What's New


	Highlights	Help
	Search Listings	Search County Records
	View Listings	Open Houses
	Reports	Personal Menu
	Exports	Office Menu
	Revise Listings	IDX
	Prospects	Photographer
	Enter Listings	System-wide

HIGHLIGHTS

The following highlights some of the new features included in the upgrade:

Dynamic E-mail Reports
The e-mail function offers many new report formats to choose from, plus your recipients no longer view just a static report. Listing information now displays dynamically -- with up-to-the-minute accuracy! These are just a few of the enhancements to your MLS e-mail capabilities. (See details)

New Pop-up Help
Click a question mark to get just the answer you need! Pop-up links have been added to many forms to let you view explanations and helpful tips about specific items. (See details)

Create Prospects On-the-Fly
The Prospects software has become even better: now you can do a listing search first and then save the criteria, and even the results, under a new prospect's name. This change lets you set up prospects on-the-fly as you search for listings. (See details)

Open Houses Search Expanded
No more weeding through long lists of open houses. Now you can pinpoint your search for open houses using the same tools you use to search for listings! The Open Houses search form has been expanded to let you find open houses based on property type, city, price, number of bedrooms and bathrooms, and much more — you can even search by amenities! (See details)

Street Number Can be Searched
The Address Search now allows you to search by the Street Number field alone, for maximum flexibility. (See details)

Subdivision Search More Flexible
You can now choose subdivisions to search from more than one selected area. (See details)

SEARCH LISTINGS

Address Search More Flexible
The minimum search guidelines have been enhanced so that you can now search based on the Street # field alone. (Previously, the Address Search also required a street name in a street number search.) This was a much requested enhancement that will make the Address Search more useful and flexible, while still maintaining excellent system performance.

Searching by Agent-only Remarks, Occupant Name Possible
Two additional fields are available for search criteria: Agent-only Remarks and Occupant Name (if used by your MLS). Both of these allow a text search for any listings that contain the text you type in that field, to give you more ways to find listings.

Subdivisions Can be Searched for Multiple Areas
Searching based on areas and subdivisions is now more flexible. The Select Subdivisions window has been improved so that it displays the subdivisions for all of the areas you selected, regardless of how many areas you select. Previously, you could choose subdivisions either from a single area, or from the entire list. This enhancement gives you a more precise and faster way to target properties by their subdivisions.

Saved Search Feature Enhanced
You can now save a search or Hotsheet from the results page, as well as from the criteria page. This new feature lets you see what the search produced before you decide to save it.

In addition, the Save function at the lower left corner of search criteria and results pages has been enhanced. You can use it either to create a Saved Search (which you can name and access anytime from the Saved Searches pull-down field), OR alternately to create a new prospect. You can specify which of these options you want by selecting either "Saved Search" or "Prospect" above the Save field. (See Prospects Can be Created On the Fly for more details.)

Statistics Enhanced
Some exciting new features have been added to the statistical listing information you can access from any search. Now if you enter search criteria and click the Statistics button, the statistics summary page offers a new Charts button. Clicking this button lets you view various colored charts and graphs of the statistical information, to help you see the "big picture" in a visual format. Included are a pie chart showing the number of listings per status, and bar graphs that display the minimum, average and maximum square footage, number of bedrooms and bathrooms, listing price, selling price (if applicable), and days on market. An additional chart displays if your search criteria includes sold listings. These improvements give you even more ways to work with your MLS's listing statistics.

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VIEW LISTINGS

Property History View Improved
The Listing History and Property History links have been combined into one, for more convenient viewing. Now if you click the Property History link on a listing's detail page, you can view change history for the current listing AND a record of every time the property was listed in the MLS (based on the Tax Code). In addition, this page now displays all previous listings in summary format to give you a quicker grasp of the total activity for the property, and gives you the ability to click on any particular listing number to reveal detailed change history for that listing. Extra information that has been added to the Property History page includes the days on market, listing agent, and listing office. A field labeled Change Type was added to the change history detail to identify how the listing was changed (status, picture, price, or other). All these enhancements make the Property History link a much more useful tool.

