To: All WinTOTAL Aurora (version 5) users
From: Adam Calvery, VP Appraisal Products, a la mode, inc.
Re: Aurora:  June 17th update is available

This month's WinTOTAL Aurora update is now available on our servers. To download it, click the "Get Updates" button on the toolbar in your Appraisal Desktop. You can read the complete release notes here, or visit the Aurora Status website.  To visit it now, click here.

Today’s update includes incremental improvements to nearly every area in Aurora.  In addition to many small changes, here are some of the major projects we’re working on for future inclusion in Aurora:

1. General Purpose Small Commercial form – this form has been under development and appraiser scrutiny for several months now and should be available very soon.  As many appraisers have started doing more commercial work than they’ve done in recent years, this will be a welcome addition to the GP forms series.  To see a preview of the form, click here.
2. XSites Desktop with Collaborator Plugin – The XSites Desktop is a “shell” application that allows us to rapidly deploy various Aurora and XSite “helper” plugins.  The Collaborator plugin will soon be ready and will let you easily share and move WinTOTAL reports between appraisers in remote locations, or between your office and home PCs.
3. Converter for DaVinci – We’ll soon have a converter available for DaVinci that converts Apex sketches from existing reports for use in DaVinci.  Look for that this summer.

And speaking of DaVinci…last week we were in Chicago for our Regional Seminar, and I taught the DaVinci Desktop class for the first time.  I was struck at the shock in customers’ faces as they see how simple it is to sketch with DaVinci.  For example, many are surprised to see that Undo works anytime while sketching.  And that you can edit a line length just by clicking on it and typing the new length, rather than having to reopen an area and hit Delete all the way back to the line you want to change.  The list goes on and on.  Just check out some of the short videos that Chris Low (the DaVinci Product Manager) put together here, and you’ll see my point. 

Yes, I’m biased.  But I’ve taught sketching classes on various third party sketchers for years at seminars and conventions, and I know the difference firsthand.  Try it yourself.  The next time you’re in the Sketch PowerView, click the “Sketch With” button on the toolbar and choose DaVinci.  If you like your current sketcher, that’s great, and we’re committed to WinTOTAL having integration with any sketcher you prefer.  We just want to be sure you know that you have a free, easy to use, a la mode sketcher built in.

As for the future, Aurora continues to be our main priority, even as we rapidly approach our “a la mode labs” release of the preliminary, lightweight next generation “Armstrong” version.  Scheduled for June 30th, the downloadable version of Armstrong is already Vista Certified, making it the only appraisal software on the market with up-to-date certification by Microsoft – and the only appraisal formfiller we know of certified by independent laboratory testing.

As always, thanks for your time and your business, and don’t hesitate to let me know how I can be of any service.

Adam Calvery
VP, Appraisal Products
a la mode, inc.
adam@alamode.com

WinTOTAL Aurora (v5) – June 17, 2008 Update

Comps PowerView:

• Pasting an image now works correctly when editing a comparable. 
• The search function for manufactured homes in the comps database will now work correctly based on if you checked ‘Yes’ (True) or ‘No’ (False) in the comp for manufactured home. 
• When pasting an image in “Edit Comparable,” if the image size is larger than your default settings you will receive a message stating this and the Image Optimizer will launch to allow you to configure the file size of the image.
• Images that are copied and pasted into a report now get imported correctly into the Comps database. 

Contacts PowerView: 

• Deleted companies and contacts that are still tied to reports will now be available for merging in the Contacts Cleanup Wizard.
• Contacts that have a lot of information on the Address line will now be correctly added to the contacts database as an Ad hoc contact.
• Previously, manually entering phone numbers for contacts and companies on the order form would save the contact phone number to the company.  This has been corrected.

DaVinci Mobile Pro:

• Invalid characters in a report created in DaVinci will no longer cause the report to not load in Aurora.

Desktop Billing: 

• Invoices assigned to contacts with the same first name will no longer get assigned to the incorrect appraiser contact.
• Opening and closing a signed report with an invoice no longer changes the date modified for the report.

Files PowerView:

• Reports with fields containing data that exceeds the field size limit allowed will now show correctly in the File Cabinet.
• Using auto-expand or having the Order Form view selected in the File Cabinet will no longer shift focus back to the Appraisal Desktop when printing a report to PDF.
• File counts displayed in the Tracking filters will now reflect that of the XSite user currently associated with WinTOTAL.
• Copying reports from folder to folder either in Windows Explorer or the File Cabinet will no longer allow duplicate filenames to be created.

