Completing Fact Sets
Why Completion Status Matters
Every Fact Set in Sterling must be marked as either Complete or Incomplete. This status tells Sterling what you know about a household and more importantly, what you don't know. Getting this right ensures Sterling generates the most relevant advice.
Below is an example of a Fact Set for mortgages. In the example, there are two mortgages, but the Fact Set is marked Incomplete, indicating that the advisor has not completed the mortgage Fact Set yet.
Why Fact Set completion status matters
The completion status becomes especially important when a Fact Set is empty. An empty section can mean two very different things:
Empty and Complete
If a Fact Set is empty and marked Complete, you've confirmed the household has none of these items. For example, an empty Mortgages section marked Complete tells Sterling "this client has no mortgages."
Empty and Incomplete
If a Fact Set is empty and marked Incomplete, you've indicated that you do not know if the household has any of these items. For example, an empty Mortgages section marked Incomplete tells Sterling "we don't know if there are any mortgages."
This distinction directly affects the advice Sterling generates.
Best Practices
- Review each Fact Set during client meetings and confirm the client does not have any of the empty items (i.e. no Mortgages)
- Mark a Fact Set as Complete once you've confirmed the client's situation, including when they have none
- Only leave a Fact Set as Incomplete if you truly haven't gathered that information yet
- Marking all Fact Sets as Complete is not required before you can mark a Fact Category as Ready. There are often times it's valuable to generate advice with missing information.