For those of you that have been alpha testing the Desktop Billing, your updates will now come via Aurora's Instant Customer Updates. We'll continue to post alpha updates in between live updates for those of you with specific issues or if you're anxious to install the latest and greatest.
I have received many requests to sign up for the Desktop Billing forums. I have ran into some issues with it, but you should hear back from me this week with a login that works. I apologize for the delay.
1/18/2007 12PM CST: We just posted a patch to the current alpha. I strongly urge all of you to and install it. You need the installed first, and then you'll need to install this patch. Some of you let us know that you were having problems with WinTOTAL locking up especially from inside a report when switching PowerViews. Today's update should fix that problem.
We have also discovered another issue that could have a big impact which is not fixed with this alpha. If you merge from a template and that template has any of the appraiser, suppervisor, client, or lender information on the major form, the contact record associated to each entity will not be written to the new report. For instance, many of you use templates with the appraiser signature blocked filled out on the major form. If you merge from one of these templates, the appraiser contact information will be written to the new report, but the actual contact record will not. This means, WinTOTAL will see this as a new ad hoc contact and will try to create a duplicate. The work around for this issue is the following:
After you merge a report, reselect all contacts on the new report by clicking on the Contact icon for each party assigned to the order. If you're prompted to create a new ad hoc contact for a company/person you know exists, don't create it. Simply cancel out of the ad hoc pop-up and reselect the contacts on the form.
When you install this alpha, you'll notice that we've inserted a license agreement to the installation. This is our standard beta license agreement. If you'd like a printable copy of this agreement, send a request via email to .
Last but not least, we've set up a special Desktop Billing forum for all the alpha and beta testers to use. This forum is a place where you can interact with a la mode employees and other testers by posting issues you're having with Desktop Billing and suggesting ideas or changes. To get access to this new forum, please email providing your customer number, the first and last name of the person that will be the point of contact for the testing, and the email address to be used on the forum.
12/22/2006 10AM CST: A new Desktop Billing alpha has been posted and can be downloaded by visiting our Pre-Release page. The most notable new addition is a redesigned Contacts PowerView. Also included are many bug fixes specifically in the area of Invoices and Reporting in the Billing PowerView. Check out our page for more details.
In the next week or two, I'll send an invitation to all of you that have participated in the alpha to join our Desktop Billing beta program. The program will include a more interactive opportunity for you to provide feedback concerning the billing module and to collaborate with other appraisers to see how they're using it. As I mentioned, the invitation will only go to alpha members at first. Soon after, we'll open the invitation up to other interested appraisers. I'm really excited about the program and hope to have it set up shortly.
11/20/2006 4PM CST: Desktop Billing Alpha 6 has been posted and is available to download. This alpha is composed of just bug fixes - no new features. Visit our to check out what's included. It's important to note that the invoice repair utility will run again if you have any invoices that aren't visible in the Billing PowerView.
For the next alpha, we're focusing our attention on changes to the Contacts PowerView and Reporting. There are quite a few issues with reporting that we hope to have fixed as well as a substantial change to the design and layout of Contacts PowerView. Since next week is a holiday, the alpha will most likely be posted the on Monday or Tuesday of the week following.
We're in the home stretch of this alpha and will be going to beta with Desktop Billing next month. For those of you currently using the alpha, I'm hoping you'll install the beta when it's available and continue to provide your invaluable feedback.
11/13/2006 5PM CST: We won't be posting another alpha today after all. We're contacting a few of you with a utility that we think will repair your invoices so they'll show up in the Billing PowerView. If it works well, we'll post an alpha that includes the utility. We're still trying to track down specifically how these invoices are being marked as hidden. If anyone has any clues as to what happened right before you lost track of your invoices, please let us know by emailing .
11/10/2006 5PM CST: We just posted a new alpha install that fixes a pretty big bug. On the current Desktop Billing alpha, if you rebuild your folders you won't be able to open a report from the Files PowerView. Everyone that has the Desktop Billing alpha needs to download and install this update.
We'll post another alpha on Monday, 11/13/06, that fixes another really big issue. If you rebuild your folders or your report list, all of the invoices tied to those reports will no longer show up in your Billing PowerView (we've heard from quite a few of you about this one because it's a dramatic change in the number of invoices that are visible). All the invoice information is still there, it's just basically hidden from the Billing PowerView. We'll have a fix for you Monday!
For those of you who have specific reports that won't import into billing if you know how to email the report in WinTOTAL format (zap file), please send them to . We can try to duplicate the issue here and post a fix.
11/8/2006 6PM CST: Finally, Desktop Billing Alpha 5 is ready to be downloaded. Visit our What's New page to check out what's included. Notably, it doesn't look like a big update but it does contain some bug fixes that were causing issues. It's important to note that once you download and install the update a utility will run that will repair your invoices. Our has the scoop on this, so make sure you visit it.
