To:       All WinTOTAL users
From:   David Biggers, Chairman, a la mode, inc.
Re:       Today’s Aurora update and more

Since we pushed the update back a week, my message today will serve the dual purpose of discussing exactly what’s in today’s Aurora update, as well as answering questions and dealing with issues as I typically try to do.

1.  First, let’s address today’s update.  At the end of this message, I’ve pasted in the full list of what was changed, but that doesn’t do a good job of conveying the real “meat” of what’s different. 

Non-lender forms are in this update.   As Adam mentioned in his prior e-mail, the new Appraisal Institute AI Reports™ non-lending forms were tied to the core changes in the forms engine.  Since this update includes the new engine, it also includes the new Appraisal Institute-designed forms.

There are significant fixes to the main components in WinTOTAL.   We have special teams dedicated to the core forms engine, the desktop, and the other components which are the foundation of WinTOTAL, focusing right now on those users who experienced the most severe issues.  Summarizing from last week’s e-mail from Adam, you’ll see improvements in these areas and more:

These sound severe, and it would be easy to assume Aurora is worse than Athena as a result, but many of the problems here have actually been in WinTOTAL for 10 years but were never able to be tracked down.  That should give you some idea of how low-level and comprehensive we’ve gotten, and how successful we’re being now.  Why only now?  Aurora has more sophisticated and comprehensive diagnostics and error logging than older versions.  Tracking this down was exceedingly difficult, if not impossible, in older versions.  (For the former or current programmers among you, this is not the sort of stuff caught by the debugger.) 

Plus, we’re a much larger company now, with more resources to apply to these things.  With just under 300 people now, I can assign dedicated teams to single categories of bugs that are larger than my entire development staff was for Athena.  This is how our growth pays off, for you and for us.  I know some of you think that it’s a negative that we’ve grown, but in actuality it results in much better service and products overall.

Check out the list at the end of this message for details, and remember to go get your updates (click “Get Updates” in the main Desktop toolbar).

You’ll get a separate message next week giving you a heads up about what’s coming down the road in terms of the desktop billing and tracking system (it’s looking good), the manually triggered net.X system, more core component changes, and other projects in the works related to our entire product line.

2. Next, I’d like to address an issue I’ve been asked a lot the last few weeks.  Please read this if you wonder how we approach design and testing.  Bear with me here.

“You use terms, like alpha and beta, when talking about testing.  What do they mean?   Why don’t you just test the software with real appraisers instead of using us as guinea pigs?”

Good questions, and I’m sorry for getting mired in our own secret techie world without first explaining the language, context, and what we really do.  “Alpha” and “beta” versions are pre-release versions of software which are used by real-world appraisers long before they go “live” to the public.  They’re used in testing and in choosing final designs.

Alpha versions are very preliminary versions, typically hot off a developer or quality assurance person’s desk, and go to targeted handfuls of ad hoc volunteer users who are most likely to be quick “litmus tests” for the items changed.  For example, if an alpha version has a new bug fix, we’ll e-mail the changed pieces to those people who specifically saw that bug and who could replicate it easily (which is often impossible in our labs).  Or, if we’re trying out a new button, menu, or screen design, we’ll shoot it to some appraisers first just to get rapid early feedback.  An alpha version and the continually changing cadre of alpha testers tells us if we’re “on the right track” before we invest more time and effort into getting it to the “beta” stage. 

Beta versions are more robust and heavily tested internally, and sent as a special Instant Customer Update to our permanent roster of standing beta testers.  Beta testers use the pre-release versions of the software, and nothing else, in their daily work.  In Aurora’s case, most beta testers had switched over to Aurora as their full-time appraisal software nearly a year before we shipped it en masse, pumping out hundreds of reports per day among them, in all sorts of environments – some urban, some rural, some technical and some not, some with mobile tools and others purely desktop, a handful from larger offices, but with the vast majority being typical one-man shops.  Coming from nearly every state and situation, they’re a healthy and representative cross-section of all of you. 

As they report issues, we fix them, and they give their blessings – or not – before we ship it to everyone in a public Instant Customer Update.  That’s what we’re referring to when we say something “is coming out of beta”.  It’s graduating to the “live release” stage.  Last week, they found some issues which were not easily fixed late in the game, and we agreed to delay the update a week to fix them.  It worked out exactly as it should.  We put reliability above the deadline, right where you want it.  You’ll see the effects of that when you get the update.

