Overview
The purpose of the client map is to be able to create a variety of visuals for your office and clients; For example build a business structure diagram of the entities and relationships within a client group’s structure to communicate the flow and purpose of entities to your clients, other stakeholders like their bank and your staff. Alternatively build out a software map, process map or business hierarchy to complement a consulting piece being presented to your client. A picture really is worth a thousand words!
Please note that this is split into the NEW v's the LEGACY user interface whilst we make available both UI's for customers. In time we will remove all references to the old user interface entirely.
2 Minute in Brief Overview
This video will give you a super quick overview of building a diagram, see the next video for a detailed run-through.
How-to Guide Webinar
Watch this video to get a more detailed run-through of building your first business structure diagram. Perfect if you don't feel like reading through all the text below.
Examples
Looking for inspiration as to how best to layout your diagrams, here are some examples for you to peruse.
Before you start
There are a number of things you should review before making a start to ensure you end up with diagrams that come together quickly, look great and align well with your brand.
- Ensure each entity has been assigned a group - without a group, you won’t be able to build a client map. The tool works by first having you select a client group, which then brings in a list of available related entities to build up your map from.
- Check your relationships - Where AccountKit isn’t connected to XPM, ensure all applicable relationships and client details have been entered either manually or via import to get the most out of your client maps; Alternatively, these can be added on the fly by selecting the applicable entity and adding the relationship from the applicable group.
- Review your settings - Following on from this, review the Client Map settings within Practice Settings -> Tool Settings and set the defaults for all visuals across your practice. You can utilise the supplied themes (Classic or Outline) or create your own theme to get the look you're after.
- Points of note:
- Pressing reset within a diagram will return all colours and other details back to these practice defaults (including the default theme)
- Any colour options that have a large [X] means either no colour
- If you want certain colours or a theme to carry across all your diagrams, you can set some practice standard colours from here too.
- Points of note:
Practice Settings
General Settings
All can be overwritten on a per map basis
- New schedules created by default as - Sets the type of diagram you want all new schedules created as default.
- Custom practice colours - By setting some colours here, you can standardise certain colours for use across maps.
- Default theme - Sets the default theme you want diagrams created with.
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Theme Settings
- First, select the theme you want to edit (or utilise the (+) to create a new theme)
- Define the Entity Visuals first - this is the shape and colours for each type of entity defined within your business structures under tags and lists.
- Then set the other visual settings (line styles, font colours, alignments etc)
- See Editing Visual Options for more details on what the options all mean.
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- Creating a new theme:
- Simply press the (+) icon to start the process
- Enter a name for the new theme
- This will then create a new theme for you to edit. Any changes are saved automatically as you go.
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New UI
List View
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Create a new Client Map | Select this to start the process of creating a brand new Client Map. |
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Group by, Filter, View Select, Actions | This area is part of the shared elements used across AccountKit.
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The list... |
This is a snapshot of all Client Maps within your practice and their current status.
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Actions Column | Hover over the last column to reveal the
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Screen Elements
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Description |
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Action Buttons | Provides the ability to carry out the following actions:
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The Heading | This is where you can see the broader details about the specific map, all of which can be edited in the right edit pane under "Client Details"
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The Toolbar | Here you've got the option of utilising various tools within the client map
Selecting this will open the "add new entity" dialogue; Within a "current" map, this will add a new entity to your client list along with any integrated add-ons (eg. XPM);
Selecting this will open the "auto-build" menu where you are given these options.
NOTE: Utilising auto-build will clear any previously added entities or relationship lines. If you do it by accident, you can recover a prior version from the client map history.
This is a special tool used for presenting to clients; You can draw all over the canvas in a tactile way whilst explaining the detail to your clients;
Selecting this gives you the option to add the following items to the canvas.
Within this option you have a variety of options to align objects and bring order and beauty with ease.
Select these options to copy and paste shapes and icons; Note it does NOT work for entities. Pressing <Ctrl C> and <Ctrl V> has the same effect also.
This enables you to copy the visual look of one object to another saving you having to edit every line and shape individually. Pressing <Alt C> also activates this tool.
Move the slider bar up and down to zoom in and out; Then use the 1:1 option to reset the view. An alternative to using these is holding the shift key down and scrolling your mouse wheel whilst over the canvas.
Select this to show and hide the client list and client detail toolbars on either side of the canvas thereby giving you more room to build your diagram.
Press this button to expand the client map to take up the full browser page. Easier to work with and also demo to clients. You can also get rid of the browser tool bar by pressing "F11" on your keyboard.
