Transcription:

Introduction

Welcome to Introduction to Day 2 Accounting.

By the end of this video, you will:
• Have a better understanding of what Day 2 accounting is
• How exercising an option affect financial schedules, and how to fix it
• How lease administrators and accountants cooperate when an option is exercised

Please take a moment to review the agenda. To view a particular topic, jump to the corresponding time stamp

What is Day 2 Accounting?

In this video, we will discuss what Day 2 Accounting is and what falls under this categorization.

The lease life cycle has various stages, some of which are considered Day 2 accounting, while others are not. Let’s cover the basics. Here is a list of the life cycle stages.

First, there is the lease inception and commencement, followed by the initial recognition and measurement. All of which are considered day 1 accounting.

Next, there are any subsequent remeasurements, which may sound like a day 2 accounting but it really is not, it still falls under the day 1 category. What this section really means is what happens every month after the inception but in the absence of any sort of changes. This is due to the particular parameters being set up, and a schedule where everything is going to happen automatically over the remaining life of the lease. UNLESS some other activity is taken

For example, imagine an operating lease. We know the periodic rent expense is going to be straight-lined.

We know that every month, the liability is going to decrease by the amount of cash paid, less the interest accrual for the time value of money. That’s the liability reduction.

We also know the Right of Use Asset Amortization is going to be the straight-line rent expense, less the interest for the time value. This will be the amortization reduction of the right-of-use asset, which happens every month automatically.

So the first three images on this infographic is all really day 1 accounting. The remaining are all considered day 2 operations.

The one to focus on is the liability remeasurement. But when is it necessary to remeasure liability? Typically, it’s when there is some change in the financial structure of the lease. In this next graphic from the Deloitte guide, there are some examples of this, which can be the following: it can be a change in the lease term, the assessment of a purchase option exercise, or an assessment of an option to extend the term.

In the case of extending the term, there will many things that may need to be updated:
1. first, the structure of the lease payments, also known as the consideration for the contract, which is modified in the Financial Entries page
2. the consideration allocation, which is if the organization structure changes. Change this in the allocations page
3. Next there is the stand-alone prices. If multiple schedules are created in the record, select the appropriate ones in the wizard
4. the discount rate gets updated, in most cases
5. and lease classification, if applicable

Please note: If the modification is just a change in the residual value guarantee, then use the same discount rate, do not change it. There are rules on how some changes will be applied.

In the visual lease platform, most of these changes or updates will be handled with modifications, remeasurements etc…in the lease accounting module.

 

Exercising an Option

In this video, we will discuss exercising an option and creating the appropriate changes to the entries and lease accounting pages.

When exercising an option, there will be changes to terms and conditions, and perhaps other terms of the lease. It is best practice to create a process when activity by the lease administration makes a note of the change for the lease accounting side to see, and complete that remeasurement or recalculation.

To set up an example, there is a lease that runs through 2025 and a schedule was created in the entries tab showing a 3% increase being applied each year.

There is also a clause that if the option is exercised, it will run an additional 5 years, with it likely to be exercised and renewed at 95% of Market Rate

First let’s show you what not to do. Navigating to the lease accounting page, you can see the original schedule was created, but at the end of May 2023, this option is likely to be exercised. Without adding additional entries to account for the exercised option, the rent will display as zero dollars after the option has been exercised. It is important to add the additional increases BEFORE completing the remeasurement.

To add the increases, navigate to the Entries page and click edit. Assuming the 3% increase is still in place we will click Add Increase. Add the date for 12/1/2026 since the current annual increase only runs through 12/1/2026. Select Repeats Annually and type in 1 year. The select the percent radio button and add in 3%. Repeat this step for 1/1/2027 and beyond (for however long needed). Once done, click save.

Next, enter an end date for the extended option that was exercised.

Please note: The platform is not looking for the exercise date, instead it is looking for the expiration date located on the general tab, which is November 30th, 2025, which isn’t capturing the extended term of the lease. So in this case, you will need to enter an end date here, to reflect the end date as November 30th, 2030. If the end date is not entered here, the rent will show as zero on the schedule after the exercise date.