But they do more than find problems.  They help design the product overall.  They send us mockups of screens that they’d like to see.  They show us other programs they use and which they think we should emulate.  They suggest everything from the names of buttons and menus and such to the steps we should make the program follow.  They don’t always agree with each other (in fact, there’s constant debate), but that’s exactly how it should be.  Every user approaches every situation uniquely.  But we eventually have to choose, and that’s what we do.  And therefore not all of them always agree with our decision, and neither do all of you.  That’s healthy as long as we listen and try to address the “most likely user”, or MLU, for each individual feature. 

Sometimes we remote control their PCs to see firsthand what they’re telling us, and sometimes we fly groups of them into our office, so they can do their work on their laptops right in front of us as we watch.  Sometimes we go to them and ride along on inspections, holding the “dumb end of the tape” and seeing how they really work.  (What’s the dumb end of a laser device?  Holding the reflective target right next to your eye?) 

In all of those scenarios and in the non-stop daily interaction with alpha testers and beta testers (we talk to them on the beta user forum and in e-mails, chats, and phone calls literally hundreds of times a day) the program is constantly undergoing improvements and testing.  It was like that in Athena, and Olympus, and Apollo before that, and in every other product we sell.  There are beta testers for the Vault, for XSites, and so on.  We’ve had alpha and beta testers since before the very first DOS TOTAL 1.0 ever hit the streets in 1986. 

So, all of our software goes through alpha and beta testing, and is influenced in design and purpose, by people just like you, every single day.  They aren’t just “squeaky wheels”.   It’s proactive and it’s extensive.  But it will never, ever result in software where everyone agrees on the merits of every button, screen, or feature, or where everyone encounters the exact same issues.  With a couple of hundred alpha and beta testers, but 50,000 PCs each as unique as a fingerprint running WinTOTAL in the rest of the world, there will be problems seen which never, ever would be revealed in a thousand years of testing. 

Being a beta tester is very hard work.  They have to run an appraisal practice just like you do, but using software much more “raw”, and with time set aside for communicating at length with us about it.  Nevertheless, it’s quite rewarding.  Betas emotionally “own” the software just like we do, so they aren’t wallflowers about it – either in public or behind closed doors with us.  If being a member of our beta group sounds interesting, just e-mail Adam Calvery at debug@alamode.com. 

I hope this helps give you some perspective.  We’re not treating testing or design casually, and never have.  We aren’t trying to talk down to anyone when using those terms.  (It’s simply what we deal with every day; it’s part of our language.)  If we ever gave that impression, it’s our own fault and I apologize. 

That’s it for today’s update and topics.  I know it was long, but I hope it was helpful.

My next message will follow up in other areas we’ve touched on here in the past.  Among other things, it will cover upcoming simplifications in our pricing structure. It will also highlight the model we’ve developed for helping us better address both the “report-centric” among you as well as the “business-centric” who want us to handle your other tasks too.  In the past, it may have appeared that work done to satisfy one mindset was at the expense of the other.  We also didn’t address areas where you have to do redundant work and waste time, in the report and elsewhere, like we could have if we were properly focused.  This new structure and mindset we’ve put in place will help us do all of that and more.   If you’re planning to be in Orlando for the convention, you’ll see firsthand some of the upcoming changes brought by this new approach.  You’ll like them.

As I’ve said before, thanks again for your support and business.  You’ve shown your patience and perseverance as we’ve juggled many balls at the same time on a massive deployment.  Hopefully you’ve seen the improvements in the product, in addition to much better responsiveness of support, with call durations and hold times both down substantially from a month ago.  That’s even though the total number of Aurora copies installed and in use continues to grow every day, along with orders on the XSites Network and total delivered reports. 

Likewise, the positive feedback and your support are growing too.  You once again showed us how loyal you are even when we may not have completely earned it, with the first quarter ending markedly ahead of last year’s figures.  We don’t take that lightly.  We know that we’re starting out 2006 with our reputation knocked down a few notches in some of your minds.  We will indeed pull it back up, as you’re hopefully already seeing.  (There’s nothing like a wake up call to get a business back on track.  We made stupid mistakes, and I have no intention of repeating them – once is enough.) 

