April 2005

Welcome to onTOPS, an email magazine produced by TOPS to keep you informed about TOPS products and services.

In this issue:

• SALES: From the Sales Department
• BREAKING NEWS: Get Ready for TOPS Professional™
• WEB SITES: Ready to Do Some Spring Cleaning?
• APPEARANCES: TOPS Comes to You!
• SPECIAL: MICR Check Printing With Digital Signatures f or $990
• PRODUCT UPDATES: Internet Backup Web-Based Interface
• DOWNLOADS: Three New Themes for TOPS 2000™
• UPDATER: New Enhancements to TOPS 2000™
• SUPPORT: Companion Manuals

Enjoy your reading, and we will see you next month!

Read this issue and archived issues of the onTOPS E-Zine online at: http://www.topssoft.com/Articles/E-Zines

Feedback: insider@topssoft.com

SALES

From the Sales Department

The trade show schedule has been updated for the balance of 2005,hopefully we are coming to a city near you! Be sure to visit our booth at The Visionaries Forum, June 23, 2005 for the CAI – New England Chapter in Boston, MA. and don't forget to catch the presentation by Bruce Gran, CMCA, AMS, PCAM. Look for information about other TOPS speaking engagements coming up this year at various shows around the US.

We are looking forward to hosting the new User Focus Groups this summer, starting in Florida. The Groups will discuss various TOPS modules and topics of interest to the members of the Property Management Industry. As interest increases in our User Focus Groups we will expand to other regions. As soon as dates and locations are confirmed look for announcements to come your way from TOPS via email, phone calls, the newsletter and the monthly e-zines. Seating will be limited requiring reservations so stay tuned and don’t miss out.

All new TOPS clients will be offered an orientation to help them get started with the TOPS 2000™ program. The orientation will cover basic concepts to facilitate their transition to TOPS 2000™ and help them get up and running quickly.

New users will be introduced to the various TOPS tools such as; the online Help feature, downloadable manuals located at the TOPS web site, and the link to the TOPS knowledge base, all of which have been designed to help answer their questions as they begin using TOPS 2000™. They will be taken through the steps of logging in, selecting communities and the administrative functions of setting up users and passwords. They will receive an overview of all the modules in the basic system: Owner management, A/R and Collections, A/P and GL.

If, after the orientation a new client feels they would like more time, a training session with the option to customize an orientation specific to their needs can be scheduled for an additional fee.

To further facilitate new clients with their transition to TOPS 2000™, they will have their own support person for the 90-day free technical support period that comes with a purchase of TOPS 2000™.

Contact our sales department at 1-800-760-9966 or via email at sales@topssoft.com for more details.

BREAKING NEWS

Get Ready For "TOPS Professional™ "

At TOPS we are not only developing solutions to help our customers improve the day-to-day accounting processes associated with community management, we are also creating solutions to address the changes and needs of a growing business. Like so many of our customers, TOPS has discovered that time and communications management can be the hardest areas of a company to manage.

Therefore, we are proud to announce the upcoming release of our newest general release, TOPS Professional™ . This new version is specifically geared to larger scale management companies, with a host of communication and organizational tools such as a fully updated Group-based user and passwords system; a phone messaging program; a fully integrated calendar feature that allows you to schedule tasks within a community, by user, or company wide; a major upgrade to Job Streaming, including a completely redesigned user interface and job scheduling tools; and a major upgrade to Global functions such as Global AP.

Version 3.2.1 will also include a number of features of interest to all of our clients, including a new PDF report writer, updated Form Letter program, and Yearly Accounting functionality.

This new series of communication and time management tools wil be part of a general release of "TOPS Professional™ ", available August 1, 2005 via the TOPS Internet Updater. An early release will be made available by request on July 1, 2005. If you would like to receive an Early Release copy of Version 3.2.1 on CD, please complete the form located on our web site.

For more information about the features in TOPS Professional™ , contact our sales department at 1-800-760-9966 or via email at sales@topssoft.com.

TOPS INTERACTIVE WEB SITES

Ready to do some Spring Cleaning?

Do you have associations with boxes and boxes of information stored in closets, under desks or a backroom? A TOPS Interactive Web Site is the perfect repository for long term retention and storage of important community documents, historical photos, past issues of newsletters, vendor contracts and so much more.

What a terrific way to keep community officers and residents informed! Important information can be passed from one board to the next without any knowledge loss. A TOPS Interactive Web Site allows residents to see their 12-month payment history, to see their unit's history of ACC Violations and submitted Work Orders.

