SPARK 7.2 Release Notes

What's New

These features were released SPARK 7.2. Here are some features we included in this release.

Accounts and Contacts

SPARK 7.2 introduces “global” account and contact records to support information sharing between packages and to provide a more holistic view of a customer.

To more closely align with Customer Relationship Management platforms like Salesforce and Dynamics CRM, we’ve adopted the terms “Account” and “Contact“ to define the global records for businesses and individuals respectively.

Key Changes in 7.2

• Account listing showing all accounts

• Account detail view showing account-level information, account contacts, and related packages

• New “create package” experience to support including key pieces of information from the most recent package.

• Support for adding existing accounts to a package along with key pieces of information from the most recent package.

• Support for adding existing contacts to a package along with key pieces of information from the most recent package.

As part of the SPARK 7.2 release, every business that was created prior to this release will have a corresponding account record. To avoid duplication of accounts, we used “valid” tax identification numbers to deduplicate account records. In addition to the migration of businesses to accounts, we also migrated individuals to contact records using a similar strategy.

Package Creation

The create package experience has been updated to accommodate selecting existing accounts and contacts. As part of this change, we’ve reordered the steps so that business information is entered first, followed by package information, and finally primary contact information.

If an existing account is used, SPARK allows selection of business documentation, collateral, owners, and owner documentation. Historically, customers would rely on SPARK’s “copy package” functionality to support repeat borrowers.

Lead Conversion

The lead conversion screen has changed to more closely resemble the new “create package” screen so that repeat applicants can be resolved to existing accounts and contacts. Not only will SPARK “resolve” to an existing account or contact if there is a match, but now lead-related information can be more easily reviewed and updated prior to conversion.

Exporting Package Documents

We’ve added the ability to request an export of package documents from the package listing. We originally introduced this feature as part of SPARK’s Paycheck Protection Program support and have extended it for any type of package.

Global Placeholders

A new indicator has been added to all document types to give your organization the ability to define what types of documents should be candidates when an existing account or contact is included in a package. If you need assistance updating what placeholders should be considered global, reach out to your customer success manager or contact support@lendwithspark.com.

New Permissions for Accounts and Contacts

New permissions have been added to control who has access to manage accounts and contacts.

• Can Manage Accounts – users with this permission can create and update account information.

• Can Delete Accounts – users with this permission can delete accounts (note that accounts cannot be deleted if they have related packages).

• Can Manage Contacts for Accounts – users with this permission can add, update, and remove contacts from an account.

• Can Delete Contacts – users with this permission can delete a contact (note that contacts cannot be deleted if they have related packages).

Please note that if a user does not have the ability to manage accounts or contacts it will NOT stop them from creating new businesses or new individuals for packages.

API Enhancements

SPARK’s API now includes endpoints for both contacts and accounts as well as web hook events for account and contact-related changes.

What's Changed

We've made a few changes to the platform that will be live with this new release.

Adding a Business to a Package

SPARK will now perform a background search on the name and EIN when adding a new business to a package. If the name or EIN match an existing account, the user will have the opportunity to select the existing account or create a new one.

If an existing account is selected, SPARK will prompt the user to select business documents, collateral, owners, and owner documents from the most recent package.

Adding an Individual to a Package

SPARK will now perform a background search on the name and email address when adding a new individual to a package. If the name or email address match an existing contact, the user will have the opportunity to select the existing contact or create a new one.

If an existing contact is selected, SPARK will prompt the user to select documents previously uploaded to the most recent package.

Updating a Business on a Package

When updating a business on a package, SPARK will warn the user if the legal business name is changed to inform the user that the change is impacting the “global” account.

All changes made to the individual will automatically be applied to the contact.

Updating an Individual on a Package

When updating an individual on a package, SPARK will warn the user if the individuals first and / or last name is changed to inform the user that the change is impacting the “global” contact.

All changes made to the individual will automatically be applied to the contact.

Completed Packages and Businesses / Individuals

Once a package moves to the final stage and is marked complete, a snapshot is taken of the business and individual information at that point in time so that future changes to the account or contact do not impact the package.

Business Information that is Memorialized

• Business Name

• DBA Name

• Legal Structure

• Telephone

• Web Site

• Email Address

• Franchise

• Current Address

Individual Information that is Memorialized

• First Name

• Middle Name

• Last Name

• Date of Birth

• Date of Birth Location

• Marital Status

• Veteran Type

• Has a Disability

• Hispanic Status

• Race

• Gender

• Gender Identity

• Sexual Orientation

• Spouse

Working with Authorized Users

Since all individuals are now contacts by default, individuals that have been added to a package do not need to be explicitly added as authorized users. By default, every individual will be included in the authorized user listing; however, an internal SPARK user is still required to grant access to the package.

Creating Tasks

We’ve removed the ability to create a business or individual when creating tasks. Going forward it is only possible to select an existing business or existing individual when creating a task.

Additional Legal Structure for Government Entities / Municipalities

A new legal structure has been added to supported government entities / municipalities.

Unlock a Package for 24 hours

We’ve added a new option for unlocking packages so that users can unlock packages for 24 hours.

Life Insurance Discussion Snippet

The life insurance discussion text box now supports content snippets.

Batch Lead Conversion

We will still support batch lead conversion; however, all leads converted through the batch action will result in new accounts and contacts.

Document Analysis / Automated Package Conversion

Customers that take advantage of SPARK’s document analysis capabilities to streamline the creation of packages, business, individuals, and financial spreads will be prompted to resolve possible duplicate account and contact records during conversion.

Managing Lender Contacts

We’ve made it easier to add existing contacts to locations for organizations that support multiple locations and different sets of contacts per location.

Additional Fields in Reporting

We’ve added additional fields to SPARK reporting:

• Average Wage for the primary business

• Lease type

• Open / closed-end lease

• New lease / lease renewal

What's Been Fixed

Here are some things we fixed that will be live in the next update.

Credit Authorization and Address Requirement

A bug was fixed so that the credit authorization activity properly requires an address prior to completing and submitting the activity.

Stressed Analysis and Hidden Periods

The stressed analysis for a DSC now honors period visibility.

User Management Page Load Time

SPARK environments with a high volume of users experienced slow load times when managing users and roles.

Consolidated Analysis Totals

An issue was resolved related to consolidated analysis sub totals not properly adding up.

SBA Eligibility and G-845 Link

The link to the G-845 form was updated since the original link was out of date.

Find Out More

If you're interested in learning more, please check out these helpful links:

• SPARK 7.2 release notes

• SPARK 7.2 webinar

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