APRIL 2005
In this issue:
Enjoy your reading, and we will see you next month!
Read this issue and archived issues of the onTOPS E-Zine online at: http://www.topssoft.com/Articles/E-Zines
Feedback: insider@topssoft.com
SALES
From the Sales Department
The trade show schedule has been updated for the balance of 2005,hopefully
we are coming to a city near you! Be sure to visit our booth at
The Visionaries Forum, June 23, 2005 for the CAI – New England
Chapter in Boston, MA. and don't forget to catch the presentation
by Bruce Gran, CMCA, AMS, PCAM. Look for information about other
TOPS speaking engagements coming up this year at various shows around
the US.
We are looking forward to hosting the new User Focus Groups this
summer, starting in Florida. The Groups will discuss various TOPS
modules and topics of interest to the members of the Property Management
Industry. As interest increases in our User Focus Groups we will
expand to other regions. As soon as dates and locations are confirmed
look for announcements to come your way from TOPS via email, phone
calls, the newsletter and the monthly e-zines. Seating will be limited
requiring reservations so stay tuned and don’t miss out.
All new TOPS Software clients will be offered an orientation to
help them get started with the TOPS 2000™ program. The orientation
will cover basic concepts to facilitate their transition to TOPS
2000™ and help them get up and running quickly.
New users will be introduced to the various TOPS tools such as;
the online Help feature, downloadable manuals located at the TOPS
web site, and the link to the TOPS knowledge base, all of which
have been designed to help answer their questions as they begin
using TOPS 2000™. They will be taken through the steps of
logging in, selecting communities and the administrative functions
of setting up users and passwords. They will receive an overview
of all the modules in the basic system: Owner management, A/R and
Collections, A/P and GL.
If, after the orientation a new client feels they would like more
time, a training session with the option to customize an orientation
specific to their needs can be scheduled for an additional fee.
To further facilitate new clients with their transition to TOPS
2000™, they will have their own support person for the 90-day
free technical support period that comes with a purchase of TOPS
2000™.
Contact our sales department at 1-800-760-9966 or via email at sales@topssoft.com
for more details.
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BREAKING NEWS
Get Ready For "TOPS v3.2.1™"
At TOPS Software we are not only developing solutions to help our
customers improve the day-to-day accounting processes associated
with community management, we are also creating solutions to address
the changes and needs of a growing business. Like so many of our
customers, TOPS Software has discovered that time and communications
management can be the hardest areas of a company to manage.
Therefore, we are proud to announce the upcoming release of our
newest general release, TOPS v3.2.1™. This new
version is specifically geared to larger scale management companies,
with a host of communication and organizational tools such as a
fully updated Group-based user and passwords system; a phone messaging
program; a fully integrated calendar feature that allows you to
schedule tasks within a community, by user, or company wide; a major
upgrade to Job Streaming, including a completely redesigned user
interface and job scheduling tools; and a major upgrade to Global
functions such as Global AP.
Version 3.2.1 will also include a number of features of interest
to all of our clients, including a new PDF report writer, updated
Form Letter program, and Yearly Accounting functionality.
This new series of communication and time management tools wil
be part of a general release of "TOPS v3.2.1™",
available August 1, 2005 via the TOPS Internet Updater. An early
release will be made available by request on July 1, 2005. If you
would like to receive an Early Release copy of Version 3.2.1 on
CD, please complete the form located on our web site.
For more information about the features in TOPS v3.2.1™,
contact our sales department at 1-800-760-9966 or via email at sales@topssoft.com.
TOPS INTERACTIVE
WEB SITES
Ready to do some Spring Cleaning?
Do you have associations with boxes and boxes of information stored
in closets, under desks or a backroom? A TOPS Interactive Web Site
is the perfect repository for long term retention and storage of
important community documents, historical photos, past issues of
newsletters, vendor contracts and so much more.
What a terrific way to keep community officers and residents informed!
Important information can be passed from one board to the next without
any knowledge loss. A TOPS Interactive Web Site allows residents
to see their 12-month payment history, to see their unit's history
of ACC Violations and submitted Work Orders.
Just think of the convenience of downloadable documents e.g. Rules
& Regulations, Bylaws and Forms. The information is available
24 hours a day 7 days a week, via the Internet reducing calls to
the office, not to mention the savings on postage and paper with
less snail mail and faxing!
How would you like to clear away those "AP Invoice" folders
and tickler files from you desk?
TOPS 2000™ With Online A/P Approval, another great web site
feature that's quickly gaining in popularity allows you to automate
your AP Invoice approval process. Imagine not having to drag all
those copies of bills to the board meeting and wait while each one
is reviewed! Fully integrated with TOPS 2000, it's available to
customers with a TOPS Interactive Web Site at NO ADDITIONAL COST!
