Above: The RMLS™ development team discussing upcoming deploys to RMLSweb.

This post is part of MLS Insight, a series about governance issues at RMLS™.

The RMLSweb system that provides our subscribers with the tools they need to serve sellers and buyers is an in-house system. That means that RMLS™ employs development and programming staff, and does not have a vendor that controls the features available to our subscribers. We have been developing and refining the RMLSweb system in-house since 2001.

Using a custom in-house system has both great benefits and some challenges. We are able to improve our system based on the input of our subscribers about their wants and needs for both data about listings and system features. Early on, we determined that we needed a way to prioritize competing enhancement requests, and I wanted to describe that general process for you.

We collect all comments and suggestions we receive from our subscribers. They are reviewed monthly, because sometimes the requested functionality already exists and therefore presents a training opportunity. When a suggestion is made about new data to collect on our forms, it is delivered to the RMLS™ Forms Committee for their discussion and recommendation.

If a suggestion is small enough, and would benefit a majority of subscribers we may work on it right away. Bugs that are found are also worked on immediately. Each fall, enhancements requiring a significant amount of work are grouped generally into project buckets—mostly according to what part of the system is involved. Sometimes, as in last year’s brower/tablet compatibility project, all parts of the system are involved. Subscriber interest is gauged with a brief description of the potential projects in the annual Subscriber Satisfaction Survey. (Subscribers are also asked to rate the projects completed since the last survey.)

At the end of the year the RMLS™ staff prepares a more detailed report about potential projects for development in the coming year. Usually six to ten projects are proposed. Each project summary includes a description of the business need or opportunity, lists specific examples that come from the enhancements requested by subscribers, and estimates the project duration and resources needed. The Technology Committee reviews the report and adds their comments and a grade to the rating obtained in the Subscriber Satisfaction Survey.

The final step of the process is prioritization by the RMLS™ Board of Directors. This occurs during their annual retreat in February, when there is plenty of time to discuss and deliberate about the options. The three top priorities that the board directed our development team to work on this year are:

• Search and report improvements to allow easier ways to manage saved searches, prospects, and search results. Examples include improving the MLS#/Address Search on the desktop sidebar with a better parser and more prominent location; saved search integration with contact manager; the ability to hide the map in Advanced Search; search results modernization with a “detail” view mode like the one in Listing Load; and enhancing the search results with a map view.
• SentriLock API integration to allow single sign-on to manage some of the functions of the lockbox system, including assigning a lockbox to a listing, retrieving information about who has accessed your lockboxes, as well as properties you have viewed.
• RMLSweb usability to improve the appearance, behavior, and performance of RMLSweb on tablets. This would take the browser compatibility project one step further with features like geolocation awareness in map search on mobile devices.

If you are curious to see a history of software we have released, check out RMLSweb Deployment History in Forms and Documents on RMLSweb. To check on what is coming up, go to RMLS™ Future Enhancements.

Next month we will cover the RMLS™ service area. If you have any questions you would like to have answered about RMLS™ governance or operation, I encourage you to post a comment to this blog.

Need to know what information is available on the internet regarding a particular property? A traditional web search can return irrelevant or outdated information. Finding, sorting, and understanding data that’s relevant can be difficult for a REALTOR® to do. (Doing so faster than a client is even more difficult!)

Enter ShackShout, now available on RMLSweb.

A ShackShout button is now available at the bottom of each Agent Full listing on RMLSweb. Clicking the link will take you to an aggregated list of information pertaining to the listing.

ShackShout provides instant links to property, neighborhood, and geographic data, including:
• Walk Score
• Great Schools
• Cell Signal Maps
• and more!
Providing this information in one quickly accessible place gives RMLS™ members the tools to stay a step ahead of clients.

ShackShout can assist REALTORS® with listing presentations, branding, reporting, and marketing. Try ShackShout on a listing today, and experience how fast and easy it can be to find information in a single location! We’re certain you’ll find something to shout about.

Our developers at RMLS™ have been working hard this year on our browser and tablet compatibility project, and on December 12th we’ll introduce one of the more anticipated developments of this project: an improved Listing Load experience! We’ll also be removing the map coordinates requirement for listings in all areas, and making some housekeeping changes to the RMLS™ Terms of Service. Read on for details…

Improved Listing Load

After the switch, Listing Load will be compatible with more browsers and tablets. Subscribers using Listing Load on desktop machines may not notice many changes to the interface, but Listing Load will now work with Google Chrome and Apple Safari, in addition to Microsoft Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox.

Interface changes will be more noticeable for subscribers using a tablet to access RMLSweb. The tablet interface has been designed for more tablet-compatible interaction. Tablet users may notice the absence of the “List View” and “Detail View” tabs, as only a list view will be available (above). The interface works best in landscape mode, as there may be some width lost (resulting in clipping of information) in portrait mode. Given the constraints of tablets, this version of Listing Load will be unable to upload documents to a listing, and photos may only be uploaded one at a time.

