Tech Tip #4

(Mobile) From the Desk of Ted Stevens, CEO

Copy Survey Wizard: We have been talking to customers that either don’t make custom templates, or want to quickly go over an old survey file, but inevitably (or unintentionally) leave something in the old survey that they didn’t catch while writing over it, and it may or may not cause a problem with the survey submitted before they catch it.  Copy Survey Wizard lets you copy an old survey fast and easy, without worrying about having old unwanted Findings and Recommendations, or old summary and valuations, etc.  It functions much like the Template Wizard.

 From the Survey Management utility, highlight the survey that you want to copy. Then click Copy Survey and you will get the Copy Survey Wizard shown below. The concept is simple, click…Rename the survey, and then click the checkbox that pertains to what you DON’T want to appear in the new copied renamed version of the survey. Click Make and you have a copy of the old survey, less the data that you wanted to be removed. Now start entering data, or send to SmartNotes and survey the vessel. Of course, you can make a template if you think that you want to convert it to a template, instead of just a copy good for a one time use.

Note: This is almost a mirror of our recently introduced Template Wizard, but it does not clog up your custom template window under File New.

New Template CS Condensed CV: A cross between Pre-purchase and Re-insurance, with less headings for power boats.

Tables are now enabled for the Summary Valuation:  You can use a table to list your sold boats as comparable for value.  A table has been added into the template (CS Condensed C-V) in the Summary Valuation section, at the mnemonic of VAM Appraisal Methodology heading.  However, you can add a table to any of the templates now in 27d (in the Summary Valuation section) by making a user defined heading and making it a Table, then naming it what you want to describe your valuation method.   Save it to an item choice, or save it to the template, to make it a permanent addition. You can use a table to list your sold boats as comparable for value. A table has been added into the template (CS Condensed C-V) in the Summary Valuation section, at the mnemonic of VAM Appraisal Methodology heading. However, you can add a table to any of the templates now in 27d (in the Summary Valuation section) by making a user defined heading and making it a Table, then naming it what you want to describe your valuation method. Save it to an item choice, or save it to the template, to make it a permanent addition.

Local Merge Feature: The concept behind this is that you have a multiple-day survey to do, or you have an associate surveyor working with you and you want to add his survey and input to the master survey you have on your computer (or he has on his computer).  Or, you are using SmartNotes on multi-day surveys and you have worked on it in Force5 after a day of surveying, then took your tablet back to the boat without sending the updated survey to the tablet and you don’t want to overwrite the survey on Force5 with the new data on the tablet, just merge it.  That is now possible using the Merge function in Force5.  The only caveat now is that the merge requires that the data comes from a survey (or tablet) registered on your user license.  Of course, it would be best if the files you are merging are made on the same template.

Your original files are not changed, we make a new survey file from the merged data, photos, and Findings and Recommendations (a video tutorial on Merging Surveys will be coming soon). Until then, you can use the Merge feature, but you need to confirm that the surveys don’t have the same name. For example, you are merging to a file you have uploaded from your SmartNotes tablet to your Force5 program. That file is named the “Mary Jane” you have another file that you got from another surveyor working with you on the vessel the “Mary Jane”, but he needs to rename his file before he sends it to you (example “Mary Jane 2”). Make sure that the surveyor sends you the file from his Force5 and you can then merge it into the master survey named “Mary Jane” this can be done with multiple surveys, but all must have a unique name other than “Mary Jane”.

One more thing we have that is good… We have a way to automatically put the current date into any description heading. It is easy to do, so if you use the signature line Force5 mnemonic VAS, put it in the edit window and then save it as an item choice. It looks like the example in the survey below.

I hope you try out the new features. I think you will find a use for them.