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 2024 Release Notes section of the Help Centre.
This article includes:
- New features
- Improvements
-
Product fixes
- Fixed an issue where works order documents broke after a branch transfer
- Fixed an issue where adding file notes could lead to html showing on the Timeline
- Fixed an issue where you couldn't search and associate Let Agreed, Let or Completed properties when e-mailing from a contact
- Fixed an issue related to vacated tenancy notes
- Fixed an issue related to vacated periodic tenancies being included in emails
- Fixed an issue related to the default bank account when raising an expense charge on a property via a works order
New features
To view a log of the latest new features within Alto:
- Sign in to Alto
- Click the Alto icon in the bottom right corner of the screen
- Click Product updates
- A summary list of our Product updates display. Some new feature updates will include links that take you to the relevant page within Alto. Popup messaging and/or guides may then launch to provide you with more information on what's new
Patch NTS Part B and C information
This new feature went live on 9th August.
We’ve updated the patch endpoint on the Inventory API so that our integration partners who support NTS information gathering can now patch the relevant information directly into the fields in Alto.
OnTheMarket real-time feed
This new feature went live on 9th August.
As part of the changes made for National Trading Standards - Part B & C compliance, we’ve upgraded our approach to publishing to OnTheMarket, moving from an overnight schedule to a real-time feed.
Alto conveyancing - retrieve quotes
This new feature went live on 7th August.
If you generate quotes for your contact(s) and send referrals to conveyancers, you can easily revisit those quotes from the contacts Timeline and view the details again. This will be handy should you want to:
- Confirm which conveyancer(s) were already referred for a contact/property so that you can verify you have the correct information
- Revisit the quote/costs associated with previously sent referrals so that you can answer questions your contact(s)/staff may have
- Refer a new/different conveyancer for a contact/property which you've already created quotes for, without having to restart the process
For more information on Retrieving previous conveyancer referral quotes, click here.
Alto conveyancing - open cases
This new feature went live on 7th August.
In addition to directly referring your contact(s) to one of our partnered conveyancers, you can also open cases on behalf of them.
You may look to do this in situations where your contact(s) get in touch with you (off the back of receiving their email with a breakdown of their quotes), informing you of the conveyancer they want to choose and proceed with.
For more information on Opening a case with a conveyancer, click here.
Client API feeds
This new feature went live on 1st August.
Client API feeds are now visible, providing you with more control about where listings are published to. (Previously, listings were automatically published to client API feeds and could not be controlled.)
To view available client API feeds per property:
- Click Properties on the main toolbar
-
Select the relevant property from Recent & Favourite Properties
- Alternatively, find the property using the Search Properties bar in the top right
- The property Overview displays. Click Portal Publishing
Note
Listings for client API feeds cannot have a publishing Delay applied, they can only be Included/Excluded
For more information on Delaying uploads to specific portals, click here
Improvements
Property Manager report column added to the Tenancy Report
This improvement went live on 13th August.
Within Reports>Property Management, the Tenancy Report now includes Property Manager as one of the Report Columns options.
NTS Part B and C attributes added to the Listing Review page
This improvement went live on 9th August.
We’ve updated the Listing Review page in Alto to include the new National Trading Standards - Part B & C attributes so that you can see what information is being shared with the portals for each listing.
For more information on Uploading a property to the internet, click here.
Reduced the Ravensworth minimum order quantity
This improvement went live on 8th August.
The minimum order quantity with Ravensworth (for materials such as brochures) is 8.
Therefore, in Alto, we've reduced the minimum order quantity from 16 to 8 (to match with Ravensworth).
BACS Payment Update - Batch Payments
This improvement went live on 2nd August.
Any payments that are to be made where the Payment Method has been set to BACS, appear in Accounts, within BACS Payment Update.
Within here, we've made the Batch Payments tickbox sticky (per user) across all bank accounts.
For more information on Making payments via BACS, click here.
EPC values sent to Zoopla
This improvement went live on 1st August.
We’ve tweaked the publishing process for Zoopla so we now send the values for the EPC, rather than just the images.
This improves the quality/consistency of the EPC information for Zoopla listings.
For more information on Adding an EPC to a property, click here.
Product fixes
Fixed an issue where works order documents broke after a branch transfer
This product fix went live on 15th August.
If you wanted to change a branch of a property, which had been changed before, you were unable to do so due to broken links on works order attachments for the property.
This has now been fixed, and the fix allows the change of branch to happen without affecting the works order attachments like before.
Fixed an issue where adding file notes could lead to html showing on the Timeline
This product fix went live on 13th August.
There was an intermittent issue where if you added a File Note (via the + in the Recent Activity section on the Properties/Contacts/Tenancies Overview), upon saving it would flash and you could see some %20 symbols added in the spaces. These are normally not visible.
We have addressed this issue so it should no longer occur.
Fixed an issue where you couldn't search and associate Let Agreed, Let or Completed properties when e-mailing from a contact
This product fix went live on 13th August.
If you wanted to e-mail a prospective tenant that has had a rental offer accepted on a property, and you opened the e-mail window from the contact and then searched for the property which is now Let Agreed, it didn't appear in the search.
This has now been fixed.
Fixed an issue related to vacated tenancy notes
This product fix went live on 13th August.
When adding a note to a vacating tenancy, there were some instances where the note was instead being added to the new proposed tenancy for the property.
This has now been fixed.
Fixed an issue related to vacated periodic tenancies being included in emails
This product fix went live on 8th August.
When emailing tenants from the Event Dates widget on the Property Management Dashboard, if one of the properties had an old periodic tenancy that had vacated, the old tenants were being brought into the email despite vacating years ago.
This has now been fixed.
Fixed an issue related to the default bank account when raising an expense charge on a property via a works order
This product fix went live on 8th August.
When raising an expense charge on a property via a works order, the default bank account for the supplier branch was the only account available. This meant that if you had multiple branches with different default bank accounts, you were unable to raise the expense charge.
This has now been fixed - when raising an expense charge on a property via a works order, the default client account linked to the property is now the default account linked to the charge. Crucially though, any client account linked to the property can be selected.