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Document management for financial services

The whole client file at the first call

The agreement is in one system, the identification on a shared drive and the correspondence in a colleague's mailbox. M‑Files gathers a client's documents under the client, open only to the people who serve them, and deletes them when your rules say so.

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The M-Files web client with a customer opened to its documents and emails beside the metadata card of its framework agreement, with class, customer, contact person, dates and the workflow band at Approved
Client documents

Know what you hold on every client

Client files

Agreements, identification and correspondence are filed under the client. Open the client and they are there together, whoever saved them.

Agreements and mandates

Review and approval follow the route you decide. M‑Files tells each person when it is their turn and gives them the task.

Access by role

Advisers see their own clients, and compliance sees what it needs. When your auditors ask, the log shows who changed, downloaded or uploaded what.

Deletion by rule

Each type of document has its own deletion rule, counted from a date such as the end of the client relationship. A list shows what is due for deletion next.

Subject access requests

Everything about one person is found with a search and exported in its original format or as PDF.

Emails in the client file

Client emails are saved to M‑Files under the client, so the correspondence is part of the client file and colleagues can find it.

Lifecycle

Your rules follow every client document

Types of document, roles and periods are set up for your own record-keeping rules. This is one way it can look.

  1. Filed

    Adviser

    The adviser saves the document under the client, as the type of document it is.

  2. In use

    Roles with access

    Only the roles that serve the client can open the document. Changes, downloads and uploads are logged.

  3. Period ends

    Deletion rule

    The rule counts from the date you chose and lists the documents due for deletion.

  4. Deleted

    The documents are deleted automatically, as the rule says.

Client onboarding

Onboard a client with a checklist

A workflow can be set up so that taking on a new client is a list of the documents your own rules require, with a task for each, a reminder before the deadline, and access that opens to the right roles as the file completes.

A checklist per client

The documents to collect for a new client are set up as tasks on the client record, so the client file shows what is in and what is still missing.

Tasks with a deadline

Each document to collect is an assignment to a named person or to the adviser taken from the client's metadata, with an automatic reminder before the deadline passes.

Access by role as the file completes

A workflow state can change permissions, so compliance sees the file while it is reviewed and the adviser works with it once it is approved.

Approved and on record

When all assigned approvers have responded, the workflow can move on by itself, and each state change is in the event log with the time and the user.

Subject access request

A subject access request, in time

When a client asks what you hold on them, the answer is a search, an export and a deadline.

  • Find everything about one person — Documents about a person carry that person as metadata, so they are found together, and the advanced search finds the rest by name or another identifier.
  • Export it as it is — Documents are exported in their original format or as PDF, and other data as Excel.
  • One month under GDPR — A subject access request must normally be answered within one month, which can be extended by two further months in complex cases.
An employee's file in M-Files: her documents, emails and assignments listed under her name, with her metadata card beside them

See a client file the way an adviser would

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Working with clients

Write the agreement with the client

When a client or an outside adviser needs to edit the same agreement, CtrlShare, from our development partner CtrlDocs, opens it for everyone to write in at once in OneDrive for Business. They are invited by email and confirm with a code, and there are no public links. The finished document returns to M‑Files as a new version.

CtrlShare at ctrldocs.com
The CtrlShare share dialog with an M-Files user and an employee who can edit, and an external contact who can view
Two colleagues can edit, and the external contact can only read.
A customer in M-Files opened to its documents and emails, beside the metadata card of the framework agreement
Secure sharing

Secure sharing with clients

A client sees what you share and nothing else, and what they send back is filed in the client file.

  • Share a hub with a client — With M‑Files Hubshare, a client sees the documents you share in a hub they are invited to, and nothing else.
  • Edit or read only — Each person invited through CtrlShare can edit or only read, and the share dialog shows who has which. There are no public links.
Integrations

Works with your core system and Office

The client list belongs to your core system or CRM, and the documents are made in Outlook and Office. M‑Files keeps the list in sync and files the documents from where they are written.

Core system and CRM

Lists such as clients and advisers are kept in sync with your core system or CRM, so a document is filed under the same client record the rest of the firm uses. We do the integration work.

Outlook

Client emails are filed from Outlook under the client with their metadata, and M‑Files can pick up the client or the contact from the email.

Word, Excel and PowerPoint

Agreements and reports are saved to M‑Files from Office with their metadata. The client's name and the agreement number can be inserted into the document from M‑Files and kept up to date.

Scanned identification

Identification and signed paper forms are scanned, and M‑Files OCR turns them into searchable PDFs filed under the client.

Teams

Open M‑Files content and search the vault from Teams.

Electronic signature

With the DocuSign or Adobe Acrobat Sign integration and your own subscription to that service, signed agreements return to M‑Files automatically.

Next step

Ask how your rules would look in M‑Files

Tell us which record-keeping rules you work under, and we answer the same working day. The free 30-day trial lets you try M‑Files yourself.

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What compliance and IT will want to know

How is access controlled?
Access is given to people or groups. It can be set on any metadata, such as the client, and on each document class, and a workflow can widen or narrow it as a document moves on.
What does the event log record?
M‑Files logs changes to documents and their metadata, and every download and upload of a document. An administrator can filter and search the event log and export it for analysis in other tools.
How does a deletion rule work?
A deletion rule sits on a single document, on a document class or on metadata such as the client, and counts from a date such as the end of the client relationship. A notification can be sent before the period ends, and a view lists the upcoming deletions. When the period has passed, the documents are deleted automatically.
How do we find everything about one person?
Documents about a person carry that person as metadata, so they are found together. Where that is not the case, the advanced search finds them by name or another identifier. Documents are exported in their original format or as PDF, and other data as Excel.
Is the data encrypted?
File data and the database itself can be encrypted, and communication with M‑Files can be set up to run over a secure, encrypted connection. In M‑Files Cloud, which runs on Microsoft Azure, data is encrypted both in storage and in transit. M‑Files holds an ISO/IEC 27001 certification that covers M‑Files Cloud, Hubshare and Aino, and acts as a data processor under GDPR with a data processing agreement.
How do we write an agreement together with a client?
With CtrlShare, an add-on from our development partner CtrlDocs. It opens the document for real-time co-authoring in OneDrive for Business, the client is invited by email and confirms with a code, and the finished document returns to M‑Files as a new version. It runs on every M‑Files edition, in the cloud or on your own servers.
How do we answer a subject access request in time?
Within one month under GDPR, which can be extended by two further months in complex cases. The documents are found by the person's metadata or by the advanced search, and exported in their original format, as PDF or as Excel. Document management under GDPR goes through the steps of an answer.
Can a workflow run our client onboarding?
Yes, as a set of tasks and states on the client record. Each document your rules require is an assignment to a named person or to the adviser taken from the metadata, with a reminder before its deadline; a state change can widen access to compliance or the adviser; and when all assigned approvers have responded, the workflow can move on by itself. Workflows are set up in a graphical designer rather than written as code.
Related

Check M‑Files against ten data privacy requirements

Compliance management

How M‑Files supports compliance work with metadata, workflows and logs.

See compliance in M‑Files 

GDPR in M‑Files

The ten data privacy requirements and how M‑Files meets each one.

See the ten requirements 

GDPR guide

A guide to document management under GDPR.

Read the guide 

Contract management

Agreements and mandates filed by counterparty, with a reminder before the notice date.

See contract management 

Security and the event log

Permissions, retention and the record of every change and download.

See security and logging 

Document management

Every document found by what it is about, with its versions and approvals.

See document management