The information displayed on the User Dashboard is driven by whether you are assigned as a User to that client.  The alerts stats only show data where you are the assignee of the alert not all alerts for each client you are assigned a user.

User Dashboard Example

If you are not assigned a client user role for a client on a ‘paid’ plan you will be told this when entering the page with the following notification.  Click on the read more link to get more information about the ‘paid’ plan or close to have a look around.  Be aware that not all functionality is live within the example dashboard and the data shown is purely dummy data.

The User dashboard gives the bookkeeping and junior members of your team a single snapshot of where they should be directing their attention.

Upcoming Client Deadlines

Nearly everything you do in accountancy is deadline orientated.  The purpose of this panel is to focus your attention on those clients with a quarter end approaching.  How many days are left until quarter end?  What condition are the books and records in?  How many alerts need clearing?  When was the bank last fully reconciled and how many unreconciled bank account transactions are there?  All good questions you should be asking before you commence any work.

All things that should be driving your decision making process.  The star after the client name indicates whether this is an internal or external bookkeeping client.

Now you are armed with all this information you can start to think about how to tackle your workload.  What needs prioritising, who should I be contacting and what do I need them to do.

The table can be sorted by multiple columns by holding shift while clicking the columns should you wish to look at quarter end, by heart rate by number of alerts as an example.  Any selections made will be stored.  Above you can see in this example we are sorting by client name whereas quarter end would be much more useful.

Scenario

We have one quarter end coming up in eleven days.  Our heart rate is looking pretty healthy and there are a few alerts that need attention.  Once that bank account has been reconciled we may find that the alerts will be completed and our heart rate will increase further.  As we do the bookkeeping for that client I would get the bank reconciled first and it will then be in a great position to start the VAT return shortly after quarter end.  Approaching the client for any missing paperwork regularly will avoid a bottleneck at quarter end.

Please note that the Bank Rec and Un Rec columns are driven by the alert settings for each client.  If you have not configured those settings or turned off those alerts data will display as N/A.  If an alert has not triggered because the results are not outside the parameters set for that client N/A will be displayed.  It does not mean that the bank is fully reconciled and up to date just that it is within the agreed parameters.

Daily Alerts

The daily alerts panel shows you the number of alerts that have triggered for you over the last 30 day rolling period.  The total displayed is for that period.  If you hover over the chart you can see the alerts by day.  We can see from the chart below that the trend is upwards indicating that my clients records are getting worse or I am not doing an efficient job in taking corrective action.  Either way this is something that I need to be aware of and take action to improve.

Average Heart Rate

The average heart rate panel shows you the average heart rate of clients that you are assigned as a user.  The total displayed is the average over the last 30 days.  Hovering over the chart will display the average heart rate by day over that period.  We can see the chart below is relatively static but has a slight downward trend.  This would imply the heart rate for the client accounts I work on is worsening.  At the beginning of this period the average heart rate was 91 and we have now reduced to 82.  I need to take note of this and look at ways to improve the score.

The colour of the chart will change depending on the level of the average achieved.

Alerts

The alerts panel will display any critical alerts that you are assigned to.  This is to direct your attention to any critical issues that need immediate attention.  Critical alerts are those that have been assigned a priority of critical in the client alert settings.  They require immediate remedy.  Clicking on the alert will take you to the relevant alert in the alert page.

Heart Rate

The heart rate panel will display the clients with the lowest heart rate.  The ones that need the most support.  These may or may not be clients that have a quarter end approaching but you don’t want to leave to their own devices to the detriment of the service you can provide them.  Clicking on the notification will take you to the heart rate report for that client for closer inspection.

You can see from our example below that all the heart rate scores are in the 80’s and the heart monitor is green which would indicate they are in good order.  We wouldn’t spend to much time worrying about these just now.

Performance

The performance metrics are your own personal way to understand how effective you are.  Below you will note that my metrics are out of 3.  This tells me that there are 3 people in total in my practice that are assigned a client user role of ‘user’.  My ranking is displaying how my metrics stack up against those other two individuals.  I cannot see their metrics and they cannot see mine.  It is to be used as a guide to understand areas where you are doing the right things and areas where there is room for improvement.

In general I’m performing well in all areas apart from the % of alerts being generated that are critical.  I need to consider what I can do to improve this metric.  It may be as simple as reviewing the alert settings.  Perhaps I have placed too much emphasis on alerts having a critical priority.  If everything is critical then nothing is critical.  If that is not the case then maybe the split of alert types is not equal across the portfolio.  I’m first in all the other areas so perhaps I have the low volume but high problem accounts.

Now we have a full understanding of what is going on across our client base I can take corrective action where required.  Chase up anyone that looks likely to cause a blockage at quarter end and get on with the rest of my day.