onTOPS EZine

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 Web Sites, now processing online payments for over 5900 communities. To learn more about how you can receive payments online for your community, contact websales@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.

TOPS University is a new TOPS Internet training program, which offers all TOPS users the chance to learn the ins and outs of the TOPS modules and functions. See our course schedule in this issue of the onTOPS Ezine, or check out the web site:
www.topsuniversity.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, 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.

Articles from TOPS Software:

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

TOPS Comes to You!

CACM’s 9th Annual Northern California Law Seminar & Trade Show – A Smashing Success!
This fabulous event was held on January 31st and February 1, 2008 in Oakland, CA. I look forward to this trip each year as the show just gets better and better...

User Conference 2008
2008 will be a busy year for TOPS Software. We are in the planning stages for a series of User Conferences to be held all over the country. A User Conference (not to be confused with training) is an interactive session for TOPS users and TOPS personnel to go over all the new features in the program, the various areas on our web site, and all the related services we offer...

U.S. Bank/TOPS Software User Conference - June 25, 2008, Long Beach, CA...

CAI Suncoast Chapter CA Day - March 7, 2008, Clearwater, FL...

CAI National Conference & Exposition - April 30 to May 3, 2008, Disney World Contemporary Resort, Orlando, FL...

[More]

March Courses At TOPS U

• ACCNT-303 The Collections Process - Wednesday, March 5 at 10:00 AM and 2:00 PM EST
• IBS-101 Internet Backup Service - Tuesday, March 11 at 10:00 AM and 2:00 PM EST
• ACCNT-401 Customizing Financial Reports - Wednesday March 12 at 10:00 AM and 2:00 PM EST
• NCS-101 New Community Setup - Wednesday, March 19 at 10:00 AM and 2:00 PM EST
• ADM-101 User Security - Wednesday, March 26 at 10:00 AM and 2:00 PM EST

[More]

Class size is limited, so sign up early! Visit our site, www.topsuniversity.com, for registration information and more details.

Vendor Spotlight: Specialty Markets Banc

Specialty Markets Banc provides an exceptional combination of industry expertise, innovative technology, personal attention, and customized solutions to benefit homeowner associations and property management companies of any size. Since our customer service team is dedicated exclusively to homeowner associations and property management companies, we can customize our products and service levels to meet your individual needs...

[More]

Get New Employees Up to Speed with an Orientation from TOPS

Do you have new employees? Do you have a need for a refresher class? TOPS Software has just the solution for you...

[More]

What Are We Working On?

In the last issue I reviewed some of the major enhancements we released in 2007 and some of our plans for 2008. In this article I am going to expand on some of the items we are working on in the first quarter of 2008.

Enhanced Reporting for the CCR/ACC Enforcement and Work Order modules
With the release of these two features you will now be able to email work orders which has been a long requested feature by our customers. Along with this enhancement you will also be able to choose your output format of PDF, Excel, HTML, Rich Text Format (RTF). At the same time we are correcting some of the issues that have been reported by our customers.

Enhanced global CCR/ACC Enforcement functionality for TOPS v3.2.1™ an TOPS On-Site™
We have taken our global features in the CCR/ACC Enforcement module of TOPS v3.2.1™ and expanded them to also work in our TOPS On-Site™ product. This enhanced capability will provide TOPS On-Site™ users with the same ease and flexibility within the CCR/ACC Enforcement module as TOPS v3.2.1™ users. We have also incorporated some of your requests to enhance the global features within the CCR/ACC Enforcement module...

[More]

Eve 'n You Can Find Answers to Simple Questions
"All By Myself"

Today boys & girls we're gonna learn about "Trees"
*trails off into song*

Read on and it will become clearer now the rain is gone...

WOW, TOPS Support has been overflowing with calls lately!!! Support has been returning calls in order they are received by day but geeze on the wait !!! We're working 9 am to 8 pm non-stop to get to you guys. Believe it or not, most of the calls have been general info & how to questions. Most of them have had simple answers. If only there was only a manual somewhere that gave me that little step I was missing...

*le sigh*

BUT THERE IS!!!!! YAY!!!!!

