The procedure below describes how to create your own Servicing Director letters using data from your Servicing Director database.

You create the letter using your own copy of Microsoft Word or Crystal Reports to create a custom template document.  

For Word, you will use the Mail Merge feature or for Crystal Reports, you will use the report designer.

The version of Word or Crystal Reports must be supported by Servicing Director and the currently supported versions will be listed on the Servicing Director System Requirements for your production version of Servicing Director.  

Crystal Reports is preferred for letters because of the faster run time for larger numbers of letters, the ability to preview letters before printing them, the ability to export letters in many different file formats, and fewer complications with different makes and models of printers.

You will also need to use or create a database SQL view to query your Servicing Director database. Use your Microsoft SQL server support resources to find which view to use or to create a custom view. 

You can also purchase services from the Customization department to consult about or create the custom letter. The Customization department has helped customers of all sizes and business models quickly realize the full value of their Servicing Director software. To contact the Customization department, create a new case in Finastra Customer Success Community Case Management and specify that you need support for a custom project.

1. Use Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio to create a database view or to find an existing view that uses the fields that you want to use in your letter:

• You may try opening existing delivered letters that have similar information to find the views those letters are using. This will give you information to start work on a new view. For example, the view R_General_Letter is delivered with Servicing Director and contains many of the fields commonly used in Servicing Director letters, and the R_Collection_Letter is an example of a view that joins the Notice of Default table, allowing multiple letters per loan. If you create a view, the name of the view must begin with "R_" — for example, "R_QueryforLetter".

• If you choose to use an existing view, use Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio procedures to create a copy of the existing view with a unique name distinct from any Servicing Director product delivered view, and it still must begin with "R_". Note that a Servicing Director product delivered view may be changed without warning by a new product version.

• A number of existing views have names that contain the word "Sub." Do not use these queries (sub-queries) to create or change mail merge documents.

• Use the Servicing Director Data Dictionary to find information about the fields and tables in your Servicing Director database. This Data Directory is included with the Servicing Director documentation for each major release.

• You can also purchase engineering from the Customization department to research the fields that you want to use in your letter. 

• Finastra support only supports the Servicing Director applications as delivered from the product installation, and therefore support cannot provide database field location services for custom letters.

2. Create the letter in Word or Crystal Reports on a desktop where the Servicing Director applications are already installed:

• To use your Word program to create the letter, see the Microsoft support information for your version of Word.

• To use your Crystal Reports XI program, see the Crystal Reports support information provided with Crystal Reports.

• Use the letter procedures to direct the letter to use the ODBC data source named Servicing, which will already be created by the installation of the Servicing Director applications. Crystal Reports describes this data source as a ODBC (RDO) data source.

• Use your letter program procedures to direct the letter to use the database view that uses the fields that you want to use in your letter.

• For Crystal Reports letters, if you want Servicing Director to automatically create comments for the selected loans or create a Servicing Director archiver copy of the letter, then add the Servicing Director provided Crystal Reports formula named ArchiveKey to the letter. On a Servicing Director desktop, the Crystal Reports XI program will offer a formula by the name of ArchiveKey, and it must be added to the report. It should be suppressed from printing, as it provides a database function for Servicing Director.

• Save the finished letter template document in the \SvcData\Rpt folder, in the network shared folder used by your Servicing Director applications, with a unique file name distinct from any Servicing Director product delivered document.

• Finastra support only supports the Servicing Director applications as delivered from the product installation, and therefore support cannot guide you through the procedures to use Word or Crystal Reports.

3.  Set up the letter as an event in Event Manager:

   1. Open Event Manager, and then select Events > Maintenance > Events. The Events screen appears.

   2. Click New. The Event Details screen appears.

   3. Enter a name for the event that you are setting up.

   4. Select the Event Manager event category and group that you want to place the event in from the dropdown lists. 

   5. Select the executable that runs the event from the dropdown list. If you 're adding a Word Mail Merge letter, select Mail Merge Wrapper. If you are adding a Crystal Reports letter, select Report Wrapper.

   6. Click Criteria. The Event Criteria screen appears.

   7. Enter the name of the letter, and the print orientation. You can also optionally specify the archiving options and add a comment when you print the letter.

   8. Click OK. The Events screen reappears.

   9. Click Close. The Event Manager screen reappears.

4. Add the letter to the Reports/Letter Query table in System Administration:

   1. Open System Administration, and then click Setup. The Setup screen appears.

   2. Select Report/Letter Query, and then click Open. The Report/Letter Query Selection screen appears.

   3. Select your view name from the list, and then click Open. The Report/Letter Query Setup screen appears. If the name of your view used by the report does not show in the Report/Letter Query screen selection list, make sure the name of the custom view for your report begins with the two characters 'R_'.

   4. Click New. The New Report/Letter Query Column screen appears.

   5. Add one field from your view to the letter, and then click OK. The Report/Letter Query Setup screen reappears.

   6. Repeat the steps above to add other fields from your view. When finished, click Close on the Report/Letter Query Setup screen. The Report/Letter Query Selection screen reappears.

   7. Click Close. The System Administration Setup screen reappears.

   8. Click Close. The System Administration screen reappears.

5. Add the letter to the Letters table in System Administration:

   1. Open System Administration, and then click Setup. The Setup screen appears.

   2. Select Letters, and then click Open. The Letters screen appears.

   3. Click New. The New Letter screen appears.

   4. Enter a unique code for the letter.

   5. Enter a brief description of the letter.

   6. Enter the letter template document file name for the document to use with the letter, or click Browse to select the file.

   7. Enter the name of the query (view) to use with the letter. For Crystal Reports letter, Servicing Director automatically sets the database view name when the record is added.

   8. Select the module(s) that you want the letter to be available in, and then click OK. The Letters screen reappears, and the letter is now available in the selected modules.

Note: The Servicing Director applications include certain built-in documents, such as the Payoff letter. If you should create your own customized version of these built-in documents, remember each Servicing Director upgrade to a new version will replace your customized version with the newly delivered installed version.  You will need to replace the newly installed version with your customized version after every upgrade. For more information about the built-in documents, review Servicing Director Application Built-In Document Details ​

ArticleNumber:

000048213