{"id":26695,"date":"2020-09-11T13:30:15","date_gmt":"2020-09-11T03:30:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mrisoftware.com\/au\/?p=26695"},"modified":"2020-12-11T21:49:26","modified_gmt":"2020-12-11T11:49:26","slug":"automate-your-invoice-approval-process-with-strata-master-v12-5","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.mrisoftware.com\/au\/blog\/automate-your-invoice-approval-process-with-strata-master-v12-5\/","title":{"rendered":"Automate your invoice approval process with Strata Master v12.5"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Strata Master v12.5 and File Smart v8 have arrived! The long-awaited Online Invoice Approval module is a major time-saver, as you\u2019ll no longer be sending out invoices for approval individually or manually keeping track of responses \u2013 and that\u2019s just one feature!<br \/>\n<!--more--><br \/>\nThere\u2019re improvements to linked contacts, you can send bulk comms to more than one group, we\u2019ve added auto-notifications for unsuccessful maintenance jobs, and a whole heap more.<\/p>\n<h2><span lang=\"EN-AU\">Book your time off: Online Invoice Approval is here<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Introducing Online Invoice Approval for File Smart\" width=\"500\" height=\"375\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube-nocookie.com\/embed\/-JxhZcHm35s?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>Getting an invoice approved can be a time-consuming task at the best of times. You\u2019re chasing multiple committee members, notifying them, getting their signature, and then of course you need to pay the invoice itself. And that\u2019s just one invoice, for one plan \u2013 when you\u2019re juggling multiple plans and hundreds of invoices, the approval and payment process soon becomes a full-time job by itself.<\/p>\n<p><strong>That\u2019s where <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mrisoftware.com\/au\/products\/strata-master\/online-invoice-approval\/\">Online Invoice Approval<\/a> comes in<\/strong>. It\u2019s It allows you to bulk-send invoices for approval, notify all relevant approvers, keep track of their responses, and then automatically add the invoice to a payment queue once it reaches majority. This seriously simplifies your external invoice approval process, giving you hours back every week \u2013 who knew Strata Master would help you book some time off? Plus, it\u2019s easy for your committee members as well, with everything they need for the approval process available online, and accessible from anywhere via the portals.<\/p>\n<p>If you\u2019ve heard enough and are ready to get started, <a href=\"https:\/\/kb.rockend.com\/help\/invoice-approvals\">here\u2019s a guide to getting set up<\/a> as well as a link to the <a href=\"https:\/\/training.rockend.com\/strata-master-version-125-release\">self-paced training<\/a> which will have you and your team using this new feature like pros.<\/p>\n<table border=\"0\" cellspacing=\"0\" cellpadding=\"0\" align=\"center\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"padding: 0px 20px; border-radius: 3px; background-color: #00b288; width: 700px; max-width: 700px;\" align=\"left\" valign=\"top\">\n<table role=\"presentation\" border=\"0\" cellspacing=\"0\" cellpadding=\"0\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"font-size: 1px; line-height: 20px;\"><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<table border=\"0\" width=\"100%\" cellspacing=\"0\" cellpadding=\"0\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<th style=\"vertical-align: top; padding: 20px 10px 0 0px;\" align=\"center\" valign=\"top\" width=\"40%;\"><img decoding=\"async\" style=\"margin: 0 auto; padding: 0; width: 100px;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.mrisoftware.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/rhiarn-clayton.png\" alt=\"Rhiarn Clayton\" border=\"0\" \/><br \/>\n<span style=\"text-decoration: none; padding: 0; margin: 0; color: #ffffff; font-weight: normal; font-size: 12px; line-height: 10px;\"><br \/>\n<b>Rhiarn Clayton <\/b><br \/>\nAssistant Strata Manager, SMS Group<\/span><\/th>\n<th style=\"vertical-align: top; padding-top: 20px;\" align=\"left\" valign=\"top\">\n<p style=\"padding: 0; margin: 0; color: #ffffff; font-weight: normal; text-align: left; font-size: 15px; line-height: 26px;\">\u201cOnline Invoice Approval creates a much more streamlined approach for invoice approvals for everyone involved. Our admin staff now spend a lot less time on approvals and can focus their energy in other areas, whilst our Committee members are provided with an easy, online way to view and approve their invoices.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<table role=\"presentation\" border=\"0\" cellspacing=\"0\" cellpadding=\"0\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td style=\"font-size: 1px; line-height: 20px;\"><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<h2><\/h2>\n<h2>Easily identify high value contacts<\/h2>\n<p>You\u2019ll notice a number of improvements have been made to easily identify your portfolio\u2019s high value owners that are linked to more than one lot in Strata Master \u2013 we want to make it as easy as possible to see when you\u2019re dealing with an owner that might need a little more love.