How much time does your team lose rekeying client details, updating valuations by hand and untangling duplicate records? For most advice firms, the honest answer is more than they would like. In our latest Timeline Edge session, Tom Lister, our Product Manager for Ecosystem, showed live how Timeline's integrations bring client and account data into one place, keep it clean, and put it to work across your planning tools.
Below is a recap of everything covered, from the matching logic that stops duplicates at the door, to the Intelliflo, spreadsheet and investment platform imports, and the simple three step checklist Tom recommends for getting your data in order.
You can watch the full recording of this session, including every live demo, over on Wistia.
Watch the recordingEvery import feeds one pool of client and account data that all Timeline tools draw on.
NI number and source ID matching, then smart name matching, to keep duplicates out.
Bulk import clients via API, then push updated client details back to Intelliflo.
Pennee, our AI assistant, maps any CSV export to the right fields for clients and holdings.
Accounts and valuations pulled in from connected investment platforms, updated daily.
Link imported accounts to a cash flow plan so it reflects the latest valuations.
Why Adviser Data Gets Messy
Tom opened with the two problems we hear about from advisers day in, day out. The first is rekeying. Most firms run separate tools for cash flow modelling, risk profiling, fact finds and investment platforms, and each one needs the same client created and keyed in by hand. Even once clients exist, annual review season can mean hours of advisers and admin staff updating valuations, which is time taken away from actually servicing clients and building relationships.
The second problem follows from the first: different versions of the same client or investment. When data from separate silos is brought together, systems often fail to recognise that two records are the same person, so they create a second, third or fourth copy. Different team members then build on different versions, and there is no reliable, central record to trust.
One Source Of Truth For Client Data
Our answer starts with a complete suite of tools sitting on the same underlying data. Tools that rely on client data, such as fact find pre-filling, client details and the client portal, and tools that rely on account data, such as LiveTrack, Drift Track and investment accounts, all draw on one pool of information. Use the full Timeline suite and everything pre-fills and pulls through, with no need to maintain the same details in several places.
We know many firms will also keep other systems for good reasons, and that data will always arrive from outside sources, whether that is a back office system, a platform, a spreadsheet or a completed fact find. However it arrives, whether through API imports, spreadsheet imports, fact find completion or AI-generated insights from meeting notes, it lands in the same source of truth.
The key is that incoming data is never simply dumped in. It passes through an approval gateway and data cleaning step first, because that is exactly where duplicates are usually born.
"We treat Timeline as the source of truth and just use it to fill gaps."
Tom Lister, Product Manager, Ecosystem, Timeline
How Smart Matching Stops Duplicate Clients
Every incoming client runs through a two tier matching process. First, we try to match on identifiers: the client's National Insurance number, or their ID from the source system. If there is exactly one match, the existing client is updated. No guesswork is needed.
If there is no identifier match, smart name matching steps in. Provided the surname is identical and the first name is similar, such as Jon and John, the platform suggests a match and asks you to review it as part of the import. You can confirm it, or switch it to create a new client if, for example, you genuinely look after both an Angie and an Angela. Only when there is no match at all is a new client created.
There is one more scenario. If an incoming client matches more than one existing record on identifiers, that points to a duplicate already sitting in Timeline from before. Rather than letting you carry on blindly, the platform flags it. A bulk resolution flow using Pennee, our AI assistant, is coming soon to clear these up in one go.
What You Can Connect Today
All of the connections below run via API. Intelliflo provides client data, while the investment platforms provide account data and, depending on the platform, varying levels of client data too. Parmenion and Quilter share names only at client level.
Three Ways To Import Your Data
Intelliflo: bulk import clients via API
Working in our live production environment, Tom connected Intelliflo, pulled in a list of clients and walked through the matching logic in action. One client with no match was set to be created fresh. Another was suggested as a name match to an existing record and confirmed. A third near-match was switched to a new client because the two were different people. A fourth was matched automatically because the National Insurance number was already held in Timeline, even though the names differed. Once imported, the extra details held in Intelliflo appeared on the Timeline client record.
