Inside this issue:

Time for Some Spring Cleaning 2

Manual 2020 Calculation Changes You Can Apply 3

Help Us Help You 3

Windows 7 & Server 2008 End of Life Status 4

Query Wizard...Behind 4-5

Canceled meetings/workshops 6

2020 User Group Meeting Dates 6

Backups: Protect Your Investment 7

Spring 2020

Excellence achieved through people, products, and service. TM

Vanguard Appraisals, Inc. 1065 Sierra Ct. NE Suite D Cedar Rapids, IA 52402 Phone# 319-365-8625

Toll Free 1-800-736-8625 www.camavision.com

At Vanguard Appraisals, the health and safety of our employees, customers, and the communities for which they serve is of primary concern to us. We are closely monitoring the Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) situation, and reports coming from the respective local and state government offices for which we service, as well as their public health departments.

This global pandemic is unprecedented and evolving, so we will be working to communicate details to employees and clients as quickly and efficiently as possible. We are taking proactive steps to minimize the spread of COVID-19.

We have instructed our VCS Field Representatives to limit any onsite visits to clients to those which are deemed essential. Our Field Reps will still be available to assist your office by phone, email, or TeamViewer.

Many of you rely on Vanguards quality tech support. VCS Tech Support and VCS programming staff will be available as usual to provide you the quality assistance you expect.

We wish you good health!

COVID-19 Response from Bob Ehler

By: Sherry Surrett

In order to better support a highly requested feature for the 2020 manual, we added a new utility to the program. This new utility, which was released in CAMAvision version 23, is located under Extra Modules and is called Address\Owner Name Clean-up.

Currently, address and owner names are tied to a parcel. This means each parcel (property) has its own unique addresses and owners. However, with more and more businesses and property owners purchasing multiple properties or state statutes forcing multiple parcels based on the amount of land, it is becoming necessary to create a unique owner and/or address to tie back to multiple parcels. Creating this unique distinction will allow you to change the owner name and/or mailing address in one place. This change will then automatically populate on all the parcels associated with it.

With this in mind, in order to best convert your data for the 2020 manual, we need your owner names and addresses to be clean and consistent. Clean and consistent will come in many different forms depending on your CAMAvision data and your jurisdiction. Listed below are some basic recommendations for cleanup. This is not an all-encompassing list but a good place to start.

Recommendations for clean up:

Ensure all addresses have a city, state and zip code populated. This will help the program differentiate between 102 Second St in City A vs. 102 Second St in City B and create the correct number of entries in the Address table.

Ensure all abbreviations are consistent. Example: 102 Second St; 102 Second Street; 102 2nd St; and 102 2nd Street are all the same address. However due to the spelling, it would create 4 different entries in the Address Table.

Ensure all properties owned by the same owner has the owner name spelled exactly the same. Depending on your jurisdiction you may need to enter it exactly how it’s displayed on the deed so you may not be able to change these. However, keep in mind Smith, Joe; Smith, Joseph; and Joey Smith might all be the same owner, but the program will see those as 3 distinct owners due to the spelling and create 3 separate entries in the Owner table.

Ensure all addresses and owners are in uppercase.

Important Items to Note:

A good backup should always be done prior to using the utility. This utility does live data changing with NO test mode. Extreme caution should be used when making mass

changes as the only “undo” is a restore from backup. PC Import clients: If your jurisdiction’s names and addresses reside and are maintained in your Tax System. We

recommend to only use this utility to find inconsistencies and then make the changes in your Tax System. Otherwise, the changes that get made could get overwritten by your import.

Time for Some Spring Cleaning (Address\Owner Name Clean-up)

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By Nick Klein

As most everyone knows by now, Bob and his team at Vanguard are getting closer to finalizing the next integration of the Real Property Appraisal Manual. These are times where it’s good to look back and see what’s good, bad, and what needs changing. I want to talk today about a few items in CAMAvision that will be changing when people convert to the 2020 Manual. Buried in the Calculations and Pricing Methods screen are three pricing methods related to obsolescence on commercials, and obsolescence and manual level for residential garages.

These calculation method options were put into the program over the years to correct an oversight, add functionality, or accommodate evolving appraisal methods. Vanguard recommends they be turned on (checked), but when added they were defaulted off to minimize value changes. We wanted clients to turn them on when they were ready.

