The August sunshine (or lack thereof!) has been the backdrop to an exciting month for Registers of Scotland.

Why the anticipation? We took a major step in our digital transformation this month as our upcoming ScotLIS service entered private beta. ScotLIS is our new, innovative, map-based land information service that will enable both professionals and the public to access a wider range of property information.

In the next few weeks, we’ll be working with over a dozen stakeholder groups to test and improve the service. They’ll have the opportunity to make full use of ScotLIS, which will allow us to better understand customer interactions with the new service at this early stage. I’d like to thank all those who are taking part in private beta, and look forward to updating you with our plans for public beta in next month’s newsletter. I’d also like to acknowledge the contributions of customers who attended a number of user workshops for ScotLIS this month, such as our recent event in Aberdeen.

Elsewhere in the business, we’ve launched a short customer survey to gather feedback on our new Knowledge Base. We’ll use the survey to collect additional information on users’ experience of this new online home for application and registration guidance. I’d encourage all of our customers who use the knowledge base to take part. Your feedback allows us to tailor this important service to meet your needs.

Our usual monthly House Price Index statistics were released this month. The figures show the average price of a property in Scotland for June 2017 was £144,253, while the volume of residential sales in April 2017 was 7,908; both represent an increase compared with the corresponding months of 2016. With statistics like these we continue to take the pulse of property transactions in Scotland, and are a vital part of our Information and Analysis activity.

These monthly messages give me the opportunity to talk to you about our highlights and successes from the previous month. In addition to this collection of highlights, you can now keep up to date with the latest RoS news as it happens using our blog notification service. To register, simply enter your email address in the “Subscribe to InsideRoS” section found near the upper right hand side of this article. By signing up – as well as keeping an eye on our social channels – you’ll never miss a single update on all our products and services.