Issue #51
- Calendar/Scheduler Release Schedule
- Ch-ch-ch-Changes: Spring Reorganizing
- CAI's 56th National Conference and Expo
- TOPS Internet Backup Service Special
- Eve 'n You Can Backup Your Community Data
- New Procedure For Processing Collection Actions
- Online AP Approval saves time and money
- Spring Cleaning on Your Community Web Site
- Bruce Gran CMCA,
AMS, PCAM is Published
06/13/07 TOPS U presents ADM-101 User Security
07/25/07 TOPS U presents CCR-103a Managing Violations in the CCR/ACC Enforcement Module, part 2
07/26-27/07 CACM 16th Annual Expo & Conference (Anaheim, CA)
08/17/07 CAI Gold Coast Chapter Trade Show (West Palm Beach, FL)
08/22/07 TOPS U presents ACCNT-210 The Budget Cycle
09/12/07 TOPS U presents CCR-201 Advance Features of the CC&R Module
10/17/07 TOPS U presents ADM-202 TOPS Systems Administration
11/14/07 TOPS U presents ACCNT-110 Being Prepared for Year End
The Public Beta of the TOPS Unlimited Flex Data is available for TOPS v3.2.1™ users. For more info, or to join the beta group, please complete the form located here.
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.
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.
If you have not yet checked out TOPS'
Online Customer Care Center , do it today! You can purchase
add-ons, see your current support usage minutes, review past tickets,
see what tickets are open for your organization, and even pay your support
bill online! All you need to do is know your TOPS Client ID and fill in
a one-time sign-up form.
TOPS
v3.2.1
TOPS On-Site
Internet Backup
TOPS Web Sites
Web Site Support
TOPS Corporate
Customer Care Center
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Welcome to onTOPS!
Welcome to the onTOPS Ezine, an email publication from TOPS Software. All of the articles in the ezines are stored in the articles section of our corporate web site, www.topssoft.com.
We hope you enjoy reading this issue. Please send your feedback to: insider@topssoft.com
Calendar/Scheduler Release Schedule
The TOPS Calendar/Scheduler has been in public beta for 6 months now. During this time, our quality assurance team and our customer beta testers have pounded on the product and provided feedback for how it can be improved. Already, we have made scores of changes based on the feedback we have received from you. And now, all of that hard work will pay off, as we release the new Calendar/Scheduler to all TOPS v3.2.1™. users in June 2007.
The Calendar/Scheduler is being provided free of charge to all TOPS v3.2.1™ users, including those not currently on a Maintenance Support Plan. Here is how the product will be distributed...
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Ch-ch-ch-ch-Changes: Spring Reorganizing
At TOPS Software, spring is not a time for cleaning, but for promotions and reorganization. Recently several changes were made in our corporate organizational structure and several employees received promotions into new positions.
Tony Mechas has been promoted to head up our Quality Assurance department.
Ryan Allen has been promoted to Vice President of Product Development.
Bruce Gran, CMCA, AMS, PCAM has been promoted to Senior Vice President of Business Development.
David Black has been promoted to Senior Vice President.
These new changes will help us to serve you better by developing and executing a focused product strategy, which will enable us to provide a stronger product, improve our support and services, and expand our integrations with other industry products and services.
[More]
CAI's 56th National Conference and Exposition
(By Bruce Gran CMCA, AMS, PCAM )
Having personally attended the past 16 national conferences, I can say this was the best in CAI history! There were upwards of 1400 attendees, 100 industry vendors, and some of the best offerings in educational sessions. I walked away with many incredible ideas from my attendance this year.
From the Welcome Reception to the end of conference Saturday morning, there was a lot to do. The opening ceremonies included former jet pilots, now known as Afterburner, present what they do to prepare for missions – somewhat similar to what community association managers do on a daily basis. Their ideas were refreshing and had direct application to community leaders, managers and industry service providers...
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June Course at TOPS U
On Wednesday, June 13, 2007, TOPS U will be offering the course, ADM-101, User Security. Having Users and Passwords set up is essential when using the new Calendar feature, Job Streaming, Phone Messenger, and the Administration Tools.This course will walk you through the steps required to set up User and Password security in TOPS v3.2.1™.
We will discuss the importance of role-based security, identify the different functional groups within your company and walk through setting up groups for them, highlight areas that should be considered when preparing to set up user login security, and discuss the steps required to maintain user security into the future...
[More]
Registration is due by June 06, 2007, so respond now to register! The registration form and additional details are available at www.topsuniversity.com
TOPS Internet Backup Service Special
Try the TOPS Internet Backup Service free for 30 days!
Enter code 057N when you sign up at www.topsbackup.com.
Although a one time backup is invaluable when preparing to complete a major task within TOPS, like closing the year or charging the maintenance fees to all owners, automatic backups should be made regularly, to ensure a copy of the data is available, should anything unforeseen happen, like a natural disaster, break-in, or computer virus outbreak...
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Eve 'n You Can Backup Your Community Data
If I had a dollar for every time in my years at TOPS Software I heard, "I don't have a backup," I would be living it up in New York City! It has, I am sure, been the cause of many users grinding away reconstructing data due to a regrettable slip of the mouse. Yes, TOPS Software is a simple useful tool, but there are some things you just can't reverse easily. I think everyone reading this has an example or two in mind.
As a technician at TOPS, the first thing ingrained in our minds is "MAKE A BACKUP OF THE COMMUNITY FIRST!!!" Making a simple community backup to your local hard drive takes mere minutes and can save hours. I am NOT talking about an entire multiple community system backup, but rather a quick backup of a specific community before you begin a task possibly not done often, if ever performed before at all (such as, closing the accounting year)...
