Release notes - October 2023

Our product development team is constantly innovating, to build a better Alto software experience.

Every time we've added a new feature, we've notified all our users within Alto itself utilising in product messaging. 

However, for a full list of the changes on a monthly basis such as new features, any improvements or product fixes to our software, please see the relevant articles in our 2023 Release Notes section of the Help Centre.

This article includes:

• New features
  • Additional diary colours added for Diary Events and General appointments
  • Access property data for any property
  • (Trial) Using Alto to capture interest in Zoopla Featured Properties
• Improvements
  • Property on/off market introduced to the new add a property page
  • Property image introduced to the new add a property page
  • Add a property from a contacts address
  • Duplicate property check is now performed upfront on the new add a property page
  • Moved the launcher for the new add a property page
  • Added Dwelling to all reports as part of the property address column
  • Timeline introduced to the new add a property page
  • Layout improvements and mapping introduced to the new add a property page

New features

Additional diary colours added for Diary Events and General appointments

This new feature went live on 25th October.

We’ve added the ability to further colour code your Diary by allowing you to choose different diary colour schemes for Diary Events and General appointment sub-types.

Previously, all General appointments had one single colour, regardless of the sub-type.

For more information on Customising the diary colours, click here

Access property data for any property

This new feature went live on 19th October.

We’ve added the ability to access the property Reference data after saving a property.

Using the Look up property button on the Property and Appraisal side menu tabs, this is the first step for you to be able to add information to Alto, in preparation for the appraisal/instruction.

• If the property has been added through our new method, it will be given a UPRN (Unique Property Reference Number). Once Look up property is clicked, you'll go straight to the information page
• If the property has been added through our existing method, it won't have a UPRN (Unique Property Reference Number). Once Look up property is clicked, for now you'll be prompted to enter the Postcode before you can view the information page

Property side menu tab - A property added through our existing method, and therefore with no UPRN displayed

Appraisal side menu tab - A property added through our new method, with the UPRN displayed

(Trial) Using Alto to capture interest in Zoopla Featured Properties

This new feature went live on 16th October.

We’ve launched a trial to capture interest in Zoopla Featured Properties.

This trial is targeted to a group’s decision makers (based on their job titles) with a message initially showing upon the Properties tab once it loads, and then buttons within the Property > Marketing top tab and Portal Publishing pages that allow you to register your interest.

Improvements

Property on/off market introduced to the new add a property page

This improvement went live on 30th October.

Within our new method to add a property, we've added insight from Zoopla data to determine if a property being added is already on the market. If it is on the market, we’ll also provide a link out to the listing.

This will allow you to have more insight into a vendor/landlord’s current position.

Property image introduced to the new add a property page

This improvement went live on 27th October.

Within our new method to add a property, we've introduced an image of the property from the last time the property was listed on Zoopla. This should help you to get more insight into the property you’re discussing.

The image used will be the primary one from the listing, so will normally (but not always) be the outside of the property.

Add a property from a contacts address

This improvement went live on 24th October.

When adding a new contact (whose Type is set as Client), upon entering their Postcode, you'll have a new route to Add a property. 

Once clicked, this will launch our new method to add a property, with the contact pre-selected as the Vendor/Landlord.

Duplicate property check is now performed upfront on the new add a property page

This improvement went live on 13th October.

We’ve moved the duplicate property check for our new method to add a property so that it now takes place when the page loads.

The check will still happen when you attempt to save a property, but by now performing this upfront, you'll have an earlier heads-up that a duplicate property already exists, and where appropriate you can navigate directly to that version of the property that's already in your database.

Moved the launcher for the new add a property page

This improvement went live on 10th October.

We've moved the launcher for our new method to add a property from below the existing property search, to above it, making it more prominent.

Added Dwelling to all reports as part of the property address column

This improvement went live on 5th October.

The Dwelling field was missing in the property Address column from a lot of the reports.

We have now included this field as part of the property Address column.

Timeline introduced to the new add a property page

This improvement went live on 5th October.

Within our new method to add a property, we've introduced a property timeline and some contextual information around the valuation. This will help gain at a glance information about the estimated valuation in relation to the last sold price.

Layout improvements and mapping introduced to the new add a property page

This improvement went live on 4th October.

Within our new method to add a property, we've optimised the layout of some of the property attributes to make the Reference data section easier to digest, and in preparation for upcoming improvements.

The first of these improvements is introducing mapping, enabling you to view the location of the property being added. This'll be helpful in situations where the appraiser doesn’t recognise the street, or wants to know what end of a street a property is located at.