Easier, better organized, and UAD-compliant addenda coming this summer
Paul Stansberry, Product Manager
labs@alamode.com
As we've said in the past, the Uniform Appraisal Dataset represents the biggest shift in how you fill out reports since the introduction of the URAR. It's huge, and we've been covering several of the different fields in detail here in our labs articles over the past several months. Today, we're going to take a look at the last big piece: The addenda.
The UAD guidelines require us to make sure the text in your final, signed report matches exactly with the XML file that lenders will eventually send through the GSE delivery portal. Plus the UAD brings about several new field-length requirements, which our previous addenda system didn't handle as well as we wanted. To pull it off the right way, we had to add some new features to help us "constrain" the text that overflows from your UAD forms into the addenda. The result is a better addenda that we think you'll really like.
The biggest thing you'll notice is our new constraint rows. When you overflow text from any field, it will be placed between two special rows that "constrain" the overflow text. It's absolutely critical that your overflow text goes in between those special rows. You can, of course, still type any relevant or critical text in the addenda. But for us to make sure the XML values match what's in the report and verify the field lengths are compliant, you have to type "between the lines" so to speak.
You'll also see that overflow fields now automatically slide into the same sequence as the fields on the form when they flow into the addenda. This makes organizing the addenda easier for you and reading the addenda easier for the user. You could cut and paste these bullets into any order just as you can now, but we think you'll appreciate the extra organization.
These changes will be for both your UAD and non-UAD compliant reports. It's a change in how the addenda features are managed, and we think they'll be useful for non-UAD compliant reports as well. So regardless of your major form or UAD compliance status, you'll want to be familiar with how this new process works.
We don't take changing workflow lightly, but in this case our UAD implementation yielded something that works much better for all reports, so we'll make the change across the board. And you'll still have all the things you love about our addenda: Complete flexibility, rich text formatting, and no dedicated "field specific" addenda blocks that have to be strung together into a dedicated form.
The new addenda will be released in an update soon. So what do you need to do today? First, remember that any text you overflow from a field needs to remain between the orange start/end lines that represent the overflow addendum. And, if in the past you've manually typed things like "See Attached Addendum" and just jumped to the addenda to complete the field, you'll want to start breaking that habit now. The only way to create the proper link and ensure that all the overflow addendum text is compliant is to use the new overflow features.
Don't worry. I know this may sound like a lot to take in, but it's not hard, and we'll help you along the way. We're working on some cool features that will prevent you from going astray. And we'll have plenty of training available when the new addenda system is ready.
Until then, just remember to keep it between the lines. ;-)