Now that there are increases beyond 2025, we will then head to the lease accounting page and find your calculation. In this case it is the transition calc from FASB 840 to 842 and select actions from the drop-down menu. Select Create a remeasurement. The type will be a Modification and the date will be June 1st, 2023. Navigate through the wizard adding any necessary information. In this case we are keeping the defaults. Once complete click Save. Once complete you can see on the schedule that the exercised option is picking up the additional rent from 2026 and beyond.

Please note: Until an actual agreement is made with the landlord, this process is only providing an estimate.

Lease Administration and Lease Accounting

In this video, we will discuss how lease administration and lease accounting must collaborate when an option is exercised.

So how does this tie into the connection between lease administrators and lease accountants?

If a company has an arbitration process where, in our example, is 95% of the market value, they will go ahead and renew.

To do this, there needs to be a remeasurement to recognize that the option is likely to be exercised. Then, another remeasurement is exercised to true up the expenses.
In order for this to happen, there will be a collaborative effort between lease administration and accounting.

First, lease administration will need to go to the general tab and open the lease options section on the left. Then click on available to exercise the option automatically. Once complete, the lease option that was just exercised will be removed from the section and will display as “exercised” in the clauses tab in the options section.

Next the administrator will come to the financials tab and click on Entries to update the financial entries to reflect the new agreed upon terms.

At this point in time the lease administrator should contact the lease accountant that a modification needs to be made. To assist in shortening the time, the administrator can come to the clauses section and modify the option and any changes that are part of the exercise of that option.

While the administrator is completing the work in the clauses, the accountant will complete the modifications as shown in the previous section of this video to create the new term.

Key Takeaways

This concludes the video on Intro to Day 2 accounting.

Remember…
• Not all parts of a record’s or lease’s life cycle is considered day 2 accounting
• When exercising a lease option input entries and enter a new end date on the entries page before conducting the remeasurement
• Administrators and Accountants should work cooperatively when exercising an option
Thanks for watching. Any questions, suggestions, or feedback can be sent to support@visuallease.com

 

Transcription:

Welcome to Navigating Lease Records training with VLU.

This course is designed to introduce you to Lease Records in the Visual Lease platform. By the end of the course, you should be able to:

– Navigate each tab within a lease record
– Recall the key data housed within each section
Take a moment to review the agenda. If you are looking for a particular topic, feel free to jump to the corresponding timestamp.

Lease records are the foundation of your Visual Lease platform. In this video, we’ll talk about the general layout of the record and navigating the lease sidebar.

First, a little background on lease records.
– The data entered into your lease records drives almost all aspects of the platform, from reports to financials.
– The data you see and action you can perform within the platform will vary based on the services you are subscribed to and your individual user permissions.
– Each platform can be configured from record field names down to a user’s individual viewing preferences.

Let’s jump into a record in the platform to review some basics.

Remember, some of the fields and functionality may be different than your platform. Please contact your platform administrator for questions on your user permissions.

When you open a record, the Lease ID and lease image are prominently displayed here. These two details will follow you as you move between tabs within the record.

Adding a lease image creates another layer of detail and a quick visual reference for the record. To add or replace an image, simply click on the image box. A new window opens to display the image in full size. Select the Upload image button- here. You can either drag and drop the image from your computer into this area OR select upload image to search your computer and add the image. The Visual Lease platform accepts most image file formats, including J-PEG and P-N-G.

Click save when you are done to apply the image.

Lease records are intuitively organized into 2 main sections: the sidebar and the tabs you see here. The sidebar is a collapsible table containing an action menu and key lease details pulled from various record tabs to always keep the most essential lease information front and center. It remains here, always available, as you navigate between record tabs.

To collapse and expand the sidebar, select the caret found here.

Notice this icon with 3 dots- this is called a kabob. When selected, an action menu appears with a list of options for this record.
Save as allows you to clone the record. If there are available option clauses, you can quickly exercise them here. You can also associate this lease record to a new Project Record in the Projects module of the platform.

View your record on a map using either Mapquest or Google Maps and quickly download an Abstract report for a summary of the entire lease record to easily view vital details in a consolidated format.
The record status and address are found here with color coded record type and asset classification. These colors are found on your lease map, making it quick and easy to identify specific types of leases and assets.