Mapping Feature Improved
When you click the Map button to locate one or more listings on a map, the software now displays the map with a legend containing basic listing information for each mapped property, such as the street address and price. In addition, the label for each mapped item now contains just a number “1” or “2” or “3” and so forth, referring to the properties listed above the map. This new design not only provides more information, but also makes the map more readable by removing large labels that could have obscured map details.

Co-Office Information Added to Display
For listings that have a co-office attached to them, the co-office name, ID and phone number has been added to the listing detail page, for your reference.

Land Listings Show Price per Acre
To improve the listing detail page for land listings, a calculation of price per acre now displays.

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REPORTS

E-mail Function Expanded and Improved
Major enhancements for the E-mail Listings feature are included in this upgrade. A variety of HTML report formats are now available to be e-mailed, including your Client Summary and Detail reports, by clicking the same E-mail button you are accustomed to using. The report links that you send by e-mail no longer display a static report; from now on your recipients will actually be viewing a dynamic report created from the real-time listing database at the moment they click their e-mailed link. The time period that these e-mail links remain active has also been improved, from 15 to 30 days. This means that if you send your clients a listings report today, anytime in the next 30 days they can click on the link and view then-current information about the listings.

In addition, a new tool on the Personal menu lets you view a record of all the e-mail reports you've sent from the MLS within the past 30 days (see Sent E-mail Can be Viewed for details). These numerous improvements will make the E-mail button an even more powerful marketing tool for agents.

Office Assistants Can Print Reports for Agents
Many customers have requested a way for office assistants and secretaries to print reports for an agent that would feature the agent's name and contact information on them (not the office assistant's). A new access right makes this possible, and brokers can assign this right to their office assistants. (See New "Office Assistant" Access Right Available for more details.)

The Report Options page, where you can choose which type of report you want to run, now allows office assistants that have the new access right to select an agent. The selected agent's name and contact information will display on the report, just as if the agent had generated it.

Override Added for Pictures on Reports
An "Include Pictures" check box has been added to the Report Options page (where you select and run a report) to let you determine on-the-fly whether pictures display on a report. This check box works as an override to your agent preference "Show Pictures on Reports," which is on the Agent Preferences form. For example, if your preference is activated to show pictures on reports, then when you actually run a report the Include Pictures check box is checked by default -- however, you can uncheck it if you want to leave the pictures off of that particular report. This added feature gives you more control when generating a report.

Additional HTML Reports Installed
The following standard reports that previously were available only in PDF format are now also available as HTML, to give you a choice:

Flyer
3-Across Comparison Report
Open House Report

Property History Report Improved
The Property History Report has been reformatted. It now displays all previous listings for a particular property in summary format first, and also lets you click on any particular listing number to reveal the detailed change history for that listing. A field labeled Change Type was added to the change history detail to identify how the listing was changed (status, picture, price, or other). The new flexibility to expand or collapse information per listing enables to create just the report you want to print.

Reports Indicate Range Marketing Plan
For listings that have the Range Mktg Plan field set to Yes, the following HTML reports have been enhanced to display an "R" next to the listing price: Agent Detail, One Line, Client Detail, CMA, and the Custom Client Detail e-mail report. This enhancement applies only to residential and land-lot listings.

PDF Reports Load in New Window
Reports using the PDF format now display in a new window, so that when you're finished viewing a PDF report, you can just close the window. The MLS software remains open for your convenience.

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EXPORTS

IRIS Exports Modified
The exports to IRIS CMA Plus and IRIS Lightning third-party software have been improved so that the Marketing Remarks field in the MLS is now mapped to the Public Comments field in Iris, and the Agent-Only Remarks field in the MLS now populates the Remarks field in Iris. Previously, these fields were incorrectly mapped in reverse.

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REVISE LISTINGS

New "Copy Pictures" Feature Installed
A new item on the Revise Listing menu, "Copy Pictures," enables you to copy selected pictures from one listing to another. The intuitive interface lets you view all the pictures for a specific listing and select the ones you want to copy. This is a time-saving feature when entering multiple, similar listings.

