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19th August text-based AMA: I’m Margie Hynes, Client Solutions Design Consultant at Iress and CommPay expert. Ask me anything about CommPay

margie.hynes

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Hi everyone 👋

I’m Margie Hynes, a CommPay expert.

Revenue tracking doesn’t have to be manual and laborious. Time gets lost, payments get missed and data is siloed in spreadsheets. CommPay has many underutilised features you may not even be aware of.

Recently, I shared how Secure File Transfer Protocol (SFTP) can help you reclaim time lost to administrative work. But CommPay can boost so much more than efficiency for your firm.

I’ll be live here in the Xplan Hub on Wednesday, 19 August to respond to all your questions, take feedback and help you understand the potential of CommPay.

To spark ideas, you might want to ask about, or share your feedback on:

Setting up Widgets and dashboard to see the information you need, when you need it most
Identifying revenue trends and growth opportunities
Automation of recurring tasks

Drop your questions below, whether you are wanting to transition to using CommPay, or looking for ways to reclaim time on manual tasks.

🙋 Post your question now, so I can start researching and provide the best response.

💬 This AMA is text-based, so I’ll respond to your pre-submitted questions during the scheduled session.

🔔 Don’t forget to hit the bell in the top right corner to be notified.

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Comments

margie.hynes

Hi Everyone,

I welcome all of your questions.

Looking forward to the AMA!

Margie

felicity.eardley

Hi Margie,

I have lodged a Product Feedback form for this but if you could look into 2 things in CommPay that really annoy me each month it would be appreciated.

The client search feature doesn't allow commas. The names in the mapping list include commas. Copy paste is the quickest and most logical way of getting the name from the list to the search box, however you then need to go and remove the comma. Extra clicks.
The search sections on the page do not have twizzles to hide them. Which means constant scrolling up and down the page to match the CommPay entry to the client and then click the save button. Additional clicks and scrolling.

Is there any way these annoying time-wasting issues can be fixed please.

Thanks, Felicity

sally.hanley4

I don't have a specific question as such but would like to join for any info on how we should be using CommPay, more than just mapping. Would like to know more the points you raise above, setting up widgets, automation etc..

tom.quinconroy

Welcome to the AMA thread! @margie.hynes will be live here tomorrow at 3pm to answer your questions

Let's get the conversation started now:

Submit your questions: Simply comment here ahead of the AMA. This is a text-based event, so no audio or video is needed. Margie will be here to answer your questions during the scheduled time.
Be respectful: Keep it friendly and professional. Respectful dialogue makes the AMA enjoyable and informative for everyone.
Stay engaged: Feel free to follow up or ask about different topics as the thread goes on. The more you interact, the richer the conversation.
Enjoy the experience: Use this opportunity to gain insights, share laughs, and connect. Let’s make this AMA one to remember 😁

🚀 Before you post, have you seen Margie’s latest article on the power of your revenue pipeline using CommPay Lodge? Here, Margie shares how CommPay Lodge can help your pipeline visibility and operational efficiency

Tracey.Gould

Is there a way under the Supplier Reference Codes tab that we can get a column for description. I would be much easier than generating a report

tom.quinconroy

Hi everyone and welcome to today's AMA!

Please ensure you read the instructions above before you post.

In order to see new questions and responses, make sure you refresh the page regularly.

Let me know if you need any help. Enjoy!

margie.hynes

Afternoon Felicity,

Thank you for taking the time to share this feedback.

We have passed this for review to our Product Team.

Here are a couple of additional client mapping ideas that might help streamline things for you.

Narrowing down the search just to the Surname and flagging the Match Immediately -

Where there are a lot of Clients to Map I would recommend you use the Client Map (automated). I noticed on your original submission for feedback your Client Names were in the correct format for mapping so you should get a good hit using the automated feature.

I would also see if your CommPay Back Office Administrators could assist by supplying an output file called Policy Bulk Update for your Group. We have introduced the field to enter the Client Xplan Entity ID to this output template. You can then update this file with the Client Entity ID and send it back to them to import which will then resolve the Client Mapping in bulk.

Thank you

Margie

margie.hynes

Afternoon Sally,

Thanks for reaching out!

You’ve touched on a great point—CommPay holds so much valuable revenue data, that needs to be unleashed.

A great place to explore what's possible is the Iress Learning Centre. Under the Micro Learning section, you’ll find targeted CommPay courses. Take a look at CommPay Adviser Screens in particular

You will be able to get some fantastic revenue insights/analysis.

Thank you,

Margie

felicity.eardley

Hi Margie,

We already do Auto map, these are just the last 100 each month or so that can't be automap.

How does just putting in the surname match closer than surname and firstname, that doesn't make any sense?

Is the Policy Bulk Update file for those that didn't automap only? I don't want to be doing the full list, that would be a waste of time.

I would be interested to see how much time that would take opposed to mapping in CommPay.

Do you have the stats for that?

Thanks, Felicity

margie.hynes

Afternoon Tracey,

Thanks for jumping on!

Agreed, having the description on the Supplier Reference Code page would be very useful. I will raise this with our Product Team for review.

I'm just thinking if there is a need for this information to be outputted regularly, you could set up a scheduled output on the Searches for Supplier Reference Code and set the schedule to run each pay run. Remembering you can send it directly to your email.

Just a thought to eliminate the manual running of the Search and save you a few extra clicks.

Let me know if you need a hand setting this up.

Thanks,

Margie

james.south

Hi Margie,
Is there a way to automatically add to Commpay when creating a new super or pension account?

margie.hynes

Great to hear you are using the auto map.

Searching by both First and Last Name requires a precise string match. If there is a slight discrepancy—like a middle name initial, hyphenated names, or even just an extra space—the search won't return the result you need.

Surname only Search -

This widens the net to account for any spelling variations or first name differences.
If you pair this with the Match Immediately flag, you can bypass those strict constraints and locate the right client record much faster, saving you from manual data entry.

In terms of estimate timings -

Manual Mapping in CommPay: Mapping 100 entries individually takes roughly 30 to 45 minutes (assuming 20–30 seconds per record to search, verify, and save).

Policy Bulk Update Import: Preparing a spreadsheet for 100 records and running a single bulk upload typically takes 10 to 15 minutes. Included in this would be a lookup feature from a Client Entity output from Xplan.

Just really with the bulk list the above would be my recommendation.

Thanks

Margie

margie.hynes

Afternoon James,

Thanks for the question.

CommPay will automatically create any new super or pension account.

A combination of our Schema and Statement Layout are designed to look at the detail of the complete revenue file sent and paid and use those details to automatically create any new investments.

Are you having trouble in getting this to work?

james.south

Thanks for the reply Margie. Currently when implementing a new account, we add the new account details under Super, Pension or Wrap etc. Then lodge those same details plus the initial values in Commpay, so doubling essentially. Sounds like you're saying there's an alternative method.

margie.hynes

Thanks, James.

From a CommPay Back-Office Administrator's standpoint, the focus is on processing the actual supplier files and money received. That said, your approach is completely right on the mark too—lodging new business is great for keeping track of expected revenue in your sales pipeline.

Just to make sure I'm on the same page: do you have dedicated administrators managing CommPay while you and your Team are using the Lodge function directly from Xplan?

tom.quinconroy

And that’s a wrap!

Massive thanks to @margie.hynes for your fantastic insights and expertise on CommPay and for sharing your wisdom.

Thanks also to all of you for the fantastic questions.

Closing the thread now, stay tuned for the next AMA coming in September.