Jessica Lantz

Mar 25, 2026

Print Share

What’s New in March: Faster onboarding, charitable planning strategies, and smarter AI workflows

Starting this month, you’ll notice something a little different about how we talk about what we’re building. In 2026, we’re anchoring our product enhancements around three commitments:

• Getting you faster to the moments that matter — less friction between where you are and the moment estate planning becomes meaningful for a client
• Arming you with confidence at every client conversation — giving you the conviction and coverage to go deeper with every client you serve
• Providing AI that elevates you — a partner that makes every advisor more prepared, more proactive, and more present with clients

We’ll connect each release back to these commitments so you always know not just what’s new, but why it matters. Here’s March:

Faster to the moments that matter

Get every new client engagement off to a faster start 

The challenge: When adding a new client in Vanilla, it’s not always clear where the best place to start is. Every client engagement starts somewhere, and the faster you can identify the right next step, the sooner you can begin delivering value.

The solution:

• The overview page for new clients now surfaces four clear, actionable options to help you get started
• The overview page now reflects document creation, Estate Health Check, and a summary overview, showing your clients’ progress without extra clicks
• A streamlined Quick Actions ⚡︎ menu puts the most impactful next steps front and center
• V/AI now automatically generates a high-level Profile Overview when documents are uploaded to a client profile, surfacing an at-a-glance summary right at the top of the page

Getting to a meaningful first planning conversation as quickly as possible is one of the most important things you can do for a new client relationship. These updates make that easier than ever. Coming soon.

Check out our knowledge base article for more information on these changes. 

Keep every strategy current as client data changes

The challenge: When a client’s estate data changes, those updates haven’t easily carried through to Scenarios. Keeping planning models current has meant manual re-entry and the risk of presenting clients with projections that aren’t up to date.

The solution:

• When estate profile data changes, you can sync that information instantly to your baseline and existing scenarios with a single click
• If you’re using Balance Sheet integrations, updated asset values will now flow directly into your Scenarios

Baseline sync helps you keep every Scenario accurate, so you can walk into every client conversation with the most current picture of the estate. Available now.

Import your entire Salesforce book of business into Vanilla 

The challenge: Salesforce environments vary significantly from firm to firm. Without the ability to map custom fields, it can be difficult to transfer data — making manual entry the more reliable option for many advisors.

The solution:

• We’ve rebuilt Salesforce integration on the same iPaaS infrastructure powering our recently updated Addepar integration, giving it a more reliable and extensible foundation
• Firms configure their own field mapping, matching their specific Salesforce setup rather than conforming to a fixed set of generic fields
• Bulk import your entire book of business to create estates in Vanilla without manual data entry

When client data flows cleanly from Salesforce into Vanilla, you can stop thinking about setup and start thinking about planning. A complete, accurate book of business in Vanilla means every client relationship starts from a stronger foundation. Coming soon.

Note: This release syncs book of business data only — client and co-client names, birthdates, and state of residence. 

AI that elevates you

Analyze tax returns in minutes, not hours

The challenge: Tax returns are among the most information-dense documents you’ll work with. Extracting the insights that actually matter for planning and presenting them clearly to a client  takes significant time and expertise to do well.

The solution:

• We’ve added a new tax return prompt to the V/AI Custom Prompt Library, giving you a dedicated, standardized option for generating comprehensive summaries from uploaded tax return documents
• The prompt produces structured, professional output including income sources, marginal tax bracket analysis, Schedule D capital gains, MAGI planning considerations, Medicare Part B/D premium implications, and key tax planning observations
• Consistent, structured outputs mean less time creating specific custom prompts, and more time focused on the planning conversation the analysis is meant to drive

A tax return is often the starting point for some of the most valuable planning conversations you can have, but getting from a raw document to a structured, actionable analysis takes time. The tax return prompt gives you that starting point in seconds, so the conversation can get to the high-value insights faster rather than getting stuck in analysis work. Available now.

Take full control of what V/AI imports into every client profile

The challenge: Bringing data into a client profile accurately is one of the most important steps in the onboarding process. With client situations varying widely, you need a workflow that gives you control over what gets imported and confidence in its accuracy.

The solution:

• The V/AI import flow has been updated to have a structured, step-by-step process that makes it easy to see exactly what data is coming in before it lands in the profile
• Skip individual sections, import everything, or bypass the process entirely — the workflow adapts to what each client situation requires
• Re-importing updated documents overwrites previous entries, keeping profiles current as new information comes in

These improvements give you more control over the import process and more trust in the result, so onboarding complex clients takes less effort and leaves less room for error. Available now.

Confidence at every client conversation

Bring charitable planning into every client conversation with CLAT and CRUT modeling

The challenge: If you discuss charitable planning strategies with clients, you’ve had to step outside Vanilla to model Charitable Lead Annuity Trusts (CLATs) and Charitable Remainder Unitrusts (CRUTs), breaking your planning workflow and making it harder to present a complete, cohesive picture.

The solution:

• You can now model CLAT and CRUT strategies directly within Vanilla Scenarios — configuring parameters like annuity amount, unitrust percentage, term, and beneficiaries for the full picture
• Results surface across the full Scenarios experience — the Waterfall table displays charitable distributions and remainder values, while detailed year-by-year cash flow tables show exactly how annuity payments, trust value, and charitable distributions play out 
• The Scenarios timeline view visualizes the full progression of the strategy from donor to trust to beneficiaries, giving clients a clear, visual picture of how their charitable giving unfolds over the life of the strategy

Charitable planning is one of the most sophisticated conversations you can bring to a client, and now it’s a conversation you can walk through from start to finish without leaving Vanilla. Broader strategy coverage means you can show up to more client conversations with more to offer, deepening your relationship and the value you deliver. Coming soon.

Bringing it all together

Every release this month connects back to the same priorities — getting you to meaningful client conversations faster, keeping you confident when you get there, and ensuring AI is doing more of the work so you don’t have to. 

Ready to explore what’s new? Connect with our CSM team or schedule a demo to see these features in action.

Note that all unpublished features and enhancements mentioned are subject to change in both content and timeline without notice. Vanilla reserves the right to modify or cancel roadmap items at any time.