onTOPS

Welcome to onTOPS, an e-zine produced by TOPS to keep you informed about our products and services. The month of April was a big one, as we held our bi-annual development summit where we discuss the future of our products, and where our development team will be going in the next six months. Our meeting this year was very successful as we prepare to release version 3.2 of TOPS 2000™ property management software. Version 3.2 will be the last big release for TOPS 2000™, as we are now beginning work on the next generation of TOPS, a version that will run online, as well as server/workstation based. Our Internet Services will be seeing a big leap in the coming months, as we continue to integrate the TOPS Community Web Site Service with our property management software. A number of exciting projects are under way, we will let you know more in the coming months!

We look forward to hearing your feedback about the e-zine. Please let us know what things you liked, what you would like to see, and any suggested articles by e-mailing us at Ezines@TOPSSoft.com. As always, enjoy your reading, and we will see you next month!

by Andrea Drennen 

onSpecial

TOPS 2000™ CCR/ACC Enforcement Module -
$100 off purchase price until May 31, 2004

The CCR/ACC Enforcement Module is a valuable tool to assist property managers in increasing the curb-appeal of their association(s). With the CCR/ACC Enforcement Module you can keep a record of each violation or architectural modification request by home, automatically send custom violation letters to owners based on user-defined violation criteria, receive automatic reminders of upcoming inspection dates, embed digital pictures into records and print letters automatically, keep a history of all enforcement actions taken, and much, much more.

Because the CCR/ACC Enforcement module uploads to a PDA, after your property inspection, you can synchronize your PDA with TOPS 2000™ and immediately start printing your violation letters. The synchronization will close the violation items that you closed in the PDA during your inspection and create the new violations noted.

Now, you can purchase the TOPS 2000™ CCR/ACC Enforcement Module for $495. That's $100 off the regular purchase price. To order the TOPS 2000™ CCR/ACC Enforcement Module, call TOPS Software sales at 800-760-9966 or e-mail us at sales@topssoft.com. Don't waste time; this offer expires on May 31, 2004!

Nicole Beal 

onSoftware

Digital Signatures Now Available for Everyone!

The limited release, beta test time for TOPS Digital Signature for MICR Check Printing is over. This add-on has been viewed, reviewed, and improved. Now, TOPS Digital Signature for MICR Check Printing is available for purchase, by all TOPS 2000™ customers, at the introductory price of $595.

Digital signatures are used with the TOPS MICR Check Printing system so the check is produced complete with the authorized signature printed on them, eliminating the need to walk printed checks around to get them signed. It can even handle printing two signatures, where required, or a combination of a digital signature and an actual signature. Checks are printed ready to send to the vendors with the appropriate signatures no matter whether the authorized signer(s) are in the office or not.

Take advantage of the special introductory price and order TOPS Digital Signature for MICR Check Printing now. To order, call TOPS sales at 800-760-9966 or e-mail our sales team at sales@topssoft.com.

Nicole Beal 

onTheUpdater

TOPS 2000™ Updates

Please be advised that the Internet Updater is restricted to customers on a current maintenance support agreement. If you are interested in our support plans, please go to http://www.topssoft.com/Support/MSA_plans.htm.

The following updates were added to the TOPS 2000™ Internet Updater in April:

General

• Added 'Email Account' option under the Setup menu.
• Global A/P menu option under Job Streaming is now correctly listed.

Owners

• Corrected issue with owner misplacement to prevent owners from other unselected communities loading to CondoCerts.
• Corrected Flex Data report by street to include all addresses.

A/R

• Added Utility Billing tab. Utility Billing program is currently under limited release, and will be available for purchase to all customers next month.
• Corrected reports screen so web report options correctly say 'Export to Web' instead of 'Export to File'.

CC&R

• Corrected Form Letter so violation actions will print the correct form letters based on the user definition.

