Release Notes: 2021 Archive


Below is an archive of our Release Notes from 2021.

 

 


CircleBlack Release Notes: December 20, 2021

 

What's New

 

Multi-Period Performance Reporting

  • CircleBlack Performance Reporting now provides the option to display multi-period performance numbers in a table and bar graph on the PDF performance report.
  • For more detailed information about Multi-period Performance Reporting, please refer to the user guide by clicking here

CircleBlack Release Notes: December 7, 2021

 

What’s Fixed

 

Additional Security Types added to Trade Files

  • The following security types are now included in the Schwab, Fidelity, and TD trade files:  Preferred, Convertible, and Closed-End Funds.

TD Trade File updated - Change Quantity Type and Include Transaction Fee Fields for MFs only

  • The TD trade file has been updated with additional fields.

View Document Modal on Small Screens

  • Improved the display and functionality of PDF reports when viewed on small screens.

Client Services Email and Phone were Not Being Displayed on Login Page

  • The Client Services email and phone information now appears properly on the Advisor login page.

CircleBlack Release Notes: November 16, 2021

 

What’s New

 

Blended Benchmarks

  • The new Blended Benchmarks feature allows firm managers to create individualized benchmarks that align precisely with investor strategies and allocations, giving a realistic comparison between portfolio performance and benchmark performance. 
  • Once a benchmark is created, anyone in the firm enabled to view benchmarks will be able to:
    • View the new blended benchmark in the Manage Benchmarks table
    • Select it as their default benchmark preference
    • Pick it from the list of available benchmarks on the Performance dashboard tile
    • Pick it from the list of available benchmarks when running a Performance PDF report
  • For detailed information on how to create, manage and use Blended Benchmarks click here to access the Blended Benchmarks User Guide.

New Compliance Report: Advisor View Investor Experience Activity

  • The new report tracks, for Compliance purposes, how often the "Views as Investor" experience is utilized. The detail of the report displays: 
    • The name of the Advisor viewing the investor experience
    • The name of the Investor being viewed
    • How long the Advisor was in the "View as Investor" experience
    • How many pages the Advisor viewed while in the "View as Investor" experience

CircleBlack Release Notes: October 26, 2021

 

What's New

 

Calculate and Display Asset Class Performance on Performance Report

  • Advisors can now select a variety of “Performance Breakdown”  and “Exposure” parameters to add to Asset Class level information to Performance Reports.   
  • The new Performance Breakdown options are: 
    • Asset Class Performance
    • Asset Class Contribution
    • Detailed Asset Class Performance
    • Detailed Asset Class Contribution
  • For more details, click here for the How To Guide: Performance by Asset Class

Advisor ‘View as Investor”

  • An entitlement has been added to allow Advisors to view the Investor Portal as the investors sees it.  This will allow Advisors to provide self-service support to their Investors enhancing the client experience and increasing engagement between the Advisors and their Investors.  Advisors will have the ability to see the Investor experience on both the web portal and the app.
  • For more details, click here for the How To Guide: View As Investor 

Improved the Navigation Going to Household from Account Dashboard

  • When in the Account Info tile in the Account Dashboard, a new button was added to allow advisors to easily navigate to the associated Household Dashboard.  To the right of the "Household" field, a ">>" button was added.  Click on this button will bring the user to the household for the account.

Add Sort Logic to Task Tile

  • The sort logic in the Task Tile has been updated to better surface the tasks that need the most immediate attention.  The Tasks are now sorted by; Task Due Date (oldest to newest), then by Task Priority (highest to lowest priority), then by Task Name (A-Z). Tasks with no due date will be at the bottom of the list.

CircleBlack Release Notes: October 5, 2021

 

What’s New

 

Expanded Capabilities for Schwab Trade Files

  • The Trade Files for Schwab have been expanded to include Mutual Funds and Options. This allows advisors to download the Schwab trade files for Equities, ETFs, Mutual Funds and Options directly from the rebalancing process. These files can then be easily uploaded to the custodians for processing.

Added Account Name Edit Functionality

  • Gives Advisors functionality to edit Account Names on the Accounts Tile, Manage Accounts list, and Account Info page. Editing the Account Name also updates PDF-generated Reports as well as the display of Accounts in the Investor platform.
  • For more details, access the user guide here.

Added Firm-Level Report: Previously Mapped Account Codes

  • The new firm-level report displays all accounts that have had an Account Code change and are no longer mapped to the original Advisor. The report allows Firm Managers to map Account Codes to the appropriate Advisor.
  • For more details, access the user guide here.

