October 16, 2017

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.

April 18, 2017

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.

March 23, 2017

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.

March 15, 2017

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.

October 27, 2016

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

Copy field from Subject	=
Copy Subject column	==
Copy field from comp	=# (ie. =2 to copy a field from comp 2)
Copy entire comp data	==2 (ie. ==3 to copy entire contents of comp 3)
Swap Comps	CTRL + # (ie. Ctrl + 1 to swap current comp with comp 1)
Delete Entire Comp	CTRL + Z
Comp Copy Across	F2

   

Field editing/Navigation

Delete field contents	CTRL + Y
Multiple Checkbox selection	Shift + click
UAD Helper	CTRL + Left arrow
Field Picklist	CTRL + Down arrow
Open Addendum	CTRL + A
Insert Line Break	ALT + Shift + Enter
Next field	Enter or Tab
Previous Field	Shift + Tab
Word Left	CTRL + Left arrow
Word Right	CTRL + Right arrow
Start of Current Line	Home
End of Current line	End

   

Addendum

Open Addendum	CTRL + A
Bold Addendum text	CTRL + B
Italicize Addendum Text	CTRL + I
Underline Addendum Text	CTRL + U
Close Addendum	ESC

 

May 31, 2016

Disabling some settings in your Adobe program will make your PDF’s come back to life. Here’s what you need to do.

Open the Adobe Reader and go to Edit > Preferences > Security (Enhanced). UNCHECK "Enable Protected Mode at startup," another window will pop up asking you to confirm you want it disabled, click Yes. UNCHECK "Enable Enhanced Security." Click OK and close the Adobe Reader.

May 25, 2016

To save or deliver a PDF, MISMO XML or ENV file in ACI Sky, you will use the “Deliver” option. Click the “Deliver” button in the upper right corner of the screen. A Sky Delivery prompt displays boxes to select your format and options to either email or save the PDF, MISMO XML or ENV file. You may select them individually or select multiple formats.

Note: If you select ENV or MISMO XML, you must pass UAD Validation to continue the creation and delivery of the file.

To email the selected file formats, check the box next to Send Email to: Next, update the ‘To’ line with an email address for delivery and be sure to press ‘Enter” to apply the email address. To save the selected file formats, check the box next to “Download Local Copy of File(s).” When you are ready, click Deliver and your files will be emailed and/or saved depending on your selections. When processing is complete, a success message will appear and your files will be delivered and/or saved.

May 25, 2016

An ENV file is short for “Envelope,” the required file format for delivering appraisals to AppraisalPort®. This delivery option is included in the ACI eServices subscription. To save an ENV file in ACI, you will use the delivery option. Click eServices > Send Report > AI READY or click on the AI Ready icon.

Note: you must pass UAD Validation to continue the creation and/or delivery of the file.

The ENV will then appear in the preview screen (aka the OADI Uploader); this is where you can view the translation. From here you may select Save to create a copy of the ENV to your local machine, or Send to deliver the file through AppraisalPort.

March 7, 2016

To keep your data secure in ACI Sky, we use some of the same methods as other entities you share data with including banks and email providers. When you access ACI Sky, the information you enter is encrypted using Secure Hypertext Transfer Protocol.

All accounts are password protected and data is stored behind industry standard firewalls with nightly backups. We encourage frequent changing of passwords and require passwords to be strong by enforcing minimum requirements (at least one capital and lower case letter, a minimum of 8 characters, and at least one number).

December 18, 2015

To view UAD Guidance on a field, click in a field. If it is a field with UAD Guidance, a Guidance icon (looks like two pages of a report) will be available. Click the UAD Guidance icon. UAD Guidance is displayed on the right-hand side of the page. If the Guidance is not displayed, click the Need Guidance? link.

e.g., On an UAD form, click in the Subject Property Address field and click the UAD Guidance icon to access the UAD dialogue.

TIP: To always show UAD Guidance when entering a UAD dialog, click More > Options > UAD, and select Show UAD Guidance.