At workshops and User Groups, we’ve taught people about them and recommending they be switched on when the timing is right. When setting up reappraisal projects we ask clients about turning them on. Conversion to the 2020 manual is a good time, too – but you don’t have to wait for the convert to make this switch. Perhaps the timing is good right now.

I know that many clients already have these three pricing methods turned on, so there’s nothing to do, right? It probably wouldn’t hurt to review the other options in the Calculations and Pricing Methods screen. Maybe you’ll see something else in there that could be changed – and the 2020 manual conversion would be a perfect time to do it. Of course, if you’ve got questions these or anything else on Calculations and Pricing Methods screen, feel free to contact your VCS Sales representative or the home office.

Manual 2020 Calculation Changes You Can Apply Now

Help Us, Help You By: Patrick Alexander

Nothing is as frustrating as when something is not working right. In these moments, it is always a good idea to take a few deep breaths and relax. Once your negative aura has been cleansed, I encourage you to restart the program and try again. If the error persists even after the restarting of CAMAvision, it may be time to email or call into support.

Some things to state during your call or email: what you are trying to accomplish; the sequence of steps you attempted which resulted in the error being thrown; the actual error being thrown and how the program behaves before and after the error; and finally, anything which is unique or has changed on your workstation recently (i.e. Windows updates were applied, your network connection has been dropping intermediately, others in the office are or are not receiving the same error, etc.).

All of these things can be a huge help in identifying what is causing the issue and being able to reproduce the issue here. And once an issue is reproducible, a solution is seldom far behind.

VANGUARD APPRAISALS, INC

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Windows 7 and Server 2008 End of Life Status

By Nick Klein

As many of you are no doubt aware, January 14, 2020 was the date that Microsoft ceased security updates for Windows 7 and Server 2008R2. Toward the end of 2019 we saw a significant increase in clients updating their workstation computers and servers. In July 2019 Windows 10 had a slight edge (at 46%) over Windows 7 computers (45%) that run CAMAvision. As of March 2020, this share has tipped to over 65% running Windows 10, and 26% running Windows 7. The remaining 9% are servers, Windows 8, and two hold out Windows XP computers.

As I write this, we’re in the midst of the Coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic. If your office is still running Windows 7, and you weren’t able to upgrade before COVID-19 hit, you should still continue to plan. In fact, you may find that there’s a little more time to do so since interactions with the public are limited.

Although the PC at your desk is “just” the work computer, it’s still a place where we’ve collected countless documents, emails, and photos – not to mention the many applications used to do our jobs. The thought of moving large numbers of files or having to reinstall certain applications makes one think of pushing the project off to “another day.” That’s why it’s important to plan with your IT the upgrade.

If you and your IT have a plan in place, be sure to contact Vanguard technical support and get on our schedule when you plan to update servers and workstations. Our office has also been impacted by the social distancing requirements. Many of our staff are working from home, but we are still able to connect to assist clients.

Query Wizard… Behind the scenes By: Gavin Gross

While the changes made to the Query Wizard in version 22 focused on making the program user friendly, the changes in version 23 focused on how the program works and other possibilities for its’ use. So let’s take a look at some of the different tabs and screens. We will talk about what has changed, how it works, and the reasons for the changes.

Setup We have added the ‘Export Defaults’ tab. This tab allows you to setup exactly how and where you are going to export a query each time you export. One important fact to note, it is to be used on a ‘by query’ basis. So every time you export this query, you can be sure it is exactly the same. An additional option has also been added to allow you to append the current date and time to the filename, so you will always know exactly when a file has been exported. You will never have to worry about overwriting a previously exported file.

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Query Wizard...Behind the scenes Continued Preview Tab - Grid

A lot of work has been put in to changing how the ‘Preview Grid’ works, fundamentally. Previously, the grid was just a static display of your query results. Now, the grid works dynamically with your query. When you choose to apply a ‘sort’ on a column, change the size of a column, or change the order of columns, the changes will also update the query tab and can affect your results.

Another useful addition to the ‘Preview Grid’, is the ability to plot parcels on web map views. You can either plot a single parcel, or all of the parcels in your query results. Then, you can choose to create a new map view, a new layer, or add to your current layer with your selection. You can continue to send parcels to the same view on any number of layers, as long as you keep your current instance of the ‘Query Wizard’ open. To create your own name for a layer, simply open the ‘Setup’ dialog, navigate to the ‘Options’ tab, and edit the ‘Query Name’. This, of course, must be done before you send any parcels to the layer. To share your map view, simply share the URL and the view will stay alive for months.