Tracking Selling Agent/Office Enhanced
The Revise Status Information form has been enhanced with additional functions for entering the selling agent and office when a listing becomes sold. First, the link to "Look up IDs" has been improved, and actually fills in the agent and office ID fields when you use it to search for and select an agent. (Previously, you could search for an agent, but you had to type in the IDs manually.) Second, the software now enables you to enter non-member information for either the selling agent/office or the selling co-agent/co-office. These changes will improve the accuracy of your listing data and statistics, and make entering selling information quicker and easier.

Selling Price Field Improved on Status Information Form
Two changes have been made to make the Selling Price field on the Status Information form easier to enter and prevent typographical errors. First, the field has been split into two fields, with 000 defaulting in the second field. This change enables you to type the thousands digits separately, and edit the last 000 only if necessary, so you can keep better track visually of the number of zeros. Second, the program now checks the selling price entered against the listing price. If the selling price varies from the listing price by more than 25%, a warning message displays. While the agent can still proceed if necessary, this warning should help prevent accidental typing errors such as dropping a digit, and keep your selling data accurate.

Future Status Dates Cannot be Entered
Based on customer requests, the Status Information Form has been modified so that a future date cannot be entered as the contingent, pending or selling date. (Previously, these fields accepted dates up to 30 days in the future.) This change only applies to listings when they are changed to a status that translates to contingent, pending or sold, and is meant to prevent anyone from accidentally post-dating the status change.

Number of Pictures Displays on Menu
The Revise Listing menu has been improved so that now you can see at a glance how many pictures have been uploaded to your listing. A number displays in parentheses next to the Pictures – Upload menu item, which indicates the current picture count for the selected listing.

Incomplete Listings Made Easier to Use
The Incomplete Listings page has been improved with links either to view or revise the listing detail. Previously, agents could only revise the listing. The new option to view an incomplete listing has been requested by customers for reference purposes.

Unit Management Slightly Modified
When entering unit detail, you can now only fill in the Unit Number field with alpha or numeric characters, and alpha characters will be forced to uppercase. These restrictions will improve the quality of unit data. In addition, the Delete button has been replaced with a Delete Unit link on the Unit Management page, for easier access.

ZIP Code Required
The ZIP Code field is now required, based on your MLS's decision. When you enter or revise a listing, the software now produces an error message if a five-digit ZIP code is not in the listing information. This change should improve your MLS data by making it more complete.

Estimated Selling Date Can be Tracked
A new field has been added to the Revise Status Information form labeled Estimated Selling Date. When you change a listing to a pending status, you can enter the date you expect to close in this new field.

Comment Label Removed
To improve the form where you enter or revise a listing, the label "Comment" has been removed from the tan header rows if no Comment fields are available.

Character Count Off for Macintosh Users
Since the dynamic character count feature causes slowness for Macintosh computers, the Revise Listing Information form has been improved to detect the user's browser version. If it detects a Macintosh browser, then the Enable Character Count check box that controls this feature on the remarks fields will be turned off by default. This improvement should make listing input/revision easier for Macintosh users.

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PROSPECTS

Prospects Can be Created On the Fly
You can now create a brand new prospect on-the-fly, right from any search criteria or results page! When you've entered the new prospect's search criteria, at the bottom of the criteria page in the box labeled "Save this search as a:" you can type in the new prospect's name, choose the "Prospect" option, and click Save. The software saves the search criteria you entered, and takes you directly to fill in the rest of your prospect's information. Then you can run the search for the prospect, if desired.

If you run a search first, and then decide you want to set up a new prospect, you can do the same thing from the search results page! In fact, the software here is even more robust -- not only can you enter a new prospect's name and save their search criteria, but you can also automatically add any listings you've selected in the search results directly into the new prospect's cart. When you click the Save button, the software takes you next to where you can finish setting up the prospect. With this method, your search criteria automatically becomes saved as the prospect's search, and the listings you selected are deposited in the Saved tab of the prospect's cart.

These features give you additional ways to save a prospect search conveniently, either before or after you search for listings.

More Listing Information Displays on Newly Matched Tab
The Newly Matched tab for each of your prospects allows you to view listings that match your prospect’s criteria, and decide whether to “save” or “reject” each listing. To make this job easier, the Newly Matched tab now displays more information per listing in an expanded, multi-line format.

