With the new GDPR Regulations coming into force on May 25th, we have added the ability for you to delete certain records within Expert Agent to allow you to be compliant. Â
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If you are ever in doubt, it is always best to seek advice from the ICO website. Â
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There are two places within Configuration you will need to check for the new Deletion updates. Â
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Data Retention Configuration This allows you to set lengths of time before Expert Agent will allow you delete certain records. Â
Agency Staff There are two new staff permissions with regards to GDPR under the Advanced tab of Staff Permissions. N.B No one will be able to delete by default so Super Users will need to enable this for all applicable staff members first. Â
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You can delete Applicants from 2 places. From the Applicant Grid, and from the Applicant Record.
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From Applicant Record:Â
On the Applicant Action Menu there is a new Data Management option. Under this you have the option to delete the Applicant Record. Â
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Please do take time to read the above screen as it will explain what we can and can't delete from the system, taking your Data Retention Configuration into account. Â
You have to click the tick box before the Submit button is activated. Once you are happy, press Submit. Â
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You will get the green confirmation flash at the bottom right hand side of the Applicant Record. Please see Deletion Management for what to do next. Â
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From the Grid:Â
Once you have filtered (Filtering Grids) out the Applicants you want to KEEP, and only the Applicants you wish to DELETE are sitting in the Grid, Right Click -> Hover over Data Management and select Delete Applicants. Â
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Please do take time to read the above screen as it will explain what we can and can't delete from the system, taking your Data Retention Configuration into account. Â
You have to click the tick box before the Submit button is activated. Once you are happy, press Submit. Â
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You will get the green confirmation flash at the bottom right hand side of the Grid. And all Super Users in your Branch will receive an email alerting them that a Bulk Delete has been requested. Â
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The Deletion Requests for all records are not removed from the Grids immediately. EA will give you a grace period to remove these if you have done it in error. We run the process overnight. Â
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Hover over Tools in the top menu and select Deletions:Â
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On Pending Deletions you will see all deletion requests that have not yet been deleted. This gives you time to cancel them by selecting them from below and clicking Cancel Selected Deletions. You can also filter on specific branches and then press Filter Grid. Â
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Under Failed Deletions, once the deletion procedure has been run over night, any failed deletions will be listed in the grid, and the reason why it failed. In this example they have a current offer. Make sure that the record is selected from the left hand side and click "Acknowledge Failed Deletions". Â
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This will place the record back into Expert Agent for you to either rectify the issue and request a deletion again or leave the record in your Expert Agent. Â
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When your records have been deleted, or failed, you will receive an update by means of Internal Message. Â
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Vendors can be deleted from the Property Grid, or the Property Record. Â
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From Property Record
From the Property Record you have the new Action Menu item of Data Management. Hovering over that will give you a lot of options, some of these are coming soon. But the one you will be selecting is either Delete Vendor 1 or Delete Vendor 2. Â
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If you are using Extra Data then you do have the option to delete the Extra Data items as well. Expert Agent cannot check if these have personal data in them but it can delete the fields if you wish. Â
Once you have pressed Submit, you will receive the green confirmation flash at the bottom right of the screen. Â
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This deletion request will go into Deletion ManagementÂ
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From Property Grid:Â
From the Vendor Grid you have the ability to mass delete. Once you have set all the relevant filters then right click -> Hover over Data Management and select Delete Vendors (please note this will only delete Vendors from SALES properties and will NOT delete Landlords from any Lettings Properties that may be in the grid).
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Do take the time to read the above notification as this will prevent some records from being deleted. Make sure at least one of the tick boxes is ticked so that you can press the Submit button.Â
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These deletion requests will be sent to Deletions in the top menu and processed overnight. Please see Deletion Management for more information. Â
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Once the Deletion has occurred, the property will still be in the Property grid but as you can see from the above image, the personal data of the Vendor is replaced with *** instead. Â
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The same is on the Property Record itself (if you delete from the grid OR the property record):Â
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Landlords, like Applicants and Vendors, can be deleted from both the Landlord Grid, and the Landlord Record. Â
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From the Landlord Record:Â
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On the Landlord Action Menu, under the Data Management sub menu select "Delete Landlord".Â
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Please do make sure that you read the above message as this will explain what can and can't be deleted from Expert Agent. Make sure once you are happy that you tick the tick box and press Submit. You will receive the green confirmation flash at the bottom right of the screen. Â
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These deletion requests will go into Deletions under the top menu. See Deletion Management for more information.Â
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The Landlord will be removed from Expert Agent. Â
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From Landlord Grid:Â
From the Landlord Grid, once you have filtered out the Landlords you wish to keep, Right Click -> Data Management -> Delete Landlords. Â
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Each time you see the above screen it will be different depending on what record or grid you are trying to delete from. Please do take the time to read each one and know the criteria Expert Agent will look at before deleting. Once happy, tick the tick box and press submit. You will receive the green confirmation flash at the bottom right of the screen.Â
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These deletions will go into Deletions under the Top Menu, please see Deletion Management for more details.Â
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Contacts can be deleted from the Contact Record only.
