Fulfill valuation orders with a network of validated brokers

A valuation order (a broker price opinion or similar) arrives with a loan number and a property address. Someone has to find a broker who covers that address, get them to accept, collect their findings, and deliver a report, usually by phone and email, with the status living in someone’s inbox.

In this walkthrough you configure QBO to run that process. Imported orders start a workflow that checks the address, grants access and emails validated brokers who cover the property, assigns the order to the first broker who accepts, collects their results in a task, and generates the report as a PDF. Processors and brokers work from worklists; managers watch the pipeline from dashboards.

Who it’s for

Power users who configure templates and workflows for a valuation desk. Brokers and processors only see the result: worklist items and tasks.

Prerequisites

• Validated brokers. This walkthrough solicits only brokers tagged Validated, each with its coverage areas (Geography) and at least one user. Set up broker onboarding and validation first: see Onboard and validate a broker network from a spreadsheet.
• Address normalization for properties (step 8), so new properties are geocoded with latitude and longitude.
• Your form layouts for the broker’s findings, and a Word template for the valuation report.
• Permission to create message, task, document, workflow, process, and import templates.

Building blocks used

• Imports: loading valuation orders from a spreadsheet
• Cases: the valuation process and its template
• Workflow: orchestrating validation, solicitation, assignment, and fulfillment
• Forms: tasks for property validation, broker acceptance, and fulfillment
• Messaging: solicitation emails
• Document Management: the valuation report
• Security: giving each broker access to the orders they’re offered, and nothing else
• Worklists: where brokers and processors pick up their work

Steps

Build the templates in this order, because later templates refer to earlier ones.

1. Create the solicitation email

From Templates > Messages, add an HTML message template:

Setting	Value
Name	Valuation Solicitation
Applies To	Valuation
Subject	New Valuation available for {//PropertyItem[1]/Address} {//PropertyItem[1]/City} {//PropertyItem[1]/State} {//PropertyItem[1]/PostalCode}
Body (HTML)	Please log in to <a href="{BaseUrl}">{BaseUrl}</a> and open your new "Valuation Solicitation" worklist item.

The braces are merge fields: XPath expressions evaluated against the valuation’s data, which includes its property. See Messaging.

2. Create the tasks

From Templates > Tasks, add three task templates, each applying to Valuation:

Task template	Who completes it	Purpose
Property Validation	Processor	Correct an address that couldn’t be geocoded, so coverage can be matched.
Valuation Solicitation	Broker	The broker accepts the order. Whoever completes it gets the order.
Valuation Fulfillment	Broker	The broker’s findings.

Lay out each form with the GUI Designer on the task template’s summary page. On Valuation Fulfillment, use the State Diagram to enforce the review loop: the broker submits for review, and the processor either approves or sends it back for corrections. See Forms.

Tip

A real fulfillment form is usually several tasks (subject property, comparables, listings, neighborhood, taxes, repairs, photos), each with its own step. One task keeps this walkthrough short.

3. Create the report template

From Templates > Documents, add a PDF document template named Valuation Results, applying to Valuation, using the Aspose Words generator with your Word template. Merge fields pull from the valuation, its property, and the completed fulfillment task. See Document Management.

4. Build the solicitation workflow

From Templates > Workflows, create a workflow template:

• Workflow Template: Valuation Solicitation
• Applies To: Valuation
• Repeatable: One active per parent

Add these steps:

Step	Type	Configuration	Depends on
Missing Lat/Lon?	If/Then Statement	Condition: count(//PropertyItem[1]/Latitude) = 0 or count(//PropertyItem[1]/Longitude) = 0
Property Validation Task	Add a Task	Template: Property Validation	Missing Lat/Lon? (True)
Broker Access	Advanced Step	For each broker the search returns, grant access (see below).	Missing Lat/Lon? (False) or Property Validation Task (same group)
Broker Solicitation	Advanced Step	For each broker not yet solicited, send the email (see below).	Broker Access
Valuation Solicitation Task	Add a Task	Template: Valuation Solicitation	Broker Access
Broker Acceptance	Advanced Step	Assign the order to the broker who accepted (see below).	Valuation Solicitation Task

Putting both dependencies of Broker Access in the same group makes them alternatives: the step starts after either branch finishes. See Dependencies.

Broker Access searches for brokers and grants each one access to this valuation. Its data source is a broker search, limited to ten brokers at a time:

Broker/Search?SqlFilters=Tag,GeographyCoverage,HasNoAccess&Tag=Validated&HasNoAccessObject=Valuation&HasNoAccessObjectID={//ValuationID[1]}&Address={//Address[1]}&City={//City[1]}&State={//State[1]}&PostalCode={//PostalCode[1]}&Latitude={//Latitude[1]}&Longitude={//Longitude[1]}&DisplaySize=10

and its operation, run once per broker returned, is:

ObjectAccess/ObjectAccessInsert?ID={//ValuationID[1]}&Object=Valuation&GroupObject=Broker&GroupObjectID={BrokerID}

• Tag limits the search to brokers tagged Validated.
• GeographyCoverage keeps brokers whose coverage areas include the property and none of whose exclusions do. It matches on city, postal code, county, state, and driving distance from the property’s latitude and longitude, which is why the address must be geocoded first. The standard configuration defines this filter for contacts; add the same filter to the Broker module, where broker coverage areas are stored.
• HasNoAccess is a search filter you add to the Broker module: brokers who don’t already have access to the given object. It isn’t part of the standard configuration.

