Matrix Update

On June 6, 2017, you received an email from RAHB President Lou Piriano and me that announced a mid-August 2017 launch of our Matrix system. I’m excited about the launch since RAHB’s new MLS® System has been designed specifically for RAHB members and contains many new features that we are confident you will find to be very helpful in your day to day business as a REALTOR®.

Our new MLS® platform is Matrix 7.0, the latest version available from CoreLogic. It will include new market reporting tools, a new customer portal, a direct openhouses.ca interface and a host of other new features that will provide you with tools you can use to offer enhanced services to your clients and better ways to communicate with them.  And all this will be available on your mobile phone, tablet or desktop – it is fully responsive on all devices.

You can expect to preview our new Matrix system in mid-July, about four weeks before our cutover date.  If you are already using the regional Matrix system for searches, you will have no trouble with our system. The preview period will give you the opportunity to familiarize yourself with our Matrix and to ensure all your saved searches and customer contact data have been transferred properly from the regional system as well as from our Fusion system.  Training will be offered for those who wish to learn how to load and maintain listings in our Matrix system, even though many will find the interface very intuitive.  Listing search will be almost identical to the regional system, which you are most likely already familiar with.  Training will also be offered for the entire system, for those who require an update.

You will be hearing more about RAHB’s Matrix launch in the coming weeks – be sure to watch for information, webinars, tips and instructions in upcoming issues of The Shift. In the mean time, continue to load your listings and do all your listing maintenance in Fusion.

Now a word about data sharing. As we mentioned in our June 6 email, RAHB’s Board of Directors had serious concerns with the way ORTIS, the company managing the regional Matrix system, operates. This is not new; we communicated our concerns to you in the past. After almost a year of trying to have these issues addressed and to put in place an equitable data share approach, our  Board determined that ORTIS was unable to meet RAHB’s expectations of professionalism and the standards of service our members are used to. Therefore, our Board notified ORTIS that RAHB will be leaving ORTIS on our Matrix launch date.

What does this mean for you?  Based on understandings already in place with ORTIS, you should continue to have access to the regional Matrix system for your listing searches until cutover to the RAHB Matrix system.  We don’t have any guarantees after that date, but be assured RAHB continues to be open to discussing with our neighbouring boards and associations continued access to listing search  beyond our cutover date.

We are hosting webinars to address any questions you have and to provide more details about our Matrix launch. These will take place on June, 15, 16 and 20, all starting at 9:30 a.m.  An invitation was sent to all members on June 9, 2017 and you can register here: https://attendee.gotowebinar.com/rt/1491618748198792706. There will also be additional information in upcoming issues of The Shift. We will keep you up to date and help you prepare for your new Matrix 7.0 MLS® System!

Best regards,

George O’Neill
RAHB CEO