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On the Contact Record -> Right Click -> Data Management -> Delete Contact. Â
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Once again you will be be presented with the following screen:Â
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Check the text, tick the tick box and press Submit. You will get the green confirmation flash at the bottom right hand side of the screen and the records will go into Deletions. See Deletion Management.Â
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As of May 25th 2018 the new regulation of GDPR comes into force. If you are in any doubt how this regulation will affect you and your business, please see the ICO website. Â
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We, at Expert Agent, have made changes to the software to enable you to be compliant with the regulation. Â
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The articles below will show you the changes made to Expert Agent. Â
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GDPR Personal Information Requests Â
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Ahead of the introduction of the General Data Protection Regulations on May 25th 2018 we have added new features to help you comply. Â
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Below is a short video that will take you through the changes we have made within Expert Agent. Â
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When you add a new applicant via the Add Applicant Wizard, you'll see a button on the Details tab called Applicant Preferences. You can click it to launch the below screen, but this will pop up automatically if you click Next or Save in the Wizard. Fill in all of the options, then work through the rest of the wizard as usual. Â
N.B Under all of the options you have Yes, No and I Did Not Ask. I did not ask is NOT specifically for your Super Users to see who isn't asking that question, more of a way of answering if you didn't explicitly get a yes or no from that Client. If, for example, you spoke to them on the phone then added them in later and forgot to ask whilst on the phone. You can change this at any point. Â
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To access these options on an existing applicant, you'll see the Applicant Preferences button on the Details tab of their record. By default, all of their Consents will say Please Select, except if they had previously opted out of the Weekly Email then that option will say No.Â
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Anytime you update their consents, an Event will be created on the applicant record.Â
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Any emails which you send the applicant will have a link at the bottom to a dedicated portal allowing them to update their own preferences. If an applicant makes any changes via the portal, an event will be added to their record in Expert Agent to notify you of the changes.
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N.B WHEN SENDING AN EMAIL WITH AN OPTIONAL CC, THE EMAIL THAT IS SENT TO THE CC'D PARTY WILL NOT INCLUDE THE COMMUNICATION PREFERENCES FOOTER
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 To help you work through all of your existing applicants, we've added some QuickLinks
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There are also new columns available in your grids, so you can filter records and make your own Saved Selections.
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 When you look to send bulk emails or SMS from the applicant grid, you will see the following pop up asking which consent options you would like to apply before sending.
To decide which applicants receive the weekly email, we've added a new Configuration option (Tools> Configuration>Output Configuration>Setup Weekly Email).
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And to decide who is included when you run a match from a property, there's another tick box (Tools> Configuration>Output Configuration>Matching Defaults)
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When you add a Sales Property in to Expert Agent, on the Details tab of the Add New Property Wizard you'll see buttons to set consents for Vendor 1 and Vendor 2 (if you've added a 2nd Vendor!) You don't need to click the buttons- the consent will pop up for you when you click Next or Save in the property record.
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N.B Under all of the options you have Yes, No and I Did Not Ask. I did not ask is NOT specifically for your Super Users to see who isn't asking that question, more of a way of answering if you didn't explicitly get a yes or no from that Client. If, for example, you spoke to them on the phone then added them in later and forgot to ask whilst on the phone. You can change this at any point. Â
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 To set these options on an existing property record, you'll see the Vendor 1 and 2 Preferences on the Vendors tab.
 Whenever you change a Vendors consents, an Event will be added to the property record.
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Every time you email your vendor, there will be a link at the bottom of the email allowing them to update their own consent.
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N.B WHEN SENDING AN EMAIL WITH AN OPTIONAL CC, THE EMAIL THAT IS SENT TO THE CC'D PARTY WILL NOT INCLUDE THE COMMUNICATION PREFERENCES FOOTER
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And any changes they make will be recorded as Events on their property record, so you can keep track of when the changes were made.
To help you work through your existing records, we've given you some QuickLinks
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There are also new columns available in your Properties grid, to allow you to filter your records and make your own Saved Selections.
