Overview
This help article walks AMC staff through using Appraisal Scope to manage order documents and stakeholder communications. It covers working with Appraisal Documents and Additional Documents (viewing, emailing, visibility controls, and deletion), submitting reports through UCDP and EAD, and using Email Office and the Notification Log to track activity.
The Appraisal Documents list interface
This article explains how AMC staff use Appraisal Scope to manage order-related documents and communications. It covers working with the Appraisal Documents and Additional Documents lists (viewing, downloading, emailing, controlling visibility, and deleting), submitting reports through UCDP and EAD, and using Email Office and the Notification Log to track stakeholder communication and activity.
A staff user will also note check boxes to the left of these file links. If the user wants to email an appraisal document to a client, appraiser, or other stakeholder, they should first select the check box associated with the file format they intend to email. They will then click Mail, under the Additional Documents header and just above the Additional Documents list. The user will then select the appropriate check boxes, and if they select Other email, they will enter an email address in the text box there, and they will then click Send.
Appraisal Documents list entries also give staff users visibility into whether the vendor user and client user associated with an order can view a document from their respective platform-interfaces. To view this information, a staff user will click the Eye icon from the last field to the right of the list entry. A staff user can control document visibility for these stakeholders by making sure that the Appraiser and Client check boxes are either filled in or cleared—filled in ensuring document visibility, and cleared ensuring no visibility.
To delete a list entry, a staff user will click the Delete icon.
Submitting a document through UCDP
A staff user can submit appraisal documents in the Appraisal Documents list to Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae by clicking Submit in the UCDP field associated with a document entry. The document type to be submitted will then be displayed beneath the list, and a user will click Submit to UCDP to finish the process.
When an order is submitted to UCDP, a corresponding UCDP Order Details panel will be created. This panel will appear below the Appraisal Documents list. Users can find the submission status for a UCDP submission in this panel, and for successfully submitted reports, they will also find clickable links to the PDFs.
Note: The above instructions assume an order record scenario where the profile of the client company associated with the order meets the following two conditions: the client company profile contains valid UCDP details, and its Company settings have not been configured for automated UCDP submission.
Submitting a document through EAD
A staff user can submit appraisal documents in the Appraisal Documents list to FHA by clicking Submit in the EAD field associated with a document entry. The document type to be submitted will then be displayed beneath the list, and a user will click Submit to EAD to finish the process.
When an order is submitted to EAD, a corresponding EAD Order Details panel will be created. This panel will appear below the Appraisal Documents list. Users can find the submission status for an EAD submission in this panel, and for successfully submitted reports, they will also find clickable links to the PDFs.
Note: The above instructions assume an order record scenario where the profile of the client company associated with the order meets the following two conditions: the client company profile contains valid EAD details and its Company settings have not been configured for automated EAD submission
The Additional Documents list interface
The Additional Documents list displays all additional documents that have been uploaded for an order. These documents can range from documents uploaded by Client and vendor users, to SSRs from the GSEs. Additional documents created or uploaded by AMC staff users will also appear in this list.
Each entry in the Additional Documents list will have links in the Doc Type and File columns. To change the Doc Type name associated with an entry, a user will first click the link. They will then click the select document type drop-down box that appears, choose a name from the list, and click Save.
To view or download a document in the Additional Documents list, a staff user will click the File name link. To see whether the vendor user and/or client user associated with an order can view a document from their respective platform-interfaces, a staff user will click the Eye icon from the last column of the list entry. A staff user can control document visibility for these stakeholders by making sure that the Appraiser and Client check boxes are either filled in or cleared—filled in ensuring document visibility, and cleared ensuring no visibility.
To delete a list entry, a staff user will click the Delete icon.
Creating an invoice
A staff user can at any time create an invoice that will generate as a pdf to be submitted to the client company. Among the data points that this invoice will pull from when generated, the Appraisal Invoice Description is a pre-written message that will appear in the Invoice Description section at the bottom of the pdf. An AMC staff user can compose or edit this pre-written message by going to Settings > Options > Documents > Default invoice description. The text of the Appraisal invoice Description can be changed from the pre-written message at the time the invoice is created and added to the Additional Documents list.
To manually create an invoice, a user will first click Create Invoice. The Add Description dialog box will open, displaying the pre-written Appraisal Invoice Description. The text of the description can be changed in the text box. Whether a user changes the text or leaves it as written, the user will click Generate Invoice to add the document to the Additional Documents list.
