From the ACI Sky Report list view, click on the Templates tab to get started. Click Create New > Template.

Choose a template name, job pack and use the import or clone options and click “Create” to create the new template file. Additionally, you can check the box for Company to share the template with the company in Sky. Once in the template, add any information that you want to see in the report when the template is used. Examples of template data may include, appraisers certification and address information or scanned license documents.

On “Save” and “Close” the template name will show in the Templates tab.

Create a new template from a report
While in a report file in Sky, add any information that you want to see when the template is applied.

Click More – Convert to Template. Give the template a name and check the box for Company to share the template with your colleagues Sky.

Click OK to complete.

Using Templates
From Sky Report list view, click Create New > Report.

Choose a report name and job pack as usual. Click the Clone From dropdown, all saved Templates will appear at the top of the list. Once a template name is selected, click “Create”.

Your new report will open with the template forms and data applied.

Editing Templates
From a Sky Report list view, click on the Templates tab.

In the list view, find the name of the template to edit. Click the orange report icon to open the template.

Make necessary changes, and “Save” and “Close” the template for future use.

Deleting Templates
From a Sky Report list view, click on the Templates tab.

In the list view, find the name of the template to delete. Click the red X icon to delete the template.

We’ve received several calls today as the ASC.gov License Verification Service is down for maintenance, which triggers an alert in ReviewMaster. No need to be alarmed, as you are still able to deliver appraisals without the use of the ASC.gov service. The following Informational rule will appear while their site is suspended:

UAD – APPRAISER – Certification or License Number – ASC.gov license check is incomplete. Manual verification may be required.

We’ve been notified that access to ASC.gov will be intermittent through Sunday, July 16, 2017. To keep you informed we will post updates to aciweb.com and social media as more information becomes available.

Best Regards,
The ACI Team

Our recent product enhancements have elevated security levels beyond the capabilities of legacy operating systems, specifically Windows XP and Vista. In order to enhance your user experience and help keep you compliant with the latest security essentials, our recommendations for browser and operating systems are listed below.

Operating Systems And Devices
The majority of valuation professionals run a Windows operating system, but only 10% are using the latest version. Surprisingly, some businesses are still on Windows XP and Vista. Windows ended support for Vista this past April and Windows XP has been unsupported for several years now, which means updates to protect against known vulnerabilities are no longer available.

Browsers
10% of Internet Explorer (IE) users are running outdated versions including IE 8, 9, and 10. Microsoft announced in January that it would no longer provide security patches and updates to IE versions below 10. That means more security vulnerabilities will be publicized, unpatched and open to exploitation. We recommend moving to a browser like Google Chrome which receives automatic updates and patches. Chrome is also the best rated browser for HTML 5, which provides the highest compatibility for ACI Sky products. You can test your browser quality by clicking here.

In the best interest of your business, it’s critical to update your systems to the latest version(s) supported by the manufacturer. If you are using an unsupported operating system and have questions regarding updates, please contact the ACI One Call team. All system requirements can be found on aciweb.com.

ACI Sky now includes adjustment calculators, an inspection app for taking photos and collecting data in the field, and a Self-Service Center with a searchable database that links to “How-To” docs and videos.

We’re excited to announce a new mobile inspection solution for ACI Sky. Automate data collection, photo capture and sketching in the field using Sky’s mobile technology on any phone or tablet with a browser without an internet connection. Sky Inspect is included with your ACI Sky Subscription at no additional charge. To learn more, view our help document.

The adjustment calculators in Sky work very similar to the ACI desktop software. In order to use any of the new calculators in Sky, just click on the calculator icon to the left of the grid and set the thresholds to avoid applying a small adjustment if the properties differ just slightly. You can also apply rounding and quickly scroll through all of your comps to see how the adjustments appear across all comps.

The new Self-Service Center is available via the Help button located at the top right corner of Sky Report. Click help and a search bar opens to provide access to documentation/videos related to your question. If documentation is not available for your particular question, you can submit questions to our contact forum, provide product feedback or start a chat session with a One Call team member.

More time-saving features and functionality are being pumped into ACI Sky every month. To get the latest information about product releases, bookmark our What’s New page. As always, we’re here to help you, so please email onecall@aciweb.com or call 800-234-8727 if you have any questions.

Sky Inspect allows you to collect data, take pictures and draw a sketch on site without using your mobile data plan.

Getting Started

1. Make a shortcut to Sky Inspect by using your devices Add to Home Screen function. These steps differ for Android and iPhone.
   