This icon represents your lease completion score. It is a visual indication of the general completeness of your record, based on recommended best practices. To view the specific items that make up your score, simply click in the icon. Completed items will have a checkmark next to them.

Remember, this scorecard is only a general indication of completeness and may not represent all the requirements of your specific lease. We always recommend that you spot check your records for any criteria not captured here.
Additional key details are grouped into sections here.
– General Information contains key data from the General Tab.
– The accounting information section pulls your lease accounting platform default settings. You can quickly manage lease level treatments by clicking on the kabob and selecting Edit from the action menu.
– Current Fiscal Year Obligations pulls in total expense data from the Financials Tab.
– Lease Options pulls in Options List Clauses from the Clauses Tab.
– And Upcoming Critical Dates pulls from multiple tabs including Alerts, Clauses, and General, to display upcoming activity or changes to your lease.

Your records are comprised of numerous tabs containing all the details of your lease. In this video, we’ll briefly review the Lease Administration, or “non-financial” tabs to help you get familiar with the lease record layout.

The Lease Console summarizes important lease information for comparison purposes. Apply a saved filter to view the current lease against a specific subset of leases.
The General tab houses your primary lease data, including lease status, physical address, and commencement and expiration dates. It’s organized into subsections to enable quick and easy navigation.

The Contacts tab allows you to conveniently store your lease contacts in one place. Assign landlord, tenant, and payor details, as well as additional lease contacts that you may want to keep track of, like attorneys, brokers or property managers. These contact roles are configured by your administrator to meet your organization’s needs.

Moving on the Documents tab.

This is where you’ll upload important lease documentation so you’re able to organize and maintain those documents over time. A few examples of documents you may want to upload include lease agreements, amendments, insurance information and more.
The Clauses tab is typically used to track lease clauses. I say “typically” because this area may also be configured to meet the unique needs of your business and may be used to track operational or miscellaneous internal information as well.

Clauses typically include options and a variety of rights and terms of use. Clauses can also be linked to a specific page of a document stored in the Documents tab.

The Notes tab is where you can input internal notes related to the lease record. For example, you can store email correspondence with the landlord or information about payment issues.

The Alerts tab is where you’ll set up automated notifications to be sent out to various members of your team. The notifications are triggered by important dates captured throughout the record, such as lease expiration dates, option exercise windows or rent increases. Alerts provide a valuable way to help you stay on top of important obligations that may have financial implications, if missed.

The related tab is your primary source for viewing all associated records. This includes manual associations like an overlease or sublease, records linked by a master lease ID or location ID and even project records. As well as associations identified by the platform – like shared Landlord or Lessor.
Most areas of a lease agreement that contain financial implications have been grouped together under a single tab. In this section, we will review the components of the Financials Tab.

The financials tab is slightly different than the other tab of the lease record. You’ll notice several subtabs for all the financial modules that can help allocate, document, and calculate the financial implications of your lease record.

Please note, your view may be slightly different than what you see here, depending on the Visual Lease services you’ve purchased.

Let’s take a quick look at each of the subtabs, starting with the Calendar.

The Calendar provides a summary of your financial responsibilities for this lease over time. These responsibilities are typically organized by financial category, but you can sort the data in several ways to view that which is most meaningful to you.

The Entries section is where you enter the lease’s payables or receivables. These entries create a payment transaction schedule that can be exported to your AP/AR system.
Lease Accounting Clients will also use these entries to create their lease accounting schedules and Journal Summaries.

The Payees section is home to any parties or contacts that are linked to your Financial Entries. Unlike the Contacts tab, the Payees section only houses contacts related to this lease, whom you will be making payment to or receiving payment from.

Your lease record must have at least one active payee in order to create entries.
Allocations enables you to divide costs or space to different organizations, groups, or purposes within your company.

For example, you can split up the rentable area of the lease based on how it is used, what department or business unit is using it, headcount or seat count.

Your space allocation groups can then be assigned to your financial entries, indicating who is responsible for specific portions of a financial transaction.
The CAM/OpEx modules allow you to detect possible overcharges or inconsistencies in invoices related to Common Area Maintenance or Operating Expenses.

