MVP PRODUCT REQUIREMENTS DOCUMENT Scope: MVP only (Web, all 3 portals: CA Portal, Client Portal, Admin Portal) | Budget: not specified here | Builder: Solo founder + AI-assisted build tools | Primary Goal: Prove the core value — secure chat + automatic AI-tagged document vault (“Magic Folder”) between a professional and their client, with basic manual payment/order handling behind it.
This document is intentionally scoped DOWN from the full long-term vision. Anything not listed here as “In Scope” is explicitly OUT of scope for MVP, even if it was discussed in earlier brainstorming. Feed this file alone to an AI build tool to build the MVP.
1. WHAT THIS MVP PROVES
Chartered Accountants (CAs), Tax Professionals, and Advocates currently manage client documents via WhatsApp/Email — files get lost, and re-finding an old document is painful. This MVP proves that a dedicated chat app with automatic document saving, AI-assisted tagging, and easy retrieval solves this, and that a professional will actually bring their clients onto it.
Everything else (marketplace, AI notice analyzer, net worth dashboards, targets/unlocks, team management, courses, fee tracking) is future phase — explicitly excluded here.
2. STRUCTURE: ONE ENTRY POINT, THREE PORTALS
The product has a single shared entry point. On arrival, a user sees a simple landing screen with three options/icons: Client, Professional (CA), and Admin. Selecting one takes the user into a fully separate portal built for that role, with its own login, screens, and features. A user in one portal never sees screens or data belonging to another portal. Branding (logo, name, color theme) is shared and consistent across all three; each portal otherwise feels like its own dedicated app.
| Portal | Platform (MVP) | Primary User |
|---|---|---|
| CA Portal | Web only | Main CA (single user per firm — no Junior CA in MVP) |
| Client Portal | Web only (mobile-responsive) | Individual/business client |
| Admin Portal | Web only | Single super-admin (platform operator) |
iOS/Android and desktop-native versions are out of scope for MVP — web-responsive only.
3. USER ROLES (MVP)
- CA (Main CA only): Single admin per firm account. No Junior CA role in MVP.
- Client: Can sign up standalone (not required to be invited) and later link to a CA using the CA’s shared code/phone number.
- Admin (Platform Operator): Single super-admin. Manually approves payment screenshots and fulfills any outsourced order requests (manual process, minimal UI).
4. CORE MVP FEATURE SET
A. Authentication
- Phone number + OTP login via a real SMS provider — production-ready, not a hardcoded demo OTP.
- Same login flow for CA, Client, and Admin portals (Admin may have a separate fixed login/access point).
B. Onboarding
- CA: Login → OTP → Role Selection (CA / Advocate / Tax Professional / Accountant) → Firm Profile Setup (Logo, Firm Name, Brand Color) → Dashboard.
- Client: Can either: (a) Sign up standalone directly on the platform (default: no CA attached), or (b) Join via a CA’s invite link / bulk Excel upload, or (c) Later, from their own profile, enter a CA-shared code + phone number to link to a CA.
- Client ↔ CA linking is many-to-many: one client can be linked to multiple CAs/professionals (e.g., separate businesses handled by different accountants). Each CA only ever sees their own slice of chats/documents with that client — they cannot see that the client has other CAs connected (fully hidden).
- Client is the only one with a combined cross-CA view, filterable by “sent to / received from which professional.”
C. Chat + Auto-Vault with AI Tagging (“Magic Folder”) — THE CORE FEATURE
- 1-on-1 real-time chat between CA and Client (text, images, PDFs, Excel, other common file types).
- Every file sent in chat is automatically saved to that user’s Vault — no manual re-upload needed.
- AI/OCR auto-tag suggestion (MVP baseline): on upload, the system analyzes the file and suggests a Category (e.g. ITR, GST, Bank Statement) and Financial Year automatically.
- User is shown the AI-suggested tags in a confirmation popup and can accept them as-is or correct them before saving — this keeps tagging fast while still guaranteeing accuracy through a human check.
- If AI tagging fails or confidence is low, the popup falls back to fully manual tag entry (Category + Financial Year dropdowns) so tagging is never blocked.
- Chat + Vault is default and always-on for every user — this is the flagship, non-optional feature.
D. Vault Dashboard
- CA side: Global Vault across all clients — search/filter by Client Name, Category, Financial Year. Multi-select + download.
- Client side: Personal Vault — client can also upload documents directly, independent of chat (self-serve upload, also passed through AI auto-tagging), filterable by category/CA/date.
E. Family Groups (lightweight MVP version)
- A client or a CA can create a Family Group.
- One or more members are designated “Head” of the group (assigned by the CA).
- Members can be added by phone number, or by name only (with a generated ID) if they don’t have a phone linked yet — in that case they get associated with the group’s Head.
- Documents shared in a family group chat can be marked private (visible to CA + uploader only) vs visible to whole group.
F. Storage Model (Simplified for MVP)
- Flat free storage tier per CA account. No tiered/target-based unlocks in MVP (targets/unlock system is explicitly future-phase — see Section 6).
- Simple Paywall/Upgrade modal: CA sees a QR code to pay the platform manually, enters amount paid, uploads a payment screenshot on the same screen → goes into the Admin’s approval queue.