Broker Solicitation emails each broker who has access but hasn’t been solicited yet. Its data source is:

Broker/Search?SqlFilters=NotSolicited&NotSolicitedObject=Valuation&NotSolicitedObjectID={//ValuationID[1]}&NotSolicitedTemplate=Valuation Solicitation

and its operation is:

Message/Send?Template=Valuation Solicitation&Object=Valuation&ObjectID={//ValuationID[1]}&ToAddress={Email}

NotSolicited is also a filter you define on the Broker module: brokers with access who haven’t been sent the given message template for this object.

Broker Acceptance runs when a broker completes the solicitation task. Its operation is:

Valuation/BrokerAccept?ID={//ValuationID[1]}&AcceptedPersonID={//ImportFormItem[ImportFormTemplate='Valuation Solicitation']/UpdatedPersonID}

BrokerAccept sets the valuation’s broker to the broker that the accepting user belongs to, then removes access for every other broker. The order disappears from their worklists.

Widening the search when nobody accepts

To offer the order to the next ten brokers when no one accepts in time, restart this workflow at Broker Access: Decision/Restart with the workflow’s ID, the DecisionStepID of its Broker Access step, and a BodyText note. HasNoAccess and NotSolicited then pick up brokers who haven’t been offered the order yet. Drive the restart from a polling step whose condition becomes true only once your waiting period has passed and the task is still open. A polling step evaluates its condition as soon as it starts and again on its monitor schedule, so a condition that is always true (such as 1 = 1) completes immediately and doesn’t wait.

5. Build the fulfillment workflow

Create a second workflow template, Valuation Fulfillment, applying to Valuation:

Step	Type	Template	Depends on
Solicitation Workflow	Launch a Workflow	Valuation Solicitation
Fulfillment Task	Add a Task	Valuation Fulfillment	Solicitation Workflow
PDF Document	Generate a Document	Valuation Results	Fulfillment Task

A child workflow step completes when the child workflow does, so fulfillment starts once a broker has accepted.

6. Create the valuation process template

From Templates > Processes, add a process template:

Setting	Value
Process Template	Valuation Fulfillment
Applies To	Loan
Sibling	Valuation
Workflow	Template: Valuation Fulfillment

Sibling makes each process a valuation, with valuation fields such as the assigned broker. To vary the workflow by client, product, or region, set Workflow to a matrix that returns a DecisionTemplate instead. A Ledger matrix can price each order the same way. See Cases.

7. Create the import template

From Templates > Import Files, add an import template:

• Applies To: Loan
• Import Engine: BatchReader

Add these mappings:

Source	Destination	Translation	Required	Text
LoanNumber	Loan		Yes	No
SubscriberID	SubscriberID	Loan-Servicer-{Loan}-{Servicer_Organization}	No	No
Servicer	Servicer_Organization		Yes	No
Servicer_SubscriberID	Servicer_SubscriberID	Servicer-{Servicer_Organization}	No	No
Address	Property_Address		Yes	No
City	Property_City		Yes	No
State	Property_State		Yes	No
PostalCode	Property_PostalCode		Yes	No
Valuation Fulfillment	Valuations_0_Template		No	Yes
ValuationReference	Valuations_0_Valuation		Yes	No
Valuations_0_SubscriberID	Valuations_0_SubscriberID	Valuation-{Valuations_0_Valuation}	No	No

The template expects a spreadsheet or CSV with the columns LoanNumber, Servicer, Address, City, State, PostalCode, and ValuationReference.

• SubscriberID translations give each loan, servicer, and valuation a stable external key, so importing the same order twice updates it instead of duplicating it.
• Valuation Fulfillment is marked Text, so it’s a fixed value: the process template each new valuation uses.

Check the Valuations child on Loan

The Valuations_0_ prefix saves a valuation as a child of the loan. That requires a Valuations child collection on the Loan module. The standard mortgage configuration defines one on Title, not on Loan, so confirm it exists for Loan (or add it) before your first import.

8. Normalize property addresses

From Configuration > Modules, open the Property module and, on the Settings tab, set NormalizePropertyOnSave to True. It’s off by default. When it’s on, saving a property matches it to an existing property where possible and geocodes new addresses, which fills in the latitude and longitude that the coverage search relies on. Addresses that can’t be geocoded take the Property Validation branch of the workflow.

Result

Drop an order file on the import template and, for each row, QBO:

1. creates or updates the loan, servicer, and property, and opens a valuation
2. routes addresses it couldn’t geocode to a processor for correction
3. grants access to, and emails, up to ten validated brokers who cover the property
4. assigns the order to the first broker who accepts, and removes everyone else’s access
5. collects the broker’s findings through a reviewed task, and generates the PDF report

Each broker sees only the orders offered or assigned to them. Managers see every order’s status, step, and age from the worklist and workflow dashboards.

Next steps

• Grade brokers with an audit score on completed fulfillment tasks. See Scoring.
• Split fulfillment into several tasks with their own durations, so worklists show exactly where each order is waiting. See Worklists.
• See how valuations, inspections, and title work fit into default servicing on Mortgage Servicing.