Use CAM/OpEx Setup to create your rules. Determine which expense categories your rules apply to, what action to take, and the criteria for triggering the action.

Once your rules are configured, input your invoices into the CAM/OpEx Statements to identify inconstancies based on the rules you set. Once verified, you can send the invoice to your entries page to automatically create an entry for the expense.

The Lease Accounting Module is where you create and manage the lease accounting calculations to maintain compliance with lease accounting standards. Lease Accounting calculations incorporate information from your Entries, Lease dates, and other areas of the Lease Record.
This tab is also home to the accounting schedule and journal entries summary related to each calculation.

Track payment information related to your transactions using the Payments subtab. Often this will reflect the transactions that were exported to your AP/AR System through the Accounting Feed.
Percent Rent enables you to track percentage rent formulas that may be stipulated in real estate leases for retail locations. Calculate rent transactions based upon your point of sales data and create one-time entries.

Finally, create and manage percentage of rent formulas that may be stipulated in real estate leases for retail locations using Percent Rent. Determine rates, create tiered payment structures, and set caps as needed.

That concludes the Introduction to Lease Records course.

Remember:
– Lease Records are the foundation of the Visual Lease platform.
– Data entered in Lease Records impacts reports, financials and more.
– Your user permissions and subscribed services will impact what you can see and edit within a record.
Thanks for watching! Questions, suggestions, or feedback can be sent to support@visuallease.com

Transcription:

Welcome to Lease List and Filters training with VLU. This course introduces the Lease List and provides instructions for creating, saving, and applying lease record filters.
By the end of this course, learners will be able to:

– Recognize the key areas of the Lease List and describe the functionality.
– Create custom filters relevant to your role based on specific lease criteria.
– Identify filter security options and apply the appropriate security to your filters.
– And demonstrate how to apply lease filters to Ad Hoc and Standard Reports for more customized analytics.

Take a moment to review the course agenda. If you are looking for a specific topic, feel free to jump to the corresponding timestamp.

The lease list acts as a searchable repository for all your lease records.
In this video, we will get acquainted with the Lease List. This includes an overview of basic functionality and navigation tips.

So, what is the Lease List? As I mentioned,
– the lease list is a sort of repository for all lease records in the platform.
– This list can be sorted and filtered by a number of data points found within each record.
– Groups of leases or lease data points can be saved as filters or lists – making it quick and easy to view them over time.

Let’s jump into the platform to get acquainted with the lease list…
To access the Lease List, click on the Leases menu in the header and select List.
Here we have the Lease List Filter sidebar. The sidebar is home to all existing filters you have access to, as well as the record criteria that can be used to create a new filter.

The results table in the center of the page displays the leases that match the specified criteria based on your selections within the sidebar. The total record count is displayed here.

The table is made up of multiple columns, each representing a data point in the records. When you hover over a column header, an arrow will appear. Click on the arrow to sort the results in ascending or descending order.

The Lease ID’s found here are hyperlinks. Click on any id to open the record for that lease.
Control the number of records that display per page here – and – use the left and right arrows to move between pages.

Create a new lease record at any time by clicking on the New Lease button found here.
Once you’ve chosen the criteria you want to filter by, Click the Apply button found here. This will initiate a search of your portfolio to return the lease records that match your criteria.

To save your search parameters as a filter, click save. The reset button will return your search criteria to the default settings– typically, for most clients, this is all active and pending leases.
Additionally, these buttons allow you to send your filter to the Ad Hoc or Standard Reporting Module.

Lease record filters enable you to view your portfolio in more meaningful ways. In this video we will walk through the process of selecting and applying lease criteria to a new filter.

Filters are typically created in one of two ways:

The first is a dynamic search of your lease portfolio.
– As a dynamic set of lease criteria- like lease status, date ranges, contacts, and more – your results will change over time.
– As your portfolio ages and grows, leases that are included in a dynamic filter may no longer meet the set criteria. Additionally, new leases that weren’t part of your portfolio when the filter was created may meet the criteria and be added to the filter results.

The 2nd option is a static list of leases
– Lease record IDs are added to a list and will always be displayed in that list, regardless of ageing or any other changes made – except for changing the lease ID.

