The following topic explains using the chain. See Information and milestones for information on storing important progression information and Sales Commission on how to raise a sales commission invoice.
This displays a graphical representation of the Sales Chain the Property is in. The Property chain appears as a flow chart, each box representing a Property within the Chain.
Each Chain item will show the client's name, Property Address (if the Property field hasn't been entered against the chain item the client's address will be displayed instead) and the Estate Agents details (if the chain item hasn't been linked to a Property within Acquaint and the Estate Agent details have been entered).
The chain items are colour coded:
Green - Active property chain item where neither the exchanged or completed dates have been reached
Amber - The exchanged date against the chain item has been reached
Red - The completed date against the chain item has been reached
Grey - Inactive chain item e.g. Rejected Property Offer
When loading a Property with a status of under offer or completed, Acquaint will check to see if the Property has been included in any other Property chain, if it has Acquaint will load that chain into the Property Chain screen. If a property is detected in more than one chain a message will be displayed on screen asking the user to select a chain to display. If a Property isn't currently in a chain a new chain will automatically be created.
When a new chain is created Acquaint will automatically build as much of the chain as it can.
This is done in three steps:
Creating a chain item for the current property
Building the chain forwards from the property chain item
Building the chain backwards from the property chain item
If the current Property doesn't already exist within the chain, a new chain item will be added. The new chain item will be linked through to the Owner and the Property; the accepted offer details will also be stored against the item.
Acquaint will check to see if the Contact linked to the Property Chain Item has an accepted offer against their record, if there is a Property Chain Item this will be created with the offer details stored against it (property, property owner, etc). This process will be repeated each time a new chain item has been created.
Acquaint will create a new chain item, if one doesn't already exist, for the purchaser (Contact with the accepted offer) of the Property Chain Item and create a link to the Property Chain item. If the purchaser also owns a Property Acquaint will check to see if there's an accepted offer against it, if there is this process is repeated.
If a Contact owns more than one for sale Property then this process will stop as there's no way of knowing which property should be the next in the chain. Note remember to go to the previous item and say who the Purchaser is.
A new chain item can be added by clicking the New button in the Property Chain screen. A contact must be specified, this can be done by either selecting a Contact against Acquaint Contact by adding a name to the Contact Name field. An address is mandatory although simply adding 'Unknown' will suffice.
On the Property Chain you can now draw links between the chain items by dragging on screen to link them together. You will need to be in Edit mode on the Progression screen to be able to draw links. To delete a link you can click on the link and either press the delete key on the keyboard or the Delete button. Links between chain items that relate to an offer in Acquaint can't be deleted.
A chain item can be edited by selecting the chain item to edit and clicking the Edit button. When the chain item loads, if there's an offer linked to it, the item will then be synced with the offer details (e.g. offer date fields, solicitor's details).
This button will only be enabled if the Property is for sale, the Property is linked to a Property chain and the User logged in has the correct permissions (Properties > Edit).
A chain item can be deleted by selecting the chain item top delete and clicking the Delete button. This will delete the selected chain item and unlink any other chain items that were linked to it.
Chain item that are linked to an offer can be deleted. Rather than actually delete this marks them as inactive. Tick the inactive option at the bottom right to make them visible again.
To restore a chain item has been accidentally select the show inactive items, select the inactive check box and clear.
This button will only be enabled if the Property is for sale, the Property is linked to a Property chain, the chain item isn't linked to a Property Offer and the User logged in has the correct permissions (Properties -> Delete).
Rejecting or withdrawing an offer against a property will automatically inactivate the chain item linked to the contact of the offer. The inactive chain item will still appear in the Property chain, but will be coloured grey.
When a Property offer is deleted the chain item linked to the Contact that made the offer will be deleted and all links to the chain item will be unlinked.
To reset a property chain click the Reset button located in the bottom left of the Property Chain screen.
Resetting the Property Chain will allow the user to create a new Property Chain or refresh an existing PropertyChain.
Creating a new Property Chain is usually used when a Property that has been sold in the past has been re-marketed and an accepted offer has been added against the Property.
Refreshing an existing chain will allow the user to select which chain the Property appears in, if the Property is linked in more than one chain (this usually happens if a Property has been sold in the past and is being re-marketed). Refreshing an existing chain will also refresh the graphical chain diagram.
To reset a property chain click the Reset button located in the bottom left of the Property Chain screen.
Resetting the Property Chain will allow the user to create a new Property Chain or refresh an existing Property Chain.
Creating a new Property Chain is usually used when a Property that has been sold in the past has been re-marketed and an accepted offer has been added against the Property.
Refreshing an existing chain will allow the user to select which chain the Property appears in, if the Property is linked in more than one chain (this usually happens if a Property has been sold in the past and is being re-marketed). Refreshing an existing chain will also refresh the graphical chain diagram.
When the View Notes button is clicked a new window will appear displaying all Notes or Tasks with a type of Progression for each Property in the chain. From this screen a note or task can be added, edited or deleted. To perform any of these actions you must have the appropriate Correspondence User permissions.
The Progression & Chain Notes screen will only display Progression Notes/Tasks with an added date after the date of the accepted offer for each Property in the chain.
Adjust the Zoom Level of the Property Chain display using the Zoom Level slider.
An option is available to choose whether to display Rejected Property Offers in the Property Chain screen. This can be set in File -> Configuration -> Site/Branch ->System Configuration -> Property Management and defaults to Yes.
Also on the Property Chain screen a tick box to 'Show Inactive Items' can be found on the bottom right (this defaults to the value of the System Configuration) option. Additionally Property Chain Items can be manually marked as inactive by editing the item and selecting the Inactive tick box in the additional settings section. The Inactive tick box is only enabled for items not linked to an offer.