Simply activate Online A/P Approval using the easy to use Setup
Wizard. Setup your users, approval requirements, and dollar amount
limits and start automatically uploading invoices from your TOPS
2000™ Accounts Payable system to your web site ready for Board
Members to login and approve them!
Once approved the invoices get downloaded to TOPS 2000™ ready
for you to print checks. Combine Online AP Approval with MICR Check
Printing and Digital Signature for MICR Check Printing, now you’ve
really streamlined your entire AP process.
Contact TOPS Web Sales at (800) 556-7852 or WebSales@topssoft.com
for more details!
APPEARANCES
TOPS Comes to You!
05/19-21/05 - CAI's 54th National Conference, Tucson, AZ
06/23/05 - CAI NE, Visionaries Forum: Netick, MA
07/28-29/05 - CACM Anaheim, CA
09/12/05 - CAI Gold Coast Trade Show: West Palm Beach, FL
10/01/05 - CAI Nevada Trade Show: Las Vegas, NV
10/08/05 - CAI Washington Trade Show: Bellvue, WA
10/15/05 - CAI New Jersey Trade Show: Long Branch, NJ
10/15/05 - CAI Houston Trade Show: Houston, TX
10/27-29/05 - CAI National Leadership Conference, Atlanta, GA
11/11/05 - CAI West Florida, Trade Show: Sarasota, FL
11/19/05 - CAI New England, Trade Show: Burlington, MA
SPECIAL
MICR Check Printing with Digital Signatures
for $990
The release of Online AP Approval for TOPS Community Websites is
the third accounts payable time saver to be released by TOPS Software,
the first two being MICR Check Printing and Digital Signature for
MICR Check Printing.
When you have MICR Check Printing and Digital Signature for MICR
Check Printing, you have the ability to print all of your AP checks
on blank check stock, avoiding the need to have a different check
stock for each association bank account. This means that you can
print the MICR line at the bottom of your checks and also print
a digitally scanned, authorized signature. Digital Signatures are
encrypted and password protected, to insure that no unauthorized
person could print a fraudulent check. Because the Digital Signature
technology is so advanced, TOPS 2000™ owners must be on the
most recent version of the program (Version 3.1, Release 364012T),
prior to installing.
If you don't already have MICR Check Printing, and want to be able
to use the Digital Signature function, you can now purchase both
together for $990. If you already own MICR Check Printing and would
like to add Digital Signature for MICR Check Printing, you can purchase
it for $495. That’s a $100 savings on the combined retail
pricing of MICR Check Printing and Digital Signature for MICR Check
Printing or on the purchase price of Digital Signature for MICR
Check Printing alone!
For more information on MICR Check Printing with Digital Signatures,
contact our sales department at 1-800-760-9966 or via email at sales@topssoft.com.
DOWNLOADS
Three New Themes for TOPS 2000™
Have we got some dirt for you! This month our themes are: Life
in
the Desert, Native Splendor, and Let's Play Ball.
To download them, click View, Theme Manager to access the program.
When the Theme Manager appears, click the Download button next to
the themes you wish to install. If you wish to uninstall a theme,
click the remove button. Once you have finished installing themes,
click the Done button to close the Theme Manager. To Switch Themes,
click View, Themes, and select the theme you wish to apply.
For our customers using TOPS 2000™ in a central networked
environment, you may have had some difficulty switching themes once
they have been downloaded. This is because the theme data should
be stored on the server, not your local machine. You can provide
themes to your entire office by downloading all themes to one machine,
and copying the C:\TOPS2000\THEMES folder from that machine to your
data server. Once the themes have been copied over, your users can
switch themes by clicking View, Themes.
PRODUCT UPDATES
Internet Backup web-based interface
Have you ever wanted to check on your Internet Backup Service account
to verify when the last backup was made, or how much space a backup
was taking up? Maybe you even wanted to change the backup type or
even download it from a location where you do not have TOPS 2000™.
Well then, you're going to like our newest enhancement.
We have now added a web-based interface for the Internet Backup
Service that lets you review the backups you have on our servers.
Here's how it works: go to the web site http://www.topsbackup.com.
Click the Login button on the top menu bar. Enter your Client ID,
username and password you used to setup your Internet Backup account.
If you have forgotten your username and password, you can click
the Forgot Login link to have it sent to you via e-mail. Once you
login, you will now see a table on the left that displays each of
your communities that re backed up and a summary of their backup
information.
On this community listing table, communities are displayed up to
10 at a time. You can use the page buttons at the bottom of the
table to go to different pages in the community list. As you can
see, the community listing includes the community ID, the last date
that the community was backed up, the total number of backups for
that community, and the total size of all the backups for a community.
There is also a View column. If you click the yellow arrow in the
view column next to a community, it will bring up another table
on the right that will display details on each of the backups for
that community.
