The same basic diary views that were available in Vebra/Encore Live are present in Alto, however, there are some differences in accessing the various different views and filtering options.
Viewing your own Diary appointments
In Vebra/Encore Live, you could select your username in the dropdown menu:
In Alto:
- Click Diary on the main navigation bar
- In the side menu under Available Diaries, click My Diary
Viewing the office Diary
In Vebra/Encore Live, you would choose All in the dropdown menu:
In Alto:
- Click Diary on the main navigation bar
- On the side menu, within the Available Diaries section, you have options for My Diary and Branch Diaries. Click Branch Diaries to change the diary to another Branch and Style
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Branch displays all appointments assigned to staff at that Branch, regardless of who made the appointment. This gives full visibility of all the negotiators diaries at the branch, including appointments for them made for properties belonging to another Branch
(This will default to your branch as it did in Encore/Vebra Live) -
Style
- Branch View shows the initials of the negotiator in the corner of each appointment booked
- Resource View changes the display to show all negotiators in individual columns
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Branch displays all appointments assigned to staff at that Branch, regardless of who made the appointment. This gives full visibility of all the negotiators diaries at the branch, including appointments for them made for properties belonging to another Branch
Viewing the Diary by day or week
In Vebra/Encore Live, you could change the view to show just the day or the week.
This is achieved in Alto regardless of whether you're in either My Diary or Branch Diaries, by using the buttons shown below. You're also able to view a monthly diary.
- Day / Week shows appointments in the diary with time slots on the left side of the calendar
- Month shows a full month with a summary of the days appointments in each date
- Day Summary / Week Summary appointments appear in time order with a detailed summary
- In the side menu under Available Diaries, click Branch Diaries
- From the Style dropdown menu, click Resource View
In Resource View, the options are reduced to Day / Day Summary.
If you use Today, as well as << < and > >>, they will help you quickly move from one day to another, or to the same day of the following week.
- Today navigates you to today's date. The background of the current day is always shaded green
- << navigates you to the same day of the previous week
- >> navigates you to the same day of the next week
- < navigates you to the previous day
- > navigates you to the next day
For more information on Changing the diary day/week view, click here
Accessing the Split by user view
Vebra/Encore Live had a helpful view called Split by user. This would show the diary for the day, split into columns based on the staff who work in the selected branch.
You can access the same view in Alto by changing the diary Style setting from Branch View to Resource View.
- In the side menu under Available Diaries, click Branch Diaries
- From the Style dropdown menu, click Resource View
Diary filtering options
Vebra/Encore Live had some filtering options to enable you to focus on particular appointment types:
These options are still available in Alto and are shown above the main diary view. You can filter the appointments that you want to see in your Diary using this panel of toggle buttons. Slide the toggle to On or Off to show or hide the corresponding appointments in your diary.
You can also set a default diary so each time you land on the Diary, it will open where you need it most.
- Click Actions
- Click Set as My Default Diary View
For more information on Accessing and filtering branch diaries, click here
Diary colours
Rather than use the default diary colours, you can customise the font and background colour of diary events to your preferred colours.
Diary colours are a global setting which means any changes to these colours will affect all branches and users. They are set by Diary Event (appointment type) and not per user.
To set up your diary event colours:
- Click Tools on the main navigation bar
- In the dropdown menu, click Templates and admin
- Click System Administration on the side menu
- Click Group Settings
- Scroll down and click Diary Colours
In the Diary Colours screen, you can set the Font Colour and Background Colour of each Diary Event.
For more information on Customising the diary colours, click here
Diary Groups
In Encore/Vebra Live, you could configure diary groups. These were useful for those situations where you need to see the diary for a specific group of people, for example a diary view may be required to see all valuers from 3 branches.
This functionality is available in Alto. An Alto Diary Group enables you to create a customised diary for a group of users, i.e a team. You can then choose whether other users who aren't in the group can see that group or not, and these are known as Watchers.
Any number of groups can be created, edited, renamed or removed. To create a group:
- Click Diary on the main navigation bar
- Click Actions
- From the dropdown menu, click Edit Diary Groups
- A Create a group message appears. Click Yes to create a group
- Type a Name for your group. Click OK
- To add a member to the group, click a member from within the Non-Members column and then click
- To include a member to the group as a Watcher, click a member from within the Non-Members column and then click
- Click Save to save your new group
- Click Close
A Watcher will not appear in the Diary but will be able to view the diary group. Anyone not selected will not be able to view this group.
For more information on Setting up and amending Diary Groups, click here
Booking Diary appointments
In Alto, there are three key types of appointments that you can book into the Diary.
- Booking a General Appointment
In the Diary, General appointments are used for booking surveyors, property inspections and meetings amongst others. Each General Appointment can be identified by selecting a relevant category, known as a Diary Entry Type and can be entered as a recurring appointment. General appointments can be booked directly from the diary or via a contact or property record
For more information on Booking a General Appointment in the Diary, click here - Booking a market appraisal
For more information on Booking a market appraisal via the diary, click here
- Booking a viewing
In order to book a viewing from the Diary, a sales property must first have a status of Available or for a lettings property, either Available or Let (Marketing). Viewings can be booked from a number of places, including the contact and the Property. When you start the process, you'll be presented with the Viewing window
For more information on Booking a viewing via the diary, click here
For more information on Changing or cancelling a diary appointment, click here
Printing the Diary
The Diary can be printed to show an agenda of appointments in time and date order, with all contact information, as well as any additional information you've added at the time the appointment was booked.
The diary agenda will print the date range you have on view at the time of clicking print.
- Click Diary on the main navigation bar
- Using the calendar or the diary buttons, select the Day or Period you would like to print
- Use the toggle buttons at the top of the diary to hide or view groups of appointments, i.e. Appraisals
- Click Print
The Agenda opens in a new tab/window within your internet browser. You can then use your web browser’s print option to print a hard copy.
Diary export
It's possible to export diary data from Alto to other devices such as an Android device, iPad, iPhone, or to desktop Outlook.
The Alto Diary Export function has been designed to allow you to export Alto diary events into applications that allow you to import a calendar from a URL. Once you have set up your calendar to import .ics files from Alto, appointments within 1 month of the current date will be imported into your personal calendar. For example, if today’s date is 12th August, appointments between 12th July and 12th September of the same year, will be exported to your device.
The appointments will contain details of the property linked to the viewing or appointment, leads, landlord/viewer/tenant(s) and their main telephone number, providing the information is available.
Updates to your Alto diary will be visible in your personal calendar based on the settings applied to your calendar application.
For more information on Exporting the diary to an android device, click here
For more information on Exporting the diary to iPad or iPhone, click here
For more information on Exporting the diary to desktop Outlook, click here
For more information on Deactivating diary export, click here