Appraise Release Notes

• None

• Fixed unexpected behavior related to "View/Print" settings.

When modifying a portfolio in either Estate Mode or EZ Price Mode, changing the "View/Print" settings in either the "Print Portfolio" or "View Portfolio" windows would change the settings for both Estate Mode and EZ Price Mode.

Now the "View/Print" settings for each mode are distinct and will not affect each other. The selected printer will still default to the system's default printer for both modes and not change unless the system's default printer changes.

This is a minor fix and may not be relevant to the majority of users. As such, it is not required to upgrade to this version if this fix is not pertinent to your usage.

• Appraise Software License Agreement now displays in the installer program. This must be agreed to before software will install.

• Fixed an issue where Alternate Date Valuation portfolios would not accept Ticker Symbols for asset identifiers and would only accept CUSIP numbers.

This is a minor fix that only affects a small portion of clients. You may not need to upgrade to this version if you do not use Ticker Symbols or process Alternate Date Valuations.

• Default Support for Transport Layer Security (TLS) 1.2

TLS is a cryptographic security protocol that encrypts data between a user’s system and a data server. We have implemented baseline support for TLS 1.2 as this has become the industry standard for transport security to better protect our clients’ information.

• Options Identifier Lookup

Users now have access to a new utility. This allows them to enter in a Ticker, Option Date, select Call or Put, and enter a Strike Price to search for an Options Identifier CUSIP. This can be used in Appraise to value Options.

• Ticker Symbol Lookup

• Complied with a Code Signing Certificate

• CUSIP Agreement Statement added to all reports

• Gift Tax stock and bond valuations available with and without accruals

• Corrected sequencing issues in alternate valuations when transactions are applied.

In prior versions, repeated file saving caused by transactions could potentially un-sequence asset data positioning and corrupt alternate portfolios. This may have had an impact on saving, pricing, and writing portfolios to a PDF report format.

• Improved Input Validation in Appraise and Universal Import

Both applications now recognize invalid characters in the CUSIP identifier field. Appraise will disallow the character from input entirely. Universal Import will flag and alert the user to the invalid character’s location.

• Corrected rare case where data flag value from vendor would return unexpected data type

In very rare circumstances, certain data calls to our vendor, Intercontinental Exchange, would return a string instead of an integer. This would result in a null value being used in certain calculations. This did not have an impact on the vast majority of customers and has been corrected.

• Does not write to registry on installation

Prior versions of Appraise made entries to the registry on installation. This no longer happens as these settings have been moved to a configuration file.

• Changed GRAT header from “Estate of” to “Portfolio Valuation”

In prior versions, the GRAT valuations said “Estate of”. This has been changed to “Name of Portfolio” to reflect the fact the account holder is still alive.

• Removed “Automatic Copy From Clipboard”

In very rare circumstances and only when creating a new portfolio, the first record of a portfolio could copy the last item on a user’s clipboard. This caused a sequencing error or blank record. This did not have an impact on the vast majority of customers and has been corrected.

• Changed exchange for muni bonds to “ICE/IDC”

In prior versions the Exchange listing was “OTC” to represent “Over the Counter”. We updated the Exchange listing to “ICE/IDC” to reflect that these prices are provided by an “ICE/IDC” matrix.

• Added support for TLS 1.2

TLS 1.0 and TLS 1.2 will no longer be supported by end of year. In order to account for this and provide secure data exchange between our users and our servers, we have implemented an "Alternate Route 2" in the "Communication" tab of Appraise's "System Setup". This route provides hardened security and will become the baseline route in future versions. 

• Improved stability of Transactions on Alternate Portfolios

The previous implementation of Transactions in Appraise has been upgraded to provide a smoother, cleaner experience. Previously, certain delays in processing could cause an "out of sequence" transaction list or errors to pop up. This would cause various assets to have mis-appropriated transactions and throw the shares of each asset off. This process has been improved substantially.

• Integration with third party vendor for Capital Changes and Cost Basis to improve accuracy and processing
• Accruals for mutual funds that declare dividends daily and pay later are now available
• Par Value for Foreign Bonds can be set in Native or US Currency
• Added Notification Window to provide clients with important updates and system maintenance information
• A new button will appear in the Main Menu when a new update to Appraise is available
• Improved Import/Export capabilities including a new Universal Import update

• The "Save Form" checkbox now works as intended and returns your Appraise window to its saved location when re-opened
• Print Preview now defaults to Full Screen