Enhanced StratiFi Integration: Risk Numbers Displayed in Investor Platform

  • Added StratiFi's Prism Current and Target Risk Numbers to the Risk Management tile in the Investor platform, providing Advisors enhanced engagement with clients regarding their risk profiles.

Improved Risk Management/Financial Planning Messaging in Investor Portal/App

  • Enhanced and clarified the user experience for the Risk Management and Financial Planning tiles in the investor platform with improved messaging.

Updated the Advisors, Profile and Contact Us Fields in Investor Web Portal

  • Added more attributes to Preferences, Profile and Contact Us Features on Investor Web Portal, such as: DOB and Gender. This enhancement also simplifies the "Contact Us" experience in the Investor Web Portal.

CircleBlack Release Notes: September 21, 2021

 

What’s New

 

New Compliance Integration with RIA in a Box

  • The two-way integration between CircleBlack and RIA in a Box allows CircleBlack clients to access the online services of the RIA compliance software platform, MyRIACompliance®️, from within the CircleBlack advisor experience.
  • In addition to the expected single sign-on, CircleBlack’s deep integration will also pull relevant action items from RIA in a Box directly into the Advisor dashboard for timely, quick resolutions.
  • You can access the the user guide for the RIA in a Box integration here.

CircleBlack Release Notes: August 31, 2021

 

What’s New

 

Performance Benchmarks Can Now be Displayed on the Advisor Dashboards & Added to Performance PDF Reports

  • This new feature allows advisors to select from a list of available benchmarks and view benchmark performance in the Performance Tile.  When viewing a Household, Account or Group Dashboard, Advisors can view the benchmark performance and use it as a comparison to the standard performance number. 
  • In addition, a benchmark performance number can be added to a Performance PDF report. The performance of the benchmark will display on the Portfolio Overview page and the Portfolio Activity Summary page.  
  • For more information on how to use the new Performance Benchmark feature, click here to view the user guide.

Ability to "Hide" Tiles on Dashboards

  • Advisors now have the ability to "Hide" tiles on Dashboards.  The V3 release added the ability to customize Dashboards.  This new feature extends that capability and allows Advisors to "Hide" tiles they are not using to further facilitate workflows.  
  • For details on how to "Hide" tiles, click here to view the user guide.

Change name of Trust Co. of America Institution

  • The institution name of ETRADE Advisor Services accounts is now "Axos Advisor Services".

CircleBlack Release Notes: August 17, 2021

 

What’s New

  • TD Ameritrade and Fidelity Trade Files The new trade files provide the ability for advisors to download Fidelity and TD Ameritrade Trade Files for Equities, ETF's and Mutual Funds directly from the rebalancing process. These files can then be easily uploaded to the custodians for processing.

What’s Fixed

  • Branch Manager users can now refresh the CircleBlack Platform
  • Improve load times on Investor platform login

CircleBlack Release Notes: August 3, 2021

 

What’s New

 

Updated CD Classification

  • The classification of holdings of CDs has been changed from Cash to Investment Grade Bonds. 

Compliance Users can set Household Activation Email Defaults

  • Firm-level Compliance users can now set Household Activation Email defaults. Click here for more detailed information.

Change name of Trust Co. of America Institution

  • The institution name of Trust Company of America accounts is now "ETRADE Advisor Services".

Change name of RBC Institution

  • The institution name of RBC Correspondent Services and RBC Advisor Services (CAS) accounts to "RBC Clearing & Custody"

What’s Fixed

 

Firm/Branch/Advisor ‘Big Number’ displaying when drilling into tiles

  • The “context” number now properly represents the AUM number for the tile the user is on.

Managed Assets: cannot view/edit history for manually added assets

  • Users can now view and edit history for additional managed assets added manually.

Holdings page on Modular Report prints incorrectly

  • Long names on PDF reports now will wrap correctly to the next line and will no longer be “cut-off”.

Tradeable Indicator Icon is displaying on incorrect accounts

  • Tradeable Indicator icon now displays only on tradable accounts.

MoneyGuide Probability of Success Widget is not displaying "No Plan" 

  • The MoneyGuide Probability of Success widget now appropriately  displays "No Plan" if the Household does not have a financial plan in MoneyGuide.

Improved Wealthbox iframe in CircleBlack

  • The display of how CircleBlack iframes Wealthbox has been enhanced.