Chrome is our recommended browser for Android users. Listing Load is experiencing performance issues on iPads using Safari in iOS7. RMLS™ will continue monitoring the issue and hopes the iOS7.1 release will mitigate the issue.

Map Coordinates No Longer Required

RMLSweb will no longer require map coordinates (page, column, and row) when submitting a listing! Earlier this year map coordinates ceased being a requirement in all but Portland metro, Lane County, and Curry County, but coordinates will now be unrequired for all RMLSweb listings. Rand McNally, the company responsible for Thomas Guide publications, no longer produces a Portland or Oregon edition—as brokers may not have easy access to the information anymore, RMLS™ has decided to make this change.

Terms of Service Change

RMLS™ has partnered with many third-party sites in 2013, including RPR, RatePlug, and New Home Source. As part of our regular password change on December 11th, users will need to accept a new Terms of Service, updated to clearly state that the RMLS™ Terms of Service apply only to RMLSweb and other RMLS™ websites and not to our third-party partners, such as those named above. View the redlined RMLS™ Terms of Service for brokers and for office staff (office managers, personal assistants, and input personnel).

Don’t forget, if you have any questions about these improvements to RMLSweb, contact the RMLS™ Help Desk at (503) 236-7657 or (877) 256-2169.

It has been a big year at RMLS™! Subscriber feedback drives our improvements to RMLSweb, and these latest improvements are no exception. Thanks, subscribers, for your input this year and into the future.

RMLS™ has partnered with Realtors Property Resource® (RPR) and starting September 25th, RMLS™ listing data will be available on RPR to RMLS™ subscribers. RMLS™ subscribers will have access to hundreds of datasets on over 150 million properties across the country through RPR at no additional cost. These reports include:

• Tax assessments
• Notices of default (NODs)
• The largest database of foreclosure and pre-foreclosures in the country
• Mortgage and history data
• Value estimates, refinements, and comp analysis
• Neighborhood and demographic information
• FEMA flood maps
• School zoning and information

On RMLSweb subscribers will be able to quickly access a listing on RPR using the button on the search results screen or at the bottom of an Agent Full report:

RMLS™ and RPR have also integrated ZIP code statistics at the bottom of the Agent Full report on RMLSweb (below). Click the green button (above) that says “[+] RPR Statistics by Zip” to view these statistics, which are based upon the listing’s ZIP code, county, and state.

Additional features and reports will be available by logging in to the RPR website.

RMLS™ subscribers don’t need to take action to register: RPR will be pre-registering our subscribers using their NRDS ID in order to simplify access. Once RPR has created each user’s account (starting September 24th) RPR will send an email to the subscriber.

RPR training sessions will be available for subscribers during the week of September 30th, held at multiple locations across the RMLS™ region (Portland, Vancouver, Tigard, Gresham, Eugene, and Roseburg). Register for an informative RPR training session here.

Watch for an email from RPR with user information starting September 25th!

If you have any questions about your RPR account or the RPR website, please visit the RPR Help Desk or call (877) 977-7576.

Ever wanted to search for listings in multiple locations at the same time? Starting August 1st, users will be able to do that and more when RMLS™ rolls out an improved map search on RMLSweb!

New features of map search will invite users to create multiple shapes on a map, find a location by ZIP or address, view listing locations easily on a map, and more. This new map search tool will also utilize Bing Maps, completing our transition to Bing.

Here is a rundown of the changes:

Basic Map Search

When using map search on RMLSweb, users will now be able to draw multiple shapes on the same search map (at right). Each shape can be adjusted and deleted independently. Searches using two or more shapes will find listings in all of the map shapes. (Search results will still be limited to a maximum of 500 results.)

To adjust the side(s) of a shape, click and drag the edge. To delete a shape, click the X icon on the shape itself, or click the X button at the top of the map search to clear all shapes. A small box in the map search screen will help remind you how many shapes appear on your map.

Clicking “Count” at the top of the page will not only return the number of listings that meet the outlined criteria, but those listings will now be visible on the map in the form of location dots. Blue dots represent listings with the selected criteria that fall inside the selected map range(s), and gray dots represent listings with the selected criteria outside those range(s).

Clicking “Count” at the top of the page will now also save your search criteria.

Furthermore, the text box at the top of the map search screen can now be used to center a map on either a ZIP or full address! Street numbers entered alone will be treated as a ZIP code, so don’t forget to include city and state information. And don’t forget to add a comma before the city name (for example: 8338 NE Alderwood Rd, Portland OR 97220)

In addition to a standalone Map Search, this tool will also be embedded in Hotsheet, Open House, Broker Tour, and Actual Expireds. Advanced MLS will have a few additional features…

Advanced and Prospect Searches

Advanced Search and Prospecting searches will feature a new page layout due to the new map search. Area/Map Range will be moved further right on the interface, presenting the map when “Map Range” is selected.

