Suntell Blog (Anna)

Regional Training: Omaha

Tue, 21 Feb 2012 18:18:00 GMT

It is that time again! We have our first Regional Training event of 2012 scheduled for April 17 & 18 in Omaha, Nebraska at the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel. We look forward to hosting these events a few times a year. They are a great way to work with our customers in a small hands-on setting, while still allowing our customers to interact with and learn from each other.

We always try to introduce new functionality at these events, as well as cover major areas such as Credit Analysis, Loan Presentation, and Documentation Tracking. This event will feature new Credit Bureau Integration as well as cover stress testing.

For more information or to register, please visit our Regional Training Page (log-in required). We hope to see you there!

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Tags: Training

Customer Shout Out #5

Tue, 07 Feb 2012 02:53:00 GMT

We like to recognize our customers who are trying something new, or doing something great, or are just generally amazing with our software.

Who: Gloria, from a credit union in California

Customer Since: 2009

Kudos: Gloria was the winner of our January Facebook contest! Any comments or likes on our Facebook Wall were entered into a drawing for an iPod Shuffle. Not only did Gloria win our contest in January, she regularly interacts with us on Facebook. She also works with us frequently in our support department and has attended Regional Training in the past.

Here’s a shout-out to Gloria! We enjoy interacting with you!

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Tags: customer shout-out

Report Customization

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 16:17:00 GMT

The topic of our most recent Lunch & Learn session was Report Customization. You can create customized reports within Loan Presentation to create report packages to take to loan committee for approval. Customized reports can also be accessed within Collections & Work-Out if you would like to create a report for a Work-Out Plan or Annual Review.

Some tips about Report Customization:

You have two sections of narrative text: Customer Narrative and Loan Narrative. Your Customer narrative is specific to the borrower (such as management background or analysis of the financials). If you work on a new proposed loan for the same borrower, your Customer Narrative will automatically be included and you would just need to update the information. Loan Narrative is specific to the transaction (such as sources of repayment or loan purpose). You would enter new Loan Narrative for each new loan. The space in your narrative text boxes is unlimited and your report will dynamically grow to accommodate all of your narrative comments.
Your narrative text boxes can be renamed; for example: if you do not like the Customer Narrative text box labeled “Customer Background” you can change it to something like “History.”
Report Customization is created by “building” a report out of smaller sections, or Subreports. There are two styles of Subreports: Customer and Loan. Customer Subreports include information like a Loan Summary, Spread data, and Customer Narrative. Loan Subreports include the loan-to-value, borrowers on the loan, and Loan Narrative, among others.
Select the Subreports that you want to include on your Customized Report, and change the order in which the Subreports appear. Give your report a name.
You can create as many customized reports as you want to accommodate different scenarios, such as a commercial credit versus an agricultural credit, or a loan over a certain dollar threshold versus under.

If you have any questions about Report Customization, please contact Customer Support at 888.848.7349, Option 1 or support@suntell.com.

Lunch & Learn training sessions are free to Suntell customers and occur on the first and third Wednesday of every month. Visit our Lunch & Learn page to watch recordings from previous sessions, or sign up for upcoming sessions.

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Tags: Lunch & Learn,Training,Functionality

AgExam Cash Flow

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 17:37:00 GMT

The topic of our most recent Lunch & Learn session was AgExam Cash Flow. The Cash Flow allows you to create a detailed view of inflows and outflows for your agricultural borrower on a monthly basis in order to assess what is able to be either borrowed or repaid on an operating line of credit. In order to use the Cash Flow, you must have an Ag Financial Statement established for the borrower. From there, establishing a Form 1040 and Schedule F will bring in additional information on previous years’ averages to help you create the new projection.

A few tips for working with the Cash Flow:

The Cash Flow schedules can import data from the corresponding Ag Financial Statement (such as Livestock or Crops). The more information you input into the AFS, the less you will need to key into the Cash Flow.
The Cash Flow schedules contain Detail Listings which allow you to indicate the selling price per unit and the month in which your units will be sold. Anything remaining from the units available for sale will be placed into inventory.
Existing Debt information will also be imported from the AFS, and New Term Advances can be entered.
The Cash available will be calculated as the Income less expenses and any fixed debt payments from each month. The result will be a positive or negative cash flow for that month. A negative balance will result in an amount that needs to be borrowed on the operating line of credit, and a positive balance will be repaid on the operating line of credit. You can establish a minimum cash balance that you would like the borrower to have available.
An Annual Cash flow is also available as an alternative to the detailed monthly Cash Flow.
Reports include the Annual Cash Flow, the detailed Cash Flow, and also a Summary report. Schedules can also be printed.

If you have any questions about the AgExam Cash Flow, please contact Customer Support at 888.848.7349, Option 1 or support@suntell.com.

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Tags: Training,Lunch & Learn,Functionality,Support

2012: The Year of the Dragon

Sat, 14 Jan 2012 01:20:00 GMT

The ball has dropped and after a countless number of bowl games it is time to start fresh and look to the new year and challenges and opportunities that lie ahead. As we reflect on 2011, we are grateful for over 150 financial institutions that we depend upon as customers. 18 new financial institutions were welcomed aboard in the last year. We continue to earn and maintain our client relationships because quite simply we are a different kind of software company than those that we compete against.

