Overview
This article shows administrators how to configure Appraisal Scope® Emails and Instructions. It covers updating email templates (including content tags) and managing instruction documents and templates used for orders.
Emails Tab
The Emails tab gives an AMC access to tools for customizing email templates that Appraisal Scope will use to automatically generate email communications for a variety of purposes. The templates are categorized by their intended recipient or subject matter, for example email templates directed to clients or pertaining to an automated valuation model (AVM).
Email templates are built with content tags. Content tags can be identified by their placement within brackets (for example, [signature]). These content tags will draw information from forms filled out within a platform-version (e.g., order forms or application forms), from configurations set on other pages within a platform-version (e.g., Order Details), and from information saved in staff profiles.
All email templates can be customized using the following general procedures.
Customizing email templates
Choose a tab from the available categories on the Emails page, for instance Clients or Admins, and locate the email template that you want to modify.
Click the Edit icon in the row associated with that template to open that specific email template page.
You will see a text box for customizing the subject line of the email toward the top of the page and a text editor at the bottom of the page for customizing the body of the email. Each of these fields will display the default standardized text and content tags for that email template.
To add content tags to the subject line associated with the template, click the Insert Tag drop-down list beneath the Subject heading and then click on the tag that you want to add to the subject line.
To add content tags to the body of the email template, click the Insert Tag drop-down list under the Body heading and then click on the tag that you want to add.
Note: You can modify templates in multiple ways, including removing default content tags and text, or rearranging any email elements that you choose. You can at any time reset to its original default format a template to which previous modifications have been saved by clicking Reset to Default.
When you’ve finished customizing the template, click Save.
Instructions Tab
The Instructions tab gives AMCs a location to manage specific directions and requirements pertaining to the jobtypes that are assigned to an appraiser. These instructions can include documents that are provided as standard practice, such as engagement letters, and they can also include client company–specific instructions that might convey requirements a client wants clarified for appraisers. The general purpose for making instructions available to an appraiser is so that they can better understand a valuation request.
Procedures for Instructions
The Instructions page is divided into the Documents and Instruction Template For Client lists. Documents and templates once uploaded or created will be available in an AMC’s platform-version and accessible from either of these two lists.
Uploading and modifying Client Instruction documents
To upload a new instruction document to the Documents list, first click Add Document.
Enter the title you want to give the instructions document in the Document Title text box and then click Choose File.
Find the file you want to upload from your local file directory and either double-click the file or click on it and then click Open.
The file directory will close, and you will see the file name to the right of Choose File. Now click Save, and the new document will appear in the Documents list.
For any document listed under Documents, you can access the text by clicking its title.
If you want to change the title of a document, click the Edit icon in the row associated with the document, modify the title in the text box, and click Update.
If you want to replace a document listed here, click the Document icon in the Action field of the row associated with the document, and then click Choose File in the Replace Document dialog box.
Now find the replacement file and either double-click it or select it and click Open, then click Replace.
Creating and Modifying Client Instruction Templates
To create a new Client Instruction template from the Instructions page, first click Add Instruction.
In the Add Instruction dialog box, enter the title you want to give the template in the Title text box.
Next, click in the Template text editor, and compose the main text of the message you want to convey.
When you come to locations in the text that you would like to have Appraisal Scope autofill with details pulled in from other locations within your platform-version (e.g., the client displayed on report), click the Add Tag drop-down list and select the tag to be included.
After you’ve finished modifying the template, click Save.
If you want to modify the title or content of an instruction template, first click the Edit icon in the row associated with the template.
The Edit Instruction dialog box will open, giving you access to the template text and title. You can use the text fields and drop-down list as described in Steps 2–4 to revise the template.
Note: When instruction templates are created and assigned from the Instructions sub-page, they are being assigned at the global level (See the Functional levels section for a detailed explanation regarding functional levels). What this means is that the parameters dictating when these templates automatically are applied can be set to apply to all, or most, order scenarios, regardless of who’s placing the order or the location of the subject property.
For instance, if an AMC is using an Opening and Closing statement that they want to assign to be part of every instruction set accompanying each order, they will assign those statements at the global level from the Instructions page. In the case of instruction templates, configuring their assignment settings at the global level is called mass assignment (see the Mass Assigning and Cloning Client Instructions section that follows in this User Guide).