Use these buttons to undo / redo most actions; Alternatively you can use <ctrl z> and <ctrl v> respectively as well.
Selecting this will bring up the print options pop-up.
Selecting this will save the current client map; Saving is automatic after the first save, but manual saves create different versions that you can go back to.
Select this to see the autosaves and manual saves for the current diagram. From here you can elect to restore or copy a prior version as required. |
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Available Entities |
The left toolbar gives you quick access to editing options depending on the type of diagram you are doing, but otherwise is accessible to all map types.
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Visual Options |
The top menu bar is where you do all of your editing of the visual aspects of the client map; It's broken into 3 key areas:
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Client Map & Entity Details |
This is where you’re able to edit the basic Client Map details + Client Specific details for selected entities.
NOTE: Any changes made here when in a "Current Diagram" will be reflected back in your live client data, whereas in Historical or Proposed diagrams the changes will NOT flow back. |
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The Canvas | This is simply where you add and manipulate your client map to get the look you're trying to achieve. | ||
Legacy UI
List View
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Description |
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Create a new Client Map | Select this to start the process of creating a brand new Client Map. |
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Filter, Actions & Client Group | This area has 3 components
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The list... |
This is a snapshot of all Client Maps within your practice and their current status.
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Actions Column | Hover over the last column to reveal the
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Screen Elements
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Element |
Description |
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Actions Button | Provides the ability to carry out the following actions:
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The Heading | This is where you can see the broader details about the specific map, all of which can be edited in the right edit pane under "Client Details"
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The Toolbar | Here you've got the option of utilising various tools within the client map
Selecting this will open the "add new entity" dialogue; Within a "current" map, this will add a new entity to your client list along with any integrated add-ons (eg. XPM);
Selecting this will open the "auto-build" menu where you are given these options.
NOTE: Utilising auto-build will clear any previously added entities or relationship lines. If you do it by accident, you can recover a prior version from the client map history.
This is a special tool used for presenting to clients; You can draw all over the canvas in a tactile way whilst explaining the detail to your clients;
Selecting this gives you the option to add the following items to the canvas.
Within this option you have a variety of options to align objects and bring order and beauty with ease.
Select these options to copy and paste shapes and icons; Note it does NOT work for entities. Pressing <Ctrl C> and <Ctrl V> has the same effect also.
This enables you to copy the visual look of one object to another saving you having to edit every line and shape individually. Pressing <Alt C> also activates this tool.
Move the slider bar up and down to zoom in and out; Then use the 1:1 option to reset the view. An alternative to using these is holding the shift key down and scrolling your mouse wheel whilst over the canvas.
Select this to show and hide the client list and client detail toolbars on either side of the canvas thereby giving you more room to build your diagram.
Press this button to expand the client map to take up the full browser page. Easier to work with and also demo to clients. You can also get rid of the browser tool bar by pressing "F11" on your keyboard.
Use these buttons to undo / redo most actions; Alternatively you can use <ctrl z> and <ctrl v> respectively as well.
Selecting this will bring up the print options pop-up.
Selecting this will save the current client map; Saving is automatic after the first save, but manual saves create different versions that you can go back to.
Select this to see the autosaves and manual saves for the current diagram. From here you can elect to restore or copy a prior version as required. |
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Available Entities |
The left toolbar gives you quick access to editing options depending on the type of diagram you are doing, but otherwise is accessible to all map types.
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Visual Options |
The top menu bar is where you do all of your editing of the visual aspects of the client map; It's broken into 3 key areas:
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Client Map & Entity Details |
This is where you’re able to edit the basic Client Map details + Client Specific details for selected entities.
NOTE: Any changes made here when in a "Current Diagram" will be reflected back in your live client data, whereas in Historical or Proposed diagrams the changes will NOT flow back. |
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The Canvas | This is simply where you add and manipulate your client map to get the look you're trying to achieve. | ||
Editing Visual Options
There is a plethora of options to customise to get the client map looking just how you like. See below for the detail.
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General entity colours are set within Practice Settings -> List and Tags -> Business Types. |
General Options
The general options set the visuals for all entities across the entire diagram
| Options | Edit Popup | Details |
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Note: Editing the Header font colour and background colour will supercede the entity specific colours. This is not recommended. |
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Line Options |
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See below for some examples as to what each of these settings all mean. |
Specific Options
The specific options are context sensitive, with the applicable options appearing based on the object selected.
| Options | Edit Popup | Details |
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The options here are identical to those within the general options. The only difference is that changes made only impact the current entity selected; The reset option returns the entity back to this particular diagrams defaults. |
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Selected Shape Options
NOTE: If you set the transparency to 0, the border and background will disappear leaving just the text; Useful if you want to have text by itself or in the middle of a line.
