Welcome to Jirav

Hi there. I'm Belle, and I'm excited to welcome you to Jirav. Whether you're new to the platform or already have some experience, this course will help you get up to speed on the essentials. In this video, we'll cover the basics, including how to navigate and set up your first clients. By the end, you'll feel confident using the core features to get started. And if you're looking for more advanced topics, we have additional resources to help you as you continue learning. Let's take a quick look at what we'll cover today. We'll begin with an overview of Jirav, what it is, how it works, and why it's the perfect tool for accounting firms to scale their advisory services. Next, we'll explore the partner portal. This is your go to hub for managing client accounts. Then we'll cover how to add internal team members and clients with the appropriate access roles. Following that, we'll move into connecting your client's accounting data, including the chart of accounts and trial balances, so you can start building insights quickly. Additionally, you'll get a hands on look at auto forecast and driver based planning and how these tools can enhance your advisory services. Finally, we'll cover how to create and share reports and dashboards that clearly communicate financial insights. And remember, this is just the beginning. There are deeper training sessions available for many of these areas as you progress. Let's dive right in. Jirav is an all in one financial planning and analysis platform designed specifically for accounting firms. Whether you want to expand your advisory services, scale your operations, or improve profitability, Jirav gives you the tools to make it happen. With Jirav, you can automate and streamline your workflow. First, say goodbye to manual data entry. Jirav integrates with QuickBooks, Xero, NetSuite, and other systems to automatically pull in financial data and generate client ready reports. Next, take forecasting and budgeting to the next level. Whether you use auto forecast or driver based planning, you can quickly create accurate financial projections and deliver scalable budgeting services with ease. You'll also have access to customizable dashboards and reports. These real time easy to understand visuals help your clients see exactly where they stand financially, making complex data simple and actionable. And finally, standardization becomes effortless. Create and templatize financial models across all your clients, ensuring consistency, efficiency, and high quality insights every time. No matter where you are in your advisory journey, Jirav equips you with the right tools to work smarter, not harder. Now that we've covered the big picture, let's get you set up so we can start exploring the platform together. First, you'll need an invitation to Jirav. You'll receive an email with a link to create your account and set your password. After logging in, if you have access to multiple accounts, you'll be able to choose which one you'd like to access directly from the login screen. If you're the designated partner portal user for your firm, you'll see an additional option to access the partner portal. Let's go ahead and take a look at the partner portal. This management hub provides a bird's eye view of all your firm's Jirav accounts, keeping everything organized in one place. For a deeper dive, we also offer a dedicated training course on this topic. For now, let's stick to the basics. From here in the portal, you can create, clone, upgrade, and delete accounts as needed. When setting up a new account or upgrading an existing one, the account type is reflected in the plan column. Let's do a quick overview of what each plan includes. First, we have controller essentials, a straightforward solution for financial management. This plan includes auto forecast, manual budgets, historical reporting, budget versus actuals, and custom KPIs. You can set it up with or without departments depending on your needs. Next is CFO enterprise, which is designed for firms managing clients with more complex financial needs. This plan includes everything in controller essentials, plus advanced features like customized driver based budgets, long range forecasting, workforce planning, and scenario modeling. It's built for deeper insights and strategic planning, making it ideal for firms looking to provide higher value advisory services. To exit the partner portal and log in to a specific account, click on switch company in the top right corner. Likewise, if you are already in an individual account, use the company selector to switch to the partner portal. Let's go ahead and log in to an account. When you land in the account, the application bar at the top will be your primary navigation tool. On the left, you'll notice your firm's logo, which can be customized in the partner portal. Next to that, you'll see the company selector. If you have access to multiple client accounts, this is where you'll switch between them. Then you'll see the three main sections of Jirav, dashboards for visual insights into financial performance, reports for generating financial statements, and budget versus actual comparisons. And finally, plans, this is where all budgeting and forecasting happens. Let's move to the right side of the application bar. Here, you'll find our help center for quick access to support resources, system health alerts to keep you informed about important updates and actions needed, as well as notifications and profile settings to manage your preferences. Lastly, on the far right, you'll find settings where you set up your client's account, connect their accounting data, and import actuals. Everything configured here applies globally across the account, impacting the dashboard, reports, and plans, ensuring consistency in financial insights and planning. To add a user Let's take a moment to review user access and roles within your firm. If you don't see the partner portal when you log in, don't worry. That's normal. Access is typically limited to one designated person at your firm who manages client accounts. From there, individual team members are granted access to specific client accounts based on their responsibilities. For example, Mary might have access to multiple client accounts, while Larry may only manage a single client. This setup ensures the right people have access to the right clients. If you need access to additional client accounts, reach out to your firm's partner portal user. Now let's talk about adding users to an account. Whether it's your team members or clients, you'll need to assign them specific roles that define what they can see and do within the platform. First, make sure you're logged into the correct account as an admin. Once you're in, go to the setup menu and click on users. This is where you'll manage and invite new users to your Jirav account. A few things to keep in mind, adding a user here only gives them access to the specific account you're in. If your firm has multiple accounts, you'll need to add them to each one separately if needed. And there's no charge per user, so