After hearing from a few of you this week, I realized that there was some confusion concerning Desktop Billing, XSite Billing, and how they'll talk to each other. Our intention is to make Billing an either/or option - either you use Desktop Billing or you use XSite Billing. In fact once you've enabled Desktop Billing, marking invoices as paid from the Files PowerView only updates the local invoice. The XSite icon in the Files PowerView merely means that the Order is integrated with your XSite, not your billing records. We made this decision for the sake of simplicity. We could build an overly complicated system that would take years to get out, but we're choosing the simple route. You need to be assured that your billing records are accurate. Keeping two separate billing systems in sync simply makes things much more complicated. Please, if you intend to continue to use your XSite, don't install the Desktop Billing alpha. If you would like to uninstall the Desktop Billing Alpha, send an email to .
As always, let me know your likes, dislikes, or problems. As a reminder, I updated the page earlier in the week. Please take a look. There is a wealth of information.
11/7/2006 5:30PM CST: Unfortunately, we have to delay the alpha by at least one more day. Check back tomorrow for an update.
11/6/2006 6PM CST: We had an alpha scheduled for today, but we need to postpone it until tomorrow. We found some issues that need to be fixed before posting the update. Check back tomorrow.
The FAQ page was updated with some of the questions you've had over the last few weeks. and let me know if I left anything off by emailing .
11/2/2006 10AM CST: The November 1 update to Aurora caused an unexpected but minor issue. If you had the Desktop Billing alpha installed, the update removed the Billing PowerView icon from your appraisal desktop. To remedy the issue, please reinstall the latest Desktop Billing alpha by visiting ourpage. It's important to note that this issue has no affect on the data in your billing system. Once you get the button back, everything will still be there. I apologize for the inconvenience.
On another note, our Desktop Billing help manual has been updated with a section on the Desktop Billing Data Import Wizard as well as a section about our changes to contacts. Take a look at the entire manual the next time you run into an issue (or just have some free time on your hands).
10/30/2006 2PM CST: We've now got a Desktop Billing online and will be adding it to Aurora soon. Please reference it as you're using Desktop Billing. We'll be updating it frequently.
As a reminder, we released an updated alpha on Friday, 10/27. Follow the links below to download it. Please make sure to read the What's New page first. We plan on posting another alpha on 11/3 which will include some small changes. Our next big alpha is still 3-4 weeks out, and it will include some big changes to the Contacts PowerView as well as the ability to completely switch to Desktop Billing if you currently use an XSite for billing and management reporting. Keep checking here for updates to our schedule.
10/27/2006 10pm CST: Desktop Billing Alpha 4 has been posted to the site and can be . Please take the time to read in this update. Obviously, the Desktop Billing Data Import wizard is the biggest part of this release but there's things that come with it that are important (especially the changes to contacts that are in this alpha and the changes to come in future updates). I'll be updating the frequently asked questions based on feedback I get from you, so please . The more feedback I get, the better (even if you absolutely hate something).
10/13/2006 10am
CST: We
just released our 3rd alpha of Desktop Billing. to
learn what's new in this update.
This update is especially important
because it adds desktop billing support directly to your reports. You can
now add and update an invoice from a report instead of creating the invoice
separately. Click the Download link below to get the latest update. I
highly encourage you to read the Desktop Billing FAQ.
There's
quite a few changes in this release, and it would be wise to learn about
them before installing the alpha. Also, you still won't see items in your
reports until you manually add the invoice by opening the report.
Therefore, this alpha is still for test driving and not meant to replace
your current accounting system.
Next on our plate is the data import which
is the last part of stage 3. We'll start by giving you a utility to add
billing data from your existing reports. This should be out to alpha in the
next 2-3 weeks. After that, we'll tackle downloading data from your XSites.
10/2/2006 11am
CST: While
most of the core pieces of desktop billing are complete, we've run into a
pretty big stumbling block centered around management reports and contacts.
We understand that many of you are waiting for desktop billing because of
the management reporting features. However, to provide accurate and useful
management reports we must give you tools to clean up and manage your
contacts. Therefore, we'll be working on a big contacts project that will
have to come before we can release desktop billing to everyone. In our
testing it became apparent that if we didn't give you these tools, the
desktop billing we released would not live up to your expectations, and it
wouldn't meet your needs. In the meantime, we'll have the core pieces I
mentioned at the beginning of this update available to download as an alpha
in the coming weeks. For those of you that want to try billing from scratch
and aren't worried about management reporting the minute you install it,
you can try it out. Once we release this alpha, we'll post a link to it on
this page so keep checking for updates.
So what are the stages in Aurora’s desktop billing?
The first is the foundation. We’ve already got that done and I won’t bore
you with the details. It’s the next three stages that I think you’ll find
to be more important.
If you have other questions, shoot an e-mail at .