The table on the right will display all of the backups for the
community you selected. As in the other table, it will display 10
results at a time, which can be paged through using the page buttons
at the bottom of the table. This table will display the date of
each backup, the backup size, the backup type (daily, weekly, monthly,
yearly, permanent), and the name/description of the backup. You
will also notice 2 icons in each row. One is a blue pencil icon
in the far left column. This icon will put that backup's row into
edit mode.
Edit mode will replace the display with text boxes and let you
edit the backup type and the name/description of the backup. You
can save the chanegs you just made by clicking the floppy disk icon
or cancel them by clicking the red circle and line icon. Finally,
you will also notice a yellow arrow pointing down in the far-right
"Get" column. This will let you download the backup in
ZIP format.
Once you click on this link, it will wait a few moments (it has
to prepare the backup for download). Next, it will prompt you to
either save or open/run the file (what exactly it displays will
depend on your browser settings). You can save the file anywhere
you want on your local computer, then open it.
The web-based interface for the Internet Backup Service is designed
to help you access and utilize your Internet Backup account while
you are at a location that does not have TOPS 2000™. From
now on, you can check on your account to make sure that backups
are being made and uploaded, no matter where you are.
UPDATER
New Enhancements to TOPS 2000™
Please be advised that the Internet Updater is restricted to customers
on a current maintenance support agreement. If you are interested
in our support plans, please go to http://www.topssoft.com/Support/MSA_plans.htm.
- Corrected Online AP upload so that City, State, and Zip pulls
data from location of homes in Owner, Control Info.
- Corrected Internet Back Up so that backups larger than 8
gigabytes no longer report as negative usage.
- Corrected Online AP Approval so that single quotes and double
quotes nolonger prevent data from uploading.
- Corrected Duplicate Data Issue.
- Added to CC & R Control Info, the ability to change the
charge
code to a specific code.
- Added the option for Developer Resale in the Owner Maintain
function.
- Corrected the add/waive charge function to allow more than 100
transactions per day.
- Corrected printing check register for ALL Bank Accounts to display
total disbursements at the end of each bank account listed.
- Corrected the Global AP MICR check issue.
- Corrected the issue with Activity Report detail option.
- Added the ability for Web Reports Manager to upload to multiple
Internet servers per the community configuration.
Internet Backup
Internet Backup now contains a web-based interface that lets you
review the backups you have on the TOPS servers.
The web-based interface for the Internet Backup Service is designed
to help you access and utilize your Internet Backup account while
you are at a location that does not have TOPS 2000™. From
now on, you can check on your account to
make sure that backups are being made and uploaded, no matter where
you are.
CC&R Documents Attachment
You are now able to attach files to the CC&R records. Attachments
can be drawings, documents spread sheets, as long as the attachment
is an electronic file that can be stored with the CC&R record
it can be attached. Whatever the attachment type, be sure the necessary
application/software needed to open and view the attachment is accessible
from the users workstation.
For example if you wish to attach a Microsoft(R) Word document
then the user's workstation must have access to an application capable
of opening a Word (.doc) document.
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How to Update Your Files
- Make sure you are logged into the computer that will be performing
the update. (If you are updating in a networked environment, update
the server first, as a workstation, and then run the update on
each workstation.)
- If it is open, close TOPS on your computer.
- Connect to the Internet and navigate to http://www.topssoft.com/downloads.htm.
- Under "Program Updates" click the GO button.
- Click Open, to run the update from the current location.
- When the TOPS Web Updater appears, click the down arrow next
to 'Select Module to Check' and Choose TOPS 2000™.
- On the bottom right, ensure that the "Workstation Only"
option is selected.
- Click the "Begin Update" button. (The system may
prompt you for a User ID. If so, enter in your TOPS Customer ID).
- Once the update is complete, you can close this window and re-open
TOPS 2000™.
SUPPORT:
Companion Manuals
Downloaded a new feature and now your not sure what to do next!
Before you call TOPS Support you may want to check the manual.
The following Companion Manuals are available in downloadable PDF
format from the TOPS web site:
- Tops Mobile PDA
- Windows Payroll
- MICR Check with Digital Signature
- Utility Billing
- Custom Report Export Utility
- Online AP Approval
- Online Payments
Go to http://www.topssoft.com,
select Downloads, User Manual Downloads, scroll down to the Companion
Manuals section and view the manual on line or print a copy for
future reference!
Contact Us
Here is a list of some
of the most common contact data for TOPS Software:
Designed by Property Management Systems Inc., d.b.a. TOPS Software.
Copyright© 2005 Property Management Systems, Inc., 364-C Christopher
Ave, Gaithersburg, MD 2879. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
To manage the emails that you receive from TOPS Software, please
visit
http://www.topssoft.com/eforms/manage_subscriptions.htm.
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