ACI or al a mode software

[tugdog]

Been a long time ACI user but am fed up with the long wait times for tech support and the problems with the software ie: dumping report templates, changing data fields, cloning from other reports and having it pull from the wrong reports just to name a few. Thinking about switching to al a mode. Any thoughts from others who have made the switch, pro's & con's please.

 

[Tim Hicks (Texas)]

I have never switched, but I have used Alamode for 20 years. I have never had problems with it that was not computer inadequacy related.

 

[Wm. Hattaway]

Keep in mind that if you have any clients that require the ACI format you will have to purchase a converter to make WinTotal files work. It's been several years since I had to use the converter but back then it was $300. It was some kind of Lighthouse plug in. I don't remember the specifics.

 

[Road Rage]

I made that exact switch back in August after typing up one UAD report in ACI. I prefer Aurora to TOTAL, but Aurora is an older program. I cover a relatively small geographic area, so I use the comp database a lot. If I didn't use all the bells and whistles Aurora offered, I'd probably go with NCV. There are quite a few appraisers on this forum who rant and rave about it. Check the older threads from August to October 2011 (in the Technical section); it seems like everyone was posting threads comparing the software then. FWIW, the only thing I miss from ACI is how the addendum operates, which is far superior to TOTAL or Aurora.

 

[OSU Beavers]

IMHO TOTAL2011 is inferior to ACI for writing reports with two exceptions, UAD input and the free mapping feature. If it wasn't for UAD, I would still be with ACI.

 

[TRESinc]

Been a long time ACI user but am fed up with the long wait times for tech support and the problems with the software ie: dumping report templates, changing data fields, cloning from other reports and having it pull from the wrong reports just to name a few. Thinking about switching to al a mode. Any thoughts from others who have made the switch, pro's & con's please.

i haven't made the switch but i have been using alm for 10+ years now.

the wait times are probably shorter but the quality of the ts is probably worse. for alm you have to call into the screener and explain your problem, get the jr tech who wants you to verify what you have just said and expound on it, and when your problem still isn't solved you have to wait for a sr tech to call you back at some point, usually within 24-28 hours.

i've also experienced problems with merging/cloning reports (info is displayed in the wrong places, i.e. the client order number shows up on the comp photo page, some boxes are filled in with random letters where an x should or should not be, etc) and recently had to rebuild all my templates as aurora decided to randomly change font sizes on me.

no software is perfect, you just have to decide what you would rather put up with in terms of hassles. for me it's a question of longevity now. i have 10 years of appraisals using alm software and i am familiar with the software. i don't feel like converting all those reports AND learning a new program so i am stuck with it until i retire.

 

[Fargo1]

I just left ACI myself. Primarily due to having to purchase eServices just to create a xml file. In my search I basically found that all appraisal software sucks. In doing my research I was really quite amazed and dissappointed at how poor the quality of appraisal suite offerings really are. But having said that, the best advice I can give is to download some trials and see for yourself what you like. I put extensive time into testing alamode, WCA, Clickforms, and NCV. I found out of all of them alamodes offereings were the worse and most unintuitive. Clickforms was the best but lacked some features. I finally settled on NCV due to features and cost. Its a big unpolished and has some small bugs but JD is working on them. But it is very full featured and easy to use.