Release notes for Onvio Center

Your clients will now be able to view parent and subfolder structures in the Folder View of Client Center Documents. This experience will be consistent with how your staff views folders in Onvio Documents.

A new report has been added to display a list of clients along with their General information found within Client Setup. With the Client Directory report, you can create a PDF or Excel file to create mailing lists, import info into other apps and better organize clients by age, entity or other basic details.

The Thomson Reuters sign in page has been updated to improve accessibility.

Notification emails will now have updated date format for [TODAYS DATE] variable. This is applicable to Client Adds Files and Staff or Client Adds Files within Document templates.

Printing client web tax returns to Onvio Client Center will utlize the "Client or Staff adds files" Document notification template instead of the "Clients Documents" Client Center notification template to take advantage of the new digest notification feature.

This change applies to the printing of client copy returns with electronic delivery type set to "Web" found in File > Print Returns. The document management selection should be set to "Onvio Documents" and the client portals selection to "Onvio Client Center" in Setup > Office Configuration > Onvio tab (when licensed).

We have released the migration of NetClient CS to Onvio and revamped the migrations experience for FileCabinet CS customers to migrate clients and their documents into Onvio. These changes include:

• The refreshed design makes it easier to navigate & view the results of your migrated drawers/portals from FileCabinet CS or NetClient CS to Onvio.

•          Improved readability: It’s now easier to interpret the results of your migrations by allowing you to see how many drawers/portals were migrated vs. what wasn’t migrated.

•          Improved notes for warnings/error messages: We’ve simplified the language and presentation around error and warning messages to make it easier for you to view and interpret the results of the migration. We’ve also added suggestions to help you rectify potential issues you face in the migration process.

•          When incoming data is conflicting with existing data in Onvio, we have made improvements to notify you when a portal or drawer is in conflict so you can take action. We have also made it easier for you to decide what actions to take so you can resolve your conflicts more easily.

•          We increased the speed at which your clients’ drawers and attached documents are migrated to Onvio.

•          When FileCabinet CS customers migrate a batch of drawers, you will see a consolidated view of all your drawers into a single migration. This makes it easier to view the results of your migration and take action if necessary. You will also receive an email with the results of your migrated batch so you’re notified when a migration is done processing.

• We have improved the structure of the migrated folders allowing for folder grouping by year to be used.

You can now setup a Daily Digest notification email for your firm and clients. See [[article link will be ready for day of release]] for more information.

We resolved an issue that caused the Documents quick link to not take you to the documents of the client’s dashboard you were viewing.

We updated the default year in the date fields in the Client Questionnaire.

We have added the Onvio Guidance Hub to the Onvio Center toolbar. The Onvio Guidance Hub provides access to several tutorials and the Thomson Tax & Accounting Learning Center.

We resolved an issue that caused the client selection drop-down list to be unavailable when viewing Client Center as the client.

We have made several enhancements to the integration between UltraTax CS and Onvio. For details see, the UltraTax CS User Bulletin.

The Task list has been redesigned to display all tasks that need to be completed for related clients.  

The client import no longer formats non-numeric fields as numbers. 

You now have the ability to import client data from a spreadsheet. For details, see Client import.

The Setup Assistant now includes steps to access your Learning Center account and set up clients.

Improving the speed of Onvio applications is a priority for our product and technology teams. With this release we're improving performance in the following areas:

• Improvements in loading Project and Task lists 
• Improvements in loading the Client list 

Relationships will no longer be automatically created during UltraTax CS integration for contacts using the following SSN's:  999-99-999, 999-00-9999 & 888-00-8888.   

You now have the ability to turn off notifications that clients get when returns are uploaded to Client Center in Setup > Notification > Wording > Client Document.  

Client Center users can now download a copy of a document immediately after it is signed or approved.

When you complete a task in Client Center, you'll go to the next available task instead of going back to the top of the task list. 

When completing a tax questionnaire, completed subtasks will stay in the To-Do list until all subtasks for the questionnaire are complete.

• In Project fields, you can filter the project dropdown list to only show open projects by marking the Open Only checkbox. 
• The current due date is now displayed in the project dropdown list.  This will help distinguish between projects with the same name.  

The Client Center Task widget allows you to easily view the status of Client Center Tasks from the Client Dashboard.  

You can add relationships to the primary contact and the spouse at the same time from within the primary contact.