you can invite as many team members or clients as you need. Now let's talk about roles. Each user needs to be assigned a role that determines what they can see and do in Jirav. I'll go through each one so you know exactly when to use them. Admin is the highest level of access, allowing users to manage settings, users, integrations, and billing. This role is typically for senior firm members, not clients. Editors can build and edit plans, reports, and dashboards, as well as set up integrations, but they don't have access to billing or user management. The next three roles are read only with slight differences. Viewer all, full read only access to reports, dashboards, and plans. Viewer dashboards and reports. Read only access to reports and dashboards, excluding the planning area. Ideal for clients needing high level insights. Viewer dashboards and reports limited. Like the role above but with further restrictions, hiding sensitive data like salaries. Finally, we have the basic role. This is the most limited role, granting access only to the user's profile and explicitly shared items, useful for sharing selected data with clients. Keep in mind that both internal team members and external clients can be added as users. Once you assign their role and send the invite, they'll receive an email with a link to set up their account and get started in Jirav. Next, let's look at connecting your client's accounting system. This is a key step in the onboarding process as it establishes the foundation for all reports and forecasting. To do this, navigate to the settings menu on the right hand side of your screen and select actuals. Once you're in the actuals area, you'll see a list of supported accounting systems. Look for the actuals accounting section and find the system your client uses. QuickBooks online, QuickBooks desktop, Xero, NetSuite, or Sage Intacct. If your client is not on one of these, we also offer an Excel option. For our training today, we'll use QuickBooks online. Once you found the right accounting system, click connect next to it. This will prompt you to authenticate and link the client's system to Jirav. Follow the prompts to sign in and allow Jirav to access the necessary data. For NetSuite or Sage Intacct, you'll need to create a web services user in those systems first. Refer to our help center for more details on those configurations. If your client's accounting system supports departments, you may see an option to map Jirav departments to the accounting systems department field. In this training, we are mapping Jirav departments to QuickBooks classes. However, we could also have chosen to use locations instead. With Xero, you can pick the tracking category of your choice. Both NetSuite and Sage Intact will always be the segment explicitly called department in the respective systems. Once authenticated, select a date range for the data import. We recommend importing at least three years of historical data. The system defaults to this range automatically. Just click import, and the system will start pulling in the data. It may take a few minutes depending on the amount of data. Once complete, head to dashboards or reports to access up to date financial insights. And that's it. You've now successfully connected your client's accounting system. It's important to note that today's training focuses on importing accounting data. However, Jirav also includes additional integrations like workforce data for headcount reporting and forecasting or custom integrations for operational data such as number of customers, units sold, or website views. You choose which customizations and integrations work best for your clients' needs. After connecting the accounting system, the next step is to configure your cash account and company settings. This is a simple but important step. By selecting the cash account, you're setting up automatic forecasting for your cash balance in Jirav. To select the cash account, head to settings a company, then click on the plans tab. Find the cash field and select an account from the chart of accounts. Typically, the operating cash account should be selected. Just one note, even though your client likely has multiple cash accounts, you'll only need to select one here. The account selected here enables automatic cash flow forecasting. The full cash balance will still be reflected in reports. Now here's the exciting part. Once the cash account is selected, the cash flow automatically forecasts using the income statement and balance sheet models. While the settings area offers powerful customization options, such as restructuring the chart of accounts without changing the accounting system or setting a close month to control when reports update, we'll dive deeper into these in future sessions. For now, you're set up for a dynamic three way financial forecast, including the income statement, balance sheet, and cash flow statement. Let's dive into forecasting. All forecasting happens in the plan area. You can create multiple plans to model different financial scenarios, such as an annual budget, a rolling forecast, or a conservative versus optimistic outlook. This flexibility allows you to compare outcomes and guide clients toward informed decisions. Every plan includes key financial sections on the left, including the income statement, balance sheet, staffing, and custom areas. These sections form the foundation of your financial plan. To manage your plans, click the plan drop down to the right of the currently select plan and select manage plans. Here, you can create a new plan, either as a blank slate or by cloning an existing plan as a starting point. Define which periods use forecasted data in Jirav versus actuals pulled from the accounting system, and, also, this is where you can lock a plan to prevent changes. This is called a plan of record or POR. Jirav offers two forecasting methods, auto forecast and driver based planning. Auto forecast uses historical data to identify trends, seasonality, and outliers, generating a forecast instantly. It requires at least two years of actuals for linear trends and three years for seasonal patterns. If less data is available, a simple twelve month average will be used. To turn it on, open a plan, go to the auto forecast menu on the right, and toggle it on. This is a fast way to provide immediate insights and demonstrate the value of forecasting services. Keep in mind that Auto Forecast isn't just a tool for financial planning. It's also a marketing opportunity for your firm. For more control over your forecasting, driver based planning lets you build forecasts using key business drivers like revenue streams, costs, and operational metrics. While drivers are powerful tools, they are completely optional. You can still manually enter data if you prefer. To add a driver, simply click the ellipsis next to an account, select add driver, choose the methodology, and enter the details. The driver library includes the most common forecasting methods. Let's do a quick rundown of what each one does. Annual target lets you enter an annual amount that adjusts