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When you look to send bulk emails or SMS from the properties grid, you will see the following pop up asking which consent options you would like to apply before sending.
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When you add a Lettings Property in to Expert Agent, on the Details tab of the Add New Property Wizard you'll see a button to set consents for the Landlord.  You don't need to click the buttons- the consent will pop up for you when you click Next or Save in the property record.
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N.B Under all of the options you have Yes, No and I Did Not Ask. I did not ask is NOT specifically for your Super Users to see who isn't asking that question, more of a way of answering if you didn't explicitly get a yes or no from that Client. If, for example, you spoke to them on the phone then added them in later and forgot to ask whilst on the phone. You can change this at any point. Â
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To see these options on an existing record, ensure that you start from the Landlord record itself, not the Property record to which the Landlord is assigned.
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If you update a Landlords consents at any point, an Event will be added to their record.
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Every time you email your landlord, there will be a link at the bottom of the email allowing them to update their own consent.
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N.B WHEN SENDING AN EMAIL WITH AN OPTIONAL CC, THE EMAIL THAT IS SENT TO THE CC'D PARTY WILL NOT INCLUDE THE COMMUNICATION PREFERENCES FOOTER
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And any changes they make will be recorded as Events on their landlord record, so you can keep track of when the changes were made.
To help you work through your existing records, we've given you some QuickLinks
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There are also new columns available in your Landlords grid, to allow you to filter your records and make your own Saved Selections.
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When you look to send bulk emails or SMS from the Landlords grid, you will see the following pop up asking which consent options you would like to apply before sending.
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NB Ensure you've checked the Match Defaults option within Configuration (mentioned in the Applicants section above,) before you start running matches. That is what will dictate if applicants who have not yet explicitly consented to matching will be included in matches you run from a property.Â
When you are running a match from a property, if you manually add an applicant (using the right click>add applicant method shown below,) if that applicant has not consented to matching then you will see this pop up allowing you to override that decision if you wish.
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If you run a match from a specific applicant record, and that applicant has declined consent to be matched, then no results will appear.
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When sending any bulk output from either the Applicant, Landlord, Property or Tenancy grid, there are new columns to be aware of. When Applying Standard Settings (Apply Standard Settings on Grids and Quick Links) the General Marketing column will appear in these grids. Â
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The new grid columns will be different depending on what Grid you are on. As always though Right Click on the Grid -> hover over Grid Columns -> select Column Picker BEAT -> The new columns will at the bottom.
Applicant Grid:Â
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Landlord Grid:Â
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Property grid:Â
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Tenancy Grid:Â
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Apply Standard Settings on Grids and Quick Links
We have made new QuickLinks for you to manage your Consents. Â
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Please see our GDPR FAQs section for more information. Â
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You also have the ability to update Consents in Bulk. However, this is a Staff Permission, so depending on what your Super User has set for you, you might not be able to access this. Â
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From under the Data Management section of the Action Menu (Applicant Grid, Property Grid and Landlord Grid) you have the option for Update Consent. Shown below is the Applicant Grid but all the other Grids work the same way. (Please make sure you filter the grids before you press Update Consent.)
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Once you press Update Consent you will get this pop up below asking you to confirm you are happy with updating ALL Applicants in the selections consent. Â
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You will then be presented with the below screen:Â
1. When updating the Consents you will be presented with the normal consents for that record type (for example these three for Applicants, Vendors and Landlords will have General Marketing only). Be aware that you will not see what the Applicants current Preference is. It will only say "Current Preference" as you have multiple applicants selected. When changing them, you will change the Consents for ALL records selected from the Grid. And update ALL methods and ALL Date and Time to the same. Â
2. The same can be said for the Contact Preferences. Please make sure that ALL records wish to be contacted in the same way. Â
3. Any notes added in will need to be the same for ALL records. Â
4. Press Save. Â
When updating Consents from any Grid, please make sure that you have the correct information for the records selected BEFORE updating the consents in bulk.  Â
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On a Record (Applicant, Landlord and Vendor) you can view the consent history from the Communication Preferences button (Details tab of Applicant and Landlord, Vendors tab on Property records).  Click on the Preferences Button:Â
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And then on View Amendment History:Â
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Once you click Amendment History you will see the below screen:Â
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You can also access this from the Events tab of all records as well.  On the Events tab, click in to the relevant Event:Â
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Click on "View Consent History":Â
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This is the same process that you will follow for Landlords and Vendors as well. Â
We have a plethora of useful additional products that can be used within Expert Agent:Â
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Expert Agent Tenant Referencing
Online Interaction with your Clients
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