Requests

A request asks a client for specific things - bank statements, sales invoices, a payroll summary - in one list. The client sees it under What we need in their portal or under My Accountant, uploads a file against each item, and you review what arrives. If the due date passes with items still outstanding, Bokapsys sends reminders for you.

Before you start

• To create and send requests, your role needs permission to manage requests - by default the firm owner, firm admins, practice managers and bookkeepers.
• The client needs at least one contact with an email address. Contacts who have accepted an invitation can sign in and upload; see Clients.

Create a request

1. Open the client and go to Requests.
2. Click New request.
3. Optionally Start from a template. The template supplies the title, message, items and due date, so those fields are hidden; skip to step 6.
4. Otherwise, enter a Title (for example “Year end 2026”), a Due date and a Message.
5. Under What you need, list each item on its own line.
6. Under Send it to, tick the contacts who should receive it.
7. Click Send to N people, or Save as draft to send it later.

Each recipient gets an email with a link to sign in, where they find the request. The email never signs them in by itself. If none of the contacts you chose can sign in yet, the request is still created but nobody is emailed - Bokapsys tells you so, and you can invite them from Contacts.

Track and review a request

The Requests tab lists every request with its status:

Status	Meaning
Draft	Saved but not sent.
Waiting on client	Sent; nothing has come back yet.
Partly in	Some items have been provided.
Complete	Every item has been dealt with.
Cancelled	No longer needed.

Click a request to open it. For each item the client uploads against, you can:

• Accept it (the tick) - the item is done.
• Send it back (the cross) - the client sees Please resend on that item and can upload again.

Uploaded files are saved into the client’s document vault, so you can find them later from Documents as well as from the request.

The request’s status is worked out from its items, so you never have to update it by hand.

Talk about a request

Every request has its own conversation, split into two lanes:

• Notes - for your firm only. The client never sees them.
• Messages to client - go to the client’s portal and email them a sign-in link.

Because the lanes are separate, there is no checkbox to get wrong. See Messages.

Reminders

Reminders run only while a request is sent and still has items waiting or sent back, and only when it has a due date. Each reminder is a set number of days after the due date. By default Bokapsys chases after 3, 7 and 14 days.

Each reminder in the sequence is sent once, to the client’s active contacts, and reminders stop as soon as nothing is outstanding.

Request templates

If you ask for the same things every year or every quarter, save them as a template.

1. Go to Templates > Requests and create a template.
2. Enter a Template name, the Request title the client sees, and a Message to the client.
3. Set Due this many days after you send it.
4. Set Chase after this many days - a list such as 3, 7, 14. Leave it empty for no reminders.
5. Under What you need from the client, add each item and mark whether it is required.
6. Save.

When you start a new request from the template, the title, message, items, due date and reminder schedule come with it.

Tip

For a one-off question, a message is quicker. Use a request when you need files and want to track which ones have arrived.

Related

DocumentsWhere uploaded files are stored.

OrganizersSend a questionnaire instead of a document list.

The client portalWhat the client sees under What we need.