New Features - February 14th, 2013 by Berni

Please see below some of the features and enhancements released over the last 12 months.
  • Improved emailing facilities
  • More flexibility when chasing arrears
  • General system improvements

Improved emailing facilities
We have recently improved the emailing facilities within the system, allowing for closer integration with Microsoft Outlook and Microsoft Exchange. When generating reports such as demands, arrears letters or BACS remittances, the system can automatically send these to your Outbox, meaning the time it takes to perform operations such as a demand run can be drastically reduced.

You can of course still choose to send emails to Drafts first if you prefer to double check them, or simply check them in the Practice version of the system (where they will print or preview in the usual way) before running them for real.

Setup is simple, the system will automatically use your default mail profile, therefore eliminating the need to input email settings on every machine. You can enter a default email message for each type of report per machine (or choose to enter a different message each time if you’d like) and select per tenant/supplier which reports will be emailed, printed or both. A copy of the report will be archived as usual, allowing you to save on paper as well as time.

More flexibility when chasing arrears
As well as the many existing options for choosing who to send arrears letters to, you can now choose to chase specific items of arrears only. This may be useful if you are only interested in chasing a certain type of charge, eg Service Charge but not Ground Rent, or if you have agreed payment terms with a tenant for one item of arrears but still want to chase payment for something else.

To do this, select which tenants you want to send arrears letters to in the usual way, then click the + sign next to any tenants for whom you only want to chase specific items of arrears. This will show which charges make up their total arrears amount, allowing you to select/de-select charges to show as necessary.

General system improvements

  • Various new options for displaying itemised commission on statements.
  • Additional information to be displayed on the demand summary.
  • Further options to control the display of VAT on demands.
  • Extended information to be included when exporting record details.
  • More detailed information to display on system messages.
  • Arrears chasing facilities improved to allow more control when applying admin fees for arrears letters.
  • Extended options available for dealing with client groups/syndicates.
  • Further options available for checking reports in Practice.
  • More detailed information to show on transaction listings throughout the system.
  • Improvements have been made to the feature which apportions interest for interest bearing bank accounts.
  • Changes have been made to the screen for setting up service charge plans so it is more intuitive.
  • More options are now available to control the display of VAT when accounting to your client.
  • There are now more VAT choices available when posting transactions.
  • Additional information can now be automatically included with an arrears letter, showing a breakdown of charges due and payments made.

All of the features listed above are available free of charge to all users currently subscribing to Software Support (subject to compatibility with your current settings). If you would like to discuss any of the options or request an option to be included on your next update, please speak to Support.