TOP RULES TO CONSIDER WHEN ORGANIZING YOUR CLIENTS
Using rules, you can create views and smart sets to create customized lists of clients you can view on the
main Portfolios tab, use in the Portfolio Data Manager or use to build smart sets. Because of the number of
portfolio details and combinations, however, getting started with these lists can be overwhelming.
This document provides you with five ideas for some common rules we see based on portfolio and group
data. We also provide you with suggestions and other ways to enhance the rule by using custom fields, as
well as suggestions for practical applications in both Views and Smart Sets.
These scenarios are covered in this document:
 Clients By Advisor – if you are part of a multi-advisor office, use rules like this to create views and smart
sets for each advisor so they can quickly access their clients’ data. See the information about building and
using this rule starting on page 3.
 Clients By Investment Policy – if you rebalance portfolios, you may need a variety of information including
seeing a list of clients using a specific model or excluding clients you don’t rebalance. See information
about building and using this rule starting on page 7
 Clients By Billing Scenario – if you have multiple billing scenarios in your office, you may need a quick list
of all the clients you bill a specific way or are in a particular cycle. See information about building and using
this rule starting on page 10.
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This document assumes you have a background in certain features and functionality in PortfolioCenter.
For a better understanding about the contents of this document, we recommend you read:
 Working with Rules
 Entering Portfolio Details
 What are Custom Portfolio Fields and How Can I Use Them?
 Creating Views in the Portfolio Data Manager
 Creating Views from the Portfolios List
 Using Set Builder to Create Smart Sets
DocumentID: spt010904
Last Updated: July 9, 2012
CREATING VIEWS AND SMART SETS USING EXISTING RULES
The benefit of concentrating on the rules is that you can build a rule once and then use the already created
rule to create a view or a smart set. You can build a rule as you create a view or as you create a smart set,
and it is saved in your rules builder so you can apply it later. This section shows you how to select an existing
rule for both a view and a smart set.
VIEWS
In the view details, select an existing
rule by clicking the browse box to the
right of the Rule Name field, similar to
the example to the right.
Selecting the rule, however, will only
determine which accounts are included
in the list. For Views, it is advised that
you also select Columns to determine
what detail data is included on the
main portfolios page or in the Portfolio
Data Manager.
For more information about creating
views, see Editing PortfolioCenter
Views.
SMART SETS
Similar to Views, you can quickly add
an existing rule to the details of a
Smart Set. In the Smart Set details,
select an existing rule by clicking the
browse box to the right of the Rule
field, similar to the example to the right.
For more information about creating
and editing Smart Sets, see Using Set
Builder to Create Smart Sets.
Top Rules to Consider when Organizing Your Clients
Creating Views and Smart Sets using Existing Rules
Page 2 of 12
CLIENTS BY ADVISOR
Useful in a multiple advisor office, this rule filters the client list by a specific advisor in the firm. We can then
use this rule to create a view for the main portfolios tab, displaying important detail information for the advisor
as a quick-hit list of client information, as well as a smart set for quarter-end report packages for that advisor.
THE BASIC RULE
The rule is quite simple:

select the column Advisor Name

select the operator =

select the value equivalent to the name of
the advisor you have set up in your advisors
list
The rule should look similar to the example on the
right.
It is a best practice to create as many rules as you
have advisors in the office.
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This rule requires the use of the Advisor feature in PortfolioCenter. If you are currently not using the
Advisor feature – or are unsure – review Creating, Managing and Using Advisor IDs.
VARIATIONS AND COMBINATIONS USING OTHER PORTFOLIO AND CUSTOM FIELDS
Using the Advisor Name in conjunction with other fields, you can create specific lists of clients that can help
you really focus in on a specific task. You may want to consider creating several advisor-based rules
incorporating custom fields.
Using Other Standard Portfolio Fields
Let’s say that you want a list of all of John’s open
accounts. In this case, you will exclude any accounts
where the closed box is checked.
The rule to the right shows that we clicked the Add
button and added the Closed Account = False to the
criteria.
The result of this rule will be all of John’s Clients with
the Closed check box UNCHECKED in the portfolio
details.
Top Rules to Consider when Organizing Your Clients
Clients By Advisor
Page 3 of 12
You can add to this rule to include things like John’s
open accounts that bill in arrears:

