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The SPARK team
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    Release Notes SBA Underwriting

    Release Notes - Introducing our AI Beta Invitational!

    DATE:
    AUTHOR: The SPARK team
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      The next SPARK release is planned for Saturday, May 10th. The maintenance window will occur from 11:00 PM CT on Saturday, May 10th through 9:00 AM CT on Sunday, May 11th.

      Introducing our AI Beta Invitational in SPARK

      Exciting news! The SPARK Team has been hard at work behind the scenes to revolutionize your workflow with two powerful AI innovations that will save you time and enhance decision-making. These groundbreaking features will be available to select customers on an invite-only basis through our exclusive beta program following this release.

      For this first phase of SPARK’s AI journey, we are initially focused on two AI use cases:

      SBA Knowledge Assistant

      With this feature, users will get instant, accurate answers to your SOP and CFR questions without digging through documentation. Users will simply ask, in natural language, and receive precise guidance when they need it most. The Assistant will also provide direct location links to its sources.

      During the beta period, we want users to:

      • Ask the hard questions about 7(a) lending

      • Ask follow-up questions to dig deeper on a hairy topic

      • View the original source behind every answer

      • Rate content to help SPARK improve relevance and accuracy

      Here’s an example of the feature in action:

      Narrative Generation Assistant

      This feature equips users to elevate their commentary in Management & Operations, Industry Analysis, and Franchise Analysis with AI-powered insights. Beta users can experiment with generating comprehensive narrative, ideally in a fraction of the time it would take to manually search for reliable data online.

      During the beta period, we want users to:

      • Review the real-time chain of thought the AI agent is using to validate how the Assistant approaches research and synthesis

      • Validate the sources the AI agent is using to support transparency and trust

      • Insert the narrative into our Rich Text fields you already know and trust or copy/paste elsewhere in your operation

      • Rate content to help SPARK improve relevance and accuracy

      Here’s an example of the feature in action:

      Because AI is new in SPARK, we will be implementing participation requirements as part of the beta program.  Through a defined check-in and feedback loop, beta participants will help shape SPARK’s eventual implementation of AI.  We’ll be collecting feedback on:

      • Overall usefulness

      • General formatting of responses

      • Accuracy of responses

      • Time spent, time saved, and time invested elsewhere as a result

      • Other potential use cases following similar use patterns

      Due to the unknowns with AI, we recognize not everyone is ready for AI adoption, even at a beta level.  For that reason, we’ll be reaching out directly to seek your participation in the beta program. Watch for a note from your Customer Success Manager to learn more about SPARK’s AI beta program and your participation requirements.

      Also in this Release

      • We’ve added support for a new integration with TruStage to generate compliant closing documents directly within SPARK. This integration requires a separate TruStage subscription. If your team is interested in learning more about this integration, have your leadership team reach out directly to Nick at nick.elders@lendwithspark.com.

      • We've renamed "Amortization Schedule" to "Estimated Amortization Schedule" to clearly indicate that the Schedule is subject to change.

      What's Been Fixed

      • Companion Packages:

        • Fixed credit memo validation issues that were specifically impacting companion packages

        • In a recent hotfix, we restored estimated closing dates that weren't displaying in the Terms Section of companion memos.

        • Resolved an issue where deleted companion packages prevented stage changes in Sources and Uses

      • Credit Memo Generation: Fixed an issue that previously prevented memo creation when a Primary Business or Project Address were not documented on a package. We recommend setting up stage change validators to ensure these fields are populated before Underwriting.

      • Conditions & Covenants: Search functionality is now case insensitive, making it easier to find what you need regardless of capitalization.

      Find Out More

      Stay tuned for the latest features and subscribe to your favorite categories. You can view our product roadmap at any time here.

      If you have any feedback or questions, please reach out to your Customer Success Manager or submit a ticket to the SPARK Support Team.

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