<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>When an owner is linked to more than one lot, a new alert will be displayed on the Lot Owner Card.<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-26731 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/www.mrisoftware.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/OIA-lot-card-alert-v8.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"273\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.mrisoftware.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/OIA-lot-card-alert-v8.png 500w, https:\/\/www.mrisoftware.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/OIA-lot-card-alert-v8-300x164.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><\/li>\n<li>An additional \u2018Linked Lots\u2019 tab has been added to the Lot Owner Card which displays the lots the owner is linked to, allowing you to easily navigate between them when required.<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-26730 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/www.mrisoftware.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/OIA-linked-lots-tab-v6.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"273\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.mrisoftware.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/OIA-linked-lots-tab-v6.png 500w, https:\/\/www.mrisoftware.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/OIA-linked-lots-tab-v6-300x164.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><\/li>\n<li>A new \u2018Show linked owner contacts\u2019 output option has been added to Quick Reports &gt; Lots, allowing you to generate a report showing all linked contacts for the search criteria selected.<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-26729 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/www.mrisoftware.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/show-linked-owner-option-v3.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"273\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.mrisoftware.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/show-linked-owner-option-v3.png 500w, https:\/\/www.mrisoftware.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/show-linked-owner-option-v3-300x164.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>For more info on everything you can do with linked contacts, check out the <a href=\"https:\/\/training.rockend.com\/strata-master-version-125-release\">release training<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h2>Send bulk-comms to multiple groups<\/h2>\n<p>Bulk Communications in Strata Master just got even easier! You can now select multiple groups at any one time when using the Bulk Communications Wizard for email or <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mrisoftware.com\/au\/blog\/6-reasons-to-use-rockend-sms\/\">SMS<\/a>, so you don\u2019t need to do multiple sends of the same communication if it is going to more than one group.<\/p>\n<h2><span lang=\"EN-AU\">Automatic quote rejection emails<\/span><\/h2>\n<p>When rejecting a Quote in the diary, an option is now available to automatically send an email to the contractor to advise that their quote has been unsuccessful. Hooray for not having to do it yourself! \u2026Or let\u2019s be honest \u2013 having to deal with tradies asking you how their quote went when you forget.<\/p>\n<p>The \u2018Notify contractor their quote was unsuccessful\u2019 checkbox will be selected by default when changing the status of the Quote to Rejected and the email will be sent to the contractor automatically when you click Save.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-26732 aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/www.mrisoftware.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/OIA-emails-v2.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"350\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.mrisoftware.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/OIA-emails-v2.png 500w, https:\/\/www.mrisoftware.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/OIA-emails-v2-300x210.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" \/><\/p>\n<p>A new template called \u2018Unsuccessful Quote Email Template\u2019 has been added to your template folder, so you can customise the content of this email if you like.<\/p>\n<h2>Minimise risk when adding owners<\/h2>\n<p>We\u2019re all about minimising risk (yeah, we\u2019re fun!), so to minimise the risk of new owners being entered into Strata Master incorrectly, the below prompt has been added when a user attempts to <a href=\"https:\/\/training.rockend.com\/strata-master-version-125-release\">edit the Name on Title field<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-26701 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/www.mrisoftware.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/OIA-emails-2.png\" alt=\"screenshot of caution prompt\" width=\"473\" height=\"238\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.mrisoftware.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/OIA-emails-2.png 473w, https:\/\/www.mrisoftware.