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Selected Icon Options
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Selected Logo Options
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Selected Line Options These are identical to the above General Line Options, but specific to the selected line. Pressing the reset option returns the line to that diagrams default line appearance. See below for more details. |
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Selected Group Outline Options Much like the other areas, here you can set the transparency, border thickness, corner radius (how round the corners are), border style, border colour and background colour. |
What do we mean by...
We refer to specific visual elements above, this is what they mean
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Element |
Description |
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| Corner Radius |
Where you want an entity or one of the shapes to have rounded edges, increase the corner radius until you achieve the look you're after. |
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| Transparency |
Here you can set the transparency of a shape or icon (but not the text). 0% has the shape entirely transparent except for the text (useful if you want the text to be floating by itself) whereas 100% has the shape entirely opaque. |
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| Line Thickness |
With this option you can change the thickness of lines or borders on entities or shapes. The higher the number the thicker the line. |
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| Line Styles |
This enables you to set the visual style of the line and the associated start and end decorations. |
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| Line Types |
There are a couple other settings for both standard lines and free lines. Line Type
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Line Radius |
Radius
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General Use
How to add or delete an entity, shape, icon or group to or from the canvas
Client Entity
- For a pre-existing entity
- Select the entity from the available entities list on the left for it to appear on the canvas
- Select the entity from the available entities list on the left for it to appear on the canvas
- Add a new entity not already within the client group either as a proposed or historical entity (in a proposed or historical diagram) or a new current entity (which will flow back to XPM)
- Select the
icon from the toolbar
- Enter a name for the new entity
- If it already exists in your client list, you can select a pre-existing client to add to the diagram that is outside the family group.
- If it does NOT exist in the family group, you just need to identify the applicable entity type before adding it to the canvas.
- Select the
Shapes, Lines, Icons and Groups
Start by selecting the appropriate menu item and select the applicable shape, group outline, line or icon
- Adding an icon
- Choose the icon you want and drop it on the canvas.
- Optionally Add any text you want and position it where you would like it relative to the icon
- Choose the visual appearance of the icon, text and text box
- Adding a shape
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- Select the desired shape from the toolbar.
- Edit its appearance by selecting the shape and editing its details in the above menu.
- You can also add text to the shape from the same menu as well.
- Connect lines between other shapes or entities by dragging between connectors.
- Adding a line
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- Select the line icon from the toolbar - this will put you into line draw mode with a cross cursor
- Drag out where you want the line to be and press the icon again OR press the <escape> key to disable the line draw mode.
- Edit its appearance by selecting the line and editing its details in the context-sensitive menu.
- To insert a corner joint, click on the blue dots in the middle of the line and drag the white corner dots to desired location. To remove a corner joint, double click the white corner dot.
- Adding a group
- A group enables you to drop icons, entities and shapes into it, such that when you move it around, all of the objects move with the group. This could be a set of icons representing people; or perhaps a corporate trustee grouped with a trust or superfund.
- Select grouping icon from the Shapes toolbar after which it'll appear in the left top corner. Select and drag it to where you want it to be.
- Edit its appearance by selecting the group and editing the details in the top menu that will have appeared.
- Move entities, shapes or icons into the group outline;
- Connect lines between other shapes or entities by dragging between connectors.
- A group enables you to drop icons, entities and shapes into it, such that when you move it around, all of the objects move with the group. This could be a set of icons representing people; or perhaps a corporate trustee grouped with a trust or superfund.
- Deleting objects - To remove an entity, shape or line, simply select them and press the delete key or the
icon.
- Creating an individual group
- First, add an individual to the canvas.
- Once on the canvas, select the individual
- Expand the selected individual's menu item in the right options menu
- Select the
- icon to the right of the group heading.
- Enter the group name (Eg. Individuals) and a brief description and press save.
- You can now select each individual in turn and assign them to the newly created group.
- How to add individuals to a group
- Select an individual on the canvas already
- Expand the individual's menu item in the right options menu
- Select the drop-down list under the group heading and select the desired group.
- How to remove an individual from a group
- Select the group on the canvas.
- Select the individual group options that have now appeared in the top toolbar
- You'll see a section called "Individuals Included" where you can press the
icon to remove them from the group. They’ll now appear back in the left client list.
Copy Visuals
- How to copy the visuals from one object to another
It's time consuming to copy the visual formatting from one object to another, so the idea of the copy format tool is to streamline this action. It's only required where you're making changes beyond the general visual options.
