Release notes:

What's new in Symbility version 2.9?

(Version 2.9.21, originally released 07/27/07)

 

 

 

Although a subtle enhancement, this is a significant usability improvement, especially for new users. The appearance of the mouse pointer now changes dynamically based on the current tool selected and/or the object that the mouse pointer is currently hovering over. Now instead of the standard arrow (or the small star shape in Vista) the mouse pointer will appear as a "crosshair" when drawing a new room shape on a floorplan. When placed over an object that can be moved, it appears as a four-direction arrow. All the new mouse pointers, when they appear and what they mean are shown to the right:		Draw shape
		Draw freeform shape
		Move shape
		Resize shape
		Rotate compass
		Pan diagram
		Rotate 3D diagram vertically
		Rotate 3D diagram horizontally
		Draw scribble
		Draw voice annotation
		Draw photo annotation

NEW FEATURE

9352

Interactive Navigation Controls

mobile claims

One thing we noticed during extensive usability testing of the new major improvements we made to roofplans (see below) is that despite the incredible power Roofplan diagrams now provide which allow scoping virtually any roof shape, navigating the diagram can be a bit clumsy. By "navigating" we mean manipulating the diagram workspace by zooming in and out, rotating horizontally and vertically and panning the diagram to see different parts of it on the screen. By "clumsy" we mean the bottleneck in your efficiency of drawing more complex roofs is constantly moving the stylus away from a drawn shape up to the toolbar to click the pan, rotate or zoom buttons, then back down to the drawn shape. "There has to be a better way" we thought, although we knew it needed to be one that was a great deal quicker and efficient but just as simple.

The ESC hardware button on a Motion LE800 Tablet PC.

The interactive navigation control is initiated by pressing either the ENTER or ESC key (you can customize which one—see below). How does an on-site Tablet PC user do that without opening the Tablet Input Panel on-screen keyboard? Simple—the reason we chose ENTER and ESC are because all tablet PCs provide hardware buttons for these keys on the face of the display, and chances are those buttons are right next to your thumb or a finger of the hand not holding the stylus. The ENTER button will have this icon next to it: . The ESC button will have this icon: .

When activated, the interactive navigation control places a large icon for ZOOM (by default) in the center of the screen. With the stylus, simply tap anywhere on it and drag upwards to zoom in, or downwards to zoom out. You can fine-tune the exact zoom level desired before releasing the stylus. To access other navigation controls, continue to press the or buttons to cycle through the other navigation controls: by default Zoom à Rotate vertical à Rotate horizonal à Pan.

The navigation control will disappear automatically if not used within 3 seconds or by tapping any other object on the screen.

So—and this is what means a tremendous efficiency boost—you can use one finger (of the hand holding the Tablet) to activate the interactive navigation control, and the other hand (holding the stylus) to use it, and without moving the stylus up to the the toolbar and back you can zoom, rotate and pan. Note that if you find it uncomfortable to use the hand holding the Tablet to press the ESC or ENTER hardware buttons, we found that just extending a finger of your stylus-holding hand, or even using the stylus to press the buttons works just as well.

The new "Navigation Control" tab of the Preferences dialog allows you to customize this function, by selecting whether ENTER or ESC should trigger it, and what controls are available and the order they appear when cycled through.

 

NEW MAJOR FEATURES

NEW FEATURE

8899

Ability to create new claim files directly from mobile claims

mobile claims

NEW FEATURE

8727

Ability to combine all items for related subrooms and roofs into one grouping on estimate

Symbility.NET/mobile claims

Estimates used to show all subrooms separately, with each having its own individual section showing the measurements, diagram of the shape and items it contains. Since subrooms are typically used for different areas of a larger room that are all damaged in the same or similar way, it often makes for a more readable estimate to show all subrooms and the main room which they are a subroom of, as a single entity. That's exactly what the new "Combine related subrooms" command on the options menu does. When enabled, the header for a main room with subrooms contains the amalgamated measurements for all subrooms, and the thumbnail diagram shows all subrooms as well. The list of items contains all unique items attached to all subrooms, averaging the pricing information if it's different between subrooms and consolidating the quantities.

This feature also applies to roofs, where it is perhaps even more useful, since individual roof shapes are used to create an entire roof structure but typically not thought of as individual sections. You can also use this option in the same way for an Audit Report.

