Overview
This article explains how administrators use the Options area in Appraisal Scope® to control key AMC platform behaviors, including order form settings, payments, document permissions, integrations, and other workflow controls. It summarizes what each Options section governs so you can choose the right setting when making configuration updates.
AMC Configuration
When a staff user clicks AMC Configuration, the AMC Configuration table opens. AMCs can supply a variety of pertinent details regarding their state licenses through this table. Staff users can also configure through this table specific choices about what the AMC will display on invoices and what information they let vendor users and client companies see.
The following sections provide procedures and other information regarding configuration tasks carried out through the AMC Configuration table.
Entering a license number and expiration date
First, locate the entry for the state associated with the license.
Click the Pencil and Notepad icon in the Edit field associated with the state, and the License # and Expiration Date columns will expand, revealing text boxes.
Type the license number and expiration date for the license into the text boxes.
Click Save in the Edit field.
Upload license documents
To upload license documents, first locate the entry for the state associated with the license.
Click the Upload icon in the License Document field associated with the state.
Next, click Select File in the Upload License Docs dialog box, choose the files from your local directory, and click Open.
The documents will afterward be available in the License Document field associated with that state, and they can be deleted at any time by clicking the Delete icon.
Doing Business As (DBA)
To enter Doing Business As (DBA) information, first locate the entry associated with the relevant state.
Click the Pencil and Notepad icon in the DBA field associated with the state.
When the Set DBA dialog box opens, enter the relevant information into all applicable text fields.
To enable the DBA information, select the Enabled check box.
Before exiting, click Submit.
Note: Enabling the DBA configuration for a given state instructs Appraisal Scope to display a DBA name to an appraiser assigned an order pertinent to that state. The DBA name is displayed in place of the AMC’s primary name.
Include Appraiser Name on Invoice
When the Include Appraiser Name On Invoice check box is selected for a state, appraiser names will appear on client invoices for jobs completed in that state.
Display License and Display Expiration Date: When the Display License and Display Expiration Date check boxes are selected for a state, the AMC license and license expiration date will display for relevant client users on their platform-interface. The data will be visible on the Details page of an order record. To select these settings for all states, select the check boxes in the column headers.
Note: The Display License setting must be selected for the Display Expiration Date setting to be available.
Display Client Fee to Appraiser
Staff users can choose whether they will display client fees to appraisers by state or not. When Appraisal Scope is configured to display client fees to appraisers, the relevant vendor users will be able to see these fees from the Details tab of their platform-interface.
To configure this setting, a staff user will find the states that they want the setting to apply to, and click the associated drop-down boxes in the Display Client Fee to Appraiser column. Alternatively, if the staff user wants the same setting to apply to all states and territories, they will click Set All in the column header and select the setting from the Set all states to box.
In either case, in the drop-down list, selecting Commercial Assignment Only will restrict the setting to displaying client fees for commercial orders. Selecting Residential Assignments Only will restrict the setting to apply only to residential orders. Selecting Both will make client fees visible for both commercial and residential orders. Selecting Neither will mean the client fees remain hidden.
Display Appraiser Fee to Client
Staff users can choose whether they will display appraiser fees to clients or not in any of the listed states and territories. If Appraisal Scope is configured to display appraiser fees to clients, appraiser fees will be visible to clients for orders with subject properties that fall within the state or territory subject to the setting. When the appraiser fees are visible, a client user can see the information from the Details tab of their platform-interface, as well as on the invoice for the order.
To configure this setting, a staff user will find the states that they want the setting to apply to, and click the associated drop-down boxes in the Display Appraiser Fee To Client column. Alternatively, if the staff user wants the same setting to apply to all states and territories, they will click Set All in the column header and select the setting from the Set all states to box.
In either case, in the drop-down list, selecting Commercial Assignment Only will restrict the setting to displaying appraiser fees for commercial orders. Selecting Residential Assignments Only will restrict the setting to apply only to residential orders. Selecting Both will make appraiser fees visible for both commercial and residential orders. Selecting Neither will mean the appraiser fees remain hidden.
Adding notes
To add notes to be kept for internal use, first click the Notes icon from the Notes field associated with the relevant state.
When the Add Notes: box opens, click Add Notes in the upper right-hand corner.
Next, type up the notes in the text editor and set the styles you prefer using the text editor options available.
When you’re finished, click Save.