Managing your Newly Matched Listings Made Easier
Another major improvement to the Prospects software lets you view ALL of your active buyer prospects’ newly matched listings in one place! A new link labeled “Manage Newly Matched” opens a type of prospect “hotsheet.” You can easily go down the list of your prospects and quickly decide to save or reject listings for prospects, one after another. Any listing you save or reject becomes part of the appropriate prospect’s Saved or Rejected tab, as applicable. This feature makes it more efficient to let the software auto-prospect for you, and let you manage the results! (NOTE: This feature may be installed several days following the upgrade.)

Inactive Prospects Hidden by Default
The Prospects page has been improved so that when you first open it, only your active prospects display. To see your inactive prospects, you can click the “Show Inactive Prospects” hyperlink at the bottom of the page. This simple improvement will allow the software to open more quickly and reduce the clutter of inactive prospects showing, while still giving you the ability to view or re-activate an old prospect.

Prospects Can be Sorted
The Prospects page now gives you several ways you can sort your prospects. Prospects are still separated by status (with active prospects at the top and inactive prospects listed below), and within each status can be sorted by name, prospect type (buyer or seller), or entry date. These sort options default based on your agent preferences, but you can choose a different sort option and click the Refresh button whenever you want to reorganize your prospect list.

Tracking Prospect Inactivation Dates Possible
The software has a built-in function that turns a prospect’s status to Inactive after a certain number of days of inactivity. This is a simple maintenance feature that helps keep your prospect list trimmed to just your current clients. A new feature lets you see when each prospect will become inactive, if desired. Using the new Sort By function at the bottom of the Prospects page, pull down the options and select “Inactivation Date.” The software re-sorts the prospects by when they will expire, with the soonest dates at the top, and also displays the inactivation date for each prospect.

Prospect Codes More Functional
You can now see the Prospect Code field on the main Prospects page. This piece of information displays in parentheses next to each prospect’s name, if you have entered a code for the prospect. In addition, you can now choose to sort your prospects by their prospect codes using the new “Sort By” function at the bottom of the page. These enhancements make it more useful for you to set up a unique code for each of your prospects.

Cc: E-mail Can be Sent Automatically
You can now set up auto-prospecting to send e-mail not only to the prospect, but also to a Cc: address. A new Yes/No field has been added to the Prospect Information form to let you control this behavior. If you select Send E-mail to Cc = Yes, then auto-prospecting e-mail will be sent to the agent, the prospect, AND to whatever e-mail address is in the prospect's Cc field. This much-requested feature gives you another way to take advantage of auto-prospecting.

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ENTER LISTINGS

Listing Price Field Improved
The Listing Price field has been split into two fields, with 000 defaulting in the second field. This change enables you to type the thousands digits separately, and edit the last 000 only if necessary, so you can keep better track visually of the number of zeros. This change should improve accuracy and speed of listing input.

Geo-coding Simplified
All listing addresses are compared to the AccuMail national postal database so that "geo-codes" (i.e., longitude and latitude) can be attached. These geo-codes are used by the Radius Search, and only listings that have valid geo-codes can be found by a Radius Search. Since there are occasions when an address cannot be validated by AccuMail, previously there was a check box option on the listing input form labeled "Proceed with non-standard address" that allowed an agent to enter listings that AccuMail could not validate.

This function has been improved in two ways. First, the check box has been removed from the listing input form; if AccuMail cannot validate the address, then rather than stop the listing from being entered, the software now displays a warning message at the top of the Revise Listing menu that informs the listing agent that the listing was not validated. Second, fields have been added to the Revise Listing Information form that allow you to enter or modify the geo-codes manually. These improvements should enable problems related to AccuMail geo-coding to be easily resolved.

County Can be Defaulted
To make listing input easier, you can now specify a county to fill in automatically each time you enter a new listing. You could change the default if necessary when you enter a listing, but if it is correct, this feature saves you time by filling in the field for you. To set this up, choose Agent Preferences from the Personal menu, and select your Preferred County.