You now have the option to add Office, Partner, Manager and Department columns to project lists.  You can add these new columns to any project lists, including the My assignments widget on the Home page and the Projects and Tasks widget on the Client Dashboard.  

To ensure you get the best Onvio experience, we are no longer supporting Internet Explorer 11 or non-current versions of supported browsers. For more information, see Supported internet browsers.

In the My Assignments widget, you now have the ability to hide or show columns, filter data, and group rows.

In the Projects and Tasks widget, you can now group rows and hide or show columns.

To ensure you get the best Onvio experience, we will no longer support Internet Explorer 11 starting October 29, 2020. For more information, see Supported internet browsers.

You can add relationships to the spouse from within the primary contact.  

Staff members and clients can now choose to receive Onvio notifications on their mobile devices, using the Onvio mobile apps. For more information, see Event notifications overview.

Onvio now formats phone numbers automatically based on the country that is selected for a client, contact, or staff member on the General tab of the relevant setup screen.

Note that phone numbers previously entered in Onvio will not be automatically re-formatted, but if you place the cursor in the field for an existing phone number and press TAB, re-formatting occurs.

Use the Idea Incubator to suggest ways we can improve Onvio applications, or to vote on ideas submitted by others. To get started, log in to Onvio and select Idea Incubator from the Additional assistance section of the Help  menu. Enter your Onvio login email address (Thomson Reuters ID) and password to open the portal.

• You can browse and search for existing ideas before adding a new one. If you don't see your idea, choose the Add a new idea  button.
• Enter a short summary of your idea. The text will be searched against existing ideas, and if there is a similar one, you can comment and vote on that idea.
• Provide helpful details by answering several questions about your experience.
• Our Product Management Team will review your idea within ten business days, and will either post the idea on the Incubator or respond to you via email.
• You'll receive status updates and other communication about your idea via email, too.

UltraTax CS now integrates with Onvio for the following functions, via the Utilities menu in UltraTax CS.

• Send clients and their related projects (based on entity type) to Onvio (Utilities > Onvio > Integration) — Mark the new Create Onvio project for UltraTax client checkbox. If no matching contact/client exists in Onvio, a new client or contact is created there, along with a project for the appropriate entity type. The project will be associated with the UltraTax CS application.
• Update status on projects (Utilities > Onvio > Project information) — For projects sent from UltraTax CS to Onvio, you can make changes to the status of projects (and tasks, for licensees of Firm Management Advanced), and those changes are reflected in UltraTax CS. You can also change statuses in UltraTax CS, with the changes reflected in Onvio.
• Create Onvio invoices from UltraTax CS (Utilities > Onvio > Send invoice) — After adding invoice amounts to a return in UltraTax CS, you can print preview (or print) to calculate the invoice amount, and send the information to Onvio, which creates an invoice. The invoice will consist of an adjustment entry with the amount calculated in UltraTax CS. You can then modify the invoice as you would any other invoice in Onvio.

For more information, see the following help articles.

• UltraTax CS: Populating client and contact info, creating projects, and sending invoices to Onvio
• Onvio: UltraTax CS integration with Onvio

You can now upload your firm's logo in Onvio Center, and then use it in multiple Onvio applications. Choose Setup > Firm Settings. On the General tab, select the Browse For Image button to get started. To see how your logo will display in Client Center, choose Setup > Onvio Site Settings and select the Firm Logo tab.

Note: Your logo won't be displayed on the Client Center sign-in page for new clients until after they sign in for the first time.  

For projects that use accounting applications such as Workpapers, you can now base recurrence frequency patterns on a client’s accounting periods. To do so, you need to define accounting periods for your clients and choose Based on Accounting Periods as the recurrence frequency pattern for a project template, or on individual projects.

You can now create custom fields to gather additional information about your clients. See Custom fields for information on setting up these fields.

Your clients will now see their most recently used document view when they log in to Client Center. They can toggle the view between firm folders and a document list on the Documents screen.

We added a System Status link to the login page, which points to a page providing real-time status of Thomson Reuters applications. To receive notifications of new status updates, click the Subscribe to Updates button on that page.

We added text to help clarify the various relationships you can create between clients and contacts.

For example, on the Relationships tab of client ABC Co.'s Client setup screen, to designate the contact John Smith as the client's Billing Contact, choose Billing Contact, and Onvio will display the following text:

(John Smith is the Billing Contact of ABC Co.)