   
   1. Android
      1. Launch Chrome and log into your ACI Sky account.
      2. Once logged in, tap the hamburger menu in the upper left and select Inspections.
      3. When the page opens tap the ellipse icon at the top right of the browser.
      4. Select Add to Home Screen and tap Add, and voila — your very own icon that you can add to your device.
   2. iPhone
      1. Launch Safari and log into your ACI Sky account.
      2. Once logged in, tap the hamburger menu in the upper left and select Inspections.
      
      3. When the page opens tap the “send to” icon at the bottom of the screen.
      4. Select Add to Home Screen, and voila — your very own icon that you can add to your device.
2. Once the icon is available on the home screen, you can close the browser and use the Home Screen icon to access inspections.
3. Tap Create New to start a new inspection. In the Name field, enter the file name for the property you’re inspecting and tap Create. Press on the file name to open the inspection, or select the ellipse to Rename, Delete or Sync.
   1. Rename allows you to change the name of the inspection on the device
   2. Delete will prompt for confirmation before removing it from the device.
   3. Sync to ACI Sky will sync a single inspection from the list view to Sky Report. Note: Once synced, photos are moved to Sky Report and not displayed on the inspection tool. You can view them by tapping on the image slot using your data plan or internet access.

Data

1. Tap the new Inspection that you just created to open it.


2. Once open, you’ll see a list of sections – this is the Data view.
3. Select a section and fill out all of the applicable fields, then continue on to the next section. Select Yes or No from the toggle to indicate items like Neighborhood Influences. Note: Leave items as “No” or “Select” if it does not apply, or you do not want that data to import into your report upon syncing.
4. Continue on through each section adding comments where applicable. Note: Once the inspection is synced, comments will display in the sidebar of Sky Report for reference. You can then copy and paste the data into the desired comment area.
5. At the bottom of the screen you can navigate to Images, Sketch or return to the inspection List.

Images

1. Select Images to start taking photographs. Tap an open photo slot to take a photo with the devices camera or load an existing photo from your gallery/camera roll.
2. Tap the arrow beneath the photo to select the appropriate label. Note: Upon syncing, unlabeled photos will need to be manually placed in the appropriate photo slot. Labeled photographs will map to the appropriate slot upon import.
3. Repeat steps 1 and 2 until you’ve completed the photo collection process.
4. To delete a photo, select a photo and tap Delete.

Sketch

1. Select Sketch from the bottom navigation.
2. The Sketch screen displays with green circle. Note: A green circle means you’re in draw mode.
3. To start drawing, enter in the wall length on the keypad, then tap the directional and tap Enter to lock in your line. Continue this process until you’ve closed the area.
4. The Define Your Area pop-up displays.
5. Choose the applicable area type from the list and tap OK.
6. The Sketch screen displays with the area defined.
7. To make a new area, tap the grid where you want to start then hit Enter.

Sync to Report
You must use your data plan or Wi-Fi connection to sync your inspection.

1. When finished with the inspection, tap the “List” button in the lower left corner.
2. You can sync multiple inspections with the “Sync All” button at the bottom of the screen. Note: To sync a single inspection select the ellipse icon next to the file name, and select Sync.
3. If you were offline, the Sync button will bring you to the ACI Sky login page where you can sign in using your ACI Sky credentials.
4. Once the sync is complete the cloud icon on the “Sync All” button will change to a checkmark.

Import Data

1. To import data from your synchronized inspections into a report, log into ACI Sky in a web browser. Create or open an existing appraisal report file, then click View > Inspections to open the list of available inspections.
2. The list will appear from the right side of your window.
3. Clicking the cloud/down arrow icon to the left of an inspection name will allow you to import that inspection’s data to the current Sky Report. You will be prompted to confirm that the data from the inspection will replace the existing data in the report.
4. Alternatively; clicking on the inspection name will allow you to view and import only what you want from that inspection.
5. Click the section names to expand and collapse each section.
   1. For example, if you click General, it will expand to show items like Address, Property Type, room counts, and other General data elements.
6. When an Inspection is expanded the following buttons are available.
   1. Delete will prompt for confirmation before removing it from your list.
   2. Import Data – Select this button to sync only the data from the inspection.
   3. Import Images – Select this button to sync only the images from the inspection. Note: Images that are not labeled will not import. You can manually drag and drop them into the report. Any images that were synchronized from the device in ACI Sky will only exist in ACI Sky, so adjust your workflow accordingly (i.e. take offline photographs via your devices Camera app to store images locally on the device, apart from ACI Sky and Inspections).
   4. Import Sketch(s) – Select this button to Sync only the sketch images from the inspection.

For assistance contact the ACI One Call team via email at onecall@aciweb.com or by phone at 800-234-8727.

ACI Sky’s new accounting feature brings office management to the cloud. Users now have the ability to manage clients and appraisers, generate invoices, post payments, track accounts receivable, and manage fee tables.