NEW FEATURE

9011

Ability to group items in ways other than by room on estimate

Symbility.NET/mobile claims

This feature allows you to re-arrange the line items in your estimates by grouping them in different ways other than the standard "by room", which offers greater analysis by letting you look at the same estimate in entirely different ways. Use the new Grouping menu Group items by trade to see all line items that use the same trade together in one group; group by item to see all line items that share the same item description under one group (i.e. line items with the same description but different actions and/or grades would all be grouped together). You can also group by Category and Action, in addition to the default "by room".

When grouped in any way other than by room, a new column "Found in" is automatically added to the estimate—it shows the room that the item is attached to. If the same line item is attached to different rooms but is listed in a grouping, the "Found in" column shows each room, and the item's quantity is the sum of all occurrences of the same item. Note that if anything is different about line items that otherwise appear the same—for example if the price of the same item is different in another room, or different occurrences of the same item have different notes attached—they are considered different items and listed individually within the same group. Item numbering is consistent through all grouping methods, so the same number the item receives when grouped by room is the number used when grouped other ways.

The Grouping menu is also available when viewing the Audit Report, and offers one additional grouping option: "by violation type". This will group all line items by the type of violation the item causes (including "None" for items that do not violate any audit rules.

NEW FEATURE

8904

Complete redesign of Vendor List screen

Symbility.NET

The Vendor List feature of Symbility.NET, which allows insurers to maintain a list of vendors whom they will assign claims to and select specific vendors for claims, has been completely revamped to offer greatly expanded functionality:

• Added the ability to search the vendor table when assigning claims

• Easy inspection (“at-a-glance”) of vendor activity/workload when assigning claims

• Ability to maintain multiple vendor lists

• Ability to maintain individual vendor lists for multiple branches from single logon

• More relevant listings of available companies to use for building vendor lists

 

Three obvious changes you'll notice about the new Vendor List screen are:

1. A search panel has been added—that light blue bar at the top—which allows flexible searching the vendors currently in your vendor list and allows searching the list of available contractors or available independent adjusters when building a vendor list. It works just like the Advanced Search Panel (introduced in version 1.8) in the Claim List—click the "maximize" icon to expand it. More detail on how it works is below.

2. A new grey bar, under the Search bar, allows selecting the branch office to view and edit vendor lists for (only if you are a Power User or Administrator however) using the Branch drop-down list. This allows full control over the vendor lists for each branch office by someone from the head office. Next to it the List dropdown selects which vendor list to view—each branch (including your head office) can now store multiple lists. For example you may want to maintain separate lists for CATs, emergency mitigation contractors, etc. Use the hyperlinks on the right side to create a new list, rename the currently selected one and delete the currently selected one.

3. There are three page tabs at the bottom. The first (default) one shows your vendor list(s), while the other show available contractors and independent adjusters currently registered in Symbility.NET that can be added to your vendor list(s). The list of available contractors and independent adjusters is searchable via the Search panel (see a. above).

The commands panel also includes a new command "Plot selected on map" which allows you to show a map with the registered business office address of all vendors you select in the vendor list (with the checkboxes) plotted.

Within the Vendor List table, each row now contains a +/- expander button. Expanding the vendor's record shows details of the current claim activity (vendor's workload) associated with that vendor.

 

The workload is illustrated in a 4-column table. First only a summary level is shown on two rows; the first row shows the reserves applicable to all the claims currently assigned to the vendor—both "dwelling" (D) "contents" (C), and subdivided into "normal" claims, "emergency" claims (those marked as "Emergency work required" on the Loss Summary page) and "CAT" claims (those that have a value in the CAT No. field). The second row shows the quantity of claims currently assigned to the vendor, and the blue bars graphically represent the quantity as a percentage of all assigned vendors in your vendor list. In the example above, a total of 73 claims are assigned to True North Contracting, which represents about half of all claims assigned (the other half are assigned to other vendors). Of those 73 claims, 62 are "normal" claims (about half of all normal claims assigned are to True North Contracting), 5 are emergency claims (just over half of all emergency claims are assigned to other vendors) and 6 are CAT claims (almost all CAT claims are assigned to True North Contracting).