Creating an Additional Document
A staff user can use pre-drafted templates to create documents that will be kept in the Additional Documents list. The user will first click Create Doc. The Notification dialog box will open, displaying the list of templates available to create documents from. The user will select the check boxes associated with each document template they want to create documents from and then click Submit. Each template will create a separate document in the Additional Documents list.
The options in the Notification dialog box will be a mix of system templates that Appraisal Scope makes available, along with the templates that an AMC produces for the purpose of creating additional documents. AMC staff users can view the text of the pre-drafted templates available in the Notification dialog box by going to Settings > Document Upload > Templates list, the list just above System Templates on the Document Upload page.
Emailing Additional Documents
A staff user can email documents to clients, appraisers, and other stakeholders using the Mail functionality associated with the Additional Documents list. The user will first click Mail. This will reveal options for Client, Appraiser, and Other email. The user will select the check boxes associated with the stakeholder(s) they want to send documents to. If Other email is chosen, they will need to input an email address in the textbox to the right of this option.
The controls beneath these options are used to choose the documents that will be emailed from the Additional Documents list. Users can choose individual documents by clicking the check box in the first column of any entry in the list. Users can also click Check All or Uncheck All to make mass choices of list entries. When a user finishes their selections, they will click Send to email chosen documents.
Email Office
The Email Office page of an order record is a central location for direct email communication among stakeholders for an order. Admin users can send messages from this page, and they can view these messages along with all other messages that have been sent by any of the stakeholders associated with an order from this page.
A record of each email is visible from the Email Office page as a separate entry in the Email Log. More than simply a static record of email communications for an order, the Email Log can be thought of as an ongoing thread of communication that is accessible throughout an order life cycle, and beyond. The log gives staff users the tools to facilitate effective communication among multiple stakeholders, and it gives relevant stakeholders visibility into ongoing communication.
Email Log entries, the data they contain, and their functionality are covered in more detail in the following sections.
The Email Log and email functionality
The Email Log allows staff users to stay on top of their ongoing email communication requirements for the orders they manage, and it provides a record of communications for each order managed within an AMC’s Appraisal Scope platform-version. The log will show email communication from clients and/or appraisers to the AMC, communication from the AMC to clients and/or appraisers, and communication between AMC staff users regarding an order.
Each log entry is contained separately within an Email panel. For incoming messages from outside stakeholders and AMC staff users, these panels will display who the message is from and the time that the message was received. For outgoing messages and messages between staff users, the panel will display the staff member who sent it and the message recipient(s). In a case where a message was logged from the Messages tab of the Dashboard, the Email panel will display a record of who logged it and the time it was logged. More information on Email panels is provided in the following section.
Email panels
Along with names of email senders and recipients, and the roles that these stakeholders play for a given order, each Email panel will also display links that can be clicked to access further information or configurations.
Clicking a link that appears beside the name of a message recipient will open the Notifications dialog box. Here, staff users can see all email recipients, the email addresses associated with the recipients’ Appraisal Scope profiles, what role they play within the order, for example Appraiser or Client, and whether the email was successfully delivered to a recipient’s address or was rejected.
Note: A staff user can also send a direct email from the Notifications dialog box by clicking the email address of the email recipient.
There are also links visible in the top right section of the Email panel. When a user clicks View, the Email panel will show whether the appraiser and/or client for an order can see the contents of an email message in the Email Office tab of their platform-interface. A staff user can change who sees a message by selecting or clearing the Appraiser or Client check boxes and clicking Close.
Email panels: conditional links
Mark as Read–read acknowledgments
An AMC staff user can use read acknowledgments in a couple of different ways from the Email Office page. Before detailing these alternatives, we will describe the conditions that dictate when read acknowledgments are applicable and how these conditions relate to the Messages queue of a staff user’s dashboard.
A staff user will be able to see Mark as Read in the top right side of certain Email panels in the Email Log for an order, next to View. The Mark as Read option will be visible to this staff user in Email panels that contain messages originating from an action taken by a client user, vendor user, or different staff user, as long as the message is still visible in this staff user’s dashboard, Messages queue.