These notes will be accessible from that point on in individual boxes by clicking the Notes icon associated with the applicable state. The notes can be edited from their respective boxes by clicking the Edit icon in the header of the box and changing the text in the text editor that displays, or they can be deleted by clicking the Delete icon in the header of the box.
QC Review–Settings menu
The QC Review tab gives an AMC access to tools for creating and customizing checklists applicable to their Quality Control (QC) review process. Admin users can create new QC checklists and RCR QC checklists for manual reviews, and customize system-generated checklists for automated reviews. The following information will detail the procedures used to complete these tasks.
Appraisal Manual Checklist
Creating checklist
To create a new manual checklist, an admin user will first click Appraisal Manual Checklist, type the name for the new checklist in the QC Review Name text field, and click Save. This newly created checklist will now appear in the Manual Checklist list, directly beneath the QC Review Name text field. To begin building the checklist, the user will proceed to the row in the Manual Checklist list occupied by the new checklist entry, and they’ll click the Edit icon in the Action field associated with that row.
Admin users can create manual checklists by choosing from the building blocks available on this editing page. These building blocks are available in the Add Element list. The following sections detail the options available when a user clicks the Add Element box.
Note: A user can change a checklist name at any time by clicking the Edit icon next to the checklist name, changing the name in the Update Form Name text field, and clicking Submit.
Title
The Title element is available for users who want to give their checklist a title. To add this element, a user will click Title and then Generate, and this will open the Add Title dialog box. Here, they’ll enter the title into the text field and click Submit. The Title element will now appear on the page.
Note: Delete and Edit icons are available to the left of the Title element and can be used to eliminate or change the title.
Text Box
The Text Box element allows users to provide a text box on their checklist labeled to reflect the type of information they want to collect in this text box. For example, if the year a property was built is information they’d like to collect, an admin user can label the text box as Year Built. The appraiser would then enter the information into the text box when filling out the checklist.
To add this element, a user will click Text Box and then Generate, and this will open the Add Textbox Element dialog box. The user will then enter the label that they want to accompany this text box in the Enter Textbox label text box and click Submit.
Text Area
The Text Area element allows users to provide a text box on their checklist where long-form answers or information can be gathered. To add this element, a user will click Text Area and then Generate, and this will open the Add Textarea Element dialog box. The user will then enter the label that they want to accompany this text box in the Enter Textarea label text box and click Submit.
QC Question
The QC Question element allows users to put questions on their checklist that are answerable by selecting Yes, No, or N/A radio buttons. A text box is also generated with this element that will accompany the question so that long-form answers or details pertaining to the radio button selections can be provided. To add this element, a user will click QC Question and then Generate, and this will open the Add Que dialog box.
An admin user should type the question answerable by radio button or long form in the Enter Question text box and then click Submit. This will automatically generate the Yes, No, and N/A radio buttons along with the text box.
Dropdown List
The Dropdown List element is available for users who want to provide a menu of options available to be chosen in their checklist. To add this element, a user will click Dropdown List and then Generate, and this will open the Add Select Element dialog box.
An admin user should type a question answerable by selection from a menu of options into the Enter Combo Box Label text box. Next, a user will type the first menu option they want to provide in the Option 1 text box. Then, they will click the Add More Options icon to introduce an Option 2 text box, where the second menu option will be entered. This process can be repeated to introduce as many menu options as required. When all menu options have been created, the user will click Submit.
Note: A user can delete options from the Dropdown List element in the Add Select Element dialog box by clicking the Delete icon to the right of the Option text boxes.
Check box List
The Check box List element is available for users who want to provide question-answer options to their checklist that are selectable by check box. To add this element, a user will click Check box List and then Generate, and this will open the Add Check box Element dialog box.
An admin user should type the question answerable by check box selection in the Enter Check box Group Label text box. Next, a user will type the first answer option they want to provide in the Check box 1 text box. Then, they will click the Add More Elements icon to introduce a Check box 2 text box, where the second answer option will be entered. This process can be repeated to introduce as many answer options as required. When all selection options have been created, the user will click Submit.
Note: A user can delete options from the Check box List element in the Add Check box Element dialog box by clicking the Delete icon to the right of the Check box text boxes.
Radio Button
The Radio Button element is available for users who want to provide question-answer options to their checklist that are selectable by radio button. To add this element, a user will click Radio Button and then Generate, and this will open the Add Radio Element dialog box.
