Why build a custom Insights template?

Building a custom template has the following benefits:

  • Store non-financial data relevant to your client file in Silverfin
  • Store data that is relevant/of interest to your firm
  • Have all your client data (both financial and non-financial) in one centralised location; and
  • Use data in your custom templates to your insights segments to further enable advisory services.

Liquid Basics 

The namespace and the key

  • We use an input tag, to allow a user to enter information in an input field and store this information in a custom drop
  • To create an item in a custom drop, you always need "a namespace" and "a key". A custom drop with namespace 'the_namespace', and key 'the_key', would look like this: 

{% input custom.the_namespace.the_key %}

Company vs period drops

Is the answer specific to the period you're working in or will it be consistent in future periods? Depending on the answer, you may need to use 'company' in your custom drop.

{% input custom.software.used %} --> the 'answer' will be stored in the period you are working in

{% input company.custom.software.used %} --> the 'answer' will be stored in all periods (past, present and future)

Result tags

Result tags are important to input after your line of code, as it prints the result of your query and allows you to search for this on 'Insights'

For example:

{% input company.custom.office_location as:select options:'Brighton|Dundee|Edinburgh|Glasgow|Liverpool|London|Manchester|Nottingham'%}  {% result 'office' company.custom.office_location %}

On Insights, office will be the variable input in order to search for this information across all client files.

Input: Using the 'as' attribute for different data types

{% input custom.software.used as....... %}

text: plain text box

{% input company.custom.client.contact as:text placeholder:'Contact Name'  %} {% result 'client_contact' company.custom.client.contact %}

boolean: true or false values (radio button)

{% input company.custom.payroll.provided as:boolean %} Payroll {% result 'payroll' company.custom.payroll.provided %}

date: calendar values

{% input custom.submission.filed as:date %} {% result 'date_submitted' custom.submission.filed %}

select options: dropdown menu

{% input company.custom.vat.freq as:select options:'Monthly|Quarterly' %} {% result 'vat_frequency' company.custom.vat.freq %}

Other options:

currency: numbers with 2 decimals and comma as a thousands separator

integer: whole numbers

percentage: numbers expressed in percentages

Conditional inputs - using unless

  • Questions/input which you only want to show on your template when the question is true/contains a certain answer

Use unless and else

Note: if you use 'unless' you must remember to use 'endunless' to close off the query (see below)

For example:

VAT registered?
{% input custom.vat.reg as:select options:'Yes|No' %} {% result 'vat_registered' custom.vat.reg %}
{% newline %}
{% unless custom.vat.reg == 'Yes' %}{% result 'vat_registered' custom.vat.reg %}
{%else%}
{% newline %}
VAT frequency
{% input custom.vat.freq as:select options:'Monthly|Quarterly' %} {% result 'vat_frequency' custom.vat.freq %}
{% newline %}
VAT due this period?
{% input custom.vat.due as:select options:'Yes|No' %} {% result 'vat_due' custom.vat.due %}
{% newline %}
{% endunless %}
and
Industry
{% input custom.choice.industry as:select options:'Agriculture|Construction & Property|Engineering & Manufacturing|Financial Services|Fishing|Food & Drink|Hospitality & Tourism|Infrastructure & Renewables|Landed Estates|Medical & Healthcare|Oil & Gas|Professional Servicess|Technology & Life Sciences|Third Sector|Other' %} {% unless custom.choice.industry == 'Other' %}{% result 'industry' custom.choice.industry %}
{%else%}
{% newline %}
   *Please specify*:
{% input custom.other.industry %} {% result 'industry' custom.other.industry %}
{% endunless %}
{% newline %}
Useful tips
  • Use {% newline %} for your data to be displayed on the next line in your Insights template
  • Surround text in **2 stars** to make it bold
  • You'll always need to use curly brackets, %, the word 'input' and 'custom.' before entering your drop (if using a company drop), namespace, key, etc. I.e. {% input custom.the_namespace.the_key %}
  • Join the developer community for further assistance on Liquid basics (https://www.silverfin.com/community)