Real Estate Application Service Provider
Add Paper Documents to a Real Estate Listing
Fax Barcode Solution

Challenge:	Add Paper Documents to on-line Transactions
Solution:	Universal Document Tag™ Fax Barcode

Challenge

A Real Estate Application Service Provider needed to give their clients the ability to digitize real estate documents so they could be made available on-line.

Before discovering the i-fax.com service, the Application Service Provider gave Real Estate Agents the ability to upload PDF documents using PDF creation software and scanners. Most Real Estate Agents were unfamiliar with creating PDF's and did not know how to optimize them. As a result, the Application Service Provider received huge PDF files and this created file storage and processing issues.

The Application Service Provider went looking for a better solution and found i-fax.com . The solution offered by i-fax.com fit their needs perfectly because it allowed a PDF file to be created using a barcoded fax cover page.

i-fax.com offered immediate benefits. It was a low cost alternative to Real Estate Agents buying a scanner and PDF creation software. It did not require specialized knowledge because every Real Estate Agent knows how to use a fax machine. It was a fast and simple solution. This meant that Real Estate Agents did not have to waste time trying to make technology work for them and they could easily delegate the job of updating listings to support staff. The Application Service Provider would receive properly produced and optimized PDF files.

Solution

The Application Service Provider installed the Perl script version of the i-fax.com Barcode Plug-In on their web servers that hosted the Real Estate Listing Service they provided to clients.

The i-fax.com Barcode Plug-In allows barcodes to be generated that can be inserted into a document or a fax cover page. Each barcode contains a unique identifier that links the document or fax cover page to a specific record in a database, in this case an MLS listing number.

Real Estate Agents could add documents to an MLS listing very easily. All they needed was a barcoded fax cover page that would be faxed along with their document to the i-fax.com system.

To add a document to an MLS listing a Real Estate Agent does the following:

1. Logs into website account provided by Application Service Provider with User ID and Password.
2. Selects a function which allows them to create a Fax to PDF cover page.
3. Selects the type of document they wish to add (i.e. floor plan, lead disclosure statement)
4. Searches for the correct property and selects it.
5. Clicks on a link that contains the MLS listing number for the property and a digit for the document type. This is a unique ID from the database. Providing this number as a link prevents errors from MLS numbers being mis-typed.
6. Prints barcoded fax cover page.
7. Places barcoded fax cover page on top of document.
8. Faxes barcoded fax cover page and document to toll free fax number which resides on i-fax.com's system.
9. i-fax.com receives the fax cover page, reads the barcode, converts the attached document to a PDF and adds it to the correct MLS listing on the Application Service Provider's production servers.
   (The document passes through i-fax.com's system for processing but is filed and stored on the Application Service Provider's servers.)
10. Within minutes of being faxed, the document is converted to an image, filed with the MLS listing information for the property selected and is available in PDF format on the Application Provider's website.

Benefits

• Eliminated need for specialized software and technical knowledge
• Easy to use because everybody knows how to use a fax machine
• Solves a complex problem with a simple technology
• Easy to sell to customers