June 2006
- Additional Dates for 2006 User Groups
- Hints From the Help Desk: compile a mass email list
- You Too Can Offer Online Dues Payments
- TOPS Web Site Special for Smaller Associations
- De-Stress Your Architectural Committee
07/27-28/06 CACM Expo and Conf. (Anaheim, CA)
08/15/06 TOPS User Group (Ft. Myers, FL)
08/16/06 TOPS User Group (Clearwater, FL)
08/18/06 CAI Gold Coast Chapter (West Palm Bch, FL)
08/23/06 TOPS User Group (Orlando, FL)
08/24/06 TOPS User Group (Fort Lauderdale, FL)
10/13/06 CAI Houston Chapter (Houston, TX)
10/21/06 CAI New England Chapter (Burlington, MA)
11/02/06 CAI PA & Delaware Valley Chapter (Valley Forge, PA)
American Coupon Company: The Payment
Book Specialist! Quick setup and turnaround time with personal customer
service is our commitment to you. We are uniquely capable of processing
orders in all TOPS formats. (800) 624-3952, or
www.amcoup.com.
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 to 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, do it today! You can see your current usage minutes, review past tickets, and see what tickets are open for your organization. All you need to do is know your TOPS Client ID and fill in a one-time sign-up form.
TOPS Software will be conducting the 2006 series of User Group Conferences in Florida and Chicago this summer.
*August 15: Ft. Myers, FL
*August 16: Clearwater, FL
*August 23: Orlando, FL
*August 24: Fort Lauderdale, FL
*September 7: Chicago, IL
Contact Sales at 1-800-760-9966 or sales@topssoft.com for more information.
The onTOPS Ezine is published by TOPS Software, LLC., 25400 US 19 N. Clearwater, FL 33763. Copyright© 2001-2006, All rights reserved. Articles may be reprinted with permission from the publisher.
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Welcome to onTOPS!
Welcome back to the onTOPS Ezine, a monthly email publication from TOPS Software. We have a summer schedule packed full of exciting events. Be sure to read about our first User Group Conference of 2006, and then sign up for one of the 5 others which will be held this summer. You might even win a special prize!
We hope you enjoy reading this month's issue. 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
Gate Security Special
From now until July 15th:
Buy one gate key, get a second gate key free!
A $200 savings!
If your communities are tired of gate crashers, uninvited visitors, and parking space violators, then your security personnel need the TOPS Gate Security Module. The Gate Security module is designed for use by gated communities with manned guard houses or by communities that need to track visitors, parking, and/or owner vehicle information. Gate Security is available for TOPS v3.2.1™ and TOPS On-Site™. TOPS Gate Security offers a number of benefits to the safety-conscious community:
[More]
Phoenix User Group Report
After only one User Group Conference in 2005, TOPS planned an ambitious schedule of 6 conferences for 2006. The first User Group Conference was recently held in Phoenix, Arizona. Approximately 90 attendees participated in a day-long user symposium to discuss new features, share best practices, and provide suggestions for future versions of TOPS Software products.
[More]
Additional Dates for 2006 User Groups
This summer, Colonial Bank will be hosting four TOPS User Group Conferences in key cities in Florida. Following the Florida series, Community Advantage Bank will be hosting a TOPS User Group conference in the Windy City. We hope to see you at one of these exciting events!
To register, please contact our Sales Department at 1-800-760-9966 or via email at sales@topssoft.com.
[More]
From the Suggestion Box
TOPS Software regularly receives suggestions from customer to help us improve our products and services. We would like to share these suggestions, and our responses with you, both to give you an idea of what new features we are working on, and also to encourage you to share your own ideas with us.
This article marks the first in our new monthly series highlighting some great ideas that are on the drawing board for the next version of TOPS.
Click Here to enter your own suggestions into our suggestion box!
Exporting TOPS Data
Dear TOPS:
I would like the next version of TOPS to have a user friendly relational database software that would allow us to easily download AR, AP and GL data to EXCEL spreadsheets so we could customize reports.
Victoria
Yes Victoria, there is a Santa Claus!
We have built our new database structure in MySQL format, one of the most cutting edge relational database formats on the market today. And the icing on the cake is...
[More]
Hints from the Helpdesk
Use the Custom Report Export Utility to compile a mass email list
Let's say you want to send a mass email to all of your homeowners. You can use the Custom Report Export Utility to compile your own email list in the email program of your choice. To do so, you will need to have a copy of Microsoft® Access, or another ODBC compliant database program. This process takes approximately 10 minutes to complete:
[More]
You too can offer Online Dues Payments!
In this day and age, your customers expect a certain level of convenience when doing business with you. For example, online payments. Owners like to be able to make payments from the convenience of their own home, at any time of the day or night. Unfortunately, in our industry, it can be difficult to be as accommodating as you might like. Credit Card companies have a number of rules that fit the retail industry very well, but not so much the Association Management Industry.
