Name and Password: Enter your User Name and Password provided to you by your system administrator. Then press Enter or click the "Log On" button.
Upper and Lower Case Makes a Difference with Passwords: Remember that the password is "case-sensitive". Since capital and lower-case letters make a difference, be sure your Caps-Lock mode is not on.
Who Logged Me Out? If your screen stays idle for 30 minutes, the system will log you out. This is to help prevent unauthorized users from modifying your loan data. You should log off the system anytime you leave your workstation to protect your valuable and confidential loan data.

Checking Out Loans

• Your Data Is Safe: Your loan data is saved to disk each time you refresh a screen, in a temporary loan file. Any time you re-access a checked-out loan, your data will come from your temporary loan file. When you Save a loan, Prepare Documents, or Check In a loan, the data is written to the permanent loan file for others to read.
• Checking Out Loans: When you Check Out a loan, you are the only person who can edit that loan. Other users can open the same loan to display the data, but no one else can add to or change the loan data. When a user opens a loan that is checked out by someone else, they see only the data from the last Save, not the more recent data from the temporary loan file.
• Read-Only Mode: If all the data in the loan appears as non-editable, then the file is being opened in read-only mode. This will happen if (a) the loan is already checked out by another user, or (b) if you have your loan selection screen set to "Set Read Only". (Click "Set Editable" on the Loan Selection page to reverse this condition).
• Checking In Loans: To pass the loan along to another user for editing, you will need to check in the loan so that user can check it out.
• Check In Often: You should check in your loans as soon as you are finished working with them. This will keep your list from growing long and unmanageable. The main purpose for being able to check out multiple loans is to allow you to switch between loans when questions and other interruptions occur.
• Logging Off: From the Loan Selection Screen, if you wish to log off the system, click on the "Logoff" link in the upper left corner.

The "Your Checked-Out Loans" Table

• The Table: This table shows a list of all the loans that you have checked out. They are in the order of R&A File Number. The Investor Loan Number, Main Borrower Name, and Creation Date are also shown.
• Load a Loan: To load a loan and view its data screens, just click on the RA File Number. You'll notice that the RA File Number "lights up" when you place the mouse cursor over it.
• The Checkbox: The checkbox beside the loan number is to allow you to check in multiple loans at one time. To check in loans from this table, (1) check all the loans you want to check in, and (2) click the "Check In" button. These loans will be checked in, saving their data to the permanent loan file and removing them from the "Checked-Out Loans" table.
• Copy: The button labeled "Copy" allows a copy to be made of the loan to create multiple loans for the same borrower and purpose, or to create a subordinate lien loan. When you use "Copy" on a Billable Loan, you create another Billable Loan.
• Copy to Test: The button labeled "Copy to Test" allows you to create a "Test Loan" out of another loan.
• Test Loans: You can tell the difference between a Test Loan and a Billable Loan from the RA File Number. A Test Loan number begins with the word "TEST" followed by a sequence number, while a Billable Loan number begins with "RA" followed by a sequence number. A Test Loan package is fully functional and will produce documents, except that the documents are labeled "Not valid for loan transactions".

Other Button Operations:

• Add New Loan.  Click on the "Add New Loan" button to begin entering a new loan from scratch. (Loans that are "imported" using a conversion from a data file are added using the "Import a File" feature described below).
• Refresh. Click on the "Refresh" button to refresh the "Your Checked Out Loans" list.
• List Selected Loans.  If you click the "List Selected Loans" button, you will see an additional table of loans that are not checked out by you. This table will be called "Selection Results". You can determine the selection rules for what loans to view by setting the Selection Criteria described below.
• Set Read Only.  You would click the "Set Read Only" button to make your data screens uneditable. When you do this, wait for the screen to refresh, and then you will see the button now changes to "Set Editable". You might Set Read Only when you want to view loan information without the risk of accidentally changing anything. This mode affects all your loans, and it "sticks" until you log in again, or until you click the "Set Editable" button and wait for the refresh.

Selection Criteria: These are the rules that determine what loans will appear in your "Selection Results" table. If you specify more than one rule, then only the loans that obey all the rules will be selected. These criteria do not affect the "Your Checked-Out Loans" list. They control only the "Selection Results" list which is displayed underneath the Selection Criteria. The Selection Criteria are applied when you click the "List Selected Loans" button and wait for the screen to refresh.

• Client: This is a dropdown selection that lets you view only the loans for a particular client, or "All" clients' loans. (Only R&A employees will have the option of viewing loan information for other clients).
• Property State: This allows you to view loans from a selected state or "All" states.
• Matching Fields -- RA File Number, Loan Number, Borrower Name, and Client File Number: These fields allow you to select on all or part of one of these fields. (The Loan Number refers to the Investor Loan Number on the setup screen).
  Partial Matches: "xx" matches any field that begins with "xx", and may contain additional characters. "%xx" matches any field that contains "xx" anywhere in the field. For example, if you entered "%32" in the RA File Number field, it would match RA0000325 and RA0000032. If you entered "John" in the Borrower Name field, It would match "Johnson, Robert" but not "Smith, John". Entering "%John" would match both of these names. (Note: Your search fields should not contain quotation marks--these are shown here to set off the entries you would make).
• Range Fields -- Creation Date, Closing Date: For the range fields, you may enter a beginning and/or an ending date to create a range of dates to select. If a beginning or ending date is left blank, then no limit is assumed in that direction. Notice that the program provides a default of creation dates beginning one month before today's date. This is to prevent your list from becoming unreasonably long.