An admin user should type the question answerable by radio button selection in the Enter Radio Group Label text box. Next, a user will type the first answer option they want to provide in the Radio 1 text box. Then, they will click the Add More Elements icon to introduce a Radio 2 text box, where the second answer option will be entered. This process can be repeated to introduce as many answer options as needed. When all options have been created, the user will click Submit.
Note: A user can delete radio buttons from the Radio Button element in the Add Radio Element dialog box by clicking the Delete icon to the right of the Radio text boxes.
Text Box (Auto Populated)
The Text Box (Auto Populated) element allows users to provide a text box on their checklist associated with a label that reflects the type of information they want to collect in this text box. For example, if the year a property was built is information they’d like to collect, an admin user can label the text box as Year Built and then configure it to auto-populate with this information. The information will be automatically pulled from the appraisal report, provided that the appraisal was delivered in a supported XML format.
The specific types of information available to have auto-populate in a manual checklist created here is limited to what is supported by current XML standards. Using the Text Box (Auto Populated) element in manual checklists created here, however, can provide support to reviewers by eliminating the need to manually check information contained in many fields commonly filled in on appraisal forms.
For each automated text box that will be added to a checklist, a user will click Text Box (Auto Populated) and then Generate, and this will open the Add Auto Populated Textbox Element box. The user will then enter a label that should accurately reflect the information that they want to be pulled in from an appraisal form in the Enter Textbox label field.
Next, they will click the Select Appraisal data field name box. The list that opens contains common fields referenced in the previous paragraph. The user will choose from these options the information type that they want to be pulled into this text box. When finished, they will click Submit.
For illustrative purposes, the following screenshots show an auto-populated text box. The image on the left is the view an admin user will have when adding an auto-populated textbox to a manual checklist. The image on the right is what the reviewer will see when using the checklist, after the information has been automatically pulled into this text box.
Note regarding editing and deleting checklist elements:: Any element added to a checklist can be later edited or deleted by clicking the Delete or Edit icons on the left-hand side of the checklist element.
Note regarding checklist element numbering: The consecutive numbers accompanying the checklist elements can be disabled by clicking [D] on the left-hand side of the element. This will also toggle the display to read [E]. When the [E] is then clicked, the numbering will be re-enabled for that checklist element.
Editing, cloning, or deleting checklist
To edit an existing manual checklist, an admin user will proceed to the row in the Manual Checklist list occupied by the relevant checklist entry, and they’ll click the Edit icon in the Action field associated with that row. This will display all of the elements pertaining to that checklist, and the procedures detailed under the Creating checklist section can be used to make changes to the checklist.
To clone an existing manual checklist, the user will proceed to the row in the Manual Checklist list occupied by the entry of the checklist they’d like to clone. They’ll then click the Clone icon in the Action field associated with that row. This will open the cloned checklist, and the user can change the name of the checklist by clicking the Edit icon to the left of the checklist name, typing in the desired name for the cloned checklist, and clicking Submit. When the user then clicks Close, they will see an entry for the cloned checklist in the Manual Checklist list.
To delete an existing manual checklist, an admin user will proceed to the row in the Manual Checklist list occupied by the relevant checklist entry and click the Delete icon.
Appraisal Automated Checklist
The Appraisal Automated Checklist page gives AMCs a place to customize and assign QC checklists for automated reviews.
Warning: Rules used to build Appraisal Automated Checklists apply only to the Traditional 1004 and 1073 forms.
To access the page elements available to carry out these tasks, an admin user will first click Appraisal Automated Checklist. The automated checklists that are created here will be built from rules that are available as options on the Appraisal Automated Checklist page. The rules that an AMC uses will reflect the information that they want Appraisal Scope to look at when an automated review is run.
If during an AMC’s automated QC review the valuation product fails, the system will display the details as to why it failed to a staff user. In cases where a valuation product fails an automated review run at the time a vendor user uploads it, the system will perform an action dictated by the checklist configuration (see Step 5 in the following procedures).
The checklist rules available to use in Appraisal Automated Checklists are broken into two categories: Common Rules and Uniform Appraisal Dataset (UAD) Rules (see Please Note following the paragraph). Any combination of these rules can be used to build an Appraisal Automated Checklist. Procedures for configuring and assigning these automated checklists follow.
