streamlining the process and allowing Jobs to skip from stage 3 to stage 10 (example). The image below is for simplicity, with 4 preparers, but the same logic would work if you have 50. In this scenario, Bob’s clients will skip from stage 2 (Bob’s Prep) to stage 6 (Manager Review) as soon as Bob is done with his prep.

More>>

Sneak peek: Soon, you will be able to move jobs between pipelines. We are also working on adding more client specific automations to give you the ability to add automations and schedules for specific clients. E.g. ability to set different job template, recurrence schedule, or automation for each account in the same pipeline.

📞 CRM

Schedule emails

You can now schedule the exact time and day you want your email to be sent. Working late at night, you can schedule emails to be sent the following morning during business hours. 

More>>

Archive accounts

Along with the ability to archive organizers, you now have the ability to archive accounts, decluttering your client list. If you archive an account, all data is retained, but these accounts are now in a separate tab. Archived accounts can be activated at any time.

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👨‍👩‍👧‍👧 Client Portal

Option to show client tasks in email notifications

Now you can control the visibility of the client tasks checklist in email notifications. With the option enabled, they will be able to see the list of tasks without needing to log in to the portal. With the option disabled, they will be asked to sign in to their TaxDome account to see the checklist.

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Client login simplified

Clients no longer need to enter your firm domain to log on to the mobile app, matching the web version. Once verified, they can log on with FaceID or TouchID on their devices.

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📚 Organizers

Customizable copy section button

Recently we added the ability for your clients to copy sections in organizers. This helps keep your organizers clean and allows clients to add additional sections for their specific scenario: More dependents, more sources of income, more rental properties, etc. With this release, we’ve given you the option to add customization by giving you the ability to name the button your clients will see. For example: add child, add employer, etc. 

Other improvements in organizers:

• Copied sections in CSV. You can export completed organizers with additional sections filled out by the client and conditional logic steps to the CSV file. Questions that don’t fall under the logic will be excluded. More>>   
• All uploaded files visible at a glance. Both firms and clients can easily see all files uploaded in the organizer. As a reminder, you can add question types of ‘File upload’ – any files attached will automatically be saved in the client account. 

💻 Windows Desktop App

Scan into Windows Desktop App

You can now scan paper documents from your scanner software directly into folders on TaxDome Drive. The files will be uploaded to the same directory in your TaxDome account.

Sneak peek: We are working on the ability to request e-signatures within the Windows desktop application: place Signature, Initials, and Date fields where needed and require KBA.

🔥 Other

• When linking services to invoices, the entire service title is now displayed and not cut off. More>>
• E-signature UI updated as we move towards e-signature templates. Coming soon!
• We’ve added more ways to protect your TaxDome account. You and your clients can now use SMS as an additional login method. More>> 
• Payments made via  Stripe now reflect information about the related account name, invoice ID, and invoice description in the UI 
• Export Tasks. You can now export Jobs, time entries and Task lists to CSV files. More>>
• TaxDome has partnered with Right Networks and now you can manage your practice virtually with client hosting from Right Networks. 

All of the above plus 72 more tweaks and fixes! 
In case you missed it, here’s a summary of the major features that we covered in the previous post.