There are several reasons why you may want to clone an existing report.
1. You need to write a similar report to one that you've previously written to the same client
e.g. You're recommending that the client makes another single contribution into their pension plan much like they did at the end of the last tax year.
In this instance you'd clone the existing report, update the name of the cloned report and make any changes to the report content to reflect any change in the client's circumstances and the recommendations being made.
2. You need to write a similar report to one that you've previously written to another client
e.g. You're recommending that a number of different clients make use of their ISA allowance by investing with the same ISA provider, and into the same or similar investment strategy.
In this instance you'd clone the existing report and reassign the cloned report to the other client, update the name of the cloned report, and then make any changes to the report content to reflect the change of client (e.g. the ownership field, the attitude to risk profile etc) and the recommendations being made.
3. You need to write an annual review report for an existing client and want to use last year's report as the basis for the current year as there's been little change in their circumstances or investment holdings.
In this instance you'd clone the existing report, update the name of the cloned report and make any changes to the report content to reflect any change in the client's circumstances, their investment holdings and the recommendations being made.
The benefits of cloning a report
The benefits of cloning an existing report rather than creating one from scratch, or using the previously created Word doc as the basis of a template for creating the new report are:
- It will save time.
- There is no risk of copying and pasting errors.
- You can quickly review the options selected in the wizard sections, make any necessary changes, and the report output will update automatically to reflect the changes made.
- The revised report will contain the most up-to-date version of all of the required content.
How to clone an existing report
It's really easy to clone an existing report.
1. From the dashboard, go to Libraries > Client & Report Library.
2. Locate the client whose report you wish to clone and click on the Report Library icon to the right of their name.
3. Within the Report Library window, locate the report and click the clone icon to the right of the report name.
4. An exact copy of the original report will be created at the top of the list in the Report Library with the original report name prefixed with the words ‘Copy of...’.
5. You can now change the name of the newly created report by clicking the edit pencil, and edit the content of the report by clicking on the 'Report name'.