Preparing for new practice software: what a small RIA should gather before setup starts
Before new practice software is set up, a small RIA should gather an export of clients and households from its current CRM or spreadsheet, its model definitions, its fee schedule and billing exclusions, signed IPS documents, its custodian file access, and its existing procedures and compliance logs. It should also decide a few things first: who the users are, which records move over and which stay archived, and a target date. A day of preparation usually saves weeks of back-and-forth during setup.
Most software setups at small firms don't stall on the software. They stall on the second week, waiting for a fee schedule that lives in someone's head, a model list that's half in a spreadsheet, and a client export with three versions of the same household. Pulling these together before setup starts is the most useful thing a firm can do.
What should you gather?
| Item | Where it usually lives | Tip |
|---|---|---|
| Clients and households | Your CRM or a spreadsheet | Export everything; check household groupings first |
| Users and roles | Your head | Write down who needs access and what each person does |
| Models | Spreadsheets, IPS templates | Allocation, benchmark, philosophy and rebalancing rule for each |
| Fee schedule and exclusions | Billing spreadsheet, agreements | Include negotiated rates and waived accounts |
| Last quarter's billing calculation | Billing spreadsheet | Used to check the new system matches |
| Signed IPS documents | Client folders, email | One file per client, current version marked |
| Custodian file access | Your custodian's portal | Who downloads files today, and how |
| Procedures and compliance logs | Shared drive | The current versions, not every draft |
What should you decide first?
- Which records move over, and which stay archived.
- Who owns the setup on your side.
- A target date, and what "done" means: usually a parallel billing run that matches.
A worked example
Take a hypothetical two-person RIA moving to new practice software. The week before setup, the operations lead exports the CRM, removes 40 duplicate contacts and 12 closed accounts, and lists four models with their allocations and benchmarks. She pulls the fee schedule, notes six fee exceptions, and saves last quarter's billing spreadsheet. Signed IPS documents go into one folder per client. When setup starts, the first week goes on checking, not chasing.
What are the common gaps?
- Exporting messy data and planning to clean it later.
- Fee exceptions nobody wrote down.
- No last-quarter billing calculation to compare against.
- No decision on what stays archived.
When is this overkill?
It isn't. Even a very small firm saves time by sending everything at once.
How Advorra fits
Every firm that moves to Advorra is set up with The CollabHub. We'll help you migrate your data from your existing CRM or spreadsheet: you send the export and the items above, and we set up clients and households, models, billing with exclusions, IPS documents and compliance records with you, then run a quarter of billing alongside your own calculation. There isn't a direct live connection to CRMs yet. See the product page, or read about migrating client data and software demo questions.
One thing to do this week: export your client list and count how many households appear more than once.
A practical checklist that applies to any practice software, not a recommendation of any vendor.
Questions advisors ask
Do we need to clean our data first?
It helps. Remove duplicates and closed accounts, and check household groupings before you export. Cleaning after the move is harder.
Should everything move over?
Not necessarily. Many firms move current clients and recent records, and keep older records archived in the old system or as exports.
How long does preparation take?
For a small firm, often a day or two of gathering, spread over a week.
Who should own it?
One person, usually whoever runs operations, with the advisor available for decisions about models and fees.
Is this a recommendation of any vendor?
No. It applies to any practice software.
See it on a demo firm
Advorra is practice software for independent RIAs: clients, models, IPS, billing and compliance records in one place, on top of the custodian you already use. Built by The CollabHub.
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