Clicking on other criteria in these searches (price, year built, etc.) will present a pop-up box over the map (at right). Select criteria or click “Cancel” to access the main screen again.

If you’ve clicked “Count” and an error occurs (“ERR“), the space below the box further explain the error. A polygon that intersects itself may create search errors, for example.

Prospect searches already saved in RMLSweb should work as is with no adjustment needed for this updated search screen.

As always, users experiencing difficulty with the new map search or who have questions should contact the RMLS™ Help Desk at (503) 872-8002 or helpdesk@rmls.com.

RMLS™ is excited about the capabilities of this improved map search feature, and know our subscribers will benefit from these improvements!

RMLS™ staff is constantly working on ways to improve RMLSweb, either by improving existing features or adding new ones. In July, subscribers will see the following improvements to our system…

Bing Maps Coming to CMAs

As of this evening, the Comparative Market Analysis (CMA) tool on RMLSweb will allow setting the map point for the subject property using Bing Maps! This is one of the final pieces in our conversion to Bing, meaning a CMA subject property map will now sport the enhanced map performance and graphic look found elsewhere on RMLSweb.

Office Email Designation

Principal brokers will now have the ability to set an officewide email address to appear on all listings that originate from their brokerage.

In order to set up your office’s email address, navigate to Toolkit in the RMLSweb navigation bar and click on “User Preferences.” Select the “Company Email/Logo” tab, and fill in the email field at the top. (Don’t forget to save!)

Office email information will appear in both the office roster and in the Agent Full and Data Only reports on RMLSweb.

Coming Soon: New Map Search and More!
We’ll be rolling out a new map search interface on RMLSweb. Watch the RMLScentral blog for more information in the coming weeks!

And don’t forget, as the year continues we’ll be working on our biggest project of the year, full browser and tablet compatibility!

Subscribers seeking assistance with these changes or any other RMLSweb features may contact the RMLS™ Help Desk for assistance by calling (503) 872-8002, emailing helpdesk@rmls.com, or by clicking the chat button on the right sidebar of RMLSweb.

All of us at RMLS™ hope subscribers will appreciate these improvements to RMLSweb!

RMLS™ subscribers got an easier way to communicate with us about data inaccuracies when the Report Issue button (above) was added to the bottom of all Agent Full reports during our RMLSweb system improvements in January.

Since it was released on January 30th, more than 2,000 issues have been reported (averaging about 400 per month)!

If you haven’t yet explored this feature, when the Report Issue button is clicked a form pops up with the listing number and other identifying information already filled in (right). There is a menu of 12 options that can be selected.

Look below to see how the options ranked in the number of reports we have received.

Other is partly a catch-all of general inquiries, but one category that comes up frequently is corrections to the Comparable Information section for sold listings. We have even received compliments for the listing agent in this category. We were thrilled to read this issue report:

Please let the listing agent know what a great job she did on this listing. All the information is there that I need to help my client.

Vallerie Bush and Wanda Kennedy make up the RMLS™ team that ensures all reported data inaccuracies get resolved, and they are enthusiastic about this boost for RMLS™ data accuracy. (In addition to responding to issues reported through the Report Issue button, they field many phone calls and emails.) Wanda says:

I have only heard good things regarding the rules button. The subscribers say it saves them so much time. When they see something wrong with a listing they can send it in right then and there. I think it was a great idea!

Vallerie adds,

It is faster and more convenient to send a rules violation to RMLS™. I like it because it usually has most of the information needed when processing.

Keep the reports coming! Accurate data helps all of our subscribers and the buyers and sellers they serve.

As noted in last week’s preview of the forms changes coming this year to RMLSweb, the RMLS™ Forms Committee meets each year to review subscriber suggestions and recommend changes to RMLSweb listing input forms. After changes are approved by the RMLS™ Board of Directors, our staff works diligently to execute the changes as soon as possible.

We’re just about ready to unveil the results of this annual project! Here are a few of the biggest differences you’ll notice after the changes go live:

• Public Remarks Increased: the Public Remarks field will increase in size from 380 to 440 characters.
• Farm Y/N?: a new Farm Y/N field will be available for residential listings. Removing FARM from the property type field will allow the Property Type of Detached or Residential-Manufactured to be selected. Choosing Y will provide the Farms Supplement form, which can be used by the listing agent to fully describe the property.
• Offer/Negotiation: the Offer/Negotiation field will now be required. This field indicates instructions for presenting offers and negotiations, such as Call Listing Agent, Listing Agent Only, Seller Directly, or See Documents.
• Map Coordinates: the Map Page, Map Column, and Map Row fields (which make up Map Coordinates) will remain required for listings in the following counties: Clackamas, Columbia, Curry, Lane, Multnomah, Washington, and Yamhill. In all other areas, it will be optional.
• Export Reports: Export Reports will have additional fields added to the end of reports.