The Selection Results Table:

• The Table: This is the table that displays the selected loans after you click "List Selected Loans". The order of the loans presented is: (1) Unchecked-out loans, by RA File Number, (2) Checked-out loans, alphabetically by user, and then by RA File Number.
• The Columns: The columns correspond to the selection fields in your selection criteria.
• Sorting: You can click the "Sort" button above any column to re-display the list, sorted by the selected column field.
• Checking Out Loans: To check out a single loan and view its data, just click on the RA File Number for the loan.
• The Checkbox: A checkbox is provided so that you may select multiple loans for checkout at the same time. Just check the box by each loan you wish to check out, and then click "Check Out".
• Loans Checked Out to Others: If the loan is currently checked out by someone else, it will be shown at the end of the list, after all the checked-out loans. The last column will tell you who has the loan checked out. Also, there will be no checkbox to the left of the RA File Number to permit check-out.
• Copying Loans: The buttons labeled "Copy" and "Copy to Test" operate in the same way as described above under the section entitled "Your Checked Out Loans."
• Admin only: Admin users will also have buttons to Delete, Copy, and Write to File.

The Import Operation:

• What is Import? This is the tool that enables a user to convert data from a client's loan processing software, and create a loan in the Docs on Demand system.
• The Import Process: Importing a loan involves reading a data file created by the client's software, converting the data to Docs on Demand, and confirming the data. The system will then assign an RA File Number to the new loan.
• Step 1 - Select the Import Data File: Locate the "Import a File" field, and click the "Browse" button to the right. Use the Explorer window to locate the data file to be imported on your computer or on your network.
• Step 1a (for systems requiring a supplemental import file) - Select the Import Data Supplemental File: Locate the "Supplemental File" field, and click the "Browse" button to the left. Use the Explorer window to locate the supplemental data file.
• Step 2 - Select the Import Format: Use the "Select Format" dropdown to choose the format for this client's data file. Most single-client users will already have this selection made for them.
• Step 3 - Click "Import': When you click the "Import" button, the file will be converted, and you will go to the "Confirm New Loan Information" screen. From this point, the process will be identical to entering a new loan from scratch, except that all or most of the data will be pre-entered.
• See New Loan Entry for information about the remaining New Loan screens.

How to Get There

• From Loan Selection Screen: Click on "Add New Loan" under the "Your Checked-Out Loans" table.
• From a Loan Data Screen: Click on the "New Loan" tool (file folder with a star), or click on "Loan Selection" (under DoD logo) to get to the Loan Selection Screen, and then click on "Add New Loan".

New Loan Information

• 4 Main Fields: Client, Broker/Lender, Investor, and Property State. Select each entry from the dropdown provided.
• Main Borrower Name: For purposes of searching and sorting, enter the last name and first name (with Middle Initial if available).
• Date and Time Received: These entries will be defaulted from the current time and date. However, they may be edited if the loan was received earlier.
• Test Loan Checkbox: If your loan is for test purposes, be sure to click the Test Loan checkbox, so that a billable loan package is not generated. The documents in a test loan will be labeled "Not valid for Loan Transaction".
• Adding a Broker Name: If your loan is with a broker that has not been entered in the Broker/Lender table, then click "Add Broker". This will replace the Broker/Lender dropdown with a set of fields that allows you to enter a new broker name along with an address and phone number.
• Create Loan: When this information is complete, click "Create Loan" to submit the data for confirmation.

Confirm New Loan Information

• Last Chance: This is your last chance to set the four main fields. Be sure you have selected the proper Client, Broker/Lender, Investor, and Property State. After the loan is confirmed, these fields will not be accessible. To change them, you will need to have the loan deleted and begin a new loan. (An administrator can also change these parties and re-apply default data, but this process may erase much of the loan data you may have entered).
• Confirm Loan: When you are certain of the data, click the "Confirm Loan" button to create a loan data record and assign an RA file number.
• Setup Information: The next screen that appears will be the first Loan Data Entry Screen, "Loan Setup Information"

Table of Contents

• Table of Contents Location: The Table of Contents is the list that appears in the left panel of the page. It initially appears as a list of major headings, each preceded by a right-arrowhead. (If a topic does not have a right-arrowhead, it means there are no screens for that topic in this loan).
• Sub-Headers: If you click on the right-arrowhead, it will change to a down-arrowhead, and a sub-list of the individual pages (or "screens") under that topic will appear. Click on the down-arrowhead again, and the sub-list will disappear. Clicking on the arrowhead does not select a screen, but clicking on the name of a screen will take you to that screen. Clicking on the name of a major heading will take you to the first screen in that topic, and will also "toggle" the list to or from the sub-list display.
• Where Are My Other Screens? Only the screens that are appropriate to the loan data will appear. For example, if you specify that there are two borrower sets in your loan, then only two borrower set screens will appear. As you make changes in the data and refresh the screen, more or fewer screens may appear in the table of contents.
• Clicking from Screen to Screen: The quickest way to go from screen to screen in the program is to click on the screen you want on the table of contents.

