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Exchanges with your clients

⏱ 6 min readUpdated on

You ask your client a question where it arises — a line of the entries, a monitoring variance — and they ask you questions from their space. Each exchange keeps its company, its file and its subject; an answer never changes the plan.

What it is for

An exchange starts on one side or the other:

  • at the firm: Ask the client a question from a line or a module of the entries, or from the Questions to the client card on the client record; Send to the client from a monitoring variance; New question from the Client exchanges page, for a general question about the company. You choose the Expected answer: An explanation, or An amount and an explanation;
  • at the client's: Ask a question in their Exchanges — about a published file, or A general question — and, in a file's Value tab, A question about this value?, which opens the window already filled in.

The Client exchanges page (left-hand menu; its badge counts the exchanges to handle) sorts the exchanges into four filters, each with its count:

FilterWhat it shows
To handlethe firm's turn: the client has asked a question, or answered
Waiting for the clientyour last message awaits their answer
Closedthe exchange is finished
Binthe exchanges moved to the bin, restorable for 30 days

The search covers the client, the file, the subject and the text of the messages; the All clients selector narrows the list to one client. A chosen exchange opens on the right: company › file, who sees it (“Visible to … (active access) and to the firm’s team”), what the client was looking at when asking, the messages and their “Read by …” acknowledgement, the button that opens the subject's screen (the entries, the monitoring, the valuation, the file or the client record), and your answer.

On the client's side, the Exchanges page shows the same exchanges, grouped by file, with its filters All, To do, With your accountant and Closed.

Steps

  1. Open Client exchanges: the To handle filter shows first. Choose an exchange; opening it marks it read, and the client sees “Read by” and your name under their message.
  2. Write your answer. To attach a document of the file — a shared plan, a monitoring report, a valuation report —, Link a published document, then choose it. Send: the client is notified by e-mail.
  3. An answer to your question has arrived: Read and enter opens the line or module concerned. Enter yourself what the answer tells you: an answer never changes the plan.
  4. No answer? Send a reminder: at most one reminder per 24 hours.
  5. Settled: Close. An exchange no longer needed: Move to the bin; it also disappears for the client. For 30 days, it can be restored from the Bin filter (Restore); after that, it is permanently deleted, with its messages.
  6. A message sent by mistake, not yet read by the client: Withdraw. The thread shows “Message withdrawn by …”.
  7. On the client's side: the Ask a question window asks Which file?, then About what exactly? (optional) and Your question; Send the question. The client likewise withdraws their unread message, and closes their own question with It’s settled.

Worked example · Boulangerie Dupont SRL

On the line “Camionnette de livraison” (delivery van) of the Investments module, the accountant asks Marie Dupont whether the quote received excludes VAT; he expects An amount and an explanation.

StepAt the firmAt Marie Dupont's
The question goes outWaiting for the client filteran e-mail naming the file “Plan financier 2027-2029” and the subject, never the text; in Exchanges, “Your turn to answer”
She opens the exchange“Read by Marie Dupont” under the question—
She answersTo handle filter, “Answer to read · Read and enter”“With your accountant”
The accountant opens the thread—“Read by” and the accountant's name under her answer
Read and enterthe Investments module opens; the accountant corrects the line if needed“Answered”
CloseClosed filter“Closed”

The amount in her answer stays in the exchange: it only enters the plan if the accountant enters it.

The “Client exchanges” page: the filters, the list and the thread of a question to Boulangerie Dupont.
The “Client exchanges” page: the filters, the list and the thread of a question to Boulangerie Dupont.

Pitfalls

An answer never changes the plan. Read and enter opens the screen; you do the entering. Marie Dupont's message and her amount touch no line.
E-mails never contain the text of a message. The subject line names the company, the file and the subject; the text is read in Fiplan or in the client space, after signing in.
A question requires an access. The firm can only ask a question to a client with at least one invited or active person: invite them first (Giving your client access). Without an active access, the exchange says so: the client does not see it; an invitation not yet accepted shows it as soon as the person enters.
The bin applies to both sides, and it has an end. Moved to the bin, the exchange also disappears for the client. It can be restored for 30 days; after that, it is permanently deleted with its messages. Linked documents remain: they belong to their publication.
You can only withdraw your own message, before it is read. Each side withdraws its own, as long as the other side has not read it; once read, the database refuses: the message stays, it is the record. The withdrawn text is erased, and the e-mail announcing it no longer goes out if it was still waiting to be sent. The question that opens the exchange cannot be withdrawn: the firm moves it to the bin, the client closes their own.
Linking a document: one from the exchange's file. Only a document published on the exchange's file can be linked; a general question, with no file, offers none. A value withdrawn later leaves the card “Document withdrawn: it is no longer available.”
A read-only firm reads and tidies up. When the trial has ended, the firm reads, closes and moves to the bin; it no longer asks questions, sends reminders or writes to the client. A member with the “read-only” role reads the exchanges without writing in them.

What it changes · 2027

① Income statementNo effect€0.00An exchange writes nothing to the plan; “Read and enter” opens the screen, you do the entering.
② CashNo effect€0.00Nothing is received or paid.
③ Balance sheetNo effect€0.00The amount in an answer stays in the exchange until you enter it.

Source

Fiplan convention: src/pages/DemandesClients.tsx (the “Client exchanges” page); src/lib/acces-client/echanges-cabinet.ts (the four filters, the search); src/lib/acces-client/echanges.ts and src/components/espace-client/EchangesEspace.tsx (the states and the thread on the client's side).

Rules in the database: 20261004200000_acces_client2_demandes.sql (a question requires an invited or active access; at most one reminder per 24 hours); 20261009180000_echanges1_questions_deux_sens.sql (questions in both directions, read receipts); 20261009190000_echanges2_cabinet_corbeille_documents.sql (the bin: 30 days, then permanent deletion; withdrawing a message by its author, before it is read; the linked document, published on the exchange's file). E-mails: supabase/functions/_shared/email/modeles/espace-client.ts (the text of a message is never copied). Rights tested by npm run audit:roles (scripts/audit-roles.mjs, section D).