[More]
New Procedure For Processing Collection Actions
The new procedure for processing collections will now save you an extra step. There is now only ONE posting procedure required:
Proper procedure now:
1) Clear Work file
2) Categorize Owners
3) Post
4) Print Letters
When you post it now posts any admin fees at the same time, and you can print letters as often as needed until you clear the work file.
If you are not already familiar with the posting procedure, we have updated our help topic to reflect this new procedure. Please update your records accordingly...
[More]
Online AP Approval saves time and money
"It's FREE." "Streamline your life." "This product will save you time, and time is money." No, this isn't a bad infomercial you see at 3am in the morning. They're statements that describe one of the most powerful aspects of the TOPS Community Web Site service…Online AP Approval...
[More]
Spring Cleaning on Your Community Web Site!
Spring is here and that's the perfect time of the year to get started with fresh content on your web site! Grab a comfortable seat and get that mouse in your hand as we guide you through a few procedures and suggestions that are sure to get you off on the right foot...
[More]
New Corporate Partners
We are proud to announce the addition of four new corporate partners! In the next few months TOPS will be releasing a Software Development Kit (SDK), which will allow third party service providers to integrate with various TOPS programs. This is very exciting for us and our clients as this opens the door to all sorts of integration possibilities.
* BestBill -
www.bestbill.com
* CIDcash - www.cidcash.com
* Itasca Bank and Trust Co. - www.itascabank.com
* Applications by Design, Inc. - www.abdi.net
Click the more link below to learn more about these fine industry providers!
Bruce Gran CMCA, AMS, PCAM is Published
In CAI's Community Manager publication: January/February edition, page 15, "Tech Support." Intended for community association portfolio managers, the article by Bruce Gran CMCA, AMS, PCAM, briefly goes over technological advances for managers to keep organized while being mobile. This publication is distributed to over 28,000 managers in the US.
TOPS v3.2.1™>
- IMPORTANT! The AR Process collections procedure has been updated. Please see this month's support article for more details.
- In AR, Bills and Coupons, if 'Disable Do Not Pay Message' is check marked, the message at the bottom of Tear-Off invoices will now display "Please pay this amount"
- Corrected 1099 buttons to function according to their labels
- In View Logs and the License Manager, Terminal Services users will no longer be displayed with an additional TS number.
- Updated all reports in Pool Pass to a new reporting engine to be more compliant with other TOPS v3.2.1™ reports.
- Corrected an issue in Pool Pass that prevented some pictures from printing on passes.
- GL Reports in Report Defaults now supports multiple General Ledger layouts.
- We have added a new user-based option
called 'Use Classic Reports as Default' under the View menu. Checking
this option will define this user's preference to use Classic Report mode
when available.
Users will still have the option to change the report mode on a case by
case basis when printing a report.
- Corrected issue that prevented headings from being printed in saved Delinquency Trends reports.
- Corrected issue that caused the "Error Creating Report File" message to display when attempting to generate a Balance Trends or Budget Analysis report.
BETA Products >
Calendar
- Corrected an issue that prevented some events from saving in the Calendar.
- When you run Calendar, Scheduler will be automatically run.
- On Schedule a Task form -> IBS task -> Set Options tab, added TOPS Data checkbox item to Group Name list.
- Added Complete option to right-click menu for any event.
- Added End Date section to Recurrence tab on Add an Event form
- Added None option to the community list filter on upper right hand corner. When user selects None, only checked public or private or non-community based items are displayed
Unlimited Flex Data
- Flex fields are now separated into categories separated by tabs. The reports reflect the different categories by having category headers. The field arrangement screen is now totally different, and uses a drag-and-drop interface to move fields to their new order and location.
The above products are available in Public Beta format for our customers. If you are interested in testing a new TOPS product, please complete the sign in form here.
TOPS On-Site™ >
- TOPS On-Site™ now supports Unlimited Custom Data fields, complete with a drag and drop organizational structure and custom report designer!
- Updated the Form Letter program to work with the new Unlimited Flex Data.
- The Scheduler in TOPS On-Site™ has been updated to include the ability to schedule backups via the TOPS Internet Backup Service: Files and Folders.
TOPS Interactive Web Sites>
- Added an option to always save Email Bulletin Announcements so that they are not automatically purged from the Announcements feature after a period of time has expired.
- Administrators can now add, edit and delete "Login Request" approvers, having as many as they want.
- New questions may now be activated on the Login Request form to request or disable the requestor's Address or Lot/Unit #.
- Administrators can now set a "View Security Level" by resource to restrict access for reservations by specific resource.
- Administrators can now set a limit on the number of Reservations allowed per day, per resident at the Facility level in addition to the Resource level. So, for example, you can now restrict residents to no more than 3 tennis court reservations per day, regardless of the particular court.
- Reservations now "remembers" what date, facility and resource you had selected as you move around the Reservation feature so you do not have to re-select this information when you are ready to make a reservation.
- Administrators can now setup a custom "auto response" message, for each resource, that gets emailed to the resident upon requesting a reservation.
- When an eForm is submitted from the private area of the web site the email now includes the information about the person who submitted it from their profile.
- When a "recipient assignment" field is placed on an Eform, it is now always set as "Required" and a new "Please Select" option is added to the top of the list.
- A linking issue was corrected that prevented the Message Board from displaying properly when linking from a notification email.
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