Fortunately for you, TOPS Software provides a service that enables you to offer homeowners the option to pay association dues from your management or community web site(s), at absolutely no cost to you. The online payment service has no set-up fees, no monthly fees and no minimum amounts that have to flow through each community's merchant account.
[More]
Special Pricing for Smaller Associations:
Attention property managers: Do you have associations with fewer than 50 units? Take advantage of our special limited time offer to provide a full-featured TOPS Community Web Site for your smaller associations. Through this amazing service, residents of small communities can now enjoy the same benefits as residents of large communities, without having to pay the same price.
Until July 31, 2006, TOPS Software is offering a lower cost solution for smaller associations who have always wanted a TOPS Interactive Web Site, but found it cost prohibitive - until now. Sign up your associations with 50 or fewer units for a TOPS Interactive Web Site by July 31, and receive half off the $100 set up fee, and pay only $29.95 monthly.*
This pricing is guaranteed for the first two years of your community's web site. That's $530 in savings!
[More]
De-Stress Your Architectural Committee
Having trouble getting volunteers for the Architectural Control Committee? Ever wonder why? In many associations this is the busiest committee, especially at this time of year! So many people get the home improvement bug and want to paint their houses, install a new fence or maybe add a new flower bed. Volunteers on the ACC committee are inundated with requests for special favors and fast approvals.
All of this can lead to stress and inconsistencies in ACC approval decisions. Architectural Committee members are forced to make split decisions at a once-per-month meeting, based only on the data presented in the proposal.
But what if there were a better way to do it? If ACC Committee members had an opportunity to review proposals, walk the properties, and ask questions before a meeting, not only would they feel less stressful about the process; meeting times could also be reduced by 50% or more.
[More]
- TOPS Software offices will be closed Monday, July 3 and Tuesday July 4, 2006 in observance of Independence Day. Happy 4th of July!
- Welcome Van Tran to the TOPS Programmers Team and Ashley Ventre as TOPS' new Support Receptionist.
- Happy Birthday to:
Marty Klueck - June 11
Carmen Wood - June 21
Debbie White - June 22
Brandon Kelley - June 22
TOPS v3.2.1™>
- Form Letter 3 per page option is now printing correctly.
-The ReadyCollect Plug-In Import has been corrected to properly handle negative balances coming back into TOPS from the attorney.
- When a user logs into TOPS, the system will now prompt if the server has older files than the workstation.
-If the user updates their workstation from the server, the update program will no longer prompt the user to affirm overwrite of each file.
- Added a preview for the Listing of Defaults in Report Defaults, instead of printing directly to the printer.
- Corrected issue causing Attachments feature not to work in the Community Fact Sheet for some customers.
- Rebuild All Communities is now working correctly.
- Take selected Action in CCR now prints the letter for the selected action.
- Read Only custom files will now be made read-write on install to allow updating of custom files.
- Converted reports for Pool Pass module to new, more reliable reporting engine.
TOPS On-Site>
- Added customization options to front panel in TOPS Guard Gate program.
- New visitor entry has been corrected in Guard Gate so that users can back out of the entry screen.
- The Work Order button in Owner Maintain will now correctly access work orders related to the selected home.
TOPS MaintCo>
- Corrected issue in MaintCo Installation program to correctly set the TOPS Data Path when MaintCo used in conjunction with TOPS v3.2.1™.
- Corrected "Error Opening USERS table" error that sometimes occurred when attempting to print reports in Phone Messenger.
TOPS Internet Backup Service>
- Changed the name of the backup program file from webback.exe to topsibs.exe. This will prevent Iomega's Trend Micro anti virus program from incorrectly identifying this program as virally infected.
- Corrected display issue in Internet Backups that caused the screen to resize automatically.
- Auto Backup Now option now correctly performs an immediate backup for the current community.
TOPS Interactive Web Sites>
- Live Updates will no longer upload partial data when a record contains an apostrophe.
- Added the word "Open" to status field in CCR tab, if there is no closing date on a CC&R record.
- Corrected tabs on Account Info page to show properly if the first tab had no valid data in it.
- Made adjustments to email bulletin program causing some emails to not be sent under certain unusual circumstances.
- Added a sort order to task manager so notes are automatically listed in chronological order.
TOPS Mobile PDA>
- PDA keys are now installed locally for Pocket PC models that would not allow the keys to install normally.
New Themes>
- Continuing our famous cities series, we have themes for two popular towns on either coast for this month. Perhaps you have heard of them? Tinsel Town, and the Big Apple... If you are stumped, check them out on the TOPS Theme Manager!
Software Sales
- 800.760.9966
Web Site Sales - 800.556.7852
Tech Support - 800.899.5689
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Web Support - 800.899.5689
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Backup Service - 800.899.5689
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Billing Questions - 301.869.8144