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January 23, 2016

By now you’ll have heard that RAHB is participating in the development of a regional MLS® system and “shift”ing to a new MLS® platform – Matrix. To help you prepare for The Shift, we will be emailing regular updates with news, training information, links to helpful website and more. Watch your email inbox for future issues of The Shift!


 

Contents


 

Matrix requires new password

As of Wednesday, January 6, 2016, users of the Regional Matrix system have been required to change their passwords.

If you haven’t logged into the Matrix since January 6, you will find that when you log in, you will be redirected by Clareity Security to the “Change Password” page, where you will change your password.   Your new password must contain a minimum of six letters and at least one number; your entire password must be between six and 10 characters.

In addition to choosing a new password, you will be asked to answer three security questions.

If this sounds familiar, this is the same process you went through to choose your Fusion password when RAHB began using Clareity Security three years ago.

Please note:  This new password is only for MatrixYou will continue to use your current password to access Fusion.

 

Internet Explorer Users!

Microsoft will end support for Internet Explorer 8, 9 and 10 on Tuesday, January 12, 2016.  Microsoft will support IE 9 only on Microsoft Vista computers.

This means that Microsoft will no longer be providing updates for these versions of Internet Explorer and significant security vulnerabilities may exist for users who continue to use them.  Clareity Security software solutions will still permit logins from these browser versions, but limited support may be available because of Microsoft’s actions.

If you don’t want to work with a browser that is no longer supported, we recommend you switch to Google Chrome or Firefox.

 

Preparing for Matrix

Special Keys

There are some special keys that will help you when you use Matrix:

  • The plus symbol + or minus symbol will indicate “greater than” or “less than” values.  Example:   10+ for more than 10 and  10- for less than 10. (Enter 10 for exactly 10.)
  • If you are looking for a range, enter it as 10-50 (as an example)
  • The asterisk * is a wildcard.  Example:  enter p* in the Street Name search field to get all the streets beginning with the letter P that meet all the criteria you have entered (region, city, etc)
  • The question mark ? can be used with a letter or number as a length delimiter.  Exampe:   p?? will return pow, pwr, pan, pic, pro, pub.
  • The exclamation mark ! means “not”.Example: !3 in a field will give you all responses except those that equal 3.
  • To select more than one item, hold down the CTRL key on the keyboard while clicking on the desired items with your mouse.
  • To remove a selected item, hold down the CTRL key on the keyboard while clicking with your mouse and the item will deselect.

 

New Picks in Matrix

Addition of ‘Reserved Spaces Field’
On January 19, 2016, an additional field called ‘Reserved Spaces’ was added to the Matrix system for Residential Property types.  This field was added to accommodate previous listings from other MLS® systems which permitted text in the ‘Garage Spaces’ field.  With text being allowed, some agents were inputting not only the number of spaces, but also the space assignment numbers (e.g. “2,A123,B456” where 2 would be the number of spaces and A123/B456 would be the assigned parking spot numbers).  Following the addition of the new field “Reserved Spaces”, the ‘Garage Spaces’ field data will be copied to the ‘Reserved Spaces’ field and then the ‘Garage Spaces’ field will be changed to a numeric entry only field.  The reason for this change is to allow for a more accurate and flexible way to search for parking/garage spaces using the numeric input fields.

In summary….

Before
Driveway Parking Spaces <numeric character input>
Garage Spaces <freeform character input>
Result:  no easy way to predict what might be typed in the ‘Garage Spaces’ field, making it very difficult to search.

After
Reserved Spaces <freeform character input>
Driveway Parking Spaces <numeric character input>
Garage Spaces <numeric character input>
Result:  easier to search the ‘Garage Spaces’ field now that is a numeric value only.

Also  new!  Garage Types – New pick value
On January 19, 2016, the value ‘Oversized’ was added to accommodate oversized garages which are commonly referred to as a “1.5 Car Garage or a One and a Half Car Garage”.

Please note these changes are only in Matrix – this does not affect your listing entry into Fusion.

 

Listing Displays in Matrix

In Fusion, you are used to looking at listing details on “Reports”.  In Matrix they are referred to as “Displays”.  Here are the displays available to you in Matrix:

  1. Member Single Line – allows you to print MLS® number, status, Property type, address, municipality, neighbourhood, city, sqft, beds, baths, DOM, list date
  2. Member Thumbnail – allows you to print MLS® number, address, city, property type, age, DOM, sqft, price, beds,  baths, lot size, taxes, municipality, neighbourhood, heat, water, sellers, listing  salesperson, listing brokerage, REALTOR® remarks
  3. Member Full – allows you to print with or without header and footer, as well as listing information, rooms, open house dates, listing history and photos
  4. Member Full with signature – allows you to enter listing directly into Matrix and print off report to have the Sellers sign. Using this option allows the member to avoid double entry of manually filling in in the listing form AND input in Matrix (available only once we cut over to Matrix)
  5. Member Full One Page with tabs – same as Member full, but also includes the selection of room sizes in imperial and metric
  6. Member Full One Page – allows you to print valuable listing details, excludes rooms and sizes on a one page report
  7. Client Thumbnail – allows you to print address, city, MLS® number, property style/type, heat, water, beds, baths, garage, sqft, age, pool, neighbourhood, listing brokerage, status
  8. Client Full – allows you to print listing details not in conflict with privacy laws
  9. Hotsheet – allows you to print change date, changed info, MLS® number, address, price, city, Property sub type, style, beds, baths, sqft, DOM, listing brokerage

Please note:  personal reports you have created in Fusion will not be migrated over to Matrix.

 

Important links

Matrixhttp://matrix.onregional.ca
Matrix Transition Guidehttp://www.rahb.ca/email/TransitiontoMatrix.pdf
CoreLogic’s Matrix 6.12 Quick Start Guidehttp://www.marketlinx.com/download/pdf/Matrix_6.12_Quick_Start_Guide_CAN.pdf
New Regional Residential Data Input Formhttp://www.rahb.ca/email/ORTIS_RES_EXPLAIN.pdf
New Regional Commercial Data Input Form http://www.rahb.ca/email/ORTIS_COM_EXPLAIN.pdf

** Remember – do not use the new Regional Data Input Forms until you are able to broker load in Matrix **

Please note: the development of the regional MLS® system is a work in progress. All information provided in the issue of The Shift is correct as of January 23, 2016.