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Custom Reports and Gateway
By: Dru Bloomfield,
AtHomeInScottsdale.com
Posted: Tuesday, February 26th, 2008, 4:40 am MST
Category: Wish List
I learned something at last week’s ARMLS Committee meeting that is slowing sinking into my consciousness.
This I knew: Custom reports will not be ported over, and will need to be re-created.
This was the “oh-no”: FlexMLS does not have a Gateway equivalent web portal.
The good news: ARMLS has opened the third party vendor door, and I’m expecting some exciting announcements as agreements are crafted. (Thank you!)
The Challenge: A replacement product for those of us who are Gateway users. Clients who use it love it. I’ve found it to be an especially great tool for sharing housing info with buyers who are geographically separated while house shopping.
Michael and Bob, I’d love to be wrong here. Readers, any recommendations for third part solutions?
February 26th, 2008 at 5:51 am
Dru, this issue has already been addressed here.
February 26th, 2008 at 6:06 am
Michael,
I’m familiar with the custom report conversion challenge, but the lack of a web portal feature was a surprise to me and several others in the meeting.
February 26th, 2008 at 6:39 am
Dru, we WILL BE delivering the equivalent of the client gateway. The primary difference will be that users will have their own login and password to the portal instead of unauthenticated links. We’re still programming the dashboard for the client portal but rest assured that you will have that feature. The only question is whether we’ll be able to convert your current gateway data for use in our system. I’m hopeful the favorites and notes will be straight-forward, but saved searches typically are not converted. So, again, a client portal WILL BE in the system.
February 26th, 2008 at 7:05 am
Micheal also discussed the “gateway” in comment #3 to this post:
As someone who has almost 300 people on Gateways. it is quite a drag that the saved searched likely won’t be ported over. But I understand the technical limitations.
Will the flex version of the Gateway have the capability to email the user (and agent if desired) when new listings meeting their criteria are added?
February 26th, 2008 at 7:40 am
I’m relieved to hear there will be a client portal. Thanks for the clarification.
February 26th, 2008 at 10:17 am
Jay, yes, auto e-mails can be generated to you and specified clients for new listings matching a search.
March 26th, 2008 at 11:29 pm
Michael,
“The primary difference will be that users will have their own login and password to the portal instead of unauthenticated links.”
Why?
Having a login and a password will cut prospect usage dramatically and increase prospect frustration phenomenally. And I bet it’s more work for me answering questions about the login and password.
What’s the problem with an unauthenticated link?
This isn’t a bank.
March 27th, 2008 at 3:09 am
“This isn’t a bank.”
In the near term, we expect users to be able to share contracts with each other through the customer portal. On a more immediate basis, usernames and passwords also help with activity tracking, knowing who did what and when. You are right, though, having a username and password will require more work. If you would like for them to be non-authenticated, you should raise the issue with ARMLS now as we’re in the process of building this functionality at this very moment. In fact, I’ll send them an e-mail myself.
March 27th, 2008 at 10:11 am
Thanks, Michael.
I don’t know all of the plans for the Gateway system, of course, and your leeway within the new architecture.
But if the Gateway is more than one click away from an email, we’ll lose a ton of prospects and the “user experience” for those who do use it will be frustrating for many.
I think you lose a lot of people when you make them do something with 2 clicks instead of 1 click. So I imagine the drop from having to log in will be huge.
[By the way, I've started using the Gateway whenever I can to answer inquiries (Thanks for the tip, Dru) and the results have been very good. In addition, I like it that the Gateway is something special ARMLS members have in their toolkit that IDX vendors and the others can't really compete with.]
March 27th, 2008 at 12:29 pm
The current plan is to require authentication. I certainly can understand your concern, though I do think your conclusion that “the drop from having to login will be huge” may be over-stated. These are not unidentified web site visitors you’re trying to get contact info from, these are people for whom you already have contact info (at least an e-mail address) and you’re providing them an opportunity to engage with you in a web site private to them. That they must log in for those private conversations doesn’t seem to be presenting a burden different from engaging with them on Facebook or any other platform where they need to identify themselves. At any rate, we’re currently planning to make the links authenticated but I’ve also raised your concerns with ARMLS and encourage you to do the same if you still feel authentication will be a detriment to your business.
April 11th, 2008 at 11:21 pm
Do you know what the conversion time will be? How much time will we have to convert our client gateway over and teach our clients how to log in and use a passwood and Id every time to access homes?? I sure hope that the log in for home access is still in the planning stages… password protected web site are antiquated and agents will loose clients they currently have armls gateway by asking them to use a password!
April 12th, 2008 at 4:31 am
Teresa or anyone else commenting or watching this thread, do you know of any web site that allows you to save information without logging in?
April 12th, 2008 at 10:32 am
Michael,
The current system sends an email to the client when there is a new or updated listing that meets the criteria I set up for them.
“Client Name,
One or more properties that fit your criteria have been listed or updated.
Click on the link below to view these properties. Please let me know if you are interested in visiting any of them.
Click here to view your Client Gateway”
The last line is a direct link to their Client Gateway. I’ll email you some live ones.
April 14th, 2008 at 11:00 am
The current level of data in the gateway is in my mind not sensitive. If a friend, neighbor or foe new about which houses you were considering, I can’t imagine too much damage that could be caused by that knowledge.
However, thinking ahead to the possibilities of what the gateway could be used for (recording thoughts on homes, scheduling information, and possibly documents). I think it would be wise to take this opportunity to put the password on it now and get our clients used to it. It will also give us the opportunity to work out details in the test/conversion stage.
April 27th, 2008 at 11:24 pm
Our clients don’t currently have to authenticate to get to their Client Gateway. Why the change? And where is this issue currently - we’re a week out from Craig’s last post….?
April 28th, 2008 at 4:54 am
Bobbi, clients will not have to log in to see e-mails you send them or automatic e-mail updates from the system, but they will have to log in to save favorites or notes or send messages. As I asked in my last comment: “do you know of any web site that allows you to save information without logging in?” Also, read my other comments to this issue for reasons why authentication is important.
April 28th, 2008 at 7:09 am
“… clients will not have to log in to see… automatic e-mail updates”
I’m happy.