Accessing Accounts Receivable
Click the Accounting tab in the ACI Sky navigation panel. The Accounting dashboard displays the current balance for orders with an amount due, delivered orders awaiting payment, and paid orders. Unpaid balances are listed per client name and code. Click the Actions drop-down to print invoices and post payments.

Clients and Staff
The accounting section allows users to add, and edit both clients and appraisers via the Clients and Staff tabs. You can add individual members by selecting the green “New Client” or “New Staff Member” button accordingly. A bulk upload option is also available, by importing a CSV to the data table. Clients and Staff Members added to this section will be available when entering a new order for quick selection.

Clients can be disabled to remove them from the main list view during order creation and editing by clicking the Delete button. Deleted clients can be restored by searching “All” or “Deleted” clients and selecting the Restore button in the Client Information modal. Clients can be permanently deleted as well, to formally remove them from the database. The same rules apply to managing appraisers in the Staff section.

Fee Tables
Fee tables can be created and edited via the Fee Tables tab. Each fee table can have a name and code, as well as a list of job types with a value assigned to each. Fee tables can then be assigned to clients via the Client Information modal.

New takeover feature and account management module

More good news on the ACI Sky front. The latest updates to ACI Sky include added functionality to the accounting module as well as a report “takeover” feature in the forms module. Below is a brief summary of these new enhancements. Stay tuned as we’ve got a lot more in the works!

Report Takeover
If you’re working with a team, or you prefer to have a million browser tabs open, we added a handy new feature that will allow you to take control of an open report. This takeover function protects your data from being overwritten by you or another user. Here’s how it works.

Scenario: You have 4 appointments today, so you prep your Sky Reports with basic order information and hit the road. When you return to the office, you launch a new tab in your browser and attempt to open a report even though you already have that report open in another tab. Not to worry – ACI Sky will protect your data with a new prompt that notifies Sky to stop auto-saving the original file and continue working in the new tab.

Accounting
Sky’s new accounting module is clean and easy to use. ACI Sky includes the standard office management tools you’ll need to run your appraisal business. This current release provides the office manager with the ability to generate invoices, post payments, and manage accounts receivable in the cloud, from anywhere!

The Accounting dashboard displays the current balance for orders with an amount due, delivered orders awaiting payment, and paid orders. Unpaid balances are listed per client name and code. Click the Actions drop-down to print invoices and post payments.

The accounting section allows users to “Add” and “Edit” both clients and appraisers via the Clients and Staff tabs. You can add individual members by selecting the green “New Client” or “New Staff Member” button accordingly. A bulk upload option is also supported by importing a CSV file to the data table. Clients and Staff Members added to this section will be available when entering a new order for quick selection.

For more information on using ACI Sky email onecall@aciweb.com or take one of our free online training classes. To get your own ACI Sky account today, call 800-234-8727.

Some of the shortcut keys available to you in Sky are listed below.  Review the chart showing the connected key strokes and their functions.

Grid Shortcuts

Field editing/Navigation

Addendum

To use Sales Price to calculate the Comparables Adjusted Value on a LAND form, you need to change your Report Options. By default the land forms are set to use the line for “Price per” so that you can calculate adjustments by the appropriate unit for the property (sq ft, acre, front foot, etc).

If you prefer to calculate adjustments based on sales price, you can easily switch this option. Simply open the land report and then from the top menu select Options > Report and click the + (plus) sign next to the appropriate Land form (Land2, Land_10, Land_15). Select Sales Comparison Analysis and select the radio button for Sales Price. Click OK to accept the changes.

Select Apply to Future Reports Created with Default Options to use this option for future reports. To apply settings to an existing template, edit the template and select the option. When creating a new report, select Use Default Report Options to use the default options.

Did you know that ACI includes 1GB of free online file storage with every membership plan? That’s right, no expensive per-file costs or complicated setup. Simply select some files and with a touch of a button, they are securely stored in the cloud. It’s perfect for backing up report files, cold storage for workfile data, or transferring data to a new computer.

Our recent update makes the process even easier. In this update we added a new file-selection interface so you can quickly select your last 10, 50, or 100 files. It automatically compares the versions of the files, so you can decide which one you want to keep, allowing you to store a separate copy or replace existing files.

To get these new features and functions, run WebUpdate. To open Sky Box close all reports and go to eServices > ACI Sky Services > Sky Box. Enter your Sky Box login credentials and follow the on-screen prompts.

Keep an eye on your inbox as we continue to raise the bar in appraisal technology. Next up, new features for ACI Analytics with Public Record and Listing Data.

As always, we’re here to help you, just email onecall@aciweb.com or call 800-234-8727 if you have any questions.