Query Tab – Table Editor

We have expanded the ‘Find’ dialog to also work on the ‘Query’ tab. With this addition, we have added the ability to limit your search by table, whether you want to search in the field names or their descriptions. Another addition we have made, was to add the wildcard (*) functionality. This will make it much easier and faster to find the right field for your query.

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2020 User Group Meeting Dates

Missouri-August 12th & 13th

at the Stoney Creek Inn in Columbia

North Dakota-September 22nd & September 23rd

at the Quality Inn in Bismarck

Minnesota-October 20th & October 21st

at the Holiday Inn St Cloud

Iowa-October 27th & October 28th

at the Marriott Cedar Rapids

Remember to register at

https://www.camavision.com/user-group-meetings.php

or

email teresa@camavision.com

Due to the COVID 19 virus, we had to cancel our Illinois Workshop May 5th in Bloomington, our Nebraska User Group Meeting May 19th & 20th in Kearney, and our South Dakota

User Group Meeting June 3rd & 4th in Oacoma. We will see you next year at these meetings. Please Stay Safe

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By: Nick Klein

Imagine your computer was struck by a virus and days or even weeks of work was wiped out. What would you do? What if a natural disaster struck your office and your computers were damaged. What would you do? What if your server (or workstation) simply encountered a hardware failure and would no longer boot? What would you do? These types of scenarios, and their many variations, are why it’s critical for you and your IT staff to stay on top of your backup procedures.

Computer backups are an insurance policy against bad things happening to our data. Lost, stolen, or natural disaster, it doesn’t matter; the data is gone and so are hours and hours of hard work. So we get the insurance and hope we never have to use it. It’s an essential part of doing our jobs. Then we forget about it. After all, someone else is watching out for our data, right?

Even for engaged IT departments, it’s easy to fall into the practice of not checking backups. It can be a time intensive process, and with multiple offices in a courthouse to serve, time is a precious commodity. Sure, the off-site media (e.g., tapes) are getting rotated, but are the backup logs getting reviewed? Do you know if periodic, practice restores are performed to know the backup media is still good? Tape media doesn’t last forever and neither do hard drives. Not to be paranoid, but perhaps more than one backup is necessary, and always – always – make sure a backup is getting taken off-site.

It’s easy to become complacent when life goes by without incident. Don’t sit idly thinking the “big one” won’t strike our office. Evaluate your needs before disaster strikes. Would losing one day of work be OK when you just have a tape backup, or do you need to make special backups throughout the day? Time of year may play a factor in your backup frequency. The Internet is an excellent source of information and can give you an idea on best practices for your backup strategy. Search for “data backup solutions” and you’ll see what I mean.

In the past year, Vanguard support has assisted with the recovery of data from a few malicious ransomware virus attacks. These bigger disasters can cause the loss of months, or even years of work. In all of the ransomware attacks that I’ve helped with recovering data, the virus did not enter via the Assessor’s office computers. The initial attack happened in another office and it spread like wildfire through the courthouse servers. Sadly, in almost all the cases, it took the ransomware attack for IT to find out the backups weren’t as good as they thought.

If IT is in charge of your data backups, I think it’s perfectly reasonable for you to make sure they have periodic reviews of backup policies and practices. Be proactive with your IT departments. Make sure to discuss it with them on a yearly basis, at least. They are the insurance agent and you are the policy holder. To paraphrase an insurance company’s slogan, make sure your backups are giving you peace of mind.

Backups: Protect Your Investment!

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VANGUARD APPRAISALS , INC. 1065 S I ERRA CT NE SUI TE D CEDAR RAPIDS, IA 52402 P#319-365-8625 F#319-365-0142 TOLL FREE 1-800-736-8625 WWW.CAMAVIS ION.COM

Since 1968, Vanguard Appraisals has been at the forefront of the mass appraisal industry. Our trained staff includes specialists in field data collection, appraisal review, pricing, mass appraisal project management, court preparation and testimony, data entry, software engineering, technical support and training.

Our Flagship CAMAvision product has been developed specifically to operate in the assessor’s environment. Vanguard is a full service company. We provide a wide range of appraisal products and services for assessors, we also see all the projects through completion.

Customer satisfaction is our main goal.

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