I am not a follower of Zodiac signs but I was reminded by my son who is home from college that in Chinese Astrology this is the Year of the Dragon, which begins on January 23rd. Out of curiosity and likely boredom from watching bowl games, I looked up the meaning of this particular zodiac sign. What I found was that this sign shares many of the characteristics we hold in our company as we develop and deliver software to the community financial institution market. Dragons, I learned, prefer to live by their own rules are driven, unafraid of challenges, and willing to take risks. They are passionate in all that they do. At Suntell, we are passionate about our desire to provide community financial institutions with a more efficient approach to commercial and agricultural lending and credit risk management. This has stemmed from my personal mission and passion from 30 years of working with community financial institutions, providing both software and consulting to support stronger lending practices and policies which leads to stronger asset quality and earnings.

At Suntell, like the Dragon, we are different because we live by our own rules. While most of our competitors are larger companies, we believe the larger you are the less nimble and more bureaucratic decision making becomes. As a result, product and service suffers. We pride ourselves on being nimble, responsive and affordable. We can do this because we focus only on community financial institutions like yours and we focus on only one mission - credit risk and loan document management workflow solutions. Because we are different, we rely heavily on the word of mouth of satisfied customer rather than expensive advertising. Your continued referrals, testimonials or references about the Square 1 Credit Suite are very much appreciated. I want to wish you a strong and successful 2012 - the year we all strive to be 'Dragons'!!

Thank you for your business and loyal patronage.

Duane Lankard
CEO

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Tags: CEO Message,Company Info

Customer Shout-Out #4

Fri, 13 Jan 2012 17:22:00 GMT

We like to recognize our customers who are trying something new, or doing something great, or are just generally amazing with our software.

Who: Bob and everyone at a bank in Missouri

Customer Since: 1997

Kudos: Wow! This month, the bank celebrates their anniversary with 15 years as a Suntell customer. Not only are they one of our oldest customers, but they stay engaged with us by attending Regional Training and Lunch and Learn sessions. They license pretty much every product we have, and are great users!

Here’s a shout-out to the bank! Thank you for being a loyal customer for so many years!

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Tags: Customer Satisfaction,customer shout-out

Related Interests

Thu, 05 Jan 2012 19:42:00 GMT

The topic of our Lunch & Learn training session yesterday was Related Interest. Related Interests are relationships that are created between borrowers, co-borrowers, co-signers, and guarantors, giving you a global picture of the relationship with your organization. We talked about how these relationships are established and how to edit them. Once created, Related Interests widely impact the Loan Management System.

Annual reviews or reports presented to your loan committee can include the spreads of Related Interests in addition to your borrower.
Your total loans summary will include the balances and unfunded commitments of any loans to Related Interests.
Within Documentation Tracking, you can load the ticklers of your Related Interests to have an overall view of outstanding exceptions for the entire relationship and look at a report of this information.
You can view portfolio-wide reports of the total loans outstanding to your borrower plus any related interests over a certain dollar threshold, giving you a list of your large relationships.

It is important to establish and maintain this information accurately within the LMS so that the above features can be fully utilized. If you have any questions about Related Interests, please contact Customer Support at 888.848.7349, Option 1 or support@suntell.com.

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Tags: Lunch & Learn,Training

Customer Shout-Out #3

Tue, 20 Dec 2011 18:50:00 GMT

We like to recognize our customers who are trying something new, or doing something great, or are just generally amazing with our software.

Who: Cheryl at a bank in Minnesota

Customer Since: 2001

Kudos: The bank has been using Documentation Tracking and the Boarding Report for 10 years and Document Imaging since 2008. They recently started using Loan Presentation to prepare new loans and also have recently purchased the Deposit Download so that they can scan deposit documents and also incorporate deposit balances into their credit presentations.

Here’s a shout-out to the bank! They are always looking for ways to improve efficiency and streamline their processes using Suntell!

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Tags: Customer Satisfaction,customer shout-out

Customer Shout-Out #2

Tue, 13 Dec 2011 15:52:00 GMT

We like to recognize our customers who are trying something new, or doing something great, or are just generally amazing with our software.

Who: Randy and his team at a credit union in St. Paul, Minnesota

Customer Since: 2011

Kudos: The credit union has just completed their training for the Loan Management System (LMS) and they are going to begin using the system.

Here’s a shout-out to the credit union! Congratulations on finishing your training and we look forward to working with you in the years to come!

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Tags: Customer Satisfaction,Shout-Out

Customer Shout-Out #1

Fri, 09 Dec 2011 14:18:00 GMT

We would like to recognize our customers who are trying something new, or doing something great, or are just generally amazing with our software.

Who: Trisha, at a credit union in Indiana

Customer Since: 2009

Kudos: The Suntell users have been working diligently on entering tickler data into the Loan Management System. Trisha thinks that they now have a solid foundation and they can begin sending exception letters to their members. She has contacted Customer Support a few times for assistance and with questions about sending out groups of letters and is excited to begin using this feature.

Here’s a shout-out to the credit union! We know that you will love using the letters!

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Tags: Shout-Out,Customer Satisfaction