Expanding the row that shows the claims of each type (the row with the blue bars) shows the breakdown by status of those claims by claim status. This paints a more complete picture of the vendor's workload—for instance a large volume of claims assigned to a contractor may be perfectly fine and the contractor able to handle additional work if the claims are progressing in status, i.e. they are fairly evenly distributed among the various statuses. Similarly, if the contractor has only a small number of claims assigned to them but all are at the "assignment sent" status, then this could indicate a problem of the contractor being able to get to those claims.

Each figure is graphically represented by a green bar, which illustrates the claims of that status as a percentage of the total claims of that type. In the example above, 10 of the "normal" claims are at the "Assignment Received" status, so the green bar is at 16% (10/62).

Hover over any bar to see the exact percentage and how it is calculated.

 

NEW FEATURE

9076

Roofplans "3.0"

mobile claims

We have entirely redesigned the roofplan diagram module. This feature represents the second major enhancement to roofplans since the initial release. Our goals with this redesign included substantially increasing the functionality with new shapes, new calculations and new ways of manipulating shapes. In short, we wanted to make drawing roofplans that represent the actual loss site simpler, even complex ones. Besides the addition of new roof shapes, the main improvement we've made is that now the roofplan module leverages the 3D modeling environment that we created for Exterior Plans (in v.2.8) in order to solve many usability issues. Roofs are inherently three-dimensional objects composed mainly of triangles on a slope, and therefore difficult to represent in a purely 2D view.

 

The Basics

Users of roofplans prior to this version will already be familiar with most of these basics, but this may be helpful for new users.

Manipulating roof shapes

Roof shapes are drawn, resized and moved very similar to interior room shapes. For example, drag a side square handle to make a roof wider, or drag a corner corner handle to make the roof wider and longer. You can also tap a length or width dimension to set that dimension precisely with the feet/inches gizmo or with a Disto. Horizontal length and width dimensions are for the structure underneath the roof (which will be offset from the edge of the roof panel by the width of the soffit). This is to permit roofs to be entirely dimensioned from the ground (and most efficiently with a Disto laser rangefinder). All dimensions that appear in a dotted line arrow are those that are on a slope.

An extra square handle on ridge lines allows shifting the location of the ridge line to one side or the other (doing so makes the slopes on either side asymmetrical). To change the slope of a panel, tap the slope to edit it with the feet/inches gizmo (if the slope is labeled on only one side it means the slope is identical on the other side, so changing the slope on one side changes it on both). You can also tap the rafter length to enter the exact dimension (the slope will be set to the nearest whole slope).

All roof shapes also have a height dimension, which measures the distance from the lowest part of the roof shape to it's peak. Although it's not normally a dimension that is entered (as it's difficult to measure) it can be entered if necessary (it's always in the bottom right corner—as in interior floorplan rooms—and abbreviated with an "H"). When entering width or height dimensions, the slope stays constant. Therefore changing the roof shape's width will alter the height and vice-versa. Changing the shape's slope will alter the height but not the width.

Creating hips and intersecting roof shapes

Round handles are used to reshape the roof shape. On a simple gable shape, two round handles appear at both non-sloped ends. Drag a round handle in towards the center of the shape to transform that end into a hip (see image to right). An extra slope label appears on the new hip panel, which can be set independently for each end. The rafter length will change accordingly.

Dragging this same round handle away from the center past the far edge of the shape transforms that end of the roof shape into an "intersecting edge" which can be joined to any non-intersecting edge of another roof shape (this shape is then referred to as an "intersecting shape"—any shape with at least one intersecting edge). A new slope label appears, which is the slope of the intersecting edge. Intersecting edges have no soffit, and the slope of the intersecting edge will always change to the slope of another roof shape which it joined to. When an intersecting shape is joined to another shape, the shape becomes "attached" and the surface area footprint occupied by the structure underneath the intersecting shape is removed from the other shape.

Joining an intersecting roof shape

When a roof shape with an intersecting edge is moved close to a non-intersecting edge of another roof shape, the intersecting shape will "snap" to various points on the other shape as it is joined. In the image to the right, the gable dormer is the intersecting shape which will be joined to the gable. The two points circled in red on the gable dormer are the points which will snap to points A, B and C on the gable. Because of the slope of the panel of the gable, the gable dormer will slide up and down the sloped panel as it is moved toward and away from the gable, and this will cause the elevation (distance of the bottom edge from the ground) of the intersecting shape to increase or decrease.