The Messages queue and Email Office Email Log have a reciprocal relationship when it comes to read acknowledgments. If the staff user has taken an action on a message from their Messages queue, for instance they logged or forwarded the message, then the Email panel containing that message will not display Mark as Read in the Email Log. On the other hand, if the Email panel displays Mark as Read and the staff user clicks this option to carry out a read acknowledgment, the message will be cleared from the Messages queue on the dashboard.
This leads us to our two alternatives. The procedures are virtually the same for each alternative, with only one slight alteration. To mark a message as Read from the Email Office page, a staff user will first click Mark as Read. This will open the Mark as Read dialog box, giving the user the two choices that produce our two alternatives. If the user selects For Me Only and then clicks Mark as Read, the following happens:
The message will be cleared from their Messages queue and an Info icon will appear.
The Info icon will denote a date and time stamp specific to the read acknowledgment, and the staff user can view this time stamp later from the Email Log by pointing their mouse over the Info icon.
Mark as Read will change to Mark as Unread, giving the user an option to reverse this procedure and its impacts by clicking.
If the staff user selects For Everyone in the Mark as Read dialog box and then clicks Mark as Read, Appraisal Scope will be impacted in the same general ways, but the message will be cleared from the Messages queue of all staff users that have visibility into the same orders, and those staff users will also be able to see the date and time stamp on that Email panel from their Email Office page.
Note: If a staff user doesn’t need to make a different selection in the Mark as Read dialog box each time, they can select the Remember my choice check box to cut this step out of the process.
Sending emails from Email Office page
To send emails from the Email Office page, click Send a message, to the right of the page and just under the Order Record submenu.
Several check boxes associated with the order stakeholders will appear. First, choose your intended message recipients from among these options.
If you select To Client, you will also be able to add in the Notify Other text box an email address of another stakeholder that you want to receive the communication.
If you select To Appraiser(s), the appraiser(s) configured to receive the email will appear to the right of the check box as a link. Clicking a link will take you to the vendor user profile associated with an appraiser.
If you select To Admin(s), To Reviewer(s), and/or To Salespersons(s), you will then click the drop-down list associated with your selection(s) and choose email recipients from the options available.
If you want to attach appraisal and/or additional documents that have already been uploaded for an order, click Attach existing documents. Select the check boxes associated with the documents you want to attach.
If you want to upload an attachment from among your local files, click Upload Attachment.
To compose the email message, you have the option of first choosing from among the predefined messages that have been configured in your platform-version. You’ll click the Select Predefined Messages drop-down list, select the messages that you want to build your email message with, and click Insert Messages to the right of the drop-down list.
If you need to compose a custom message or add to the text in a predefined message, you will click in the text box and type your message there.
Click Save to send the message.
Note: Assuming that an email recipient has been configured to receive and send email notifications via a native email client (for example, Outlook or Gmail), documents attached using the Email Office page will be available to them via the notification emails that they receive, as well as from the Additional Documents list on their platform-interface. Also, when a user sends an email with an attachment from their native email client, the email message will be visible in the Email Log, and the attachments will automatically be added to the Additional Documents list
Tip: In situations where it makes more sense to communicate a message with some commentary included or to respond more directly to a message when it’s timely and when the text of the original message is helpful, there are also some communication options available from the Dashboard, Messages tab.
Notification Log
The Notification Log page of an order record provides a full history of an order at a glance. This log provides a view into all emails, status updates, revision requests, and order modifications for an order.
staff users can filter the list of panels that appear on the Notification Log page by selecting options from the Submitted By and/or Type drop-down lists, which are located at the top of the page. Users can also filter by a keyword or sentence by typing in the textbox labeled Text.
Manually creating a Notification Log entry
To manually create a Notification Log entry from the Notification Log page, click Manual Log Entry at the top of the page, just beneath the Order Record submenu.
The Manual Log Entry dialog box will open, and your cursor will be positioned in the text box there.
If you want to choose from among the predefined messages in your platform-version, click the Select Predefined Message(s) drop-down box and select the check box associated with the message(s) that you want to use.
Click Insert Messages, and the text will appear in the text box.
If you want to create a new message to be logged as a notification on the Notification Log page, type your message into the text box.
If you need to make any adjustments to the language displayed in the main text box, whether it be predefined language or newly-created, click into the text box and type your new text or edit the existing text.
Click Save to log the message. The message will then appear in its own panel on the Notification Log page.