In your very own TOPS Software at the top of the screen,
Click on the option for HELP,
In the dropdown click on HELP CONTENTS,
For you people out there with even less time to wait than that simply click the F1 shortcut button on your keyboard...

[More]

Corporate Corner: Partnerships

For many years now TOPS Software, LLC and AtHomeNet have enjoyed an exciting and growing partnership which has benefited our mutual customers. The TOPS Software/AtHomeNet partnership brought the first "interactive" web sites to market in 2000. Since that time we have designed over 1400 web sites that have benefited our clients in numerous ways...

[More]

Community Web Sites: Once A Pleasure, Now A Necessity

It used to be that a manager's prime objective was to make sure that properties operated smoothly and efficiently. With changes taking place in the industry rapidly, communities are driven by necessity to evolve and become more sophisticated. The title of Property Manager has become Association Manager…and for a good reason. Association managers not only manage the processes of communities, they also play a large role in protecting the value of the association. While the value of a community used to be focused on physical assets, now it includes the reputation and image of the association in a virtual world...

[More]

Introducing TOPS Web Site Integration Training

The User Profile stores information on a single owner or resident. This information is initially uploaded from TOPS, although residents do have the option to add additional personal information.

The following fields are uploaded from TOPS v3.2.1™ initially, when an owner is added to the address book...

[More]

Owner Resales and How they Affect Online Payments

TOPS v3.2.1™ has a special feature built into the Owner module to handle Owner Resales. The Owner Resale feature splits the payment history between the previous owner and the new owner. That way, you have an accurate history of the charges and payments that go with the previous owner while the new owner has only those charges and payments from the settlement date forward. It is very important to use the TOPS Owner Resale function when a home has sold so you keep the owner payment history with the correct owner...

[More]

News & Notes:

* Welcome to Eran Shay, who has joined the TOPS Software team as a Software Developer. [More]

* Online Payment Customers: All new accounts for Online Payments will no longer have a $1 set up fee - it will be free. A $1 transaction will be run through the system to make sure the account is properly set up, then the $1 will be refunded.

TOPS Program Updates:

How to Update Your Files

TOPS v3.2.1™>

- Internet Updater: Enhanced functionality of the Internet Updater routine.

- Calendar: Updated holidays to include 2008 and 2009.

- Plug-Ins: Updated screen in Plug-Ins module.

- AR: Owner AR Activity report. Now excludes previous owners with 0.00 balances and no activity.

- Payroll: Process Payroll. Resolved an issue when Calculating Payroll across multiple departments.

- AR: Bills & Coupons. Itemized Statements. Added in prepaid balance figures.

- AR: Collection > Process Collections. Resolved issue answering prompt to 'Print letter for both Owner Alt Address and Property Address, if Alt Address is used?'.

- Menu Change: Utility menu. Added "Hand Held Utility" menu option for previous version of the Hand Held program. "Mobile Device Utility" will open the new TOPS Mobile Manager program.

View More Updates >>

TOPS Interactive Web Sites>

- Those who approve reservations now have the option to add a comment to the approval email when replying by email to the reservations requester.

- Administrators now have the option to completely hide various sections of the "User Profile Area" from resident view including: Profile pictures, Alternate Address, Child Information, Miscellaneous Information and Additional Information.

- Administrators now have the option to automatically approve Login Requests if the email address in the request exactly matches one already in the Address Book. Email websupport@topssoft.com to have this enabled on your site(s).

- Vendor ratings and user notes are now displayed within the Vendor Report.

- When using the Vendor system, emails are now automatically sent from the email address of the user currently logged in as opposed to sending the email from the administrator email address.

- With a request logged in support, users will now have the ability to change the font of the text displayed in horizontal menus. To enable this feature, please send an email to websupport@topssoft.com and request it for your site.

- When reviewing a reservation for approval, the "Decline" screen now allows the Administrator to click on the name of the person requesting the reservation to view their user profile.

View More Updates >>

TOPS Mobile Manager>

- Several new updates released...

View Updates >>

TOPS MaintCo>

- Several new updates released...

View Updates >>