Internet Services

• Added the Palm OS module to the web updater so Palm users can now update their Mobile PDA files online.
• Internet Backup Service will no longer accept zero byte uploads.
• Added new upload log display to TOPS 2000™ desktop. In the upper right hand corner of your TOPS 2000™ desktop, you will now see the dates and times of the last successful web site upload, and Internet backup of the selected community.
• Rearranged the 'Internet' menu in TOPS 2000™ to make navigation more user friendly.
  • Renamed 'Update Current Community' to 'Upload Current Community', and moved the menu item into the Web Sites submenu.
  • Renamed 'Update All Communities' to 'Upload All Communities', and moved the menu item into the 'Web Sites' submenu
  • Renamed 'Update Previously Selected Communities' to 'Advanced Upload Options' (This is the only location through which you may choose 'Update All Records', 'Re-Do Passwords', or 'Reinitialize Records'.
  • Renamed 'Upload Options' to 'Configure Community Uploads'.
• Added 'eRentPayer' submenu to the 'Internet' menu.
  • 'Community Management' allows one to select which communities to upload data to eRentPayer for online payments. (Only communities that have completed a payment application and been approved are eligible to upload to eRentPayer.)
  • 'Upload Now' uploads the owner account information from the selected communities to eRentPayer's secure server.
• Added 'eRentPayer' task type to Scheduler to allow automatic updates of owner account information to online payment interface.
• Added eRentPayer functionality to Lockbox program to allow processing of online payments.
• Added a better routine to handle proxy servers for connection purposes.

Utilities

• Added new utility to replace 'Rebuild Owner Access Data' routine. The new submenu, Rebuild Access Data, is available from the Utilities menu in TOPS 2000™.
  • 'Community List' option will allow one to recreate the community list. This is helpful if certain communities are not printing correctly in certain reports (such as CC&R or Work Order reports)
  • 'Current Community' option is the same as the original feature, and will rebuild the owner access data. This is helpful if you are missing owners from your web site, or unable to select/view owner information in Work Order, CC&R, Gate Security, or Pool Pass modules. All web site login names and passwords are now retained during this operation.
  • 'All Communities' option will allow one to rebuild the owner access data for every community in TOPS 2000™. This can be very useful when files get corrupted on a large scale basis, from a power surge, for example. All web site login names and passwords are retained during this operation.

How to Update Your Files

1. Make sure you are logged into the computer that will be performing the update. (If you are updating in a networked environment, update the server first, as a workstation, and then run the update on each workstation.)
2. If it is open, close TOPS on your computer.
3. Connect to the Internet and navigate to www.topssoft.com/Downloads.
4. Under "Program Updates" click the GO button.
5. Click Open, to run the update from the current location.
6. When the TOPS Web Updater appears, click the down arrow next to 'Select Module to Check' and Choose TOPS 2000.
7. On the bottom right, ensure that the "Workstation Only" option is selected.
8. Click the "Begin Update" button. (The system may prompt you for a User ID. If so, enter in your TOPS Customer ID)
9. Once the update is complete, you can close this window and re-open TOPS 2000T.

TOPS Programming Department 

onSales

Trade Show News

Finally, after almost 4 months, TOPS would like to announce the giveaway winner from the CAI - SE FL CA Day held January 10, 2004! The winner is Karen Narlow, an on site manager at Emerald Estates located in Weston, FL. Castle Management, Inc., a long time TOPS client specializing in higher end properties located in Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties, manages the association.

I will be heading out to Denver, CO this week in order to exhibit at the CAI - Rocky Mountain Chapter CA Day to be held Tuesday, April 27, 2004 at the Denver Merchandise Mart. This is the first time TOPS Software has exhibited at this event; I look forward to seeing our many clients in the area. Monday, April 26, 2004, I will be visiting the offices of Westwind Management to show them all the exciting new products we have to offer.

