Every weekday at 8am during tax season, partners receive an email digest from the practice management board: returns by stage, files with no movement for five days, returns waiting on client documents and filings due in the next seven days.
Typical results
8am
Digest in partners' inboxes every weekday
5 days
Without movement before a file is flagged
7 days
Filing deadline look-ahead
Figures reflect typical results for this kind of automation.
The challenge
A 15-person tax team moves hundreds of returns through the practice management board each season, and partners lose track of which files have stalled. Each morning starts with a status round, desk by desk or in a long stand-up, and returns waiting on client documents are often noticed only days before the deadline.
Before and after
Partner hours per week on status chasing
−67%Morning stand-up length
−63%Days of warning before a filing deadline
2.3×The automation
At 8am each weekday, a Make scenario reads the practice management board and emails the partners a digest in four sections: returns by stage, files with no movement for five days, returns waiting on client documents and filings due in the next seven days. Each line shows the client, the preparer and the days in stage, and links straight to the file on the board, so the morning stand-up starts from the list.
How it works
- 01
8am every weekday
During tax season, the digest runs each weekday morning before the team arrives.
- 02
Board read
The automation reads every open return on the practice management board with its stage, preparer and last update.
- 03
Four sections built
Returns by stage, files with no movement for five days, returns waiting on client documents and filings due within seven days.
- 04
Email to partners
Partners get one email, with each line linked straight to the file on the board.
- 05
Stand-up from the list
The morning stand-up works through the stuck and due items instead of a desk-by-desk status round.
Starts from
- Practice management board
Delivers
- Partner email digest
- Files stuck 5+ days
- Filings due in 7 days
The impact
Partners start each day knowing which returns have stalled and which deadlines are close, without asking around. Each partner saves about 2 hours a week of status chasing, stand-ups shrink from about 40 minutes to 15, and every filing shows up at least a week before its deadline.
Questions about this automation
Which practice management boards can it read from?
It works with any board or practice management system that exposes returns through an API or a scheduled export, such as monday, Airtable or a dedicated practice tool. The digest needs each return's stage, preparer, last update date, due date and a flag for missing client documents.
Can the five-day and seven-day thresholds be changed?
Yes. The stall threshold, the deadline look-ahead and the send time are all settings, and the stall threshold can differ by stage, for example three days in review and seven in preparation. Partners can also receive a version filtered to their own clients.
Does it run outside tax season?
It can. A common setup is a daily digest during tax season and a weekly Monday digest for the rest of the year, covering the same sections for VAT, payroll and annual report work. Simple automations like this are usually live within days.