Totum Integration 

  • Upon analyzing risk, a new client is created in Totum with a CircleBlack household email. If a Totum client already exists with the household email, it will link to that client.

CircleBlack Release Notes: July 20th, 2021

 

What’s New

 

Update Account Info Tile and Account Info Page

  • The 'Masked' Account Number is now displayed on both Account Info tile and page.

New Risk Analysis Integration with StratiFi:

The tight integration between StratiFi and CircleBlack allows advisors to better educate their clients about market realities, communicate risk ranges across accounts, and adjust risk exposure efficiently.

The two-way integration supports contextual SSO iFrame to access StratiFi from within CircleBlack.

With the integration Advisors can:

  • View the StratiFi PRISM Rating™️ (actual risk) at the household, group, and account level within the CircleBlack Advisor user experience
  • View the StratiFi Risk Tolerance score (target risk) at the household level in the CircleBlack Advisor experience
  • Update risk scores through from the CircleBlack UI

To learn more about the CircleBlack/StratiFi integration click here or contact CircleBlack Client Services at help@circleblack.com.

What’s Fixed

 

Email undefined Error when clicking Save Changes in Investor UI

  • Investor users no longer experience an error message when updating and saving information in their Profile.

CircleBlack Release Notes: July 6th, 2021

 

What’s New

 

Salesforce Integration Enhancements

  • Advisor Tasks:  Bi-directional Tasks in the Salesforce Financial Services Cloud integration. Salesforce Tasks will now be added to the Tasks tile within the Overview pages. Marking a Task as completed in CircleBlack will now mark the Task as completed in Salesforce for real-time task management.
  • Account and Household Contextual Navigation:  Clicking on the "View on Salesforce" button within the Account Overview and Household Overview will send an Advisor directly to that Salesforce Object. Feature is also available within Account Info and Household Info pages.
  • Updated Mappings to Financial Accounts in Salesforce:  Fields added to the Salesforce Financial Services Cloud integration for the Salesforce Financial Account object. Click here for full mapping from CircleBlack to Salesforce Financial Services Cloud.

Reports

  • Green Bar Removed from Reports:  Removed green bar and background color from all reports and replaced them with updated colors. To view a sample report click here.

Client Portal

  • Updates to Client Portal:  Investor web portal now includes the same Risk Management, Probability of Success and Preferences features found in the Investor mobile app.

Advisor Platform Enhancements

  • Display Client and Tax Identifier on Account Info tile (in Account Dashboard) and Account Info page.
  • Hide Tax Identifier on Client info screen (example: xxxxx9288).  Tax ID will display when editing Client Information.

 


Advisor V3 Release: June 26, 2021

 

At last it is here!  CircleBlack V3 Advisor platform is live! We are excited to get all our clients on this new user experience!

As a reminder, What is V3?

CircleBlack V3 is a technology upgrade to the platform.  It is focused on changes to facilitate and streamline the workflow within the platform and deliver an enhanced user experience.

What are the Benefits?

  • Faster Page Load Times
  • Quicker Time to Market for New Enhancements
  • Improved Advisor Experience

What is Changing?

  • Navigation: V3 groups together functionality in logical workflows to facilitate your daily use of the platform
  • Dashboard Flexibility:  V3 adds flexibility to the Overview Dashboards that will allow you to position tiles in a way that makes the most sense for your daily usage

Important to note all features, functionality, and integrations you have today will still be available.  V3 was designed to take those features and make them easier to access and use.

When Will V3 be Live?

  • CircleBlack will be installing the upgrade on Friday June 25th 9:00 PM ET
  • The Advisor Platform will be unavailable from Friday June 25th 9:00 PM ET – Saturday June 26th 8:00 AM ET
  • V3 will be available for Advisors to log into Saturday June 26th  at 8:00 AM ET 

Training Webinars and Resources

To ensure you have a smooth transition to the new version, we invite you to attend a training webinar.  The webinar will allow you to see V3 in action and will walk you through how to navigate the new version.  To register for a webinar, click on the date and time below that is most convenient for you.

In addition, we have some “How To” videos and a V2-V3 Comparison doc available for you to review now and use as a reference once the new version is live. You can access the resources by clicking below.

We look forward to rolling out V3 and working with you to ensure you and your firm take full advantage of the benefits it brings.  If you have any questions, please reach out to help@circleblack.com or 1-800-315-1241 ext 2.

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