Community Associations Institute 53rd National Conference and Exposition will be held May 20 - 22, 2004 in San Diego, CA. The theme is, "One Community Embracing Change", debate, discuss and discover new ways to embrace change! TOPS will be participating in the vendor spotlight, Thursday, May 20, 2004, 1:30 - 2:00 PM in the exhibition hall. Our session, titled, "Does Your Business Stand Out From the Competition?", will center on taking an in-depth look at industry technology and how to take advantage of emerging technologies to make your business stand out from the crowd. I will discuss trends in association management, where association management technology is going in the next three years - and how TOPS will be there! The best part, I will give away a hundred dollar bill to a lucky attendee to the session.

Bruce Gran 

onSupport

Promaster Sales and Support Discontinued

TOPS purchased Promaster® Software in December 1995. At that time, Promaster® was a "state of the art" DOS based software package. But also in 1995, Microsoft released Windows 95® as a replacement for the DOS operating system. The handwriting was on the wall that Windows would replace DOS over the next few years. It was one of the factors in why the previous owners of Promaster® sold their product, rather than totally rewrite the software for Windows.

Over the past 8 years, we have continued to support and enhance Promaster® so that it would continue to function in a changing environment. During this time, we have released our Windows based software, TOPS 2000™, and developed a number of add-on modules and conversion tools to more closely emulate features in Promaster®.

Most Promaster® customers have now converted over to TOPS 2000™, and there is now too small a customer base to make it economical to continue providing technical support and maintenance of the programs, particularly because there are increasing compatibility issues with Promaster® working under newer versions of Windows® and with peripheral equipment, like printers.

So effective June 30, 2004, we are discontinuing all support for the Promaster® product. Likewise, no additional add-ons like Address Packs or Workstation Licenses will be sold.

The remaining Promaster® customers have a simple and affordable alternative by upgrading to TOPS 2000™. The upgrade includes a data conversion utility that will move ALL Promaster® data into TOPS 2000™ so that you go forward with all your accounting data and histories right at your fingertips. Call Sales at 800-760-9966 to request a free demo and more information on the TOPS 2000™ Software upgrade.

Jeff Hardy

onTheSpot

Customer Spotlight: HOAMCO

In 1991, Homeowners Association Management Company ("HOAMCO") was established to provide unsurpassed community association management services.

Since our inception, we have focused 100% of our efforts on the community association industry. We have made a commitment to do one thing and do it well! HOAMCO is known for quality not quantity.

Our focus has been to develop management services that promote the quality of life for community association members. One of the most vital services we are able to provide to our clients is access to their community web site. The journey begins at our own web site, www.hoamco.com, where our customers can view the many benefits of having a community web site via the "Community Demo Site." Here they can see first hand how to build a better sense of community through communication with such features as:

• Committee and board member listings
• Board meeting minutes
• Community newsletters and calendars
• Voting and surveys
• E-mail bulletins
• Privately-accessed owner accounts
  
  And, perhaps, best of all:
• Interactive service requests.

From the privacy of one's own home at whatever time is convenient to our customers, they can request information regarding their accounts, architectural guidelines, or association rules and regulations.

This feature is equally valuable to HOAMCO as it allows our staff to manage their time more effectively. E-mail responses can be allocated to a certain period of the day, allowing each staff member to do the proper research and devote the proper attention to our customer's inquiry, whereas an impromptu phone call or visit from a customer forms the basis for a hurried, and not always completely thought out, response.

This is only one example of the many ways in which our partnership with TOPS has proved beneficial to both our customers and our company.

Jane Whitley, HOAMCO
http://www.hoamco.com  

onLine

Bi-Annual Summit

These are exciting times in the TOPS Web Department! Our Sales, Support and Development teams met for their bi-annual summit to discuss additional integration between TOPS 2000™ and the association web sites, new web site functionality and how to continue to provide top-notch support! We send a big thank you out to those clients who have forwarded their suggestions! You'll be seeing many of your requests implemented within the next few calendar quarters!

