Automation

Automation does two jobs your team would otherwise do by hand. It signs in to the government portals each day and closes compliance work that has already been filed. And it asks clients for the documents a filing needs, chases what is missing, and tells the assigned staff member the moment the work can start.

The screen is called PracticeStacks Bot, reached from Automation under Firm. It has four tabs: Activity, Credentials, Audit and Settings.

Before you start

• The module must be enabled for your firm. If Automation is not in your menu, ask your administrator.
• Compliance items with document checklists. The bot asks for what is on the checklist — an item with no checklist has nothing to collect.
• Clients with a contact and a WhatsApp number, because that is how the asking happens.

Switch it on — three switches, all off by default

Nothing reaches a client until all three are on. That is deliberate: a message sent to a client cannot be unsent.

1. The module — enabled for your firm by your administrator.
2. The firm mode, on the Settings tab:
   • Off — nothing is sent.
   • Internal only — messages meant for clients come to your own number instead, so you read exactly what a client would get. Messages to your staff still send for real, because those are what you are judging.
   • Live — clients are messaged.
3. Each client — turn on Auto-collect documents in the header of that client's business page. Off by default, one client at a time.

On top of those, any filing or client with reminders paused is left alone.

Set the working window

Two dates matter and they are not the same. The filing is due to the government on one date; the client's documents are due to you earlier. The gap is your working window — around ten days for a monthly GST return, considerably more for an annual audit. Set the house default on Settings, and override it on any compliance item that needs longer.

Clients are only ever shown the documents date. Showing them the filing date invites them to work to the later one.

Let the bot check the portals

1. Open the Credentials tab.
2. Add a client's portal login.
3. The bot checks it on its daily run. Run now triggers a check immediately.

Where it finds a return already filed, it closes the matching task. What it checked and what it found is on the Activity and Audit tabs.

Read the activity log

The Activity tab is the honest record: when it last ran, what it sent, what it did not send and why, documents received, and client replies. A held-back message is logged rather than dropped — an empty log would look the same as a broken robot.

What the system does on its own

• Creates the dated jobs. Each night it works out which filings fall due in the coming weeks and creates the job with its checklist.
• Asks the client, then chases. The first request goes out a week before documents are due, then reminders as the date approaches — each one listing only what is still missing.
• Escalates rather than nags. Past due with time still left, the relationship manager is told. Nearly out of window, the partner is told and the client is warned the filing is at risk.
• Sends at most one message per client per job per day, so a job that is both overdue and at risk does not produce two.
• Stops when satisfied. Once every required document is in, the job is marked ready, the task leaves "waiting on client", and the person doing the work is told.
• Never asks for history. Switching a client on does not generate requests for periods before you switched them on.

What the client can do

The client gets a link that needs no login and opens straight onto the checklist. They can also:

• Remind me later — twice at most, and never past the documents due date.
• I cannot upload — which asks why. "Already gave it to your team" asks who, and that person is asked to confirm. "Do not have it yet" snoozes. "Does not apply this month" flags it for your review rather than dropping it, because a nil return changes the filing.

What you cannot do (and what to do instead)

• You cannot switch every client on at once. It is one client at a time by design.
• You cannot collect documents by email or WhatsApp attachment yet. Files arrive through the client portal link. A file sent another way should be uploaded by your team.
• The bot will not guess which slot a file belongs in. Where it cannot be certain it asks the client to say. A bank statement filed as a purchase register would turn the checklist green and only be found halfway through the return.
• A client cannot cancel a filing requirement. "Does not apply" flags for review; it does not remove the item.
• The bot cannot get past a captcha. Portals that demand one need a person.

Common questions

Will this message all our clients the moment we turn it on?

No. Each client has to be switched on individually, and nothing at all is sent while the firm mode is Off or Internal only.

How do I see what a client would receive before going live?

Set the mode to Internal only. Client messages come to your own number, worded exactly as the client would see them.

A client says they sent the documents but the checklist is still red.

Check Activity, then documents received. Files sent outside the portal link do not land on the checklist — upload them from your side.

How do I stop everything immediately?

Settings on this screen has a stop control that halts all client reminders at once.