The integration also works in the other direction. Update a client's details in Timeline, manually or through a fact find, and you can push those details back to Intelliflo in a couple of clicks, with a confirmation step before anything is overwritten. You can also create a brand new client in Intelliflo directly from Timeline. On import, Timeline only fills gaps, so good data you have already gathered through our fact find is never overwritten.
Any spreadsheet: import with Pennee
Not using Intelliflo? You can import clients and holdings from any spreadsheet using Pennee. Tom uploaded a sample platform export, and Pennee mapped each column to the matching field in the source of truth, created a portfolio where none was specified, and asked whether cash lines should be treated as cash holdings. Clients with a matching National Insurance number were linked without any prompt, while those without one were queued for a quick review. Tom's tip is to start with a client level import, then move on to holdings, so every account attaches to a complete client record. The spreadsheet importer is fully released but switched on per firm, so speak to Tom or your adviser success manager to have it activated.
Investment platforms: accounts and valuations, automatically
Better still, you can skip the spreadsheet altogether for connected platforms. Through our data aggregation partner, you give consent for each platform to share your data, usually by sending a pre-formatted authorisation email. Within a few hours to a few days, accounts appear on the investment accounts page. From then on, valuations update daily, new clients on the platform are imported automatically, and any likely name matches are flagged for you to confirm. No more rekeying valuations at review time.
Keeping Financial Plans Up To Date
Because every tool reads from the same data, imported accounts can feed straight into cash flow modelling. When adding a liquid asset to a financial plan, the primary option is now to select from the client's existing accounts. Imported accounts are not added to a plan automatically; you choose which to link. Once linked, the daily updates from platform feeds or spreadsheet uploads flow through to the plan.
If you share plans through the client portal, clients can see their plan reflect the latest valuations for themselves. In a volatile market, that can give them context on where their plan stands without waiting for the next review.
Your Data Integration Checklist
Tom closed with a simple order of play for getting your data into Timeline and keeping it current.
Import clients. Start with client level data from Intelliflo or a back office export, so every record begins complete.
Connect investment platforms. Link platforms via API to import accounts, fill client gaps and keep valuations updated daily.
Fill gaps with periodic spreadsheet uploads. Use Pennee for anything not yet covered by a direct connection.
Spreadsheet uploads currently cover clients and accounts. We are working to expand this to a much wider range of fact find and financial plan information, with the aim of delivering it before the end of 2026.
Questions From Advisers
Why centralise data in Timeline if we already use Intelliflo? It comes down to which tools you prefer. Many firms use Intelliflo as a repository and pull data into other tools for planning. If you prefer Timeline's financial plan, risk profiler, fact find and platform, it makes sense to centralise data in Timeline, instead of or alongside Intelliflo, and the API integration makes that easy.
Are Intelliflo households imported? Not yet. Clients currently import individually, and existing household links in Timeline are kept, but Intelliflo's household connections are not inherited. You can link them manually with the Connect Households feature for now. Importing households and mapping clients to the right adviser, rather than to whoever set up the integration, is next on our priority list.
Do daily platform updates flow into cash flow modelling? Yes, once you link the imported accounts to the financial plan, as described above.
Will the Intelliflo integration become fully two way? It already is for core client details. As we expand the source of truth to cover wider fact find, risk and financial plan data, that data will be importable and pushable too. Client level syncing stays manual for now so good data is never overwritten by mistake, with automation part of the longer term vision.
Where do duplicates usually creep in? Most often, an adviser without permission to see all clients cannot find an existing record and creates a new one. Timeline now warns anyone at your firm who tries to create a client that already exists. Other causes include spreadsheet imports without identifiers, and some platforms using portfolio level IDs, which can split a client with individual and joint accounts into two records. A fix for that edge case is nearly complete.
Is there a row limit on spreadsheet uploads? The importer is built to handle any reasonably sized export, even from a large firm, and Tom is checking for any formal limit.
Is a workflow and task management tool on the cards? It is firmly part of our vision, as having every tool under one roof makes automation possible, though it is not expected in 2026.
Have a use case we did not cover? Tom would like to hear it. Email tom.lister@timeline.co or speak to your usual Timeline contact.
See It For Yourself
If you would like to see how Timeline's integrations could fit your firm's systems and cut the rekeying from your week, the links below will take you deeper into Timeline or let you book a one-to-one walkthrough with our team.
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