To illustrate, see what happens in the table below when the intersecting gable dormer is moved farther and farther toward the gable. First note that the elevation of both of these shapes start out at 21 feet.

 

Intersecting roof shapes that are joined to the panel of another roof shape are referred to as the "child", and the roof shape they are joined to is the "parent". Moving the parent will move any child shapes that are joined, otherwise each can still be manipulated in all other ways independently.

 

Calculations

Virtually every part of a roof shape can act as a dropspot to automatically calculate an item's quantity when the item is dropped on it. The table below lists each dropspot available and how it applies to SF/SQ and/or LF items.

 

Trusses measured by LF have their own automatic calculations when the item is dropped anywhere on the roof. The quantity calculated will be the total linear feet required to frame the roof.

 

 

Navigating the 3D Diagram

When a roofplan diagram first appears, the view is "bird's-eye", identical to the view used for old roofplans (and the only view that was available). This is called the "default view" and useful for most basic drawing and editing. But once you draw a roof shape you will realize that each shape has perspective—they are truly three-dimensional shapes. Four navigation buttons on the toolbar allow you to shift the view so that every aspect of every shape can be inspected, including dimensions of roof components that are positioned under other shapes (this is something that couldn't be done before).

	Rotate the diagram vertically. The rotation mode must be turned off again by tapping the same button or another navigation button.
	Rotate the diagram horizontally. The rotation mode must be turned off again by tapping the same button or another navigation button.
	Pan the diagram without rotating it. The pan mode must be turned off again by tapping the same button or another navigation button.
	Reset the view to the "default" bird's eye view. Also sets the zoom level to "zoom-to-fit".

The interactive navigation control (feature 9352, detailed above) is a more efficient method of accessing these tools for Tablet PC users.

Keep in mind that any manipulation done to a shape, for instance moving, resizing, rotating, etc., is also done in the 3D environment, and all shapes are drawn in perspective. How a roof will appear when moved, resized, rotated will greatly depend on the current horizontal and vertical rotation of the roofplan diagram. In the image below, the gable is viewed in default (bird's eye) view. Because of perspective (lines that move away from the viewer travel toward a vanishing point), the two ends are not straight lines as they were before. 

 

New Shapes

Many new shapes can now be drawn. When combined, virtually any residential or commercial roof shape can be scoped. The full set of shapes now includes:

As before, any shape that is drawn can be saved as a new shape in the Shape Selector dialog box for future use.

 

Notes on New Shapes

Dutch gable and Dutch gable dormer - these act similar to the gable and gable dormer shapes except for extra sloped panels perpendicular to the two gable panels and extending for the length of the end soffits. The slope of each of these panels can be adjusted independently.

Dutch hip and Dutch hip dormer - the Dutch hip is a "composite" shape which is actually composed of a Dutch gable "fused" to a mansard below it. Becasue of this it is possible to select and alter the panels on each of the two shapes that make up the Dutch hip independently. Drag the round handle on one side of the gable to make it a hip of the same slope as the mansard below to create a Dutch end on only one side of a hip:

Half hip and half hip (intersecting) - the half hip is like a hip roof bisected lengthwise. The side where the ridge is, is completely flat vertically, so is ideal for placing up against the exterior wall of the structure below another roof shape. Note that this side is not an "intersecting edge". When dragging handles, it acts exactly as you would expect half of a hip would.

Mansard and mansard dormer - the slope of each panel can be adjusted individually, either by tapping the slope label or by dragging either of the round handles. Like a hip roof, you can drag the round handle past the edge of the roof to create a dormer, and vice-versa. The flat top of the mansard dormer will provide calculations for SF/SQ items when they are dropped on it.

Gambrel - The bottom panels on either side and the top panels on either side will always remain symmetrical, but the bottom panels can have a different slope than the top panels. This shape cannot be made into a dormer (there are no round handles). The two ridges separating the bottom panels from the top panels can be moved, but the top (center) ridge cannot.

