September 25, 2008
The RATA Comply 7.0 updates were officially announced and available to those that wanted to upgrade at the end of August. As is the case with all software upgrades, no matter how much you test things in the development environment, you can never catch everything that users will find in production.
Over the last month, we have been fixing issues that have been reported and are now ready to release our first patch, which is Comply 7.01. As mentioned during our initial announcement, we are steadily working on our 7.1 system which will have 2008 submission capabilities, Fair Lending and a few other big items, so you will need to upgrade to that version in November. So you can either wait for that version (recommended unless needed) or you can upgrade to 7.01 now if you have immediate issues.
If you have already received the 7.0 update and have not applied it yet, we recommend you down load 7.01 and just use it. It contains everything 7.0 had plus all the new fixes as one update. If you have already installed 7.0, you can download this patch and apply it to get all of the latest enhancements.
If you have any questions about when you should update and what you should use, please call Kelly McKim at 407-831-7282 and she will assist you with making the right decision.
On September 12th the FFIEC released the 2007 HMDA peer data. We have downloaded that data and have made it available with our Peer-2-Peer tool. We have also formatted extracts of the data to create the 2007 Agency Mean data that is used to compare your Submission Audit Summary report numbers to the mean of your reporting agency. For CRA users, we have also created the Peer PE (Performance Evaluation) data that is used when running the PE tables.
If you are using the 7.x software and if you have the Auto-Updates feature turned on, this data should be automatically transferred to your system and you should get a message to apply the data once the transfer is complete. If you are using a Version 6.x system or have the Auto-Update featured turned off for some reason, you can get both of these system data sets from the RATA Support site.
When we say that “we want to exceed your expectations”, those are not just empty words! All of us at RATA Associates are constantly striving to improve all aspects of the client experience. Whether it is the software, features, the geocoding, support, accounting, training, etc..., we are always looking for ways to improve what we offer to better meet your needs.
Our latest enhancement has to do with support. You know that we are only a phone call or an email away, but sometimes if you have a quick question or problem you don’t always want to call someone or wait for the emails to come and go. To make communications even more seamless, we now offer “Live RATA Support”.
You may have noticed on the Start Page of Comply 7 that under the Resources window you now have a Live RATA Support option. If you click on this link, a window will come up in Comply and you will have instant contact with one of our support people. It basically works like an Instant Messenger between you and RATA. If we get into a heavy discussion we may ask you to call, but it is a great first wave of communication.
The Live RATA Support is also available (as a link) on every page of the RATA Website and the RATA Support site for those of you that don’t have Version 7 installed yet or if you have a question and you are not in Comply.
We are always looking for feedback or comments, so let us know what you think.