Changes to Listing Input

Now that we have been up and running on Matrix for over a month, we have noticed that one of the biggest areas of confusion is partially saving listings. Currently, there are two different ways to save the work you have done on a listing without making it live on the MLS system: Quit and Save to Work Area and Submit Listing.

This has led to confusion, as each one behaves differently.

The Work Area allows you to save your work at any time, but does not allow you to add photos to your partial listing. Additionally, when you go back into the Work Area to work on a partial listing, if you hit Submit Listing when you are done, it will generate a list number, but does not delete the listing from the Work Area. This has led to duplicate Incoming Listings (each with their own unique list number) to be created by agents who repeatedly go into a listing in the Work Area to perform more work and then click Submit Listing when they are done. Items in the Work Area are not deleted until the user deletes them (even after the listing has been made an Active Listing and is on the MLS for all to see).

If you hit Submit Listing on a partial listing, it will save as an Incoming Listing and generate a list number, even though the listing is not live and no one but you can see it. You can then add photos to the listing before you make it live. You can still go into an Incoming Listing and make more changes to it without saving it as live, but when you hit Submit Listing, it will not generate a new list number for it, so there are no duplicates for the same property.

We feel that using Submit Listing to partially save your listing has more value and leads to much less confusion. Therefore, as of October 1, 2012, the Work Area functionality will be removed from our Matrix site. If you have begun any listings and saved them to the Work Area, it is imperative that you go into the listing from within the Work Area and hit Submit Listing. This will generate a list number and save the partial listing as an Incoming Listing, and you will be able to access it by clicking the Select a Listing drop down menu after you click the Input tab. On October 1st, all listings in the Work Area will be inaccessible.

Please call the CMLS office if you have any questions.