onTOPS

Welcome to onTOPS, an e-zine produced by TOPS Software to keep you informed about our products and services. We will be traveling to Dallas for the CAI Spring National Conference. Read more about it in onSales. We have also opened a new office in Clearwater, Florida. Read more in onSupport. We have also rolled out a new design for our corporate web site, www.topssoft.com. Read about it in onLine.

We look forward to hearing your feedback about the e-zine. Please let us know what things you liked, what you would like to see, and any suggested articles by e-mailing us at Ezines@TOPSSoft.com. As always, enjoy your reading, and we will see you next month!

by Andrea Drennen 

onSoftware

Take another Look at TOPS 2000™'s Optional Modules

TOPS 2000™ is more than just a community association accounting program; it is also a complete community association management package. In addition to the association accounting functions, TOPS 2000™ offers the ability to:

• Handle violations to covenants and rules and track approved changes to homes with the CCR/ACC Module. With this module you can send custom letters and notices regarding violations, keep a history of all enforcement actions taken, embed digital pictures into CC&R records, and print pictures in letters.
• Authorize repair work and issue job tickets with the Work Order Module. With this module you can track status of repairs to units or common areas, create service requests to investigate complaints prior to issuing a work order, and maintain a history of work orders and service requests for each community.
• Track owner and visitor vehicle and parking space or decal information with the Gate Security Module. With this module you can setup permanent and temporary community visitors for use by an attended guard gate/station, search visitors to verify access print gate passes and parking decals as needed for visitors or residents, and track vehicles and maintain a visitor log history, which can be printed.
• Issue pool passes and track pool membership for each home, print special delinquency reports to enforce payment for use of the pool facility, print pool membership reports, and design, print, and laminate your own unique pool passes with a digital picture using Avery label stock all with the Pool Pass Module.

All of these modules are already integrated with your owner database in TOPS 2000™. All you need to do is install the key that unlocks the module for your use. It's as simple as that. If you are interested in purchasing one of these modules, or would like to try them for 30 days, please contact me, Nicole Beal, at sales@topssoft.com or call me at 1-800-760-9966.

Nicole Beal 

onSales

Join Us In Dallas!

Bruce Gran, TOPS National Sales Director, and Susan Sanders, Director of Marketing for AtHomeNet will be speaking at the CAI 52nd National Conference in Dallas, Texas on May 1st. The topic will be ''Using Technology to Streamline your Association Business''. This concept can really be exploited by existing TOPS clients just by using the tools made available through the various TOPS modules and services offered to our valued TOPS clients. Come and join us for the presentation, and at our booth in the exhibit area. If you cannot attend, but would like a copy of the Power Point Presentation sent to you, email us at websales@topshome.com and we will be happy to send it to you.

Trade Show Schedule

• CAI Nat'l Spring Conf.: May 1-3, 2003 - Dallas, TX
• CAI CEO-MC Retreat: Jun 20-22, 2003 - Denver, CO
• CACM Statewide Expo: Aug 14-15, 2003 - Anaheim, CA
• CAI Mid FL Chapter: Sep 2003 - Orlando, FL
• CAI SC Chapter: Sep 2003 - South Carolina
• CAI NJ Chapter: Sep 20, 2003 - New Jersey
• CAI Nat'l Fall Conference: Oct 31 - Nov 1, 2003 - Washington, DC
• FLICPA CIRA Conference: Nov 20-21, 2003 - Ft. Lauderdale, FL

Susan Sanders 

onSupport

New Support Office

Our Technical Support department has moved to a new office in Clearwater, Florida. We now have 2500 square feet of office space to serve you better! In addition to our current TOPS Support Department, the new office will also house our Web Support Department and our New Technology Programming Group. These individuals will be moving to sunny Florida within the next two months.

The new office is in the Executive Center Office Park, 25400 US 19 North, Suite 212, Clearwater, FL. All of the telephone numbers and fax numbers will remain the same, so there is no need to change your records.

Training Program Discontinued

We have temporarily discontinued the training center program in Clearwater. We expect to open a new training center in the South Florida sales office sometime in the next two years.

Meanwhile, Cathy Flynn has moved on to become an independent trainer for TOPS Software's family of products. If you are interested in contracting her services for training, please email her at her new email address: cathy.flynn@verizon.net.

Andrea Drennen 

onSpecial

MICR Check Scanning

Entering payments by hand can be a thing of the past with TOPS Software's MICR Check Scanning System. Your MICR Check Scanner reads the magnetic codes from the bottom of an owner's check. A database is then automatically created in TOPS 2000™ that stores the owner's bank information. After you've scanned a check once, TOPS 2000™ knows which home the check should be applied against. The next time you scan that owner's check, TOPS 2000™ automatically selects the home for you. Just enter the payment amount and you're done. It's that easy!

Even if you are processing the majority of your receivables by lockbox, there will likely be instances where you will need to process payments manually. For example: special assessments, checks for owners that have set up payment arrangements to clear their delinquent accounts, checks for owners who drop off their payments in person, rather than mailing them to the lockbox address, etc. The MICR check scanner is a fast, easy way to process these payments. After all of the checks have been scanned, you can print a deposit report, which can be attached to the association's bank deposit form, so there's no need to itemize the checks to be deposited.

For management companies this is an additional time saver because you don't need to separate the checks by community before scanning them into the system. MICR check scanning is considered a global function and like lockbox will distribute the payments to the correct associations, no matter what order they are scanned in.

Nicole Beal 

onLine

New Design for wWW.Topssoft.com!

If you haven't been to TOPS Software's web site lately, now is a great time to go! We have completely redesigned the site to make it more technically advanced, easier to navigate, and visually pleasing. We have also added all kinds of new content to the site, including over 20 new articles. We invite you to take a look at the new online face of TOPS Software at www.topssoft.com!

Andrea Drennen 

onTopic

When Hasn't That Been True?: 

One day at the start of the "browser war" with Netscape, Microsoft Chief Technology Officer (CTO) Nathan Myhrvold attended an executive staff meeting.

"This particular one was way darker and more moody than most. Bill [Bill Gates] starts off by saying, 'Never in the history of the company have we ever had the challenges or the pressures or the competitors...'

"I couldn't help it - I snickered. And everybody heard it. So Bill stopped. And there was this big, pregnant pause."

"He says, 'Yes?' Of course, I'm screwed, right? I said, 'Well, when hasn't that been true?' For a minute [there's a silence], and then Bill burst out laughing. Because of course at every stage in the growth of the company we always felt this is the most challenging time that's ever been."

Myhrvold, Nathan, American executive, Chief Technology Officer of Microsoft (until 2000) [Source: Talk magazine, April 2001, p.184]

www.anecdotage.com