HORIZON - Publishing Reports

In this session we will cover all the aspects of publishing a report including:

1. Overview
2. Adding a Photo to the Title Page
3. Editing Illustrations
4. Editing Hyperlinks
5. Previewing and Generating a Final Report
6. Reviewing Archived Reports
7. Activity Log

If you wrote the report on the PDA, when it is sent back to the web, you can preview and publish the report from the web site report writing area. You can open the report by clicking on View Report from the My Schedule screen.

1. Overview
1.1. Reports are typically written on the PDA in the field.
1.2. The completed report is sent back up to the web for publishing.
1.3. You can add photos, proofread and edit the report on the web before publishing it.
1.4. The published report is posted on a web page and the client receives an email with a link to the report.
1.5. In the report writing tutorials we talked about the preview button, which generates a PDF of the report. This is a good way to check your progress as you build your report.
1.6. When the report is done, click Report Publishing. This button is on the bottom of report writing screens (Figure 1) and is also available from the Work Order.

Figure 1

Figure 2

1.7. The Report publishing screen (Figure 2) lets you customize and then publish the report.
1.8. Now let’s look at some of the things we can do from here.

2. Adding a Photo to the Title Page
2.1. This is the same as adding an image anywhere in the report.
2.2. Click Add/Edit to add a photo of the house on the Title Page.
2.3. In Figure 3, click Browse.
2.4. The Choose File folder will open.
2.5. Find your photo, highlight it and click Open.
2.6. The file path appears in the window to the left of the Browse button.

Figure 3

2.7. When the photo appears, click Add/Replace.
2.8. In Figure 4 we have the photo added to our Title Page.

Figure 4

2.9. Click Back to get to Report Publishing screen.
2.10. See the Adding Photos to your Report tutorial for more information on this process.

3. Editing Illustrations
3.1. We can review the illustrations that will appear in the report.
3.2. Click Edit Illustrations on the main Report Publishing screen (See Figure 2).
3.3. We can remove illustrations that do not fit or are duplicated.
3.4. To remove any illustration, just click to uncheck Include beside the image. (Figure 5)

Figure 5

3.5. Click Save and Back when you are finished.
3.6. We can also eliminate all the illustrations by un-checking Include illustrations on the Report Publishing screen (See Figure 6).
3.7. Why would we want to remove all the illustrations?
You might eliminate the Illustrations if you are going to print the report for a lender, title company, appraiser or insurer, for example.

Figure 6

4. Editing Hyperlinks
4.1. HORIZON automatically provides hyperlinks to related articles for specific items in your report. You can choose to remove those hyperlinks by un-checking the Include hyperlinks to more info (See Figure 6).
4.2. Why would we want to remove the hyperlinks?
You might eliminate the hyperlinks if you are going to print the report for a client, real estate agent, lender, title company, appraiser or insurer, for example.

5. Previewing and Generating the Final Report
5.1. We can see what the report is going to look like by clicking on Preview.
5.2. This will create a PDF version of the report.
5.3. PDF’s are good because they are easy to view and difficult to modify.
5.4. When we click Generate, (See Figure 6) HORIZON will
5.4.1. Post the report on a web page and
5.4.2. Send an e-mail with a link to the report to anyone included on the e-mail distribution list. (Typically, the client and the inspector.) You can add any other party’s e-mail addresses to send them copies.

6. Reviewing Archived Reports
6.1. What happens to reports once they are posted?
6.1.1. The postings will remain for approximately one year.
6.1.2. Your clients can download and save and/or print a copy of the PDF report.
6.1.3. You can look at the report online any time, and
6.1.4. Download and save and/or print a copy of the PDF report.

6.2. What if you need to send a copy of the report?
6.2.1. Find it from the My Schedule screen (See Figure 7) by searching reports using the Report Generated status and clicking Reset Filter.

Figure 7

6.2.2. Select the report you want, then click the icon under View Report. (Figure 8)
6.2.3. Follow the instructions to send a copy of the report. The process is almost the same as generating the initial report.

Figure 8

6.3. Can I change a report once it is published?
6.3.1. You can publish a supplementary report or a report addendum, but it is not a good idea to revise reports once they are published. This would create different versions of the same document, which gets very messy.

7. Activity Log
7.1. The Log of Email Activity for this Inspection at the bottom of the Report Publishing screen shows you when emails were sent to whom, by whom, and if the email was sent successfully. (Figure 9)

Figure 9

7.2. We recommend that you advise clients that they will be getting an email with a link to their report. Ask them to call you if they do not receive an email within 24 hours. Many spasm filters will not let you know that your email was unsuccessful. There are other reasons why you cannot count on HORIZON to let you know if an email was not received.
7.3. It is great marketing to follow up with clients anyway. You can ask, “Did you receive your report? Do you have any questions?” We also use a client questionnaire to get feedback – great for testimonials and to see how you are doing.

This brings us to the end of the standard report writing section!

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