- Start by selecting the object that you would like to copy the visuals from (eg. shape, line, entity, icon)
- Then select the
paintbrush icon in the top right menu OR utilise the keyboard shortcut <alt-c>; This toggles the copy function on and off.
- Now select the object that you would like to apply the visuals to.
- Once done, press the
icon again OR press <alt-c> again OR press the <escape> key to turn it off once again.
- NOTE that you can only copy from like object to like object; Eg.
- Line -> Line
- Shape -> Shape
- Icon -> Icon
- Group Outline -> Group Outline
- Entity -> Entity
How to build your first client map (Historical, Current & Proposed)
Building your first diagram can be daunting, as there are so many options and variables to play with. Just work your way through the steps below and you'll be a pro in no time.
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Create a new diagram
- Head to the Client Map list and select “Create new Client Map”
- Options upon setup include
- Client Group - Identify which client group you're building the diagram for;
- Template - (Sandbox Only) Select which template you would like to start with. Select blank if you want a blank canvas.
- Name - Give a name to the map such as "Business Structure Diagram" or "Client Map"; This will appear at the top of the printed diagram under the group name. But can be hidden.
- Description - This can be any description you like; Some good examples include "As at 30 June 2016" or "Proposal for new SMSF".
- Effective Date - Set the date the diagram is to be effective as of; This is useful for sorting to see the history that a family groups structure has changed over time.
- Select Save
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Start with Auto-build
- This is an excellent place to start, as it will put all the entities on the canvas and join up all the relationship lines. Then it's just a matter of tidying up.
- Alternatively, keep making your way down the steps.
[referred to below in orange]
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Get a rough layout in place:
- From the Available entities on the left, select each entity you would like to add to the canvas OR use Autobuild to do an initial layout of the entities. If you want to group individuals, now is the time to do this too.
- Drag them to approximately the desired position
- Edit the default options for each entity.
- Then move them to their exact position.
- At this point consider whether you want to change visual themes under General Options
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Add extra detail to the canvas (Shapes, Icons and Groups)
- Use these to provide further useful information and context
- They could be used as follows:
- Show a list of properties and visual icon of those owned by a family group.
- Show the movement of rent between organisations with connectors between them + ($) icon.
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Add lines to the canvas
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- These can show the flow of ownership, distributions, money etc.
- Drag between the connector points located in the middle of each entity edge to create a line between entities OR use Auto-build to add the lines for you.
- Change the line appearance to an individual line or all lines within a diagram. To change an individual line click on the line and click line detail in top menu. Use the General Line Options to update the appearance across the diagram.
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Output to the required format
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- PDF output can then be added to a proposal or set of financials.
- PNG output excludes company branding, so can be embedded into a powerpoint presentation or proposal document
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Hints, Tips & Shortcuts
There's a lot of ways to go about building a diagram, so here's a few tidbits that will help you become super efficient in no time
Utilise shortcuts - get proficient at these.
| Shortcut | What it does |
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Arrow |
Nudges / moves objects by 1 pixel at a time. |
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<Ctrl> + c |
Standard copy and paste shortcuts |
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<Alt> + c |
Copy format tool - ie. copy the visuals from one object or line to another object. |
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<Shift> + scroll |
Use this shortcut with your mouse to zoom in and out of the map wherever your cursor is sitting. |
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<Ctrl> + s |
Save the diagram |
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<f> and <b> |
If you find objects are behind or in front of other objects, use these shortcuts to bring the objects to the front or send them to the back. |
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<g> |
Use this shortcut to group or ungroup objects. This enables you to keep specific objects together and move them around as required as one. |
- Given the volume of information on the screen at any given moment within the client map, utilise the “zoom out” slider by pushing the
icon
- Use the
icon to hide the toolbar and
full screen options to maximise your view over the whole monitor.
- Double click any object to open their options pop-up with any text fields immediately in focus.
- Utilise the arrow keys on your keyboard to "Nudge" objects. Handy for tweaking the visuals to make the alignment of objects picture perfect.
- Make sure to save the diagram along the way to ensure any changes are saved and client information pushed back to the client data (if a "Current" map).
- This will also ensure you capture a new "version" in the history of the map.
- You can utilise the standard <ctrl-s> to trigger the save action
- If you’re wanting to keep a copy of a current map so you can play with a new map without impacting the original, select Actions -> Create a copy to create a copy to work within.
- If you make a change to anything within practice settings or within a client entity, refresh the page to force the client information and settings to be re-loaded. Eg. The default header colour for one of the entities.
