CBR Tempo 5 - Message of the Day

CBR Tempo getting even better

New features and enhancements will improve your productivity

By Matt Warren CBR Senior Trainer/Systems Analyst We're weeks away. TempoTM Version 5 is soon to be a reality. There will be a lot of improvements, additions, increased functionality and enhancments. There will also be a fair share of growing pains. Overall, Tempo 5 (or "T5") will offer a continuation of the quality MLS functions that CBR MLS members have grown accustomed to while expanding the scope of what an online MLS should be. The first change that will catch your eye when you login to the new TempoTM system will be the layout and "look" of T5. The core functions of the system are still there, but the interface and location of some features has changed. Almost every feature has been expanded or improved in some way.

System Requirements for Tempo Version 5

Message of the Day: The Old Welcome Screen
The Welcome Screen has been changed from a pop-up window to a pane within the new homepage and will have several tabs at the top for messages from various sources: System (from Tempo itself), MLS (from CBR), Broker, and Offfice.

Quick Search The "blue toolbar" at the top of the Tempo window has not changed drastically, although you will note that the menus have changed and some items have moved. Of note, the Search menu now goes directly to the Category you wish to search. For example, if you move your mouse over Search on the blue bar you will see the ful list of MLS categories and can click on the category you wish to search to be taken to that Quick Search page.

The Residential Quick Search page layout has changed dramatically, but the functionality has not. All basic search criteria can still be entered in the text fields. Major interface changes to Quick Search are labeled on the adjacent graphic with descriptions of the changes below in this article. The method for entering multiple search criteria has changed. Instead of entering a "%" sign, the agent will simply select "contains" from the drop down box at the beginning of each entry line. If the drop down box doesn't appear, the agent will have to click the "Advanced Options" button at the bottom right corner of the Tempo Quick Search window. Clicking the Advanced Options button will toggle the advanced drop down option list on and off. Not all lines will have the same advanced options. Some will have only the options "equals" and "not equal", while others will have many more options.

Price fields will now have the option to enter price in "thousands". In other words, instead of entering 200000 for price, the agent can turn on the options "in 000s" at the end of the price line, and enter only 200. Tempo^TM will then assume that 200 really means 200000.

Users will have drop down menus for many of the options that previously had "pick lists" they work basically the same. The user will be able to select multiple items either by typing them seperated by a comma, no space, or by picking multiple items from the list. There is no need to hold down the CTRL button on T5 Quick Search, since the items will multiselect just by clicking without the CTRL button being pressed.

To change to a different Category, you simply select the category from the drop down list at the top of the screen.

Saved searches appear directly on the Quick Search page, instead of only on the Custom Search page. Simply select the search you wish to use from the drop down list at the top of the Quick Search screen.

New fields can be added and new Custom Searches can be built and saved from Quick Search. To add any MLS searchable field to the current search, you can simply click the "Add Fields" button at the bottom left of the Quick Search screen. This button toggles the Additional fields menu open and closed. Any of the available fields in the list can be added to the current Search by selecting the field on the list, and clicking the "Add to Search" button at the bottom.

Saving a Search is a simple procedure of adding fields, inputting criteria and clicking the Save Search button at the bottom right corner of the screen. Tempo^TM will ask for a name and description for the search. There will be a drop down menu allowing the agent to simply save the search, attach it immediately to a new or existing prospect, and brokers/admins will even be able to save as an Office Search which will be available to all members of the office. This currently only works for offices, not entire companies. Each office location will have to create office searches individually.

Polygon Searching is now incorporated directly into QuickSearch and Saved Search. At the top right, there is a "Search Map" tab. Clicking this tab will open the Tempo^TM Map (covered later in this article) and allow the user to create a circle, rectangle, or polygon to be included with the criteria entered under the "Search Form" (basic Quick Search form). You select the Search Form or Search Map screens by clicking their corresponding tabs at the top of the Quick Search window.

Executing a search is as simple as clicking the Search button at the bottom left corner of the Quick Search screen

THE GRID: List of Listings The results of a quick search haven't changed much. The list of listings still appears with the hyperlinks for MLS number, address, media page, etc. The "list of listings" now has a name: "The Grid". The major difference is the ability to sort the entire list by clicking the column heading. In other words, to sort by status, you click the Status column label. Click the "List Price" column label to sort by list price.

You also have the option of choosing to view only selected or unselect (checked) listings from a drop down menu at the top of "the grid". You can also save the new layout of your personal "grid". If you like having the MLS No. Status, then List Price , then Address as your default "grid"...you can! There is a "column manager" floppy disk icon at the top of the "grid" that allows you to save your modified grid settings. The column manager icon takes you to a page that lets you copy and save system grids as personal or office grids.

Admins and brokers can even save this new grid layout and make it an office grid that will be available for all agents in that office.

Just remember that if you want to modify a "system grid" you have to go to column manager first and copy the system grid. System items are always "read only".