- Storage upgrade unlocks instantly on submission, and is automatically revoked if Admin marks the payment invalid on review.
G. Client Money Home Visibility (MVP-lite)
- Not a full net-worth dashboard in MVP — just the visibility rule should be built into the data model now so it’s easy to extend later: by default every connected CA can see what the client uploads, but the client can choose to hide their profile/data from specific CAs.
5. ADMIN PORTAL (MVP)
Distinct, minimal product — single super-admin (platform operator) only.
Screens (MVP):
- Payment Approval Queue — Storage Upgrades: List of CA storage-upgrade requests (CA name, amount entered, screenshot, submitted time). Actions: Approve / Reject (rejecting auto-revokes the unlocked storage).
- Payment Approval Queue — Outsourced Orders: Same pattern, separate section, for any manually outsourced service payments.
- Consolidated View: Simple combined feed of all pending approvals across both queues, so nothing is missed.
- (Optional if time allows) Basic CA List: View all registered CA firms and their storage usage.
No settings UI for targets/thresholds needed in MVP (there are no targets in MVP — see Section 6). Support communication with CAs is handled outside the app for MVP; in-app feedback from CA/Client portal to Admin is fine to include if trivial to build, but not required.
6. EXPLICITLY OUT OF SCOPE FOR MVP
Do not build these now — they belong to the full long-term vision, not this MVP:
- Targets / feature-unlock system (client-count-based unlocks, pay-to-unlock)
- Junior CA role, Team Management, AI compliance monitoring
- AI Notice Analyzer, GST/Tally/26AS integrations
- Client Money Home full dashboard (net worth, donut charts, investment tracking)
- Marketplace / Store (Mutual Funds, Loans, Trademark, ISO, etc.) and Active Orders tracking
- Ad Mail (email-style chat bubbles)
- Digital Business Card public page
- Business Growth Tools (grants, tenders)
- Courses/Webinar platform
- Dispute Resolution flow
- RBI Account Aggregator integration, live bank account linking
- Payment gateway integration (Razorpay/Stripe) — all payments are manual/screenshot-based in MVP
- Fee Tracking / Internal Fee Ledger — not part of MVP scope
- iOS, Android, and desktop-native apps
- Multi-admin roles, in-app support chat
- Custom subdomains / white-label branding beyond basic logo + brand color on the CA’s own dashboard
7. MVP SCREEN LIST (WEB)
Shared Entry Point
- Landing screen — Client / CA / Admin selection
CA Portal
- Login
- OTP Verification
- Role Selection
- Firm Profile Setup (Logo, Name, Brand Color)
- Bulk Client Upload / Invite Link
- Main Chat Dashboard (Client list + active chat thread)
- File Upload & AI Tag Suggestion / Confirmation Popup
- Global Vault Dashboard
- Client Detail Panel (Chat + Documents tabs only — Pending Work/Opportunities tabs excluded for MVP)
- CA Profile & Settings (incl. Storage Plan card)
- Storage Upgrade / Payment Screenshot Modal
- Family Group Creation + Privacy Selector Popup
Client Portal (Web, mobile-responsive)
- Login
- OTP Verification
- Standalone Signup / Link-a-CA screen (enter CA code + phone)
- Client Profile Setup
- Chat with CA(s) — combined view with filter by CA
- Personal Vault (with direct self-upload + AI tag suggestion)
- Family Group view (if part of one)
- Basic Profile Settings (incl. hide-from-CA toggle)
Admin Portal
- Login
- Payment Approval Queue — Storage
- Payment Approval Queue — Outsourced Orders
- Consolidated Approvals Feed
- (Optional) CA List Overview
8. RECOMMENDED APPROACH (MVP)
Optimized for: solo builder using AI-assisted build tools, tight budget, must be fast, must not paint you into a corner for a future full-team rebuild.
- One shared codebase/product serving all three portals as separate route groups reachable from a single shared entry point.
- A component-based frontend framework with utility-first styling, enabling the dynamic per-CA brand color easily.
- A backend combining relational data storage, authentication, file storage, and real-time updates in one platform, to avoid stitching together multiple separate services.
- Hosting on a platform suited to fast, low-cost deployment of this kind of app, scalable as usage grows.
- File handling via secure, access-controlled storage buckets, one per user/firm, with signed URLs for downloads.
- AI/OCR auto-tagging: OCR extraction on uploaded files, passed to an AI model to classify Category + Financial Year, returned as a suggestion for user confirmation.
This approach keeps MVP cost low, and should not require a rewrite when moving from MVP to the full long-term product with a real team — the same codebase can be extended.
9. SUCCESS CRITERIA FOR MVP
- A CA can sign up, set up their firm profile, and invite clients.
- A client can join (standalone or via invite) and chat with the CA.
- Files sent in chat are automatically saved, AI-tagged with a suggested category and financial year, and appear correctly in both the CA’s Global Vault and the Client’s Personal Vault.
- A CA can search/filter the Vault and retrieve a specific document in seconds.
- Storage upgrade and payment approval flow works end-to-end (CA submits → Admin approves/rejects → storage updates accordingly).
- A user visiting the shared entry point can correctly reach their intended portal (Client, CA, or Admin) with no data crossover between portals.
If these six things work reliably, the MVP has proven its core hypothesis.