Filters also provide a level of security that allows Administrators to allow or restrict access based on a fixed set of record ID’s or through set criteria, such as location, cost center, date range, and even associated contacts.

Filters can be applied to various lease administration or lease accounting actions throughout the platform and can even be used to complete bulk updates.
To create our criteria-based filter we will navigate to the Create New Filter section of the lease list sidebar.

By default, my platform is set to display all active and pending records where the owner type is owned, leased, or subleased.

Keep in mind, leases that are active today may eventually expire. Once a lease expires, it will no longer meet the requirement of Lease status is active or pending- to be included in this filter. The expired lease will “fall off”, reducing the number of records returned for this filter.
To choose the data points I want to use in my new filter, I’ll click on the search bar & dropdown “labeled select or enter fields”.

If you know the field or fields you are looking for, simply start typing in the search box. This is a dynamic search, so results will update as you type.

To review the full list of available fields, select the dropdown arrow found here. The list is grouped into categories to make it easy to locate the fields you need.

At the top of the list are Commonly Used fields, like Lease ID, Record Type, and Commencement and Expiration Dates. These are fields that we have found clients use most often when creating filters.

The General category includes fields found on the general tab of the record. This includes fields like Organization, Property Type, and Brand – to name a few.

Additional categories include Location, Dates, Contacts, Clauses, and more
Remember, the actual fields seen in this video may differ from what you see in your platform. All fields are customized to match your platform configuration.

For this demonstration, I want to create a dynamic filter for all Active Real Estate Expense leases in the US. Since the default is to display pending and active leases, I will modify this by selecting Lease Status. I will deselect the checkbox for Pending and click save.

Next, I’ll search for and add the Record Type field to the filter and select Real Estate Expense.

Finally, I’ll add the Country, State & Province field to the filter and scroll down until I locate the United States.
If I wanted to narrow the results further, to a specific state, I would simply click here to expand the list to display states and select those I want to include.

Notice that all newly added or modified criteria display in grey. This indicates that these new data points have not yet been applied to my lease list results.

As a best practice, we recommend you select Apply prior to saving a filter. This will trigger the platform to search your portfolio for the criteria you have selected and display the results in the Lease List. From here you can review the results and conduct a “spot check” of sorts, to ensure you’re capturing the records you want.

Once I click apply, all fields will turn blue to indicate they have been applied.

Please note – when creating filters based on Lease ID, you may use partial ID’s as a sort of catch all for lease records that share naming conventions.

For example, this saved filter is configured to pull and active or pending lease that contains RE-003 in the lease id field.
Let’s reset the criteria and review the process of creating a static, or fixed list, filter.

Remember, as a static search function it will always return the same lease records, regardless of changes to dates, status, or any other criteria.

Select the checkbox next to each lease record that should be included in the fixed list filter. As you do, the record ID will appear here, in the selected leases section.

You may also use the lease criteria fields to sort through your portfolio for the correct leases. Once found, simply select the checkbox next to the lease to add it to the list.

When you identify a subset of leases that you, or someone in your organization, will be referencing frequently – saving the filter is a real timesaver. In this video we will review the steps to save a filter.
Once you have filtered your leases by the desired data points and applied the filter to view the results, you have two options on how to proceed with this data.
There may be times that you want to view a specific subset of leases for a one-time report. If this subset is not going to be used in the future, saving a filter is not necessary.
Simply select the Send to Standard Report or Send to Ad Hoc Reports option found here. This will send the criteria to the reporting module without saving it for future use.
If, however, the filter will be used frequently or for user access, you’ll want to save it. Click the save button to get started.
The Add Filter pop up prompts you to enter a name for your filter.
We recommend being as descriptive as possible in your naming convention to avoid confusion or inadvertent duplication of filters within your platform.
My filter is for active real estate expense leases in the US, so I will name this filter “Active RE EX US.”

Next, I’ll select the appropriate security level for this filter. The security determines who can view and use a filter and can be used by Admins to restrict a user’s view to specific records in the platform.