automatically as new actuals come in. This is great if you want your forecast to shift based on how the year is trending. Fixed spread also starts with an annual amount, but it doesn't change based on actuals. You can split it evenly over the year or follow last year's seasonality. This is perfect for fixed budgets, like use it or lose it spending. Growth on historicals calculates a year over year growth percent and applies it to the same month last year to forecast the current month. This driver requires two years of actuals to calculate the growth percent as expected. Periodic growth starts with a base like the average of the last twelve months of actuals and then increases by a set percentage or dollar amount at specific intervals. So if you want to model something like a five percent inflation bump every year, this is the one to use. Dollar per headcount ties expenses to staffing. Great for things like benefits or software costs that scale with your team. Keep in mind, you'll need to be using our workforce module to utilize this one. Percent of another account calculates an account as a percentage of another. A common example is COGS as a percentage of revenue. Custom is exactly what it sounds like. You can build your own method. We'll cover this in more detail later, but for now, I recommend sticking with the built in standard drivers as you get comfortable. Now that we've covered drivers, it's important to understand how assumptions fit into the process. While you can define a driver with or without an assumption, it's generally better to use an assumption as they help add context and flexibility to the model. To add an assumption, you can do so right when you define your driver. Simply select the driver, and as you're setting it up, you'll have the option to create a corresponding assumption. This helps link your assumptions directly to the drivers they influence. To access and manage your existing assumptions, click the assumptions button on the right rail. Once there, you can easily navigate through your assumptions. If you click on a specific value within the assumptions, the system will highlight the row in your model that is using that assumption, making it easy to track its impact. Since the platform supports multiple plans, you can use auto forecast in one plan while building another with driver based planning. This flexibility enables you to refine projections and present multiple scenarios to clients. Last but not least, let's talk about how you deliver insights efficiently. The value isn't just in building reports and forecasts. It's in presenting them effectively to streamline your advisory services. Reports and dashboards help you package financial insights in a way that enhances client conversations and decision making. Jirav simplifies reporting by organizing reports into report templates. A template is a collection of reports and dashboards designed for specific workflows, such as monthly financial reviews or board meetings. Rather than building individual reports from scratch every time, you can create a template that includes all the necessary reports for a given process. To manage templates, click on the drop down to the right of the currently selected report template. Within each template, you can add, move, or remove reports as needed. When adding a new report, you'll be prompted to select the report type, such as an income statement, balance sheet, or cash flow statement. Once selected, the report type automatically populates the rows with the appropriate data. You can include multiple versions of the same report and customize them using the edit columns feature. This allows you to tailor data by adjusting time periods, editing data sources, making comparisons, adding a notes column, or customizing headers to fit your needs. For example, you could have one income statement displaying the trailing twelve months of actuals and another comparing year to date budget versus actuals. To ensure reports and dashboards reflect the most up to date financials, configure them with a dynamic relative date range. You can choose between two options, calendar month or close month. With the calendar month setting, reports automatically update to reflect the current calendar month. For example, a report set to show this month will update to display February as soon as the date changes from January thirty first to February first. On the other hand, the closed month setting ensures that reports will only show actuals from the most recently closed month. So if it's February first but January hasn't been closed yet, the reports will not display any data for January until the month is officially closed. This setting is ideal for firms that want to ensure only finalized, reviewed data appears in their financial reports. Jirav can either read the close month field from your accounting system, or you can manually define the close month from the accounting tab in company settings. Once your template is ready, click the publish button to capture a snapshot at a specific point in time. After publishing, use the share and export button to either share the reports directly within the platform or export them to PDF, Excel, or Google Sheet. If you choose to share, your client will be able to interact with the reports through their browser just like you. Selecting the PDF option will give you the ability to customize the PDF export to meet your needs. Both the Excel and Google Sheets options will export the template as a single workbook, with each report placed on its own tab. While reports provide a structured detailed analysis, dashboards offer a high level visual overview of financial performance. Dashboards consolidate key metrics into charts and graphs, making it easier to track trends like cash flow, revenue, and profit margins over time. Dashboards are fully customizable. You can manage multiple dashboards by clicking the drop down to the right of the currently selected dashboard name and selecting manage dashboards. Individual charts, called tiles, can be added from the action menu. Here you can configure the tile to pull data from different sources, display various time periods, or experiment with different graph types. Any existing tiles can be edited by selecting the ellipsis in the top right corner. You can also resize and move tiles by dragging and dropping them as you see fit. Both reports and dashboards are critical tools for delivering financial insights to your clients. Reports provide in-depth analysis, while dashboards offer a quick visual summary. Together, they help streamline financial reporting, making it easier to track performance and support better decision making. That's a wrap. You've learned how to onboard a client by provisioning an account, connecting data, and setting up forecasting and reporting. Now you're ready to put it into practice and deliver powerful insights, and there's always more to explore. Check out our help center for deeper dives into advanced features, custom reporting, and more. Thanks for watching. We're excited to see how you use Jirav to drive client success.