We’ve prepared more documentation for those who wish to read more detail. View a brief summary document of the annual forms change, and a color-coded PDF showing changes to the Data Input Forms and Listing Contracts.

We’ll be updating two other small projects as well. First, we’ll be tweaking the Hotsheet Search to include an option to search for a specific price change amount. Agents will soon be be able to run a Hotsheet Search (left) to find listings that have increased or decreased in price.

Finally, we’ll also be restoring four hour session times! Our Unauthorized Access project reduced session times in February, meaning accounts were logged out after 90 minutes of inactivity. Subscriber feedback prompted RMLS™ to reconsider, and we’re restoring the previous four hour sessions.

Changing so many pieces of RMLSweb requires a longer outage than our regular monthly maintenance. We expect these changes to require a lengthy outage—possibly as long as 12 hours. As with our regular maintenance outages, a Maintenance Mode version of RMLSweb will be available, available to subscribers only for search purposes.

RMLS™ puts much thought and care into developing the best system for regional REALTORS®. We hope our subscribers appreciate this work and will continue to share comments and questions!

The RMLS™ Board of Directors recently approved a set of changes to the waiver system, recommended by a Waiver Task Force.

What is a Waiver?

When a principal broker joins RMLS™, all office licensees are also expected to become dues-paying subscribers.

A variety of circumstances may necessitate a request to waive these dues. A licensee may act solely as a personal assistant. Other licensees may oversee property management inside a realty office. A broker may fall ill and need to take time off due to their illness, or stop practicing for another reason. These situations are all common waiver requests.

What is Changing?

RMLS™ is required to give written notice to subscribers about rules changes. Beginning Monday, May 13, 2013, the following changes will take place:

• Individuals on waiver may not have their name or contact information included on any promotional material for any active listing on RMLSweb.
• The minimum time period for a waiver request will be six months, with the exception of an illness waiver, which will be three months.
• A $250 fee for violation of the terms and conditions of the waiver will be applied to participants (principal brokers) as well as the licensee on waiver.
• If a licensed personal assistant is found to be in violation, they will be charged back dues for full access, not to exceed one year.
• The “other” category will be removed, and a “Property Management” category will take its place.

Need to know more? Read the redlined waiver document. Click the links to apply for an RMLS™ waiver as a new subscriber, or apply for an RMLS™ waiver as an existing subscriber.

New features and enhancements to RMLSweb are implemented regularly, including during our monthly scheduled outages.

Here are some of the changes we implemented in February to improve the site for subscribers…

Map Checked Switched to Bing Maps

RMLS™ is continuing to switch its map systems over to Bing Maps, and this month we’ve integrated Bing with the map checked feature of RMLSweb.

This means that when plotting multiple listings on a map for a client tour, the map will match other mapping features on RMLSweb and their enhanced map performance.

This is the third of a series of five rollovers into Bing. Our final two changes will be to switch the Listing Load mapping module to Bing, followed by switching Map Search. Look for the complete transformation in coming months!

RMLS™ Inventory on Desktop

Perhaps you’ve already noticed this new feature on the left sidebar of the RMLSweb desktop: we’ve added a feature showcasing collective listing data. In a glance, subscribers can see just how many active listings are in RMLSweb, the number of sold listings for the last 12 months, the dollar value those listings represent, and the total number of listings in the system. The numbers are updated daily.

Shorter Session Times

Starting this week, subscribers logging in to RMLSweb will be automatically logged out after 90 minutes of inactivity. This is a shorter session time than the site had previously (four hours), but we’re making the change based on some of the initial findings of our unauthorized access project on RMLSweb.

We’ve also got some exciting developments coming soon in March…

Chat with RMLS™

We will be adding a new way to contact RMLS™—chat! Access RMLS™ staff online by clicking the chat button at the top of the right sidebar. A chat window will open, and staff will assist you shortly.

Representatives from Help Desk, Training, Accounting, and Front Desk/Membership will be available during normal RMLS™ business hours. During the times when no staff is available, the pop-up window will allow you to send an email, and a representative will be in touch as soon as possible.

RMLS.com Facelift

Our client-facing website, RMLS.com, will have a new look starting March 5th! We think you’ll like what you see. Besides the new look, consumers will now be able to search listings by either an address or MLS number.

As Gail Hare, Executive Vice President, posted last week, the RMLS™ Board of Directors recently made tablet and browser compatibility for RMLSweb the number one priority for our technical team this year. Look to the RMLS Blog and RMLSweb desktop for updates as that major project progresses.

If you have any questions regarding these changes, email Help Desk at helpdesk@rmls.com or call us at (503) 872-8002, or outside the Portland area at (877) 256-2169.