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/OIA-emails-2-300x151.png 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 473px) 100vw, 473px\" \/><\/p>\n<h2><span lang=\"EN-AU\">Improvements to pop-up selections<\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Improvements have been made to the pop-up selections screens on the Committee tab and the Registers screens.<\/p>\n<p>You can now select using your keyboard by typing a string of characters, rather than just the first character. A single and double-click have also been added to select an option and to close the screen.<\/p>\n<h2><span lang=\"EN-AU\">We\u2019ve added a financial year prompt<\/span><\/h2>\n<p>When a plan\u2019s financial year has passed, but not yet rolled over, a prompt has been added when a user attempts to change the transaction date to the prior financial year.<\/p>\n<h2><span lang=\"EN-AU\">And one for agency configuration<\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Agencies must contact MRI Support if they wish to change their Trust Account in Strata Master. A prompt has been added to the Agency configuration screen to advise of this.<\/p>\n<h2><span lang=\"EN-AU\">Levy &amp; debt recovery notices<\/span><\/h2>\n<p>When a levy contact is not the owner, levy and debt recovery notices will now display the \u2018care of abbreviation\u2019 to match the existing functionality of notice contacts.<\/p>\n<h2><span lang=\"EN-AU\">Navigating with the misc invoice screen open<\/span><\/h2>\n<p>You may now navigate to other screens in Strata Master whilst the Miscellaneous Invoice screen is open.<\/p>\n<h2><span lang=\"EN-AU\">Web Access Wizard merge field<\/span><\/h2>\n<p>You are now able to manually add the merge field &lt;OWNEREMAIL&gt; into the WebAccessNotification template.<\/p>\n<h2><span lang=\"EN-AU\">How to upgrade<\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Strata Master is upgraded from within the application itself \u2013 checkout this\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/kb.rockend.com.au\/help\/upgrading-strata-master\">knowledgebase article<\/a>\u00a0to see how to upgrade in less than five minutes. File Smart is upgraded from the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/customer.rockend.com\/customer-lounge\/products\/filesmart\/8-0-2-0\">customer lounge<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Once you\u2019ve upgraded both programs, you\u2019ll then need to activate Online Invoice Approval \u2013 <a href=\"https:\/\/kb.rockend.com\/help\/invoice-approvals\">here\u2019s how<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>If you\u2019re not using File Smart, you can book some time to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mrisoftware.com\/au\/products\/file-smart\/demo\/\">speak to a specialist<\/a> about how it can help your business.<\/p>\n<h2><span lang=\"EN-AU\">Get trained up<\/span><\/h2>\n<p>We\u2019ve produced a\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/training.rockend.com\/strata-master-version-125-release\">self-paced training course<\/a>\u00a0full of bite-sized videos that will take you through everything you need to know so you can start integrating all the new features into your office processes straight away.<\/p>\n<h2><span lang=\"EN-AU\">Not using Strata Master?<\/span><\/h2>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.mrisoftware.com\/au\/products\/strata-master\/demo\/\">Book a demo<\/a> today to find out how you can get access to all these exciting features to kickstart your strata management business.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Strata Master v12.5 and File Smart v8 have arrived! The long-awaited Online Invoice Approval module is a major time-saver, as you\u2019ll no longer be sending out invoices for approval individually or manually keeping track of responses \u2013 and that\u2019s just &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":74,"featured_media":26703,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[137,142],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-26695","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business-solutions-for-property-managers","category-residential-property-management-solutions"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mrisoftware.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26695","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mrisoftware.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mrisoftware.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mrisoftware.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/74"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mrisoftware.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26695"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.mrisoftware.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26695\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mrisoftware.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26703"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.mrisoftware.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26695"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mrisoftware.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26695"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.mrisoftware.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26695"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}