Form PowerView:

• Using the enter key on the additional comps page for the Second Mortgage Property Value Analysis Report major form now properly navigates the form.
• Corrected an error in the E&O check for the GP 2-4 Unit forms that caused a warning to be displayed when the unit breakdown matched in the sales comparison approach and the improvements section.
• You’re now able to use Ctrl D to add the date to a supplemental addendum while in the addenda split view.
• On certain forms, running an E&O check caused the E&O Review Details to cut off characters immediately following a carriage return.  This has been corrected.
• The appraiser signature will now be correctly placed on the form when pressing enter on the 'Sign as Appraiser' box instead of clicking OK.
• Scrollbar arrows now work correctly immediately after pasting an image on a Generic Map Page. 
• The worksheet now saves correctly after doing a copy/paste and saving the report for the first time.

General: 

• An issue with signature passwords ending in numbers not working correctly has been fixed.    
• You can now create a report on a computer with Windows Vista when your screen resolution is set to 800X600 and Desktop Billing is enabled.
• Corrected an issue that prevented reports from saving if multiple reports were saved at the same time.
• Changing the alignment of text in a numbers only field now works correctly.
• Clearing the data under USPS/Standard from the side panel in the Maps PowerView will now allow you to go back to the Order PowerView without any problems.
• The “Show leading +/-“ formatting option will now merge into new reports correctly.
• An issue with quickly switching between the Forms and Images PowerView has been corrected.
• Using CTRL + click to highlight multiple checkboxes now highlights the checkbox correctly.
• In certain situations, printing to PDF could cause part of the form under a signature to be hidden.  This has been corrected.

Images PowerView:

• Moving and image, opening the Image Optimizer and then cancelling out of the Image Optimizer will no longer add the image back to its original position on the form.
• Images are now correctly labeled in the database as Interior when added to Subject Photo Page (Ltr).
• In Unused Images and Image on Disk, with previews turned on, renaming image file names now works correctly.
• Performing a search in unused images and then making a change to one of the images in the results list will correctly update the database with the changes.

Maps PowerView:

• Comps deleted from the forms view are now removed from maps as well.
• Removing an address from the Comps PowerView now removes the property from maps as well.
• Fixed an uncommon issue where proximities would not transfer if you went to the Forms PowerView prior to the map loading fully in the Maps PowerView.
• Manually changing the latitude and longitude of a comparable in the Map Wizard will no longer cause incorrect latitude and longitude to be imported into the Comps Database.
• Comparables removed from a report will now correctly be removed from the properties list in the Maps PowerView.

net.X Connect: 

• Corrected an issue that could cause an appraiser contact's license expiration date to increment by one.
• Expired XSites will now display 'Expired’ after the URL when choosing which XSite to associate in WinTOTAL.
• Synching large numbers of contacts (10,000+) with an XSite will no longer time out intermittently.

• Accounts with expired XSites or stand-alone XSellerate will no longer be allowed to synchronize orders to the web or use XSite Order Manager plugins.
• WinTOTAL will now correctly set status on the local machine when associated to an XSellerate-only account.

QuickLists:

• Adding a QuickList from the "All" library to the "Quick" library now works correctly in the Sales Comparison Grid.
• With two reports open, focus is now properly kept on the current report when accessing the QuickList Options. 
• An issue with adding non-sequential multi-field QuickLists has been corrected.
• Using a QuickList entry for the last field of the subject sales history will now correctly put the cursor in the first field of the first comparable.
• In certain scenarios, entering a QuickList wouldn’t move the focus to the next field.  This has been corrected.
• QuickLists for checkboxes now work correctly when using alt + down to activate the QuickList drop down.
• An issue where using multi-field QuickLists whose first field contained text followed by fields with checkboxes has been corrected.

SafeStart: 

• WinTOTAL SafeStart will now automatically create a DaVinci program group and shortcuts in the Start menu.

Sketch PowerView:

• DaVinci sketches that have custom patterns now display correctly when transferred into WinTOTAL.
• Sketches from DaVinci with diagonal right angles now scale correctly.

WinTOTAL Configuration Options: 

• Added the ability to disable fly outs in the Orders PowerView from suggesting potential properties to merge from. 

New Forms:

• Additional Listings page for Small Income [Form 1025][03/05]
• Additional Listings page for Exterior-Only Condo [Form 1075][03/05]
• Additional Listings page for Condo [Form 1073][03/05]

PCV Murcor Delivery:

• Delivering a report that has a value of over a million dollars in the Estimated Market Value will now upload to PCV Murcor correctly.

XSite Order Manager Delivery Plugins:

• A new plugin is available for Fitzpatrick Valuation.