Agent Walkthroughs are customizable guides within LMS that lead agents through specific processes step by step. These walkthroughs simplify complex loan servicing tasks, ensuring accuracy, compliance, and efficiency.

In this guide, we’ll explain how to create walkthroughs, how to use them, and how to assign them to your agents. 

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An Agent Walkthrough, like the name implies, guides a user through a complex process. It does this by allowing you to create instructions on what a user should do during a specific situation, such as dealing with a fraud claim or handling a bankruptcy. Each walkthrough is a sequence of screens that takes the user to the necessary part of the software, seamlessly integrating text, video, and audio instructions to facilitate task completion.

You can find Agent Walkthroughs through the main menu under ‘Tools’ or ‘Settings’ depending on your setup and permissions. Ensure you have the appropriate user role assigned to access this feature. You must have an administrative or a specific process-based role assigned to you. 

Creating Agent Walkthroughs

Agent Walkthroughs can only be created by those with admin-level access. To get started, navigate to Settings > Loan > Agent Walkthrough. Here, you'll be able to view, edit, and delete the Walkthroughs created for your account.

To create a new walkthrough, click 'Add' in the top right corner. On the creation page, start by giving your walkthrough a name and a description. Keep in mind that the description you provide your walkthrough will be displayed to your agent users. You'll also determine the 'Status' of the walkthrough; active walkthroughs will be displayed as an available option to your users while inactive walkthroughs will not.

In our example, we'll create a walkthrough that helps users log a credit or debit card payment.

Understanding rules and validations

LoanPro uses ‘Rules’ and ‘Validations’ in tandem as a team of fail-safes to ensure walkthroughs are used correctly by agent users. Together, they determine whether a user can (and should) open the walkthrough.

‘Rules’ ensure that only eligible loans are processed by a walkthrough, using predefined business logic. If a loan doesn't qualify for an Agent Walkthrough due to the rule that you set, the Agent Walkthrough cannot be opened. Each Agent Walkthrough requires a rule, and you can only set one on each Agent Walkthrough.

‘Validations’ are similar to rules but operate slightly differently. While rules run before an Agent Walkthrough is opened, validations run when an Agent Walkthrough is initiated. This offers a second layer of assurance that all actions are appropriate and compliant. Validations can restrict access to an Agent Walkthrough but, unlike rules, don't have to. Instead, you can decide to set specific validations as "not required" to let users use their judgment on whether to use the walkthrough, based on the loan situation. Validations are set up to give your personnel a bit of flexibility. Validations also offer the chance to add some clarity on why a loan may or may not qualify for a specific Agent Walkthrough.

Like rules, at least one validation must be created for an Agent Walkthrough, but you can create as many validations as you'd like. As the admin, you get to determine the logic these contain as well.

Here's a breakdown of the differences between rules and validations:
 

Using Clojure for rules and validations

Both rules and validations use Clojure statements that tell the system to check for specific criteria. For example, our sample walkthrough may use the following statement for its rule:

(and (= loan-substatus “Open - SCRA Request”) (or (= loan-status “Open")(= loan-status “Paid Off")))

This rule tells the system that our Agent Walkthrough can only be opened if the loan's status is either "Application", "Open", or "Closed". If the loan's status is anything else, the user won't be able to open the walkthrough.

Validations also use Clojure statements, but they run after a rule has already passed. Our walkthrough will use the following criteria for its validation:

(-> portfolio-array :id4 :active (not= 1))

Follow the same process as shown above to write a rule for your validation.

This Clojure statement specifies that the loan must have an outstanding balance. We'll set this one to be required, too.

By ensuring both rules and validations are properly set, you can maintain control and accuracy within your Agent Walkthroughs. Next, let's look at how to improve your guided walkthroughs with Action Workflows and checklists.

Action Workflows and checklists

Action Workflows is where you're going to provide your users with step-by-step instructions on how to complete the process outlined in the walkthrough. Workflows serve two main purposes: directing users to specific pages in the software and providing instructions on what to take on those pages. To create a new workflow step, click 'Add' on the right side of the page.

The workflow step creation window is broken into a few sections. 

1. Title and page selection: At the top, you'll give the step a title and select where in the software it takes the user in the 'Page' dropdown. 
2. Text instructions: Next, you can use the text editor to write instructions for your users. If you want to include dynamic content, you can use LoanPro's Context Engine Variables by clicking the 'Help variables' text. 
3. Video instructions: If you'd prefer to upload video instructions, you can upload a file to the workflow at the bottom of the page.

Some users may opt to add an additional layer of instruction using checklists. These are configurable checkboxes that can require a user to mark tasks as complete before moving forward in the Agent Walkthrough. Including checklists is optional.

Once you've configured your workflow, click 'Save' to finalize it. The number of workflow steps you decide to include will depend on the complexity of the process your walkthrough is guiding users through. For our example, we've added two steps for our walkthrough.

After creating your walkthrough, the next step is to assign it to your personnel so they can access and use it. Keeping these walkthroughs organized will also help ensure everything runs smoothly and is easy to find.

