TakeTurns document requests, or file requests, are one feature that many of our users find useful. In some external collaborations, parties request documents when they need data and proof of its validity.
For example, I recently spoke to a mortgage broker who is using TakeTurns. As part of the mortgage application process, he collects a lot of documents from his clients. Before TakeTurns, his primary tool was email, and it was miserable. While the process always started cleanly (he emailed a file named checklist.pdf), the process got messy incredibly quickly. Clients invariably worked the checklist in a piecemeal fashion, blasting out multiple emails and creating a thicket of email threads.
For a single application, this unstructured mess of email made it tough to determine what was missing, what needed to be corrected, and–if something was corrected or amended–which version of the document was correct. While this might be annoying for a single application, when you take a step back and look at the broker’s entire book of business and realize that this was the situation for nearly every client, you can feel the loss of productivity and understand his team’s frustration.
By comparison, our users prefer TakeTurns file requests because it's a simple way to request documents or files in a way that’s structured and trackable. Here’s how it works:
- The broker invites his client to a collaboration. The participants can be an individual or multiple family members and can include 3rd parties such as the buyer's agent or attorney.
- He creates a set of document requests with clear instructions and sends it to his client. The set of requests takes the place of a document checklist.
- The client fulfills requests by uploading the corresponding documents and sending an update.
- If some documents are missing or new requests are required, he can make updates and send it back. And at any time, he can chat with his client.
This back-and-forth collaboration, or turn-by-turn exchange, goes on until the mortgage application is complete. The entire process takes place within one TakeTurns Collaboration and contains the full history.
But that’s not all.
When the collaboration is done, the mortgage broker and his clients can download the completed versions of all files (along with the supporting documentation!) in one click. That package can be sent for signature and records retention (archiving) if required.
And, because TakeTurns takes an ephemeral storage approach, after a user-defined period of time (the collaboration’s grace period) all the files are removed from TakeTurns. In fact, the timely removal of an applicant’s personal data and documents is an important legal obligation for mortgage brokers. Back when the broker was on email, this exercise took days. And while best efforts were made to remove all the PII, there was no guarantee since the process was completely manual.
If you’d like to see how to create and fulfill requests, check out the following YouTube Videos, and consider signing up for your own account.
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