onTOPS E-Zine

Inside This Issue:

April 2006

- What's in the Pipeline

- Mark Your Calendar

- News from the Western Regional Office
(New Sales Hours!)

- Tips for When you Call Support

- Spring Web Site Review

- Live Updates Now Available!

- Meet Jennifer Briere, Web Support Tech

TOPS Comes to You:

05/4-6/06 CAI National Trade Show (Palm Springs, CA)

06/13/06 TOPS User Group (Phoenix, AZ)

10/13/06 CAI Houston Chapter (Houston, TX)

Announcements:

Best Fit Solutions, LLC provides TOPS v3.2.1™ training & accounting services. On-site or Internet-based training services available. Learn more at www.bestfitsolutions.net, or call 281-870-0404.

Use www.ReadyDOCS.com to sell documents online and turn Process into Profit. Contact us at (888) 497-8832 to find out how!

ReadyCollect integrates with TOPS Software to provide a complete collections process when accounts are turned over you your attorney. Visit www.ReadyCollect.com for more information on this money-saving program.

TOPS Corporate Trainer now provides training on your site or via the Internet! Our corporate trainer, Dave Black, has years of experience training in TOPS Software products. To schedule a training session:
Toll-Free: 1-800-760-9966
Email: davidb@topssoft.com

The TOPS Internet Backup Service allows you to automatically back up your important TOPS Community Data from right inside TOPS v3.2.1™! For More Info, see www.topsbackup.com.

The TOPS Web Admin Forum, located at admin.topswebsites.com provides resources for TOPS Community Web Site Administrators, from free web site content to direct chat with other admins. If you are not a member of this forum, be sure to request your login today.

If you have not yet checked out TOPS' Online Support Center, you should definitely do it! You can see your current usage minutes, review past tickets, and see what tickets are open for your organization. All you need is your TOPS Client ID and fill in a one-time sign-up form.

TOPS Software will be conducting our second
User Group Conference on June 13, 2006 in Phoenix Arizona.

The conference will be sponsored by US Bank, and held at their facilities in Phoenix.

Contact Sales at 1-800-760-9966 or sales@topssoft.com to register for this exciting event, or learn about other planned User Groups!

Restrictions:

Articles from TOPS Software:

Welcome to onTOPS!

Welcome back to the onTOPS Ezine, a monthly email publication from TOPS Software.

This issue is packed full of helpful information, and exciting events to add to your calendar. We hope you enjoy!

All of the articles in the ezines are stored in the articles section of our web site, www.topssoft.com, which also means that ezine articles are searchable via our web site search engine! You will find the search link at the bottom of each article, along with a convenient option to send an article of interest to a friend or colleague.

Please send feedback to: insider@topssoft.com

What's in the Pipeline for TOPS

Over the next few months we will be releasing more new features to our web sites, TOPS v3.2.1™, and TOPS On-Site. Here are some of the changes that are in the pipeline for the coming months:

New Reports Engine - Currently our top priority, the new reporting engine is coming along nicely. We have already released two reports that use our new engine, Balance Sheet and Income Statement. What's exciting about the new engine is that we are now able to use variable sized fonts (instead of fixed width fonts). This makes the report text appear much clearer and legible.

[More...]

Mark Your Calendar

Here is a quick peek at what we have planned for the summer:

Come visit us at the CAI Spring National Conference

It is almost May, which means CAI’s Spring National Conference is around the corner. This year the location is Palm Springs, CA. Conference dates are May 4 – 6, 2006. TOPS Software will be in booth #504 located right next to AtHomeNet. We are going to be demonstrating the new “live data exchange” functionality recently added to our interactive web sites. Also, stop by to pick up your “TOPS Turns 21” shot glass to use with your favorite adult beverage.

2006 TOPS User Group Conferences

On June 13, 2006, in conjunction with US Bank, TOPS Software will be holding a User Group Conference in Phoenix, AZ. We have limited capacity so please register as soon as possible as space is running out.

Due to the strong interest expressed so far in the Phoenix user group, TOPS will also be hosting several User Group Conferences in Florida in August or early September.

[More...]

News from the Western Regional Office

The TOPS Software office in Phoenix, AZ is fully open and operational. Staffed by Chris Layton (sales associate) and Dave Black (corporate trainer), the Phoenix office services the entire western region of the country. Combining convenient hours with the sales and training resources provided by the on-site staff, this office should prove to be helpful in providing for all of our western regional clients’ needs.