Note: Although a third category, User Specific Rules, is currently visible on the Appraisal Automated Checklist page, these rules are no longer supported on the Appraisal Scope platform.
Creating an Appraisal Automated Checklist
All automated checklists after they’ve been created will be available to view and edit by clicking in the Rule List box and choosing the applicable checklist there.
To create a new automated checklist from the Appraisal Automated Checklist page, click Add New List and type the desired list name in the List Name text field of the Add New List box. Then click Save.
To configure the automated checklist rules, clear the Include in Report check boxes associated with any rules that you do not want included on your checklist.
When you’ve finished, click Set Rules.
If you intend to configure the checklist to notify a vendor user of any failed rules when that user uploads a valuation product, and also intend that when these rules are violated the vendor user must correct the product before it can be uploaded again, select the Hard Stop check boxes associated with the rules you want to use for this purpose.
If you intend to configure the checklist to notify a vendor user of any failed rules when that user uploads a valuation product, but intend that when these rules are violated the vendor user will have the choice to correct the product or continue the upload, select the Warning check boxes associated with the rules you want to use for this purpose.
After you’ve configured the rules for the checklist, you can move on to assigning the list to clients.
Assigning an Appraisal Automated Checklist
When an automated checklist is assigned to client Companies from the Appraisal Automated Checklist page, Appraisal Scope will automatically run the automated checklist against the Traditional 1004 and 1073 forms that vendor users upload for these client companies. To assign an automated checklist to client companies, an admin user will click Assign Clients. In the Assign Clients dialog box, a user will select the check boxes associated with the client companies they want to assign the checklist to and then click Assign.
The following screenshot shows where an automated checklist can be run within the QC Review tab.
Applying rule categories
Rule categories allow AMCs to group rules on a checklist by how these rules relate to aspects of an appraisal form. For example, rules related to Subject fields in an appraisal form could each be assigned a Subject category. Then, when the automated QC review is run, the user would see the results related to the Subject fields grouped under that category, as follows.
________________________________________
To create these categories and assign them from the Appraisal Automated Checklist page, first click Manage Category. The Manage Rule Category dialog box will open.
Click Add Category, type the new category into the Category Name text field, and click Save. This category will now appear in the category list.
To assign these categories to individual rules, first click Assign.
Next, click the Category drop-down list and choose the category you want to assign. Now go down the rules list and select the check box associated with each rule you’d like to group under that category.
To change the list of rules you’re choosing from, click the Rule Type drop-down list and select Common Rules or UAD Rules.
When you’re finished making your selections, click Assign Category.
Mapping jobtypes on an Appraisal Automated Checklist
Users will find that this process of mapping jobtypes for an Appraisal Automated Checklist connects closely with the requirements outlined in the Mapping fee schedule imports section. To reiterate the information detailed there, an admin user should note that Appraisal Scope has its own list of jobtypes that correspond to appraisal forms. This list is pulled from a directory of standard appraisal forms.
An AMC must map the names that they give to their jobtypes in their Appraisal Scope platform-version to the corresponding appraisal forms in this standard directory, in cases where the names that they import differ from the standard names included in the directory. For the purposes of mapping the jobtypes on an Appraisal Automated Checklist, AMCs are best served mapping their jobtypes in the way they did when creating their fee schedules.
Note: The Job type Mapping dialog box will include all standard appraisal forms included in the Appraisal Scope directory. Because the rules on this checklist will apply only to Traditional 1004 and 1073 forms, however, it is only necessary for an AMC to map the directory forms containing Traditional 1004 or 1073 information.
To map jobtypes on an Appraisal Automated Checklist, first click Jobtype Mapping.
The Job type Mapping dialog box will open. The list here displays the aforementioned standard directory forms.
Choose from this list a Traditional 1004 or 1073 Directory Appraisal Form in the left column that you have a matching jobtype for, and click Map to form type.
When the Map to form type dialog box opens, select the check box coinciding with the jobtype that matches that form and click Save.
Repeat this process for each Traditional 1004 or 1073 Directory Appraisal Form that you have a matching jobtype for, and when you’ve finished mapping each form, close the box.
Outcome
After reviewing this article, you will be able to locate the correct Options section for common administrative tasks (such as updating order form fields, setting payment terms, or configuring document visibility). You will also be able to explain how these settings impact user experience and workflow behavior, and know where to return to adjust them as your process changes.