Thank you again.  I hope you had a wonderful Easter and Passover, got massive tax refunds, and are enjoying some of the nicer weather in most parts of the country.  Until next time, I’m always directly reachable at dave.feedback@alamode.com.  See you soon in Orlando.

Dave Biggers
Chairman
a la mode, inc.

WinTOTAL Aurora – April 21st, 2006 Update

This update contains improvements throughout WinTOTAL, but with focus on the core formfilling and file management views.

New Forms

• The Appraisal Institute AI Report™ Form
• Updated Homefocus Construction Loan Inspection Form. 

Formfilling

• When saving a report, you could have encountered an Error [0]; this is fixed.
• In certain cases, Athena files opened in Aurora would show blank and you may have received a TOC.XML error, but would appear fine when re-opened in Athena.  This has been corrected.
• Multi-field QuickList entries that include a check box now work correctly. 
• When upgrading to Aurora, the first QuickList entry in some fields was in rare cases lost.  This has been corrected. 
• Screen flicker while completing a report should be noticeably reduced. 
• When using a 1025 form, the enter key has been tweaked to now move through the sections more fluidly. 
• The TAB order in the Order PowerView has been improved. 
• If you locked the site field in the subject area, it will now update correctly immediately when you unlock it.
• The TAB order in a URAR form has been improved.
• WinTOTAL will now navigate from the addenda view back to the form edit view correctly.
• When changing font attributes on multiple selected fields, the formatting will now be applied correctly to all selected fields. 
• When changing zoom factors within WinTOTAL, the position of your form should no longer change to other sections.
• When changing the formatting of checkboxes to be a circle instead of squares, WinTOTAL should no longer lock up.
• When saving a report as Athena format, the order information is now retained for use within XSite Order Manager.
• When you open an old report that does not include a description, you no longer get a message telling you that the description is required before you leave the Order PowerView.
• When changing the header of a manually added map page, it will now be correctly reflected in the report’s table of contents file. 
• QuickLists should be back to their normal speed.
• WinSketch files can now be imported into a new report. 
• After navigating to the next field following a QuickList entry, the QuickList database now shows the correct list.
• Aurora (WinTOTAL version 5) will correctly open certain older Apollo (version 2) files.

Comps

• Stability when entering data in the comps side-by-side view has been improved.
• You can no longer add a comparable from the database to a signed report.
• In some cases the sq. ft. adjuster would not recognize when comparable 1 required adjustment.  This has been corrected. 
• When placing 3 new comps in a new report, it was occasionally putting these new comps into slots 4, 5, & 6. 
• When you encounter a duplicate comp during an import process, the sale date is now displayed. 
• Swapping comparables in the comps side-by-side view now works correctly.

Contacts

• When editing contacts, you now get a message telling you to select a contact if you don’t have one selected. 
• When editing a contact, if it is not assigned to a company the drop down field will now show <NONE> instead of being blank. 
• When adding a new contact from the companies view, the title and suffix drop down fields will not show blank any more. 
• When adding a new company, using TAB will not skip the “Contacts in Company” section.
• When associating a contact with a company, the list of available companies will not be sorted alphabetically. 
• In certain cases, the address 1 line in a contact was overwriting the address 2 line with data.  This resulted in what appeared to be duplicate city or suite information on a form.  This has been corrected. 
• Printing labels should work correctly now under all circumstances. 
• WinTOTAL now checks more comprehensively for duplicate contacts when uploading order information to your XSite.

Files PowerView

• Sub-Folders in the Files PowerView will now rebuild correctly.
• When you move a file into a new folder that already contains a file by the same name, WinTOTAL will now warn you that you are about to overwrite that file.
• In unusual circumstances, there were files which would not show in the Files PowerView.  They are now visible.
• Double-clicking a “*.ord” file attachment in an e-mail should now open in the Files PowerView.
• The signed date column should now show the correct date. 
• When opening a file received via e-mail, or from your hard drive, WinTOTAL will now correctly prompt you to replace the previous file.
• In certain cases when exporting an invoice type with a long description, the QuickBooks export utility could crash.  This has been corrected. 
• The “View Client Order” page now includes a print button. 
• Double-clicking a link, instead of single clicking, in the expanded preview no longer displays a run-time error 5. 

Pocket TOTAL

• You can now mark checkboxes as critical fields using the Pocket TOTAL critical field editor.
• Pocket TOTAL will now transfer photos correctly to WinTOTAL when using the 6 page photo addenda.