Let’s review each security level now.
The security setting options are: , Public, Private, Admin Only, and Public Read Only.
– Public filters can be viewed, used, and edited by any user in the platform.
– While a Private filter can only be viewed and used by the user who created it.
– Saving a filter as Admin Only means only those with Administrator permissions can view and use it.
o Admin Only security must be applied to any filter that is created as a means of controlling user access or visibility within the platform.
o Additionally, only filters with the Admin Only security can be used in conjunction with the Accounting Feed module.
– Lastly, any filter saved as Public Read Only can be used by any platform user, however only the filter creator can modify it.
I plan to use this filter to restrict one of my users from viewing any records that are not active real estate leases in the US, so I will select Admin Only.
Finally, I have the option to review the filter criteria one last time before saving. Click the save button to save your new filter.

As your lease portfolio grows and matures over time, you may find that certain filters are no longer needed or need to be changed. In this video we’ll review how to modify and delete your saved filters.
To access your saved filters, click the Leases dropdown from the Header and select Saved Filters.
This table displays all filters available to you, based on the filter security and your user permissions.
You can see the Filter Name, the user who last modified it, the date of the last modification, and Security. The Used By column shows the areas of the platform a filter is being used – for example, on a specific Dashboard Chart or Ad Hoc report.

As always, you can sort the table by any column by clicking on the header of that column.
Clicking on the kabob found next to each filter – here – opens a list of actions for each entry – including view, edit, rename, and delete.

Keep in mind, filters that are being actively used, like those applied to a User for lease security purposes, cannot be deleted.

Let’s view one of our saved filters. The criteria that make up the filter can be found here. The filter results section contains all lease records that meet the criteria.
Saved filters can also be sent to ad hoc reporting & standard reporting

The upload icon option lets you apply or replace an icon image to your filter. As this message states, your upload must be less than 40 pixels and will be resized to 16×16 pixels. These icons are used on the Lease Map when the filter is applied to it.
Clicking this button will bring you back to the Lease List to create a new filter.

That concludes Lease List & Filters training with VLU.
Before you go, here are a few things to remember about Filters.
• You can create filters based on criteria as a dynamic list that returns real-time results, or as a static list, which will always contain the same group of leases.
• Filters help you sort and manage your lease portfolio across the platform – from reporting to accounting feeds and more.
• Lease Filter Security determines who can use your saved filters and is used by Admins to allow or restrict user access in various areas of the platform.
Thank you for completing this course – questions, suggestions or feedback can be sent to support@visuallease.com

Transcription:

Welcome to Contacts Module Overview training with VLU.
This course is designed to introduce to the Contacts module in the Visual Lease platform. By the end of the course, you should be able to:

• Leverage the contacts module to create a central repository of your important contacts
• Demonstrate the ability to add, edit, or merge existing contacts and create copies or save new contacts on a lease.
• Identify key lease parties and contact associations on a lease and articulate the difference between the two.

Take a moment to review the agenda. If you are looking for a specific topic, feel free to jump to the corresponding timestamp.

The contacts module acts as a central repository to easily manage contacts within the platform.
Contacts can be either individual people or companies you wish to associate with leases across your portfolio. This video will cover the basics of platform contacts.

All platform users are automatically added as contacts in the central repository when the user profile is created. First, let’s navigate to the contacts tab using the link in the toolbar at the top of the screen.

This page contains a list of all contacts that have been entered into the platform for your account. Each row of the list includes the company associated with that contact (if any); details such as their name and address; whether this entry is for an individual or a company; email and phone numbers; and client defined roles relating to the lease record; and how many lease records they are associated with.

In this video, we will discuss how to organize and search contacts within the platform. By default, your contacts are organized alphabetically by company, then alphabetically by contact details. The list can be re-ordered by clicking the column names above the list.

The view can be changed to card mode using this button here. The icon for the button changes and clicking it again will take you back to list view.

To the left, there is a set of criteria you can use to filter the contacts list to find the contacts or group of contacts you need. For example, I can click here to select only contacts who are individuals, or only companies. I can also search by the company name, first and last name, and more.

Click Apply to set the filter or click Reset to clear the fields and return to the master list.
You can navigate through pages of the list using the buttons at the bottom, here, or increase the number of items displayed per page.