Half turret/full turret/turret dormer - The half turret has three panels and is always symmetrical lengthwise—the two end panels are always the same slope, but they can be a different slope than the center panel. By default (i.e. when first drawn) the two end panels are 9/12 slope, and the middle panel is 6/12. Dragging either of the two round handles on the ends adjusts the length of the two sides of the triangular end panels (and therefore the shape) and their slope (only whole slopes are labeled). Dragging either of the two round handles in the middle adjusts the shape of all three panels and the slope of the two end panels (their position will snap to only those points that make whole slopes). To make the ridge value zero (and therefore a triangular middle panel) drag either of the square handles at the bottom of the two end panels, or tap the ridge dimension and resize to zero.

A full turret is simply two half turret shapes where all three panels are identical, joined together. A turret dormer is a half turret joined to the end of a gable dormer.

Saddle - a saddle is really just a gable with both ends made to be intersecting.

Shed - a single panel, basically half a gable. Note that the width dimension is the width on a horizontal plane, not on a slope. A shed shape is very versatile and is often useful for joining with other shapes in order to create a more complex shape. The top edge of a shed (the ridge) and the sides (fascia) are considered an intersecting edges. Here are some examples of how sheds are commonly used:

Here the a shed with the same slope is attached to the bottom edge (gutter) of a gable to effectively create an L-shaped panel on one side of the gable. Note how the soffit is eliminated on the side of the shed that is joined to the gable, and also on the gable where it joins with the shed. This creates a continuous structure and exterior walls underneath the gable with the joined shed. Because the shed has the same slope as the gable, the line between the two shapes is eliminated to make it appear as a continuous panel extension. The rafter length of the gable's panel now includes the extra length from the shed. If the shed roof was equal in length to the gable this would effectively create a gable with a longer panel on one side (a "saltbox" or "cape cod" style roof).

The shed can also be attached to the side of a gable to create another type of L-shaped panel. Again, the slope of the shed is identical to the gable.

If the shed has a less steep slope than the gable, it can be joined to the gable at other locations on the gable panel. Here the thick black line indicates it has been joined in the normal, and as described above, the surface area of the structure under the shed is removed from the gable where it overlaps.

If the shed has an equal or steeper slope than the gable, it can be attached to the bottom of the gable to create a one-sided gambrel.

Triangle and inverted triangle - the inclusion of these three-sided, single panel roof shapes provides maximum versatility and insures that virtually any roof can be drawn. They are not really useful on their own, but when drawing a very complex roof, they can be invaluable.

 

Manipulating Shapes

Elevation

Elevation (the distance of the lowest point of the roof from the ground) is a new concept for roof shapes and the one most responsible for greatly expanding the real-life roof situations that you'll be able to handle with mobile claims (it's also the main reason why we needed to create the 3D diagram environment that can rotated 360°). A roof shape's elevation is always shown, when viewing the shape in default view it will appear near the bottom right corner preceded by an "E" (see image at right) and when viewed while rotated horizontally and/or vertically it will appear at whichever corner it is most visible (see image to the left). To change the elevation, just click it and edit it with the feet/inches gizmo or with a measurement captured with the Disto.

Other than subtle visual clues due to perspective, it's often difficult to tell which shapes have a greater or less elevation than others when viewed in default view (bird's eye view). While it's usually easier to draw new shapes and do most manipulation in default view, rotating the diagram vertically is very helpful for working with shapes of different elevations in order to combine them to create a complex roof.

 

Merging non-intersecting shapes

If a non-intersecting shape is moved toward another shape so that they occupy the same 3D space, they will automatically merge. Merging is the most powerful new feature in Roofplans 3.0 and is the key to being able to create virtually any complex roof. It essentially involves two or more roof shapes sharing the same space and "fusing" together to make a more complex, compound shape. To illustrate how merging works, let's take the following example of a large Dutch hip and a smaller hip roof:

In this example, the Dutch hip has a higher elevation (16') than the other shapes (10'6" each), even though, as mentioned before, you can't really determine that by looking at them in default view. If the hip is moved so that it overlaps the Dutch hip as follows:

...the structures below these two shapes merge to create a single polygonal structure, represented by the orange dotted line. The dotted red area is space shared by the structure beneath the Dutch hip and the structure beneath the hip roof, which gets effectively eliminated. The green area plus the red area shows the section of hip roof that is also eliminated because the space is already occupied by the structure beneath the Dutch hip.

This is how this new compound structure looks when viewed from the side (in an exterior plan):

When the two roof shapes that are merged are at the same elevation, or at elevations such that both roof shapes would share the same space, some interesting possibilities for compound shapes can be realized: