XBert 101 - Your Ultimate Guide to Setting Up XBert
Purchasing new software or tech for your practice can be daunting. You’ll need to learn how it works, determine the benefits and figure out if this piece of tech is the right fit for your practice.
This is why we’re bringing you this guide so you can get set up with XBert in no time have cleaner data and streamline workflows sooner.
In this guide, we’ll cover:
- But wait, what is XBert?
- Invite Your Team and Setup Roles
- Know where tasks stand by setting up Statuses
- Tailoring XBert to Your Practice with Processes
- Add Your Clients and Start Cleaning their Files
- Assign Roles to each Client
- The Power of Automation
- Seeing the Whole Picture with the Workboard
- Leveraging XBert's Support and Resources
Don’t have time to read the entire article now? Or don’t have the capacity to set up your own XBert account? No worries. Our team can help you with our Fast Track Onboarding.
But wait, what is XBert?
If you stumbled upon this guide when searching for a way to clean your client files or automatically detect potential risks and anomalies, you might be wondering what XBert is.
XBert is at the forefront of accounting technology, offering a comprehensive solution that integrates seamlessly with leading accounting software such as Xero, QuickBooks, and MYOB. By utilising advanced AI algorithms, XBert audits client data multiple times a day, identifies risks and anomalies, and streamlines workflow processes.
This not only improves data integrity and compliance but also empowers accountants and bookkeepers to deliver superior advisory services. Whether you're a seasoned professional or new to the field, XBert's user-friendly interface and customisable features make it an indispensable tool for any accounting or bookkeeping practice.
With that out of the way, let’s start setting up your XBert account by adding your team members.
Invite Your Team and Setup Roles
The first step in harnessing XBert's capabilities is to bring your team on board. XBert's collaborative platform allows for easy addition of team members, enabling everyone to work from a unified system that enhances communication and task management.
Adding Your Team as Users
Begin by adding your team members as users in XBert. This simple process ensures that everyone can access the platform and contribute to its various functions. Collaboration is key in accounting and bookkeeping, and by centralising your team's efforts in XBert, you streamline workflows and improve efficiency.
Customising Functional Roles:
One of XBert's strengths is its ability to customise roles to fit the unique structure of your practice. Take the time to identify the functional roles within your team—who does what, and how can these responsibilities be reflected in XBert?
Roles in XBert are fully customisable, allowing you to tailor the platform to your practice's needs. Whether it's defining roles for Partners, Managers, BAS Agents/Reviewers, Payroll Processors, or Bookkeepers, XBert's flexibility ensures that every team member's contributions are recognised and optimised.
Common Roles and Customisation:
Typical roles within an accounting practice might include Partner, Manager, BAS Agent/Reviewer, Payroll Processor, and Bookkeeper. However, XBert's role customisation goes beyond these standard titles, offering you the ability to create and define roles that are specific to your practice's operations. This level of customisation not only enhances workflow efficiency but also ensures that tasks and insights generated by XBert are directed to the appropriate team members.
Know where tasks stand by setting up Statuses
After your team is set up and roles are defined, the next step is to customise the statuses for tasks within XBert. This feature allows you to create a workflow that mirrors your practice's operational processes, making task management both intuitive and efficient.
Customising Statuses for Tasks:
XBert enables you to assign custom statuses to tasks, providing a clear overview of where each task stands in the workflow process. You can also assign colors to each status, offering a visual cue that helps quickly identify the task's progress. This customisation is not only about aesthetics; it's a practical tool for managing workloads and ensuring that nothing falls through the cracks.
Automating Task Assignments:
One of the most powerful features of XBert is its ability to automate task assignments based on status changes. By linking statuses to specific roles, you can ensure that tasks are automatically directed to the right team member at the right time. This automation streamlines the transfer of work responsibility, enhancing efficiency and reducing the potential for oversight.
Streamlining Work Transfers:
The ability to streamline work transfers through status and role automation is a game-changer for accounting practices. It simplifies the process of moving tasks through various stages of completion, ensuring that each team member knows exactly what needs to be done and when. This level of organisation is crucial for maintaining a high standard of work and meeting client expectations.
Tailoring XBert to Your Practice with Processes
XBert is designed with flexibility in mind, allowing you to customise its default processes to better align with your practice's specific needs and terminology. This customisation extends to the very language and terms your practice uses, ensuring that XBert feels like a natural extension of your existing workflows.
Think About Big Picture Items
Think of processes in XBert as the overarching categories of services you provide to your clients, such as General Bookkeeping, Payroll Services, Superannuation, and BAS, among others. These big-picture items help organise and streamline the services you offer, making it easier to manage and execute tasks.
Processes can also be viewed as work categories that help segment different types of tasks within your practice. This categorisation aids in assigning and managing tasks more efficiently, ensuring that every aspect of your client's needs is addressed promptly and effectively.
Use Prefixes to Organise Your Processes
A useful tip for organising processes in XBert is to use prefixes, such as "BK" for Bookkeeping processes. This allows you to sort processes alphabetically, grouping similar processes together and making them easier to navigate and manage.
Add Your Clients and Start Cleaning their Files
You can add clients to XBert either in bulk or individually, offering flexibility depending on your practice's needs. This feature is particularly useful for practices handling a large number of clients, streamlining the onboarding process.
Connecting Client Files
You can add clients by connecting their files from supported accounting software like Xero, QuickBooks, and MYOB. This integration allows XBert to begin its comprehensive analysis, utilising over 80 algorithms to check for errors, risks, and anomalies in your clients' files.
80+ Algorithms in Motion
Once a client's files are connected, XBert's automated system starts its analysis, providing valuable insights into potential issues and areas for improvement. This proactive approach helps you maintain the integrity of your clients' data and mitigate risks.
Assign Roles to each Client
After adding your clients to XBert, it's important to assign roles to each client based on the earlier setup. Assigning specific users to these roles allows XBert to automatically direct tasks and alerts to the appropriate team member, ensuring efficient task management.
The flexibility of roles in XBert means that you can easily adjust assignments as your team evolves. Whether roles change or team members shift positions, updating the assigned role for a client automatically updates task assignments and alerts, maintaining a seamless workflow.
It's advisable to set roles for unassigned tasks as well. This ensures that there is always someone responsible for a task, even if a specific user role hasn't been assigned to a client. This catch-all strategy prevents tasks from being overlooked.
The dynamic nature of roles in XBert offers significant advantages. It allows for easy adjustments in response to changes within your team or practice structure. By simply updating the role for a particular client, you ensure that the workflow remains uninterrupted and that tasks are always in the right hands.
The Power of Workflow Automation
Automation within XBert are the glue that holds your workflow together. They enable you to set up recurring tasks, automatically assign tasks when anomalies are detected in your clients' files, and ensure that these tasks are directed to the team member best equipped to handle them. This not only saves time but also significantly reduces the margin for error, ensuring that your practice operates smoothly and efficiently.
Utilising Standard Templates
XBert comes equipped with a variety of standard templates designed to meet the common needs of accounting and bookkeeping practices. These templates are a great starting point for setting up your automation. They can be customised to fit the unique requirements of your practice, allowing you to maintain the consistency of your workflows while also catering to specific client needs.
Creating Custom Automation
For those who wish to tailor their workflow automation even further, XBert provides the option to create automation from scratch.
This feature offers unparalleled flexibility, enabling you to not only design workflows that are perfectly aligned with your practice's operational strategies, you can also edit rules on XBert Alerts and create custom XBerts to take your advisory from reactive to proactive! For detailed guidance on setting up these custom automation, XBert offers an On-Demand webinar led by Cassandra Scott, which provides step-by-step instructions and valuable insights into optimising your workflow automation.
Seeing the Whole Picture with the Workboard
Congratulations on setting up your XBert account!
With everything in place, the workboard will become the central hub of your daily operations. This is where you'll spend most of your time, managing tasks, monitoring client files, and collaborating with your team. The workboard is designed to give you a comprehensive overview of your practice's workflow at a glance, allowing you to efficiently allocate resources, prioritise tasks, and ensure that deadlines are met.
Maximising the Workboard
To make the most out of your workboard, familiarise yourself with its features and functionalities. The workboard is highly customisable, enabling you to filter tasks by client, due date, status, process, or any other criteria that suit your practice's needs. This level of customisation ensures that you can quickly access the information you need, when you need it, making your workflow as efficient as possible.
One huge tip is to create saved views for your team. As an example set up a view like ‘Due Date, Dynamic-This week, My items’. When saving this view via the filter menu, click shared to share with your team.
By leveraging the power of XBert's automation and the comprehensive overview provided by the workboard, your practice will be well-equipped to handle the complexities of modern accounting. These tools not only streamline your operations but also enhance the quality of service you provide to your clients, setting your practice apart in a competitive industry.
Remember, the key to maximising the benefits of XBert lies in customisation and regular review of your setup. As your practice grows and evolves, so too will your needs. XBert is designed to grow with you, providing the flexibility and scalability necessary to support your practice's success both now and in the future.
Leveraging XBert's Support and Resources
Take advantage of the support and resources offered by XBert, including tutorials, webinars, and the customer support in-app chat. These resources can provide valuable insights into how to optimise your use of XBert and address any challenges you may encounter.
Getting started with XBert can transform your accounting or bookkeeping practice by enhancing data integrity, streamlining workflows, and providing valuable insights through AI-powered auditing.
By following this guide, integrating XBert with your accounting software, maximising its features, and adopting best practices, you'll be well on your way to achieving a more efficient and effective practice.
Remember, the journey to optimising your accounting operations with XBert is ongoing. Stay curious, be open to change, and leverage XBert to its fullest potential to reap the benefits of this powerful accounting technology.
The XBert support team is rated 5 Stars on Xero App Store - So know you have no excuses not to get the smartest tech running your practice today!