Contacts can be added to Visual Lease in several ways. In this video, we will cover how to add and edit contacts directly in the VL platform. The Contacts module has a button, here, to add contacts directly to the master list.

A pop-up will appear, where you can enter information about this contact, including their name, the company they are associated with, and how to contact them. Fields marked with an asterisk are required fields.
The contact type can be changed with the selector at the top. When the contact type is switched to Company, you will notice that the prompt no longer asks for a first or last name, and the Company Name field becomes required. Switching back reverses these changes to the prompt.

Although most of the fields are optional, we encourage you to enter all the information that you have available for every contact.

When you are ready to save your new contact to the list, click the Save button. You can also click Cancel to cancel.

You can edit or delete existing contacts by clicking the kabob in the right-most column of the list. Clicking Edit will open the same pop-up used to add new contacts. Here, you can add or change information entered for that contact.

Click Save to save your changes. Clicking Save As will create a new contact entry without saving changes to the original entry that you were editing.

Back in the kabob options, you can click Delete to remove contacts if necessary. Note that once a contact is deleted it cannot be recovered. A pop-up will appear to confirm that you want to delete the contact.
To preserve the integrity of your records, contacts assigned as a payee for a financial entry cannot be deleted. We do not recommend deleting a contact just because it is no longer associated with one or more leases. Instead, it can be simply disassociated from those records.

If a contact is associated with one or more records in your account, the kabob menu will include an option to view those records. Clicking View Associated Records will open a pop-up displaying the relevant records. You can click the Lease ID to go to the General tab for that lease.

If multiple records of the same contact were created, it is easy to merge them into a single entry. This will prevent accidental deletion or complication of your records. Select which contacts to merge using the check-box in the left-most column. Then, use the Merge contacts button located at the top-right of the list.
A pop-up will appear asking you to select which contact you want to use as the primary entry. The other entries will be merged into the primary contact before being deleted. As before, payees that are associated with a payment entry cannot be deleted and will not be merged when the operation is complete.

In this video, we will cover how you can add a contact within a lease. The master contacts module will automatically pull contacts added elsewhere in the platform for a specific purpose or record. In this video, we will cover how to add contacts from within a lease record.

For example, in the Payees tab of the Financials module for any lease, you have the option to add a payee directly to that lease. If you do, that contact will be added to the Contacts module for contacts associated with that lease; and the contact will be added to the master Contacts module containing all contacts.
Likewise, the Contacts module for a specific lease has the option to add a lease party or associated contact within that lease. Contacts added here will also appear in the general Contacts module.
If you need to enter a lot of contacts it can be a tedious endeavor. In this video, we will discuss how VL easily allows users to import contacts in bulk using the Import Tool. To access the tool, navigate to the Tools option and select Import Lease Information.
In the list of Import Secondary Templates, select Lease Contacts. This will open a new tab with detailed guidelines for using the template. As well as the download link for the template.

Most of our templates are formatted the same way with color coded headers. Instructions at the top of the template will describe the color codes.

The tabs at the bottom are there for you to use as a reference. They contain values for drop-down and tree options configured for your Visual Lease platform.

It’s important that you enter values exactly as they appear in the reference tabs. Misspellings or typos will cause an error during upload. For this reason, we recommend copy-pasting from the reference tabs.
When adding or updating Lease Contacts such as Landlord, Tenant or Payor, leave Contact Role blank and specify the party type and other pertinent details. If you’re adding associations, you’ll want to ensure you’re specifying the Contact Role and Party type along with other contact information.

From Import Lease Contacts, browse for the completed excel workbook, and then upload and process. A list of the results of the upload will appear here. When I return to the contact module, I will see the bulk contacts directly in my platform.
That concludes our course of the Platform Contacts module in Visual Lease.
Remember:
• A contact can represent a single person or company within your platform.
• Contacts can be linked singularly or across multiple leases within your portfolio.
• Platform contacts can be linked to specific parties like a landlord, tenant, or as a payee or payor.
• Adding, editing, deleting, and merging contacts across the Visual Lease platform is simple and can be done from within the lease record or in bulk.

Thanks for watching. Questions, suggestions, or feedback can be sent to support@visuallease.com.