If you choose Billing Contact Of, the text will instead say:

(ABC Co. is the Billing Contact of John Smith)

The latter relationship is unlikely.

If you create the same relationship between ABC Co. and John Smith from the Relationships tab of the Contact setup screen for the contact John Smith (rather than from the Client setup screen for ABC Co.), choose Billing Contact Of, and Onvio will display the same text as the first example above:

(John Smith is the Billing Contact of ABC Co.)

This text helps you verify that you chose the correct relationship type, regardless of whether you added the relationship from the Client setup screen or Contact setup screen.

We added a new Onvio Security screen and moved the firm Multi-Factor Authentication settings (Required/Optional) to this page from their former location under Onvio Site Settings. Choose Setup > Onvio Security to access the new page.

Access to the new Onvio Security screen is controlled by a new Onvio Security permission under Onvio Setup on the Permission Groups setup screen. Permission groups that have "Everything" access to Onvio Setup will have access to this new page. Any other staff who should have access to this screen will need to have that access enabled in a permission group to which they belong.

We added a Document Review task to Client Center. When you send a document to a customer who uses Client Center, they will see a task on their Home tab's To-Do list to view that document.

Your clients can now add a password to a document link they send from Client Center. The recipient will be asked to enter it after they click the document link. 

You can now expand rows in the client list to show any contacts who have relationships with the client. Click the Show Details  button to expand a row.

You can now filter the client list by Entity Type.

The Contacts widget now includes an entry for an individual client's spouse, if applicable.

We added a View All Contacts link, which you can click to view all contacts with relationships to the client.

You can now filter the contacts list by Country and Client Center Access status.

We added a Payroll Administrator relationship for contacts.

Onvio and Client Center users will now be prompted to copy or print emergency access codes during initial MFA setup. Users will be asked to save them in a secure, accessible location for use when their MFA device (smartphone, tablet, Authenticator card) is unavailable. 

See Generate your own emergency access codes for more information.

We added the following items to the Recommended tab of Setup Assistant.

• Set up terms and conditions
• Add project statuses
• Add tax rates
• Set up tax groups
• Add activity categories

If you do not see Setup Assistant on the Home screen, you can re-activate it via your user preferences.

You can now display a Doing Business As column on the Clients setup screen. Select this column using the Show/Hide Columns  button.

If a contact has a login for Onvio or Client Center (also known as a Thomson Reuters ID), that email address is now shown in a read-only field in the Onvio / Client Center Account section of the General tab on the Contacts setup screen (choose Setup > All Contacts and click the Edit  button for a contact). This field enables staff to see when a contact's email address has changed from the address with which they originally registered for Onvio or Client Center access.

When you create a document request for a contact with Client Center access, the contact will receive an email and a task will be created in Client Center.

When completing an upload step on the UltraTax CS 1040 Tax Questionnaire in Client Center, your clients will now be prompted to enter a comment or upload a file in order to complete that task. 

The Client Center registration process will now direct customers to the Client Center sign-in page, instead of linking to the Onvio sign-in page.

We added a column to the All Contacts screen to indicate whether Client Center is enabled for a contact. To display the column, click Setup > All Contacts, click the Show/Hide Columns  icon, and mark the box next to Client Center Access.

We added the Client Comments widget to the dashboard. Comments that are added or edited in the widget are also saved on the General tab of that client’s setup screen. 

In the last release, we moved filters to their own panel on the left side of the Projects screen. With this release, the Projects screen includes “(Filtered)” in the heading if a filter has been applied.

We added Set up firm, Add staff levels, and Add departments items to the Recommended tab of Setup Assistant. 

We made a change to the settings for notifications that are sent when staff or clients add files to a shared folder in Client Center (Setup > Notifications > Wording tab > Documents section). You can now enable these notifications separately for when a staff member adds files and when a client adds files.

Your clients can now scroll through their folder list, even if they have several levels of folders. They will see all folder names and be able to access all folders.

We reconfigured the Setup menu to better organize its categories and make it more intuitive to use.

We added a Add Offices item to the Recommended tab of the Setup Assistant.

Click the new Client Dashboard  icon on the Setup > Clients screen to open the Client Dashboard for the client.

You can now change the display name format for batches of staff, clients, or contacts.

To make these changes, select multiple staff, clients, or contacts from the list on the applicable setup screen, then click the Edit button, choose the Change General Information option, and click Next. Use the Display Name Format field to select a display format for the names of the selected individuals. Click Next to review your changes, then click Done.

The Registration Status report now exports all rows included in the report, instead of only the displayed rows. To perform the export, choose Reporting > Onvio Usage and select the Registration Status report. Click Export to send the data to a file in .XLSX format.

You can now report Client Center issues to our Development team on behalf of your clients. Choose Setup > Clients and select any Individual client that has Client Center access enabled. Click Show Details and then click the View Client Center As link. Click the Report Issue button and submit the issue. If you want a reply from our Development team, you must also report the issue to Support via chat or email at the end of the process.

The updated Add Project screen provides simplified views of the Add Client and Add Project screens, combined in one location. You can now quickly add a project to an existing client or a new client.

Click Projects on the menu bar and then click the Add icon.

• Add a project to an existing client: Click the Existing  button. When you choose a client from the list, their entity type and name will automatically display. In the Add Project section, select an existing template or scroll through the template list and click Add Project Template. If you need to add information to fields that are not displayed, click View Full Project Setup.
• Add a project to a new client: Click the New  button and add the required information. You can click View Full Client Setup to add information to fields that are not displayed. After you add client information, add project information as described above.

Click Save and Close to return to your project list or click Save and Open to open the project in its associated application. If there isn't an associated application, you'll be returned to your project list.

We added a Projects widget to the Client Information section of the Client Dashboard. To access the dashboard, click the Client Dashboard  icon at the top of the screen (or click Client Dashboard on the menu bar) and select a client from the field at the top of the screen. 

We added a Notifications item to the Recommended tab of the Setup Assistant.

We updated how your client's name is displayed on the Client Center home screen. Onvio now pulls the client name format you enter in the Display As panel in client setup. To open the panel, choose Setup > Clients and select a client. On the General tab, click the Edit  icon next to their name at the top of the screen. You can choose a format from the list or select Custom to add text in the Value field.

We added a new Set up activities item to the Setup Assistant on the Required tab.

We updated the HTML code that you can embed on your firm’s website, linking clients to the Client Center sign-in page. The new HTML code will take your clients directly to the Thomson Reuters Client Center sign-in page, where they will now receive appropriate password and multi-factor authentication prompts. See Embed Onvio login fields on your firm's website to learn more about using the embedded code. If your firm uses Web Builder CS, we’ve already updated the HTML code for you.

You can now select default display name formats for individual contacts, clients, and staff on the Preferences tab of the Firm setup screen. The default formats will be applied to any new individuals added to Onvio.

We improved the performance of the Registration Status report.

We updated the My Assignments widget on the Home Dashboard to more closely resemble the project grids elsewhere in Onvio.

We made the following updates to Client Center.

• Your clients can now share document links from within the Documents tab. They can select one or more documents from the list and click Send to open the Send Documents panel. They must enter an email address, subject, and a time period after which the links will expire.
• Clients can preview password-protected PDFs within Client Center after entering the password for the PDF.

When you delete a contact for whom there are relationships to other contacts, Onvio will alert you that those relationships will also be deleted.

We added a widget to the Recommended tab of the Onvio Setup Assistant that enables you to set up folder templates for the Documents area.

When you filter for projects assigned to a specific department or staff member, your results will now include all projects for whom that department or staff member is assigned, including ones with multiple assignments.

We added filtering capabilities to project-related firm reports. Now, all firm reports offer filtering.

We changed the Home Dashboard so that hiding unused widgets will improve the performance of the remaining widgets.

We added the ability to add or remove departments when editing multiple staff or editing multiple projects. Use the Add Departments button or Remove Departments button to add or remove one or more departments for each selected staff member or project. Added items are appended to any existing lists of departments. Removed items are removed from any existing lists.

We added a new address type, Postal, that you can select for clients, contacts, staff, and offices.

We added a badge to the Comments  icon in the Projects list to show the number of comments present for each item.

When you set up a project recurrence and specify that due dates must occur on weekdays, you can now choose to move any weekend due dates forward to fall on the Friday before the weekend. The default is for the due date to occur after the weekend.

You can change this setting on project templates or on individual projects.

When generating the next occurrence of a project, Onvio will now pull the value for the Application field from the previous instance of the project, rather than from the project template.

