If you're not taking advantage of our excellent online Training than you're missing out on learning new ways to get the most out of TOPS. As a TOPS user you can pay to attend a class for just $100/class -OR- your organization can subscribe to unlimited monthly classes for that same $100!

After the cut, we tell you about the new classes that were added to the catalogue this month, as well as a course catalogue for the month of May...

This was the first year TOPS has tried the panel format at the User Conference, and we were all a little anxious that it should go well. As it turned out, we had absolutely nothing to be worried about. The panel was one of the most funny, insightful and informative sessions of the conference. We got a great look behind the curtain where the wizards are hard at work. After the cut, check out a transcript of the Questions and Answers, along with pictures and a special treat - a poster sized version of the hilarious comic "The TOPS Development Process", drawn by our very own Wayne Drennen...

The second day of the user conference has dawned as fabulously as yesterday. The clouds in the sky are so puffy and white, it looks like they were painted by an artist. My husband and I call this a Simpsons sky because it looks like the animated skies on that show (look it up!).

The first class of the day is the TOPS OnPoint Hybrid class, presented by Nicole Beal, Director of Professional Services. She is the one that coordinates the conversion, implementation, setup, and training of each new TOPS OnPoint customer, so she is uniquely qualified to show us the hybrid and all it can do. After the cut, I'll give you an overview of the class along with the questions and answers from the session...

 

The first step for user conference attendees is to decide what classes to attend. There are three or four classes going on simultaneously during the 6 training sessions that are spread out over two days; so that's a lot of classes to choose from! After the cut I tell you which classes l'll be attending. Remember that all of the courses from the User Conference are available through our TOPS Training, where you can train your entire organization in unlimited classes for the cost of just one class per month.

The weather is beautifully sunny and warm (but not too warm!) here in downtown St. Petersburg Florida as we kick off the 2012 TOPS User Conference. The morning has begun with the kickoff session where we were introduced to the key executives from TOPS Software: Jeff Hardy, President; Dave Black, senior Vice President; and Mike Hardy, Vice President. They gave a presentation to fill us in on the TOPS 'State of the Union'. 

After the cut we have a breakdown of the session, plus the full dialogue from the Q&A at the end.

After the opening ceremonies, we break out into 3 groups for a free-form question and answer period. The breakout session groupings are Accounting, Management and Technical. I opted to sit in on the Accounting Breakout, which was moderated by Deb White, one of the trainers from our Professional Services division, with assistance from Cande Estrella, Director of Technical Support, and Kim Repass, Support Team Lead. Following is a sampling of the questions and answers from the session:

I decided for my first class of the day to sit in on the TOPS Go! class, taught by Nicole Beal. The class was very informative, both from the training content, and the Q&A session at the end. This is one of the new classes that has been added to the TOPS training subscription, and I highly recommend that you check it out for the full content. I have included a brief overview of the content, along with the questions and answers from the session:

Deb White presented the class on the new AP Invoice imaging currently in QA at TOPS Software. Even in it's beta state, the program is quite impressive, giving a new look to vendor history, supporting scanned invoice images, and more! This program (and the training class on it) are scheduled to hit the live software within the next two months. Read after the cut for an overview of the session...

A number of excited user conference attendees joined Deb White at the new class featuring the Enhanced Bills and Statements program. If you aren't familiar with it, enhanced bills and statements allows you to streamline and customize the look and feel of the AR process for billings to homeowners. This class turned out to be just as exciting as the hopeful attendees had hoped it would be. We got a slew of great tips and tricks for using the program, and Deb ended the session with a very helpful Q&A session, which I have faithfully included here for you...

In 2011 TOPS President, Jeff Hardy and VP of Sales Mike Hardy participated in 9 forums nationwide to discuss technology trends affecting the Community Association management industry and provide tips on how to use this technology to better the industry.

AMLF has created a YouTube video that showcases the speakers and topics that we covered this year. They've also announced tour dates for 2012...

Last week, the entire crew (with a few exceptions) got together at Brighthouse Network Stadium where the Phillies do their spring training to talk TOPS, watch a little baseball and have a whole lotta fun. We've got photos of all your favorites, plus the first group shot we've had in years! Sigh... I remember when we had less than a dozen employees. Now we can barely fit in the picture! 

Unless you have been living under a rock with the guys who don't know about GEICO, you have probably heard from us about the free webinar series that TOPS has been giving that's intended to help you get more out of your TOPS products. This month, we will be conducting the second installment of this series, covering timesaving techniques in Accounts Receivable, Bills and Coupons, Collections and Global Reports. You most definitely do not want to miss this one! 

Some of the things you will learn in this webinar:

 - Maximize your use of the Form Letter program to create advanced form letter templates  - Set up recurring charges and late fees  - Determine when you should use recurring batch adjustments  - Create custom layouts for Bills and Statements  - Expand your data output with Global Reports  - Insure compliance with new laws on charges

All this and so much more is included in this FREE webinar. Don't miss out! Last time all seats were filled, so be sure to register early for this amazing...

One of the exciting new products TOPS has recently brought to market is the high speed check scanner. This product, developed in conjunction with Heartland Payment Systems, allows a management company to process checks quickly, accurately, and conveniently within TOPS Professional.

In a recent case study with Elite Management Associates, Inc., Akleema Ali, Bookkeeper, shared with us how the new check scanner is saving her company time and effort... 