Group Criteria Together Using And

Advisor Name = John

Billing in Advance (under Billing
specification) = False

Closed Account = False
The rule would look similar to the example to the right
where the three columns would be in the same
Define Criteria box.
Using Custom Fields
Let’s take an example of a firm that has a custom
field to indicate that a client account is billable. We
can use this custom field to add to the criteria laid out
in the example above to show a list of only John’s
open accounts that are billable in arrears:

Group Criteria Together Using And

Advisor Name = John

Billing in Advance (under Billing
specification) = False

Closed Account = False

Billable Client (under Custom Fields) = True
The rule would look similar to the example to the right
where the four columns would be in the same Define
Criteria Box.
Top Rules to Consider when Organizing Your Clients
Clients By Advisor
Page 4 of 12
The Results
The final rule should look similar to
the example on the right – all the
criteria so far have been set for
portfolio details, so the Portfolios
Criteria should display the criteria
settings and the Groups Criteria
should be empty.
To check for the number of clients
meeting the criteria, we click the
Display Results button, located
under the Groups Criteria area.
Below the list, we also see how
many accounts meet the criteria for
this rule.
APPLICATIONS FOR A VIEW
There are two ways a view by
advisor is helpful:
 Portfolios Tab: On the main
portfolios page, the advisor can
filter the list to show only his or her
clients and the data that might be
relevant or important to them.
Each advisor might also have
different needs for their respective
client lists, so you can create
views for each advisor, and
include the detail and custom field
data they want or need to see to
help the access data more quickly.
Top Rules to Consider when Organizing Your Clients
Clients By Advisor
Page 5 of 12
 In the Portfolio Data
Manager, the advisor can
quickly assess missing or
incorrectly populated
data by sorting and
filtering; he or she can
also quickly add, remove
or update data for only
their clients, leaving the
rest of the client base
alone.
APPLICATIONS FOR A SMART SET
The most frequently used application for a smart set
will be for the advisor to produce reports, billing,
rebalancing or other activities for only his or her
clients.
This smart set can be used in the batch printing,
batch process for Presentations, transaction writer,
batch interval, update billing and export wizards in
PortfolioCenter.
Top Rules to Consider when Organizing Your Clients
Clients By Advisor
Page 6 of 12
CLIENTS BY INVESTMENT POLICY
Useful when evaluating rebalancing information, this rule filters for only the clients that have a specific model
assigned so you can focus on rebalancing analysis for similar investment profiles and strategies. It can be
used for views to help you mine for detail information and ensure complete data, as well as for smart sets so
you can run reports or export data for only those clients.
THE BASIC RULE
At its simplest, you can create a rule based on the
model name, as long as you have the models named
by investment policy names. For the purposes of this
example, let’s assume we have three investment
policies: conservative, moderate and aggressive and
we want to review the clients using models that
adhere to the moderate investment policy:

select the column Model Title (under the
Model grouping)

select the operator Contains

enter a word in the model title that could
indicate the investment policy.
The basic rule should look similar to the example above. It is a best practice to create as many rules as you
have investment policies that apply.
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This rule requires the use of the Models feature in PortfolioCenter. If you are currently not using the
Models feature – or are unsure – review Creating, Managing and Using Advisor IDs.
VARIATIONS AND COMBINATIONS USING OTHER PORTFOLIO AND CUSTOM FIELDS
Using Other Standard Portfolio Fields
Let’s say that you want a list of all of accounts
using the moderate investment policy that have
an objective other than retirement. Use the
does not contain parameter to show accounts
that are using models built on a moderate
investment policy, but do not have a retirement
objective:

Group Criteria Together Using And

Model Title (under the model grouping)
Contains Moderate

Objective does not contain retirement
The rule should look similar to the example on
the right.
Top Rules to Consider when Organizing Your Clients
Clients By Investment Policy
Page 7 of 12
Using Custom Fields
Now let’s build on the previous example – let’s say
you want to build a rule showing only accounts with a
moderate investment policy that do not have the
retirement objective, and that we rebalance regularly
using a custom field we developed to keep track of
that information:

Group Criteria Together Using And

Model Title (under the model grouping)
Contains Moderate

Objective does not contain retirement

Rebalance Portfolio (under Custom Fields) =
True
The rule would look similar to the example to the right where the three columns would be in the same Define
Criteria Box.
The Results
The final rule should look similar to
the example on the right – all the
criteria so far have been set for
portfolio details, so the Portfolios
Criteria should display the criteria
settings and the Groups Criteria
should be empty.
To check for the number of clients
meeting the criteria, we click the
Display Results button, located
under the Groups Criteria area.
Below the list, we also see how
many accounts meet the criteria for
this rule.
APPLICATIONS FOR A VIEW
While there are several applications for
a view, probably the most common
would be to filter or sort accounts. Add
columns like Advisor, Objective, or
Account Type to sort the accounts to
find data quickly. You can also use
views in the Portfolio Data Manager to
change models with clients’ investment
policies change.
Top Rules to Consider when Organizing Your Clients
Clients By Investment Policy
Page 8 of 12
APPLICATIONS FOR A SMART SET
The widest applications for the smart
set based on this rule is for rebalancing
exports such as the Trading Data
Export, the model export or other similar
exports.
You can also use this set on the Global
Portfolio Rebalancing Report to help
you identify trades required to bring the
accounts back into balance.
Top Rules to Consider when Organizing Your Clients
Clients By Investment Policy
Page 9 of 12
CLIENTS BY BILLING SCENARIO
Useful when evaluating billing information, these rules filter for only the clients that have a specific model
assigned so you can focus on rebalancing analysis for similar investment profiles and strategies. It can be
used for views to help you mine for detail information and ensure complete data, as well as for smart sets so
you can run reports or export data for only those clients.
THE BASIC RULE
Create a rule based on billing specification attributes,
as long as are using billing specifications. For the
purposes of this example, let’s assume we bill some
clients by total portfolio value and some clients by
asset class values and we want to review the clients
billed by total portfolio value:

select the column Billing Method (under the
Billing Specification grouping)

select the operator =

select value Total Portfolio
The basic rule should look similar to the example
above. It is a best practice to create as many rules as
you have investment policies that apply.
Online
This rule requires the use of the Billing feature in PortfolioCenter. If you are currently not using the
Billing feature – or are unsure – review the document Introduction to the PortfolioCenter Billing Module
at schwabpt.com/pdflibrary/open.asp?id=010684.
VARIATIONS AND COMBINATIONS USING OTHER PORTFOLIO AND CUSTOM FIELDS
Using Other Standard Portfolio Fields
Let’s say that you want a list of all of accounts
using billing by total portfolio that has a
discount. Use the Greater Than parameter to
show accounts that are assigned to a billing
spec for total portfolio and that get a discount:

Group Criteria Together Using And

Billing Method (under the model
grouping) = Total Portfolio

Discount Rate > 0.00
The rule should look similar to the example on
the right.
Top Rules to Consider when Organizing Your Clients
Clients By Billing Scenario
Page 10 of 12
Using Custom Fields
Now let’s build on the previous example – let’s say
you want to build a rule showing only accounts billed
by total portfolio, that are offered a discount and pay
by check (external), a custom field our firm has set
up to track that information:

Group Criteria Together Using And

Billing Method (under the model grouping) =
Total Portfolio

Discount Rate > 0.00

Payment Type (under custom fields) =
External
The rule would look similar to the example above where the three columns would be in the same Define
Criteria Box.
The Results
The final rule should look similar to
the example on the right – all the
criteria so far have been set for
portfolio details, so the Portfolios
Criteria should display the criteria
settings and the Groups Criteria
should be empty.
To check for the number of clients
meeting the criteria, we click the
Display Results button, located
under the Groups Criteria area.
Below the list, we also see how
many accounts meet the criteria for
this rule.
APPLICATIONS FOR A VIEW
While there are several applications for
a view, probably the most common
would be to edit details like the discount
amount. For example, if you are no
longer offering a discount, you can use
the view to set the discount rate to zero
for all those accounts very quickly.
Top Rules to Consider when Organizing Your Clients
Clients By Billing Scenario
Page 11 of 12
APPLICATIONS FOR A SMART SET
The widest applications for the smart
set based on this rule are for printing
statements or exporting management
fees.
You can also use this with the
Management Fees Transaction Wizard
to create the management fee
transactions accounting for the checks.
Top Rules to Consider when Organizing Your Clients
Clients By Billing Scenario
Page 12 of 12
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