Notification Log panels
Each log entry is contained separately within a Notification Log panel. The panel will display the origin of a notification, for instance an admin user or System notification, in the top left corner, along with the date and time of the notification. The panel will also display in the top right corner any action that is associated with the notification, for instance whether the notification was sent out to a client or appraiser, or whether it was logged. If the action was automatically carried out and logged by Appraisal Scope, System will appear to let the user know that this is the case.
In cases where a user was sent a system generated notification, a link will appear that will reflect these specific action(s), for example Notified Client, Notified Appraiser, or Both. Clicking these links will open the Notifications dialog box. Here, staff users can see all notification recipients, the email addresses associated with the recipients’ Appraisal Scope profiles, what role they play within the order, and whether the email was successfully delivered to a recipient’s address or whether it was rejected.
Notification Log row highlighting
When an Appraisal Scope platform-version has been configured for Notification Log row highlighting (to enable and configure within Appraisal Scope, go to Settings > Options > Order Details > Notification Log row highlighting), a staff user can use highlighting colors to draw attention to the subject matter of a notification. The highlights can be configured to represent a notification purpose, such as a status notification, or a particular type of information conveyed, like an invoice amount or appraiser modification.
To use the Notification Log row highlighting, a user will click the Paint Brush icon in the top right corner of a Notification Log panel. In the Select Row Highlighting dialog box, the user will click Select next to the highlighting option that they want to use and then click Close. The notification message will be highlighted, making that row within the log immediately visible to staff users.
Forwarding a notification via Email Office
To forward a notification through the Email Office page, a user will click the Envelope icon in the top-right corner of the Notification Log panel for the notification they want to send. They will be directed to the Email Office page, where they can select among options to determine recipients and other attached materials to forward along with the notification. Procedures for forwarding a notification will mirror those found in the Sending emails from Email Office page section, beginning with Step 2.
QC Review–Order Record menu
The QC Review page of an order record is where AMC staff users and Reviewers can access the QC Review tools available to assist in reviewing appraisal documents submitted for an order and requesting revisions. The page is broken into three sections, each containing a list of checklists or other tools available to the user. The possible checklists and tools fall into the categories of Manual, Automatic, or Third Party AVM and Review Products.
Using manual checklists
An AMC staff user or Reviewer can access a manual checklist to assist with a review by first clicking on the Pencil and Notepad icon in the Action field of an entry in the Manual list. When the Select Appraisal Document XML dialog box opens, the user will need to click the drop-down box, select the document that they want to review, and then click Submit.
The checklist will open, and any fields in the checklist that are pulling information from the XML file of the appraisal document that was selected will be populated. The user can then proceed to review the PDF file of the document, using the checklist for assistance.
Using automated checklists
An AMC staff user or Reviewer can run an automated checklist that has been created on their AMC platform-version for the Traditional 1004 and 1073 appraisal documents submitted for an order. In the Automated section, the user will click the Clipboard icon in the Action field associated with the appraisal document. This will run the document against the set of rules that constitute the automated checklist. A Reviewer Report page will open for that appraisal document, giving the AMC user a snapshot view showing where a document is deficient.
For more information about Appraisal Automated Checklists, how they’re created, and how they can be used, see the Appraisal Automated Checklists section of this User Guide.
Third Party AVM and Review Products section
An AMC staff user or Reviewer will find the third-party products that are available on their AMC’s platform-version in the Third Party AVM and Review Products section. The third-party review products go beyond the functionality available through the Appraisal Scope automated checklists, offering expanded rule sets and other features that make the review process more efficient. For more information about these products, contact Appraisal Scope support.
Request Revisions
The Request Revisions page of an order record provides AMC Reviewers and staff users a log of revision activity and a place to request a revision or reconsideration of value. The log contains individual records of revision activity, with information pertaining to each record viewable and accessible from a Revision Log panel.
Revision Log panels will display information related to the revision activities that they record. Information about when a revision was requested, who initiated it, and the appraiser who ultimately received the revision request will be displayed in the Revision Log panel.
Outcome
After reading this article, staff users will be able to locate, send, and manage appraisal-related documents, including controlling Appraiser/Client visibility and removing items when appropriate. They will also be able to submit reports through UCDP and EAD, confirm submission status and resulting PDFs, and use Email Office and the Notification Log to document and monitor order communications.