It’s important to note that instruction template settings are also configurable at the client company level. The order of instruction sets can be adjusted or templates can be added to an instruction list at this level. These types of settings and adjustments are made from a client company profile, and these settings will impact instruction sets accompanying orders placed by that client company only.
How templates combine to create Instruction sets
Instruction templates that are mass-assigned will automatically combine when orders are placed that meet the set parameters. It’s important to note here that these templates will combine to create an instruction set in an inverse manner from the order in which they are mass-assigned, and so they should be assigned with this fact in mind. This means that information an AMC wants to appear last in a set of instructions will need to be assigned first, and information that the AMC wants to appear first will need to be assigned last.
Instruction Set: Scenario 1.
To explain this further, we can imagine a scenario where an AMC wants a standard set of instructions to be created for most orders that will be carried out in Appraisal Scope. They will want to mass assign the templates that will combine to create this set of instructions.
For simplicity, they create three templates that they label Opening, Middle, and Closing. In order to make sure that the information contained in the set of instructions is in the right order when the instruction set is automatically created, they know they will need to start with the Closing template when they’re configuring it for mass-assignment. Next, they will configure the Middle template for mass-assignment. And lastly, they will configure the Opening template for mass-assignment.
We can imagine that the AMC has included Lender ABC in the parameters configured during mass-assignment for each of the aforementioned Opening, Middle, and Closing templates. Now, when the AMC goes to Lender ABC’s client company profile, these templates will appear there as a list in the Instructions pane.
In the list, they will appear in the correct order, Opening on top and Closing on the bottom, but templates in a list can be adjusted in a drag-and-drop manner by clicking on an entry to grab it, and then dragging and dropping it in a new position in the list. So, if we imagine that the AMC at a later date needs to mass assign a new template that will impact Lender ABC’s list, they will be able to simply drag-and-drop that new template into the correct position in Lender ABC’s client company profile.
Mass Assigning and Cloning Client Instructions
The Mass Assign functionality on Appraisal Scope allows an AMC to choose what instructions they want the system to generate when an order is placed. An admin user can assign templates to generate these instructions on the basis of the ordering client company, the geographical location of the subject property, and/or the jobtypes ordered.
Admin users will need to configure assignment settings for each individual template that’s created. A set of instructions is essentially, then, a compilation of the templates that an order generates, dictated by the specific details of that order. An admin user can also choose to include uploaded documents to accompany these instructions.
Appraisal Scope will generate a set of instructions as soon as an order is submitted, and these instructions will be visible to AMC staff users and vendor users from the Order Details page associated with that order.
Mass Assigning Client Instructions
To access the Mass Assign configuration elements, first select a template from the Instruction Template For Client list, and then in the row associated with that template, click Mass Assign. The Mass Assign page will open.
The Mass Assign page is broken into four columns that correspond to the four configuration parameters. To narrow your list of options in any column, enter your filter criteria in the Filter text box of a given column.
To choose all options in a column, click the Select All check box in the column header.
To ensure that your selections in a column remain visible when the corresponding Filter is used, go to the bottom of the Mass Assign page, and click the Include all checked items in client column regardless of filter toggle switch so that it appears green.
Select check boxes to choose the parameters that will trigger Appraisal Scope to use the relevant configured template in its auto-generated instructions.
To have all client companies newly added to your platform-version automatically added to the list of triggering client companies, select the Auto Add New Client check box, just above the column displaying client company information.
To have all jobtypes newly added to your platform-version automatically added to the list of triggering jobtypes, select the Auto Add New Jobtype check box, just above the column displaying jobtypes.
After you’ve finished configuring the Mass Assign settings for your template, click Assign.
Cloning Client Instruction Templates
To clone a template available in your Instruction Template For Client list, first choose the template you want to clone, and then click Clone.
In the Title text box of the Clone Instruction dialog box, enter the name you want to give your cloned instruction template.
Choose any Mass Assignment configurations that you want to carry over to the cloned template, and select the appropriate parameters from the Document, State, and/or Job Type check boxes.
Click Clone when finished. The cloned template will now appear in your Instruction Template For Client list.
Outcome
After reviewing this article, you can customize and save email templates using content tags, and manage instruction documents and templates. You can also mass assign or clone instruction templates so instruction sets generate automatically based on order details (client, location, and job type).