Tool Buttons

• The "Tool Buttons" are the buttons in the row in the header just above the data fields in the right panel. These are your primary controls in running the program. Usually, you should ignore the Internet Explorer controls and menu items at the very top of your screen.
• Tool Tips: If you are uncertain about what a tool button does, you can get a "tip" by holding the mouse cursor over the button for 1 second. (Tips work only if your "focus" is on the data application. If you have clicked in a windows area outside your application, the "focus" will be moved to that area).
• Prior Screen and Next Screen buttons: These buttons take you to the prior or next screen in the Table of Contents order. These buttons post the data from your current screen and display the prior or next screen. Do not confuse these with the Explorer Back and Forward buttons. The Explorer back button takes you to the last web-page viewed. It does not post data and does not know about the Table of Contents. If you use these buttons, you will lose any changes made on your current screen and will probably cause a system error.
• Refresh Screen button: This may be the button you use most frequently. As you enter data on a screen, none of that data is processed until the screen is "submitted" or "refreshed". When you refresh a screen, the application will process the data. Dollar or percentage amounts will be formatted. (For example, if you enter 3.5 into a money field, the screen will display "$3.50". If you enter 1/3/4 or 010304 or 01032004 into a date field, the screen will display "01/04/2004"). At this time, the application will also determine if additional screens are necessary in the Table of Contents, and will re-do any computations caused by your changes. None of this will happen until you refresh the screen or go to another data screen.
• Save button: This button updates the permanent loan file with your current loan data. Data you enter is saved in a temporary record from screen to screen. This temporary record lasts as long as you have the loan checked out. Other users can see only the permanent record. The permanent record is updated only when you save the loan, prepare documents, or check in the loan.
• Prepare Documents: This button recalculates all loan data and sends the data to WordPerfect to create a PDF file of the selected document package. This operation takes about a minute. When the screen refresh occurs, you will be provided two screen links to manage the resulting PDF file. One link, "View Document Package", will allow you to view the package, in Acrobat Reader. The other link, "E-Mail", will take you to the R&A Web Docs screen, where you can send the package to a registered R&A site. Before document preparation, the loan data will be validated. If errors are found, they will be displayed, along with the steps to take to remedy the error. If any "Fatal" errors are found, document preparation will be prevented, but if only "Warning" errors are found, document preparation will be permitted.

The "Top Left Menu" above the tool buttons

• Validate: The Validate link is found on the green bar at the far left. Clicking on this link will run your data through a validation process and display a validation page. (This page is automatically displayed when "Prepare New Docs" is selected). This page will display "Fatal Errors" (errors which disallow document preparation) and "Warning Errors". With each error found, the steps and screens to remedy the problem are displayed. The validation process is continually being updated by R&A to handle new issues and client policies.
• Loan Selection: The Loan Selection link takes you to the Loan Selection screen. This screen allows you to check out or open a different loan, create a new loan, and perform many other tasks such as searching for specific loans.
• Logoff: Click Logoff to end your session or to allow another closer to log in under a different user name.
• Check In:Use Check In to save your loan and make it accessible to other closers. This will also remove the loan from your List of Checked-Out Loans.
• Check In - Lose Edits: This used to be known as the Undo Checkout button. If you click on this link and confirm, then your loan data will revert to the values as of the last time the loan was saved. If you have not saved the loan since it was checked out, then the values will be the same as when it was checked out.
• Server Name: The last item in the Green Menu doesn't do anything. It just shows you what server you are using. This may be helpful to know if you are calling for support.

Other Data Entry Procedures

• Auto-refresh Fields: Certain fields (usually dropdowns or checkboxes) are followed by a "folded arrow". This means that as soon as you change this data item, the screen will automatically be refreshed. You must wait for the screen to refresh before making additional data changes. Watch the Internet Explorer progress bar and the "Processing..." flag that appears on your screen to be sure your refresh is complete.
• Don't get ahead of the system. Screen refreshes may take from 3 to 15 seconds, and up to a minute for document preparation. If you enter data, click on tool buttons, or select new screens before the screen has refreshed, your new information may be discarded or a system error may occur.
• If errors occur: First, try selecting a screen from the Table of Contents. If this still does not work, then click on "Loan Selection", and re-open your loan. Don't worry about losing data, because the data is written to disk on each screen refresh. Just return to the screen you were working  on, and the data will be as you left it.
• What's the Asterisk for? An asterisk (*) preceding a field caption means that you should refresh the screen after changing this field, because it may cause other field data to change or be added.