Street Number and Modifier Split
To handle street addresses that use non-numeric characters in the street number (such as 440 1/2, or 297B), the listing input form now contains a Modifier field beside the Street # field. Only numeric characters can be entered in the Street # field, and only the Street # field (not the Modifier field) is available for searching.

NOTE: In the upgrade, any existing listings that have non-numeric characters in their street numbers will be updated. If a non-numeric character is found in an existing street number, the text string beginning with that character will be moved into the new Modifier field. For example, "297B" would be split into Street # 297 and Modifier B; however, "Lot 23" would be completely moved into the Modifier field, since the first character is not a number. Please check your listings to ensure accuracy.

Tax Code Formatting Improved
The Tax Code field on the Enter New Listing form has been reformatted to match the actual format of Pima County's Tax Code records. Whenever you select Pima County, the Tax Code field will dynamically change to the proper format. In addition, Tax Codes for listings entered from now on display in the new format on screens and reports. This enhancement makes entering and viewing listing Tax Codes more intuitive.

Co-Office Field Added
The listing input form has been enhanced to let you enter a co-office as well as co-agent ID. To make this process easier, you can type in the co-office ID first and then click the Select Co-Agent link to pick the appropriate name from the list of agents in the co-office. This same functionality is also available for the main Office ID/Agent ID pair of fields. As before, the software verifies that the selected agent belongs to the specific office entered. The new field and functionality improves the listing input process.

Checking for Duplicate Listings Expanded
If your MLS employs the software feature that compares new listings to your active listing data, to check for duplicates, it has been improved. Previously, only the Tax Code field was compared. Now, the software also looks for a duplicate street address (including a matching street number, street name, street suffix, and unit number). If either the Tax Code or the street address are found, then the new listing is considered a duplicate.

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HELP

New Pop-up Help Installed
A new feature has been implemented that makes getting help quick and easy. A question mark graphic displays next to many fields in the software. Clicking this link opens a small pop-up Help window that describes just that particular field or function. For instance, on any of the search forms you can click a question mark to read tips for entering criteria in that field. This new feature supplements the existing searchable Help system, and will be extended to many other areas of the software in coming upgrades.

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SEARCH COUNTY RECORDS

County Can Default in Tax Searches
You can use the new Preferred County preference (in the Agent Preferences form) to specify a county you would like to use as the default selection whenever you use the Search County Records program. This will save you time setting up your search criteria, if you generally search within a single county.

NOTE: The new preference can be set to ANY county in your database, not just those with linked county records. If you select a county that does not have tax data, then the county cannot default in your Search County Records form. Counties that do have linked tax data are marked with an asterisk (*) for your reference.

Property History in MLS Linked from Tax Search
A link has been added to the results page of the county records search labeled "Property History." Clicking this link lets you view information from the MLS database for each time the property has been listed. (This is the same Property History feature that is mentioned above; see Property History View Improved for details.)

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OPEN HOUSES

Open Houses Search Expanded
Previously, the Open Houses feature offered only two criteria, open house dates and area, for narrowing down a search for open houses. This software has been greatly enhanced, and now lets you enter a wide variety of search criteria to target your open houses search. The criteria form is now very similar to the regular searches, including fields like Property Type, Price, Bedrooms and Bathrooms, etc.; and if you select only one property type, you can click the Additional Criteria button to select amenities, too. Even better, you can now SAVE an Open Houses search so you can run it anytime right from your Saved Searches pull-down list (see below). These improvements will make staying on top of open houses much easier and more efficient, so you'll never miss a promising open house again!

Open House Criteria Can be Saved
You can now save an Open Houses search — or several different ones — using the Saved Searches feature. Once you enter your criteria, just type in a name such as My Open House Search and click the Save button. Your saved Open Houses search will be available right from the Saved Searches list in the Search bar, so you can easily run it anytime. You can even specify whether your saved Open House search should preserve the exact date range you entered, or adjust the dates automatically whenever you run the search, using the radio button options beneath the Open House Dates fields.