By now, everyone has gotten back home and returned to their normal routines after last week's TOPS User Conference. We would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who attended. 

We had enormous participation from our clients that attended. You reminded us why we got into this business in the first place. It feels great to see the enthusiasm on your faces and hear the myriad of ways in which you are using TOPS products! 

Our partners and presenters were so generous in your support and brought your own enthusiasm to the conference. We could not have done this without you! 

We've compiled a couple of slide shows with pictures from the show! Check them out along with more details after the cut...

Over lunch, Mike Hardy, Director of Sales and Tony Mechas, Director of Product Development showed off TOPS OnPoint, the latest offering from TOPS Software. first they unveiled Pam's story, a YouTube video that outlines the benefits of using OnPoint. After the movie, Mike andTony brought up OnPoint on the big screen and went over the many cool features of the product. Afterward, they opened the floor for questions.

We have the full account after the cut...

It's a beautiful sunny morning here in St Petersburg Florida for day two of the 2011 TOPS User Conference! Training classes have been going on all morning, with our customers learning all about how to maximize their use of TOPS Software products.

Last night everyone had a ball at dinner; for entertainment we had dueling pianists playing a variety of pieces by request. The pianists interacted with conference attendees, and many got out on the dance floor and even on the stage...

Today's activities are mostly training classes for various TOPS products, services and partners. I don't want to go into too much detail on any of the content, since you should really check them out yourself at www.topsuniversity.com.

I am sitting in Diana Krawl's TOPS iMail class at the moment. The classroom, one third of a large banquet hall, is standing room only. Everyone wants to know about this exciting new product, and get into the nitty gritty details of how it works. Kevin Hardy, the developer that wrote much of The TOPS iMail is in the session with us, answering questions and getting feedback from attendees on the service...

Live from the TOPS User Conference

This year we are live blogging the user conference. No editing, no formatting, just the 411 on what's happening here in St Petersburg Florida!

The conference kicked off today like it was on fire. Literally! Our opening ceremony was interrupted by the hotel's fire alarms going off! Luckily it was nothing, but it did give all of our attendees a chance to get outside in the beautiful Florida sunshine and chat together for a few minutes!

We've got a full accounting of the opening ceremony after the cut...

Live from the User Conference

There were three breakout sessions this morning, where attendees could ask questions and get answers on any of three topics: Accounting, Management and Technology. I attended the Accounting Q&A session, held by Debbie White, Corporate Trainer.

Read after the cut to see the full script...

After we did the Fire Alarm Shuffle (A fireman told us we could go back inside, and after everyone shuffled back in to the conference room, the hotel manager said the fire chief had not cleared re-entry and sent us all back outside again!) Mike Hardy got on stage to talk about TOPS OnPoint, TOPS newest online management offering.

This was just a small taste to whet everyone's appetite for the big event tomorrow afternoon, and that's exactly what it did! Read after the cut to see the details...

 Tomorrow's the big day we have been planning for these last several months! Hundreds of customers, dozens of TOPS partners and vendors, and nearly every TOPS employee is flocking to St Petersburg Florida for the 2011 annual TOPS User conference...

The 2011 TOPS User Conference is just two weeks away! So much work goes into planning this event, from working with the hosting space, lining up the agenda, marketing the event, contacting partners, and troubleshooting all the little thiings that happen. Needless to say we (I) am glad it's almost here!

The AMLF Tour kicked off today in Atlanta, Georgia. There are still 8 more cities in the tour so be sure to register to learn how to reevaluate your business strategies to stay competitive in today's market.

Learn more about this exciting opportunity and check out some pictures from today's event!

The number of offerings for the 2011 TOPS User Conference keeps growing, as does our partner list! Everyone who is everyone in the Community Association Industry will be there! Will you?

Check out our two latest additions to the agenda:

The Webinar on 1/12/2011 which presented the new TOPS remote check deposit service was well attended and provided everyone with a better understanding of how this service streamlines the check processing work flow for TOPS users. The demo portion of the Webinar showed the one step process to scan, record, archive and deposit without leaving your desk.

Join TOPS and our partners April 7th and 8th, 2011 for two full days of sessions, classrooms, networking, one-on-ones with TOPS staff and fun. Whether you’re new to TOPS or are a veteran TOPS user, this User Conference will help you get the most from your TOPS solution by focusing on new features and under-utilized features. To accommodate users of all types TOPS will be offering tracks for accounting users, property manager users, and, new this year, executives!

Sign up before January 31, 2011 to get 10% off!

TOPS will be hosting a webinar on Wednesday, January 12th at 2pm to discuss TOPS' new remote check deposit service, offered in conjunction with Heartland Payment Systems, which can make processing payments in TOPS a snap.  In one step you can now scan, record, archive and deposit and never have to leave your desk. Sign up today to learn about these new capabilities for TOPS Professional 4.0.

 

On August 3, 2010 TOPS presented a webinar showing the highlights of the new TOPS Professional version 4.0. The webinar was presented to better inform customers about the benefits of TOPS new software version and also to counter misinformation about the new version. This webinar was TOPS best attended webinar yet with close to 300 customers registering.

Trade Show Report: West Coast Account Manager Andrew Woytowich and Vice President of Sales Mike Hardy showed off the new features in TOPS Professional and a sneak preview of TOPS OnPoint at the CACM conference in Orange County California this week.