Organization and permissions

Walkthrough categories

Once you have created your Agent Walkthroughs, it's a good idea to organize them. You can do this easily with Walkthrough Categories. The idea of Walkthrough Categories is straightforward—they allow you to group your walkthroughs into categories like servicing, fraud, or bankruptcy. These are merely used to tidy up your list of Agent Walkthroughs and help you find related walkthroughs more easily. If you'd like to create or edit walkthrough categories, navigate to Settings > Loan > Labeling > Walkthrough Categories.

Walkthrough groups

Agent Walkthrough Groups, on the other hand, allow you to determine which users within your company have access to which Agent Walkthroughs. If you have specific personnel that you'd like to restrict a group of Agent Walkthroughs from using, groups will help you do so. For example, if you'd prefer to revoke access to fraud walkthroughs specifically from your servicing team, creating a group is the best option. Each agent user within LMS can be assigned to an Agent Walkthroughs Group, and any Agent Walkthroughs that are not categorized within the assigned group will not be viewable by the user.

Role-based access

User role-based access can play a part in Agent Walkthroughs permissions as well. Some clients prefer to create "Walkthrough Only" roles that grant users access to make changes to loans only through Agent Walkthroughs. This type of user role is useful for personnel who are still becoming familiar with the software or those who are expected to make only specific, minor changes.

User vs. walkthrough role-based access

Before jumping into the details of setting up permissions, let's talk about the difference between what we call user role-based access and walkthrough role-based access. You may already be familiar with user role-based access, which are configurable sets of access permissions assigned to users. You create these roles and get to decide what kind of access each role has. For example, you may only want your servicing personnel to have the ability to search for loans and view the loan summary page. Meanwhile, you might want your team managers to have access to some loan settings options and LoanPro's Reports section. To do so, you'd simply create user role-based access and use the Resource Tree to grant and revoke access to specific parts of the software. Then, you'd assign your agents the role that fits their position at your company.

Walkthrough role-based access, on the other hand, is not assigned to agents users; instead, it is assigned to walkthroughs. Like how user role-based access grants users access to specific parts of the software, walkthrough role-based access grants walkthroughs the necessary permissions within the software. This setup prevents access conflicts, ensuring that when a user opens a walkthrough, they have the temporary access needed for the pages used by the walkthrough. Once the walkthrough is completed, the user’s access reverts to what is granted by their user role.

You may be wondering, "Well, what if I create a walkthrough role and assign it to a walkthrough that requires access not granted by the role?" The software will alert you if your walkthrough does not have the appropriate level of access, preventing you from assigning a role that doesn’t provide the required permissions.

With that explanation out of the way, let's discuss how to create and assign walkthrough role-based access.

Creating and assigning walkthrough role-based access

You create walkthrough role-based access the same way you create user role-based access. To do so, navigate to Settings > Company > Access > Role-based Access. Here, you can view, edit, and delete role-based access. To add a new role, click 'Add' in the top right corner.

When creating a new walkthrough role, you'll need to add a name and description. We recommend using a naming convention that makes it easy to determine which role-based accesses are meant for users and which roles are meant for walkthroughs. You'll also need to determine which information will be available to walkthroughs granted this role. Select how customer SSN/EIN, bank account, and date of birth information will be displayed.

Next, you'll need to determine which parts of the software the walkthrough role will have access to via the ‘Role Access Resources’ section.

The level of specificity in the access you grant the walkthrough role you create is important. For example, if you want to show the ‘Actions & Results’ page within a walkthrough, you will need to grant access to the ‘Actions & Results’ section in the ‘Note Manager’ tab inside of a loan.

However, the access you grant can go deeper. By expanding the ‘Actions & Results’ section, you'll see there are a few more options available. These options grant or revoke access to individual buttons on the page. In the example below, the user would be able to add, edit, and delete ‘Actions & Results’, but they would not be able to export them.

With this specific level of access assigned to them, the user would be restricted from even viewing the 'Export' button on the ‘Actions & Results’ page:

These access settings adjustments are available for many sections within LoanPro—not just the ‘Actions & Results’ page. It will be worth your time to filter through the access options and hand-pick which buttons will be available in the walkthroughs.

After creating your Walkthrough Role, you'll need to assign it to the Walkthroughs to which it will apply. To do so, head over to the Walkthrough settings located in Settings > Loan > Agent Walkthroughs. Next, click the edit button for a walkthrough in your account.

On the walkthrough editor page, simply select a new role.
 

Using Agent Walkthroughs

With your walkthrough completed, it's time to use it on a loan. You can use your walkthrough by navigating to a specific loan and selecting the 'Walkthroughs' category on the left panel. Here, you'll see all of the walkthroughs that have been granted for use via your user role and assigned Agent Walkthrough Group. To open a walkthrough, select 'Open'.

If the loan you've selected passes the criteria you've set in your rules and validations, you can start the walkthrough.

Once in the walkthrough, you'll notice the pane of categories on the left of the page has been replaced by the workflow you created. The user will not be able to access anything other than what is granted in the walkthrough. And to exit the walkthrough, the user will either have to complete the process or abandon it early.

Now that you have a solid understanding of Agent Walkthroughs, you can confidently implement and manage them to optimize your operational workflows.