You can now assign project templates and projects to multiple departments. Under Assignments on the General tab, click the Select button for Department, mark the box for each applicable department, and click Done.

We added the ability to customize the Home Dashboard and Client Dashboard by reordering the dashboard sections and rearranging or hiding widgets.

To customize either of these screens, click the Edit  button in the lower right corner, which activates an edit mode. Then click and drag items to rearrange them, or click the Options  button on a widget and choose Hide to hide it. Show me.

Hidden widgets are represented by buttons placed at the bottom of the dashboard section. Click this button to restore a hidden widget. The example below shows the button for the Staff Assignments widget on the Client Dashboard, when hidden.

To reorder dashboard sections, click and drag a section heading in the left column to a new position. Click the Hide  button to hide an entire section from the dashboard.

When you are finished customizing your dashboard, click the Done  button in the lower right corner of the screen.

Your clients can now use third-party applications like Dropbox, Google Drive, and Box to upload documents for submission to your firm.

Your clients can now toggle between your firm's folder view and a filtered document view in the left pane of the Documents screen within Client Center.

Show me

This update affects most project lists throughout [[product-name]], such as those on the Projects screen and the Projects tab in Client setup.

In response to customer feedback, we restored grouping and sorting capabilities on the project grid. Drag column headings to the grouping area to group projects by status, primary staff, current due date, or other criteria. Click any column heading to sort the data in that column. You can still change project status and update comments directly from the list.

We also changed the Open Projects Only option from a checkbox to a button. Select the Open Projects Only  button once to limit the view to open projects. Select it again to turn off that limited view. Your selection will remain in place when you navigate to another screen or log out of [[product-name]].

See Edit a project for a client for more detailed information.

We enhanced the project grid to group information by client and then by project, to enable you to change the status of projects and update comments directly from the list. To accommodate this new structure, other grouping and sorting options are no longer available. We recommend using filters and the search capability to find the data you need.

This update affects the project list on the Projects tab in Client setup, as well as the project lists in other [[product-name]] applications.

Client Center has a whole new look! With its modernized and more intuitive interface, it’s now easier for your clients to collaborate and share documents with you, and to do the following.

• Search for and preview documents, so they can quickly find what they’re looking for
• Easily locate tasks and mark them as complete so it’s clear what’s left to do, and what’s ready to send to you
• Sign tax documents electronically from within Client Center
• Use the redesigned UltraTax CS Tax Questionnaire that produces a customized list of documentation for them to upload (available for clients of UltraTax CS users, after release of the version for the 2018 tax year)
• Further ensure the security of their documents using multi-factor authentication

We added more detail and grouping options to some firm management reports. Click Reporting > Firm Management Reports, and then edit a report. You can now choose Project Primary Assignment Staff and Project Secondary Assignment Staff options in the Group By and Detail By fields.

You can now disable notifications by email or notifications within Onvio on selected message templates. To view your firm’s message templates and edit their settings, choose Setup > Client Notifications > Wording tab. Choose the Documents menu and select any of the following notifications.

• Staff Shares Folder — Contributor
• Staff Shares Folder — Owner
• Staff Shares Folder — Reviewer
• Staff or Client Adds Files
• Staff or Client Adds New Folder

Click the switch  for each type of notification you want to disable (within Onvio or by email).

Multi-factor authentication

Emergency login codes

Users who have MFA enabled can now generate emergency access codes. These codes can be used to access an account if the paired device is not accessible during login. It is important to keep these codes in a secure location. For more information, see Generate your own emergency access codes.

Compatible third-party authentication applications

While we recommend using the Thomson Reuters Authenticator mobile application for the best user experience, we recognize that you may already use a third-party authentication app. Onvio is now compatible with third-party applications that are Time-based One-Time Password (TOTP) compliant. See Learn about third-party multi-factor authentication apps for more information.

Multiple devices

You can now associate multiple devices with your Onvio login, to ensure that you have a backup device available. To learn how, see Manage multiple devices for Onvio multi-factor authentication.

We’ve tightened password complexity requirements to improve Onvio login security. New passwords cannot include certain common words or phrases, such as the word “Password.” For more information, see Password guidelines and tips.

Changing a staff member’s status to Inactive now disables Onvio access for that staff member automatically.

Note that changing the status back to Active does not restore Onvio access to the staff member.

When you add a project for a client, the Contact field is now required.