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 Release Notes sections of the Help Centre.
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
Renters’ Rights Act: Information Sheet Audit Export
This new feature went live on 20th May.
We’ve released a new Information Sheet Audit Export within the RRA Converter Tool.
This allows you to download a .csv audit of Information Sheets that have been sent or recorded through the tool, helping you keep a clear record of how and when tenants were served the document.
With this update:
- You can download the audit export by selecting Export records from the Completed tab within the Completed / Ignored section of the RRA Converter Tool
- The export includes one row per tenant
- The export includes Information Sheet tracking details, including sent, delivered and opened timestamps where available
- The export includes the attachment name where applicable
- The export includes tenant contact information, property details and landlord details
- The export shows who sent or recorded the Information Sheet
- The export also includes audit information where the Information Sheet was recorded as sent outside of the tool, for example in person, by ad-hoc email or by post
This gives you a single downloadable audit record, which can be kept for your own records or filtered by landlord where you need to provide evidence that Information Sheets have been served.
It can also help you compare your RRA Converter Tool data against other Alto exports and reports.
For more information, see Renters’ Rights Act: Updates to Alto and Renters’ Rights Act: FAQs and troubleshooting guidance.
Open Banking - Import Receipts
This new feature went live on 18th May.
We’ve released the ability to link an agent’s client bank account to Alto using Open Banking.
This allows bank credit transactions to be fetched directly into the Import Receipts screen, reducing the need to manually download and upload bank transaction files from online banking.
With this update:
- You can link Open Banking to a client bank account from System Administration > Client Bank Accounts
- You can fetch transactions for a selected date range
- Transactions are brought directly into Accounts > Import Receipts
- Alto uses payment references to automatically match receipts where possible
- Unmatched receipts can be reviewed and matched manually
- Matched receipts can then be confirmed and posted in Alto
Once a bank account is linked, you can use Get Transactions to bring transactions into Alto and continue with the existing Import Receipts process.
This helps make the receipt import process quicker and more efficient, while keeping the same matching, review, and confirmation steps already used in Import Receipts.
For more information, see Import receipts in Alto.
Analytics - Active tenants with guarantors dashboard released
This new feature went live on 7th May.
As part of our Analytics functionality, we've added a new Active tenants with guarantors dashboard.
The Active tenants with guarantors dashboard provides a list of tenants linked to active tenancies where a guarantor has been recorded, including:
- Tenant and guarantor names
- Email addresses
- Mobile numbers
- Property and tenancy details
The dashboard has been introduced following your feedback, helping agencies who wish to communicate important tenancy information to guarantors alongside tenants as part of a broader approach to the Renters’ Rights Act (RRA).
You can also filter and export the data by branch, management type, tenant name, and property address.
As part of this release, new tenant and guarantor attributes have also been added to the lettings model for use within Custom Reporting and Alto IQ.
Improvements
Zoopla real-time leads
This improvement went live on 28th May.
Zoopla real-time leads now arrive almost instantly in the Enquiries widget on the Dashboard, thanks to a modern, more reliable service.
For more information on this, click here.