A Progressive Practice’s Success with FYI Elite

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For James Carey, managing partner at Prime Partners, the decision to keep pushing his firm toward technological innovation has always been driven by one simple question: “Why are we doing it this way?”

With a background in IT and a penchant for improving workflows, James led Prime Partners into the cloud early on, embracing cutting-edge tools wherever possible. But even with the best of intentions, he found himself frustrated by the limitations of their previous systems.

A Fragmented, Frustrating Workflow

James has always been at the forefront of automation and using technology to handle manual processes.

“In 2009, we had, you know, the Internet and banks with CSV exports. I wondered if we could import bank statements into Solution 6. Then Xero came along with data feeds.

I’ve sort of come in not with necessarily an accounting background but always said, ‘Why are we doing things like this? Surely there can be a better way to do it.”

Before upgrading to FYI Elite, Prime Partners juggled multiple systems for practice management, document storage, dashboards and reporting. It wasn’t working. As James puts it,

“We had databases that didn’t talk to each other, and it made simple tasks unnecessarily complicated.”

The inefficiencies were clear:

  • Manual reporting: Key reports had to be cobbled together from various sources, wasting time.
  • Job management headaches: Workflow visibility was limited, especially in managing WIP (Work in Progress), and jobs often slipped through the cracks.
  • Disjointed billing: Invoices weren’t being processed quickly, and there were delays in getting paid.

In short, James was on the hunt for a more integrated, efficient way of working.

Making the Move to FYI Elite: “Let’s Just Do It”

After already being on FYI for three years and experiencing its impact, James and his team were more than satisfied with the platform.

Funnily enough when James first looked at FYI, James said at the time, “Database structure? No way, man, like I can’t do it.”

“But after keeping an eye on it and seeing all the cool things that kept popping up and the pace at which it was developing, I then had the follow-up chat and said, ‘Alright, let’s do this.’ I was convinced and dragged the team kicking and screaming, and now you know, everybody loves it.”

So, when FYI introduced their Elite plan, which promised to streamline practice management even further, it was a no-brainer for him.

The tipping point? FYI Elite could unify everything—job management, time tracking, billing, and WIP—under one roof.

James didn’t hesitate. “I’m not good at change management,” he laughs. “It was more like, ‘We’re changing, deal with it.’ But everyone came around quickly once they saw how much easier their day-to-day could be.”

Look, we had faith in the FYI team from the start. Any time I raised an issue, they either already had a solution or were working on one. It was obvious they were going in the right direction.

A Seamless Transition

For Prime Partners, the onboarding process was smooth. The FYI team was hands-on, walking them through each step and addressing any concerns as they popped up.

James explains about the data, ‘It all came across – and change management? It really wasn’t a big deal because we were doing it. Everything was mostly in FYI anyway. You know, we had been encouraging people to record time in FYI. So yeah, it was sort of familiar with it.’

Some firms experience disruption when they change over. James explains, “We cut over mid-May. So we kind of had May month-end to iron out kinks before 30 June. It took maybe a week while we figured stuff out. We did it mid-month, which isn’t heavy invoicing. So when invoicing then came, it was great. We invoiced plenty.”

Beyond the transition, the ongoing support has been a standout feature for Prime Partners.

He also highlights the strength of FYI’s documentation, adding, “Half the time I’ll send a question, and the team will be like, ‘Have you read this article we’ve already written? Here’s the link.’ So everything is kind of documented, and that makes it really easy to find answers and keep things moving.”

This combination of hands-on support and comprehensive resources has made the transition and day-to-day usage of FYI not just seamless, but truly empowering for Prime Partners.

"I have to say that you have one of the best support teams, and it has been like that from day one. It’s so useful—they never get cross at my stupid questions."

And then there were the automations

James and his team quickly realised the power of FYI’s automation tools, implementing a staggering 87 automations to handle everything from billing reminders to writing off small jobs.

“My favorite automation? This week, it’s the one that automatically writes off time on those little $5 jobs that clutter up the system. It saves hours of admin work,” James explains.

Another example is minimum pension drawdowns for super funds.

“We’ve got some custom fields saying member one has a drawdown of $100,000, and member two has a drawdown of $50,000. An automation then runs to draft all the emails to say,  these are your minimum pensions that you’ve got drawn down.”

For Elite, James also has just rebuilt the new entity setup process. “Before, we would go through the whole process, and eventually, the client would get billed, and we’d get paid in six weeks.”

Now, one of the first steps is the invoice being auto-generated and getting attached to the email. For James, not only does this bring forward the cash flow by six weeks, but the value to the client is being recognised at the time. “I don’t want to talk about money and just automating it, making it part of the process—it’s done upfront.”

A New Level of Visibility & Control

For the team themselves, it’s not too much change in the day-to-day.

“I think for the leaders and management in the firm, having the WIP and having all visible and being able to review jobs, do that all in the one place, is hugely, hugely beneficial. I think the biggest thing is just opening up that visibility.”

According to James, just having everything in a very agile, flexible way, building all the job views and sorting, grouping, customising, and filtering—it just works.

Since moving to FYI Elite, Prime Partners has transformed the way they work:

  • Billing is now integrated and automated, meaning invoices go out faster and payments come in sooner.
  • WIP management has been revolutionised. “Now I can see all our jobs, the WIP attached to them, and I can write off low-value items in bulk. It’s saving us a lot of time—and money.”
  • The team has unlocked efficiencies across the board. James notes that having everything in one place has made it easier to manage priorities and streamline workflows.

While they’re still exploring all of FYI Elite’s potential, James estimates that their current use of the platform is 50% of its full capacity, leaving plenty of room for future gains.

Another great thing is that with WIP now being so visible—attached to jobs and groups—it’s easy to spot older items that might have slipped through the cracks and been overlooked. Instead of discovering these jobs years later, we’re able to bill them now.

What’s Next for Prime Partners?

James is already thinking about what’s next. “There’s so much more we can do with FYI Elite. The potential is huge. It’s just about finding the time to implement more automations and refine our workflows.”

He’s confident that the platform will continue to evolve, offering even more tools to help his team manage WIP, prioritise tasks, and keep their billing on track.

The way things are going, FYI is only going to get better. I'm a raving fan and love what you're building and continuing to build.

Just Do It

For anyone thinking about making the leap to FYI Elite, James’ advice is simple: “Do it. Shut up and take my money,” he jokes. But in all seriousness, he recommends investing in proper onboarding and training to get the most out of the platform.

We’re still finding new ways to use FYI Elite to make our lives easier. And that’s the beauty of it—it’s flexible, it evolves, and it just works.