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PERSONAL MENU

New Agent Preferences Give You More Control
Several new options have been added to the Agent Preferences form, which is accessible from the Personal menu. These new preferences give agents additional default controls that they can set up to save them time and keystrokes, and make the system work best for them.

Property Type Defaults: This new option lets you specify which property types are checked by default when you start a new search or Hotsheet, or when you search for open houses. For convenience, the first of your default property types is also used as the default when you enter a new listing (but can be modified, if necessary).
Use External Web Page: If you activate this new preference, then your agent name will be linked to your own external Web site (if there is a Web Page URL in your agent information), rather than to your agent contact information page in the MLS. This hyperlink would be available for either the agent or co-agent from all public-view forms.
Preferred County: You can specify a county to use as the default when searching tax records (if your MLS has a link to public tax records) and when entering new listings.
Prospect Sort: Now that the Prospects page offers several options for how prospects are sorted, this preference was added so you can specify how you want them to sort by default.

Sent E-mail Can be Viewed
A new item called "View Sent E-mail" on the Personal menu lets you view a record of all listing reports you have e-mailed (using the E-mail Listings function) within the past 30 days. The information that displays for your reference includes the e-mail date, the From:, To: and CC: e-mail addresses, and even a link to view the listing report. So the next time a client calls to talk to you about the listings you sent him two weeks ago, you'll have a way to quickly look them up. This program is a convenient and helpful tool for tracking your sent e-mail. (Note: This program does not display auto-prospecting e-mail.)

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OFFICE MENU

New "Office Assistant" Access Right Available
Many customers have requested a way for office assistants and secretaries to print reports for an agent that would feature the agent's name and contact information on them (not the office assistant's). The new "Office Assistant" access right makes this possible. (See Office Assistants Can Print Reports for Agents for more details.)

NOTE TO BROKERS: If you are a broker (with either the Manage Office Listings or Manage Office Agents right), then you have been assigned the new Office Assistant right in this upgrade and can activate it for your office assistant(s). To assign the access right, choose Manage Member Access from the Office menu, select the desired person's name, check the Office Assistant box, and click Submit.

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IDX

IDX Search Results Modified
Per decision of your MLS, the listing agent and listing office's phone numbers now display on listings viewed through an IDX search.

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PHOTOGRAPHER

Photographer Export & Report Improved
The Photographer Export program has been modified to include the listing entry date, per customer requests. The Photographer Report has been enhanced, and now includes the listing's year built and price.

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SYSTEM-WIDE

Agent/Office Lookup Feature Improved
The link to "Look up IDs" that lets you search for agents and offices from many forms system-wide has been improved. Now when you locate the particular agent or office, you can click a "Select" link next to their name and the software automatically closes the lookup window and fills in the agent or office ID field with the selected ID.

MLS Icon Displays in User's Favorites
Rapattoni has created a small graphic "MLS" icon that will be used whenever someone bookmarks their Rapattoni MLS site, for easy access in their browser. The icon automatically takes the place of the small Internet Explorer icon that displays by default next to each URL link, both in the user’s Favorites list and in the Address field of the browser. (This feature, which is currently used by well-known Internet sites such as Yahoo! and Google, applies only to PCs using the Microsoft Internet Explorer browser.) This new feature will help you quickly distinguish your MLS from other sites in your Favorites list.

NOTE: If you have previously added the MLS to your Favorites list, you can update it so it displays the new icon. Click the link in your Favorites list to open the site, and then press Ctrl+D.

"See Map" Link Display Made Smarter
The software has been revised to offer the "See Map" hyperlink only for listings with valid street addresses. This is to prevent errors or incorrect map data from displaying. (Note: Listing addresses are validated during listing input against the AccuMail national postal database.)

Navigation Bar Links Reorganized
The links in the blue shortcut bars have been reorganized in a more logical order, based on customer requests. The "Home" link has been moved to the first position, since it is the most frequently used link, and "Help" has been moved to the last position for easier accessibility to all the resources on the Help menu.

Lot Size Display Improved
If your MLS tracks Lot Size for a particular property type as acres (rather than square feet), the superfluous "Sq.Ft." option is now hidden on the searches as well as the listing input/revise forms if that property type is selected.