Both Dave and Chris have been visiting clients and prospects in Phoenix and Tucson for the past two weeks; if you would like them to visit your office, please contact sales@topsoft.com to schedule a visit.

Extended Sales Hours

The TOPS Software sales line is now staffed from 9 AM to 8 PM, EDT, Monday through Friday. We hope that this increase in hours will prove to be more convenient for our customers in the Western region of the country.

[More...]

Tips for When You Call Support

When you need to call TOPS Technical Support, here are some tips that will help expedite your call:

* Be sure to have your client ID number ready when calling in for Support.

* If you are calling TOPS Support because you have a technician on site that needs information or assistance, be sure to state that when you call so your ticket will be assigned an Urgent status. Please be advised that we cannot guarantee a call back time, but you can schedule an appointment several days in advance.

[More...]

Spring Web Site Review

With over 250 features built into TOPS Interactive Web Sites, each web site is designed to be a property management tool that will meet the needs of the homeowners, board of directors, and property management company as well as residents.

Provide more service and information without increasing your staff. Cut the number of calls to your office by tapping into the accessibility and power of the Internet to make your job easier. Here are a few of the services you can offer via the Internet with a TOPS Interactive Web Site:

[More...]

Live Updates Now Available!

Live Updates allows your owner data to be updated to your web site in real time, whenever data is changed in the owner module of TOPS v3.2.1™. Live Updates is available for customers in TOPS v3.2.1™, only.

This new feature updates resales, owner name changes, contact changes, or address changes instantly from TOPS v3.2.1™ to your TOPS Community web site(s). You will still need to perform your regularly scheduled uploads to update such information as balances, 12 month owner account histories, violations, architectural requests, work orders, and gate passes.

[More...]

Welcome Jennifer Briere, Web Support Technician

Hello all, my name is Jennifer Briere and I'm a new Web Support Technician at TOPS Software. I've only been with the company for a few weeks and everyone has been very welcoming and very helpful whenever I've had questions. I have a background in customer service and building web sites.

[More...]

News & Notes:

* Welcome to Jennifer Briere, who has joined our Internet Services team as a web support technician. [More]

* Congratulations to Brandon Kelley, who has been promoted to Programmer!

* Our thoughts go out to Jeanne Plennert, whose husband will be undergoing back surgery next week.

* Best Wishes go to Chris Layton, whose wife is expecting their first baby, due May 1.

* Congratulations to Bruce Gran, who has been accepted into the CAI National Faculty team. Once he completes his training, Bruce will be conducting CAI classes around the country. [More]

* Good Luck to Dorian Drossos, who has left TOPS Software to pursue other interests.

TOPS Program Updates:

TOPS v3.2.1™>

Activated our NEW Report Defaults program. You may now save multiple report defaults settings within the same community.

Updated the CAB Plug-In to create a validation file that can be accessed by the user and sent manually in case the bank's server fails to accept the file electronically.

Added "Total" line and Balance Breakdown Group to blank paper statement and tear-off.

Offsetting accounts in Add/Waive may now be browsed for using the browse button.

Corrected rare issue in Officers causing garbage to appear on the screen.

The global module may now only be set to either Full Access or NO Access. A new message popup warns administrators that the Global module ignores community restrictions, allowing users with access to view data for all communities.

Updated the icons and added a new toolbar to Phone Messenger "My Messages" screen.

Corrected error message generated in Report Defaults when Layout.cv2 file was missing.

The admin fee for Process Collections now correctly displays before letters are printed.

Corrected issues with Group permissions tree view not formatting properly in Users and Passwords.

Corrected report display issues that occurred when the summary report option was selected in Phone Messenger.

Corrected several issues in Work Order and CC&R that allowed users with Read Only access to perform functions.

Corrected alignment issues and cut off "As Of" date on new GL Balance Sheet report.

View More Updates >>

How to Update Your Files

Internet Services Updates:

TOPS Interactive Web Sites>

Our newest feature, Live Updates is now available for customers to activate. Live updates is available for customers who have upgraded to TOPS v3.2.1™ only. [More...]

Balance Sheet and Income Statement reports are now available in our brand new v3.2.1 reporting engine, and may be printed directly to your web site using the Print To: Community Web Site option in the print dialogue.

Homes for Sale has been updated to make it a more attractive and user friendly interface. This popular new format will also be instituted in other features in the near future.

View More Updates >>