- If you want some text to appear without any surrounding shape, add a shape to the canvas, add some text to it and decrease the transparency to 0.
- Create custom colours to standardise the look of your diagrams.
- Your practice administrator can set them across the entire practice within practice settings.
- If you want some standard colours just for a particular diagram, anyone can update the custom colours per diagram.
Using the Sandbox
Editing the entity details
- Once you've added some entities to the canvas, select each entity to show the client detail in the right pane.
- Customise the entity name, body content and footer as required;
- Set the alignment per area and press ok once complete.
Saving a new template
- Build up the diagram to a point that you're happy and ready to save as a template.
- Go to the action menu and select "Save as template"
- Give the template a meaningful name such as "Company, Trust & Superfund with Corporate Trustee" with a detailed description identifying the purpose of the structure.
- Press Save.
Editing or Selecting a template
- Go to the action menu and select "Select or edit templates"
- In the new pop-up you have a number of options:
- Select a template and press apply - this will clear the current canvas and apply the template structure instead.
- Select the
icon will enable you to update the name or description for a template.
- The
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Note that you can't delete a system template. |
How to change the diagram type
A diagram can have different statuses that determine how the contents of the map interact with your client information. For example, say you are preparing a proposed change in business structure - you could take a copy of a "current" diagram and change it's type to "Proposed". Make all the changes you want for any upcoming potential changes and include in your proposal. If you get the go ahead for the changes, change the diagram to a current diagram at that point to push the changes through to the client detail page (and XPM where connected).
| Type | Description | Behaviour |
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Current |
A current diagram represents how the client's current group presently looks. Generally speaking, you would only ever have one of these, but there is nothing stopping you from having multiple versions that just appear visually different - perhaps for different audiences. |
Map Changes - Any time you make a change and save it, the change will roll through the underlying client data including any connected software (eg. XPM). The sorts of changes that will roll through includes:
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Historical |
Represents a time stamp of how a client group looked at some point in the past. | Map Changes - Any changes to the map will NOT change any underlying client information unless you change type. Upon Opening - The system will NOT check for changes, as the assumption is that historical maps won't need to be updated with current client info; BUT this can be forced to check from the Action menu. Change Type - If you elect to change type, the following will happen.
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Proposed |
Represents a proposed set of changes to the structure of a client group. | Map Changes - Any changes to the map will NOT change any underlying client information unless you change type. Upon Opening - The system will NOT check for changes, as the assumption is that proposed maps won't need to be updated with current client info; BUT this can be forced to check from the Action menu. Change Type - If you elect to change type, the following will happen.
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Sandbox |
This type of diagram is significantly different to the above types in that it's not connected to the underlying client data at all. Conceptually it's about being to create a diagram as fast as possible without having to fill in all of the data; Think of it like drawing a diagram on a whiteboard or paper. | Map Changes - Any changes to the map will NOT change any underlying client information. Upon Opening - The system will NOT check for changes, as the entities are not connected to the client information. Change Type - You have no option to change the map type. If a client is happy conceptually, you will need to go and build the client map as a proposed or current diagram. |
What to do with changed client information?
When opening a current client map or changing map types, you will be presented with a list of the changes and what you would like to do with those changes.
- Current Diagram - Selecting this option will apply the change to the current diagram
- New Diagram - Selecting this option will apply the change to a copy of the current diagram.
- Do Nothing - As the name suggests, it will do nothing but will come up as an option to apply when opened in the future.
If there's a combination of changes to apply, such as some changes to the current map with some applied to a new map, the following will happen:
- Current changes will be applied to the current open diagram;
- This diagram will then be changed to a historical diagram.
- This diagram will then be copied to a new current diagram with the remaining "new diagram" changes applied.
Other uses for the client map
With the variety of shapes and icons available to you, you can use the business structure diagram editor for doing other cool diagrams that will be useful to your team and clients. The sky is the limit, but here are some examples of what you can create.
Organisational Structure
While it's great to have a broader structure diagram, sometimes it's just as useful to map out the internal structure of a business as well.
Software Map
Seeing what software you have and what you may implement is great to get an overall feel for what a business is using and how data flows between systems.
Process Map
Mapping out any processes within an organisation can help you visualise the flow, responsibilities and enablement refinement at a high level before diving into the details.
Related Links
| Menus & Shared Elements | This support article covers all the menus and shared elements used throughout AccountKit |
| Practice Settings | Follow this link for the specifics about setting up the defaults for your business types. |
| Document Management System (DMS) | Learn how to connect and manage your DMS. |
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