PROSPECTING Prospecting on T5 is similar in many ways to how you currently prospect. The basic creation of a new prospect has not changed. Quick Search is still the starting point for creating a new prospect. When you save the search, you will choose whether to attach to a new or existing prospect.   The Prospect Wizard will now allow entry of many more fields. This means that you can include much more specific and useful information about your client such as type of contact, birthdates and anniversary, multiple email addresses, telephone numbers, and multiple addresses. This is used for the "contact management" functions of T5. You will even be able to enter the "lead source" type and name in the Tracking Information section.

 

During Prospect Wizard setup, you will be able to select the frequency of prospect email. The new options for prospect email will allow Tempo^TM to send updated prospect listings to the client ASAP which will update and send the new and changed listings all day long, Daily which lets you pick the days, or Monthly which can be set to either 1 or 2 times per month.

Other settings within the Prospect setup will allow you to send a copy of the listing to yourself using any report (even agent reports) to your personal email address or the agententered cell phone or pager email address or both.

REPORT EDITOR You will be able to create your own custom-designed reports in T5. These reports will include any field on TempoTM and allow the user to create a report and share it with their office. This means that brokers or office admins can create a report and allow every agent in the office to use that report whenever they want, right from that agent's login. You can even set that report as one of your "favorite" reports. The new Report Manager, located on the Report menu on the blue toolbar at the top of the TempoTM  window, will show you all of the reports available to you. You can modify any of the personal reports as well as open system reports and save them with additional fields or layouts with a different name. You cannot modify system reports, but you can use them as "templates" for your own personal reports. Any report in the report manager can be opened in Report Editor. Personal reports can be modified directly by clicking on the report name. As mentioned above, system reports can only be used as a "template" by putting a check beside its name in the list and clicking the Copy Report button. The Report Editor is very sophisticated and can be somewhat difficult to learn. It is not necessary to create a report that already exists. All of the standard CBRMLS reports will be created prior to the arrival of T5. The only reason a user will create a custom report with report editor is in the case that they want a report that does not currently exist.

The custom and system reports can be combined into a "report binder" that can be used for auto-generated presentations so that building an impressive report presentation for your client is as easy as picking listings and choosing the previously created "binder" (template of combined reports) you want for your client.

The Report Editor will allow any field to be added to the report and moved to any location on the report. It is a dragand- drop editor. This means that the fields can be added by clicking and holding the desired field, dragging it to the "report grid" and dropping it where you want it. If you don't get it "just right", you click-and-hold on the dropped item and move it again.

Property photos, remarks, and even agent photos can be added to the report editor in this fashion. The fields can be resized, moved, even deleted after adding them. Multiple objects can be "lassoed" with the mouse and deleted corporately. The graphic below shows a report that is being created with a field being "dropped" onto the grid. This report is a "copy" of the Agent to Agent Remarks (A2A) Report that is being modified by the user to show all of the photos.

CAUTION: Save your reports often in Report Editor. While powerful, it is also prone to crash. We recommend you make one change at a time. Don't make a lot of fast edits. Most importantly: SAVE OFTEN.

MAP SEARCH Searching by map has never been easier. When building a Quick Search, you can incorporate a polygonal or circle search easily by clicking the Search Map tab on the Quick Search Screen. There are buttons at the bottom of the map allowing you to draw a rectangle, a circle or "radius" starting with a center point, or a polygon which will allow free form selection of area boundaries. Polygons will affectively allow you to define your own area boundaries by clicking the corners of a multi-sided polygon, saving that polygon as part of a quick search. For example, you might create a polygon in Southern Delaware County on the Franklin County border that encompasses the old "area PO" and parts of D7 and D8. You could create this polygon on the Search Map tab, put in price and status "active" on the Search Form tab, and save the search with the name "My PO D7 D8 search". You could then use that Saved Search in lieu of the area search, thus  eliminating the need to use the area field completely.

CMA
The CMA Wizard has been updated to include the reports created in the report editor as well as to include pre-designed pages that are generated by Tempo^TM. You will still select properties from the list of listings or "grid" and add them to your CMA wizard report. You will be able to individually select the pages you want to display in your final CMA presentation and save those pages for later presentations.

PREFERENCES
Preferences will be very important to members in T5. On the My Tools menu on the blue bar at the top, preferences must be filled out by members to ensure that Tempo^TM behaves and looks the way they want it too. You must enter your primary email address, phone, and cellular phone on this main contact information page. You will also be able to upload multiple photos including agent and agent group photo. You will set your email preferences, including your signature, set Client Listings Site preferences and assign website links to "My Sidebar".

One very import preference is the "Personal Defaults" page where you will be able to select your default grid, default search, default Quick Search category, and default image view for listing pictures.

Many changes have arrived. It will take a little getting used to. In the end, the new CBR Tempo^TM  MLS will offer bold new features and familiar old "staples" that will please the new and seasoned Tempo^TM  users.