If you're a TOPS client not currently using the association web site service, you're missing out! Our clients tell us that they have better retention of communities where they are able to provide this type of tight integration between their software and the web sites. Giving residents and Board Members access to information is the key cog in the communication wheel! Call us today at 1-800-556-7852 if you're interested in receiving information about the TOPS Association Web Site Service.

Susan Sanders 

Online Payment Application

Our online payment interface has been successfully implemented with over 100 associations. These communities are allowing residents to make payments online via credit card or e-checks.

Homeowners are happy with the interface because it allows them to make their payments when it is convenient to them. They can even set up scheduled automatic payments that will charge their credit card or write an e-check automatically each time dues are assessed. The server through which owners make payments is completely secure, and owners define their own login name and password that is completely separate from the login info on your community web site.

TOPS 2000™ users love the online payment interface too! Payments are automatically listed on the site, and are available for download in a lockbox format. You may define several different ways of receiving payment notification, from an email every time an owner pays online, to a batch report emailed to you when a group of payments hit the bank account. You can even run date specific reports online to see what payments were made in that time frame. The online lockbox file is available with a simply click of the mouse, and pulling the data into TOPS is as easy as changing a radio button in TOPS 2000™. One user commented that this feature was even easier than the old way of doing lockbox, and said she wished this had been available years ago!

In addition to the benefits listed above, management company owners and accountants love the online payment interface because it is free! Neither your management company nor your association is charged one penny for this service. All costs are passed to the homeowner in the form of a $2 transaction fee, plus 3% processing fee for credit card payments. And did you know you can even use this service for those communities that have not yet signed up for a web site? Yes, you can offer the online payment interface right through your TOPS Management Company site.

If you have not taken advantage of this incredible new feature, what are you waiting for? It doesn't get any better than this! Go to our web site at www.topshome.com, click on Downloads, and print out the 'Application for Online Payments' under the Contracts and Schedules category.

Andrea Drennen

offTopic

Bizarre Facts: 

The following nuggets, drawn from various sources, are unquestionably strange, weird, bizarre, trivial, outlandish and, occasionally, even a little upsetting. They're also all true.

• The first couple to be shown in bed together on prime-time TV were Fred and Wilma Flintstone.
• Los Angeles has about 500,000 more cars than people.
• It takes 17 muscles to smile, 43 to frown.
• Actor Bela "Dracula" Lugosi pantomimed the scenes of the demon dancing in the Disney film Fantasia.
• A whip-crack is actually a tiny sonic boom. The whip's tip moves so quickly it breaks the sound barrier.
• Banana oil has nothing to do with bananas. It's a petroleum by-product.
• Based on an iSwag survey, teenagers wearing Britney Spears-logoed merchandise were three times more likely to go to summer school than those who don't.
• The longest word that can be typed using only the letters from one row of the keyboard is "typewriter."
• One 75-watt light bulb provides more light than three 25-watt bulbs.
• The first "hello" badge ever worn at an event was in 1880 at the first annual Telephone Operators Convention.
• In Thailand, it's illegal to step on money.
• Baby robins eat approximately 14 feet of earthworms daily.
• Neither the USA's or Netherland's national anthems mention their countries once.
• A group of geese on the ground is a gaggle; in the air, a skein.
• There are more English-speaking people in China than in the U.S.
• The average American eats at McDonald's 1,811 times during their lifetime.
• You can actually buy dog-ear cement to help train the ears of certain breeds to bend the correct way.
• About 230 marriage licenses are issued each day in Las Vegas.
• Daniel Boone detested coonskin caps and never wore one.
• Natural gas has no odor; it's chemically added so people can detect leaks.
• Restaurants as we know them today were created after the French revolution to provide jobs for those who had been cooks and wait-staff for the aristocracy.
• Forty-four percent of male drivers tailgate to speed up the car ahead of them.
• People who work at night generally weigh more than people who work days.
• Robert E. Lee is still the only person to have graduated from West Point without any demerits.
• Whales have the slowest metabolism of any animal.

www.logomall.com/imprintPM/issues/winter-2003/ 

onCall

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