Reporting

By Catherine Erney
Xceligient
May 2007 In Contract

Last month, we reviewed the basics of searching data through the:

• Universal (Google) search,
• The Search, the most commonly used query and the
• Property/Listing search.

This month, we're going to take a look at reporting. Just like your CDX desktop, your reporting options are fully customizable. You can select the reports you use most frequently to appear in your "Quick Reports" pull-down menu. From your home page, click into "My Preferences."

Here you select the reports for the Quick Reports pull-down. For example, if you don't do statistics, you would have little need for the any of the Vacancy or Absorption reports. Removing them from your Quick Reports doesn't deter you from ever using them again, it will just take two more clicks to get to them. If you use the Tour Long plus Tax & Ops every day, be sure to pull it into your Quick Reports and put it at the top of the list.

(While you're in My Preferences, you might notice a few other ways to customize your home page. Feel free to dig around! )

You don't know which reports you would like to use every day? Well, here's where you figure that out. Let's assume that you've first run a property search and selected the properties that you want to show your client. Here, above the bar on the right hand side of your screen -- do you see "Reports?" When you click into that, this menu will appear:

As you click on each report listing on the left, a thumbnail image will appear in the upper right quadrant of your screen. Here you can see which reports include building photos. Just a quick note: any of the "Tour" reports include photos. In the lower right quadrant, there is a list of each of the fields included in that specific report. A little common sense goes a long way here. For example, if you ran a sales comparison report through "My Comps" be sure that you pull your report from the Transactions section. If you are interested in Building data rather then listing data, be sure to pull your report from the Property section. Finally, look in Analytics to find the Vacancy & Absorption reports.

Now, let's walk through a quick presentation and see just how quickly you can prepare a fully customized report for your client. Again, we'll assume that you've run your search & selected the properties that you want to show your customer. First, please select Tour Package from either your Quick Reports pull-down menu or from the Reports section in the upper right hand corner of your screen. This is the most elaborate of our reports; and you are able to customize it completely for your clients requirements.

First, notice that you have the option of filling in "Prepared By" and "Prepared for" on the cover page of your report. In "Prepared By" you can add other agents from your company and put them in the correct order. Your logo will appear on the cover page and you can also import your customer's logo for the cover page and choose a customized border color for within the report. Finally, be sure to type a clever title for your package, such as "Potential Sites for XYZ Company." You'll note in this section that whether or not to include other listing agents' contact information is entirely your option. (This is true in any of Xceligent's reports.)

Next, look at "Select tour order."
Available properties typically come up in alphabetical order -- which works well for some applications but is seldom practical for driving the market. Simply highlight a building record by clicking on it and then use the "Up" "Down" "Move to Top" and "Move to Bottom" buttons until you have your properties in a logical order. Next, click into "Edit Data." In this area, you have the option of editing any field of data on any of the records for the purposes of this report only. For example, you can create your own listing notes in the text fields, such as:

"Joe this is my first choice for your company; close to the courthouse with a great common conference room for your clients."

If your client is only interested in first and second floor spaces, you can easily remove the higher suites from the report. If you have negotiated a more favorable lease rate for your client, you can replace the quoted rates in the report. None of these changes will be reflected in the CDX. We understand that no-one knows your client's hot buttons or your market better than you do. We do our best to make it easy for you to get what you need from the CDX.

Finally, review all of your reporting options in the lower left hand side of the screen. The first pages of your report will be a thumbnail overview -- check whether you want it to be portrait or landscape. Be sure to include a cover page if you've customized it and be sure to include the map in the final package. All set? Preview the report! After the cover page with logos, and the mini-version of your tour, you'll see the brochure report for each of your selected properties-- with your edited data and comments, then a map of your properties in the order you chose -- and finally the marketing brochures for each property. Slick and quick!