Just think of the convenience of downloadable documents e.g. Rules & Regulations, Bylaws and Forms. The information is available 24 hours a day 7 days a week, via the Internet reducing calls to the office, not to mention the savings on postage and paper with less snail mail and faxing!

How would you like to clear away those "AP Invoice" folders and tickler files from you desk?

TOPS 2000™ With Online A/P Approval, another great web site feature that's quickly gaining in popularity allows you to automate your AP Invoice approval process. Imagine not having to drag all those copies of bills to the board meeting and wait while each one is reviewed! Fully integrated with TOPS 2000, it's available to customers with a TOPS Interactive Web Site at NO ADDITIONAL COST!

Simply activate Online A/P Approval using the easy to use Setup Wizard. Setup your users, approval requirements, and dollar amount limits and start automatically uploading invoices from your TOPS 2000™ Accounts Payable system to your web site ready for Board Members to login and approve them!

Once approved the invoices get downloaded to TOPS 2000™ ready for you to print checks. Combine Online AP Approval with MICR Check Printing and Digital Signature for MICR Check Printing, now you’ve really streamlined your entire AP process.

Contact TOPS Web Sales at (800) 556-7852 or WebSales@topssoft.com for more details!

APPEARANCES

TOPS Comes to You!

05/19-21/05 - CAI's 54th National Conference, Tucson, AZ
06/23/05 - CAI NE, Visionaries Forum: Netick, MA
07/28-29/05 - CACM Anaheim, CA
09/12/05 - CAI Gold Coast Trade Show: West Palm Beach, FL
10/01/05 - CAI Nevada Trade Show: Las Vegas, NV
10/08/05 - CAI Washington Trade Show: Bellvue, WA
10/15/05 - CAI New Jersey Trade Show: Long Branch, NJ
10/15/05 - CAI Houston Trade Show: Houston, TX
10/27-29/05 - CAI National Leadership Conference, Atlanta, GA
11/11/05 - CAI West Florida, Trade Show: Sarasota, FL
11/19/05 - CAI New England, Trade Show: Burlington, MA

SPECIAL

MICR Check Printing with Digital Signatures for $990

The release of Online AP Approval for TOPS Community Websites is the third accounts payable time saver to be released by TOPS, the first two being MICR Check Printing and Digital Signature for MICR Check Printing.

When you have MICR Check Printing and Digital Signature for MICR Check Printing, you have the ability to print all of your AP checks on blank check stock, avoiding the need to have a different check stock for each association bank account. This means that you can print the MICR line at the bottom of your checks and also print a digitally scanned, authorized signature. Digital Signatures are encrypted and password protected, to insure that no unauthorized person could print a fraudulent check. Because the Digital Signature technology is so advanced, TOPS 2000™ owners must be on the most recent version of the program (Version 3.1, Release 364012T), prior to installing.

If you don't already have MICR Check Printing, and want to be able to use the Digital Signature function, you can now purchase both together for $990. If you already own MICR Check Printing and would like to add Digital Signature for MICR Check Printing, you can purchase it for $495. That’s a $100 savings on the combined retail pricing of MICR Check Printing and Digital Signature for MICR Check Printing or on the purchase price of Digital Signature for MICR Check Printing alone!

For more information on MICR Check Printing with Digital Signatures, contact our sales department at 1-800-760-9966 or via email at sales@topssoft.com.

DOWNLOADS

Three New Themes for TOPS 2000™

Have we got some dirt for you! This month our themes are: Life in
the Desert, Native Splendor, and Let's Play Ball.

To download them, click View, Theme Manager to access the program. When the Theme Manager appears, click the Download button next to the themes you wish to install. If you wish to uninstall a theme, click the remove button. Once you have finished installing themes, click the Done button to close the Theme Manager. To Switch Themes, click View, Themes, and select the theme you wish to apply.

For our customers using TOPS 2000™ in a central networked environment, you may have had some difficulty switching themes once they have been downloaded. This is because the theme data should be stored on the server, not your local machine. You can provide themes to your entire office by downloading all themes to one machine, and copying the C:\TOPS2000\THEMES folder from that machine to your data server. Once the themes have been copied over, your users can switch themes by clicking View, Themes.

PRODUCT UPDATES

Internet Backup web-based interface

Have you ever wanted to check on your Internet Backup Service account to verify when the last backup was made, or how much space a backup was taking up? Maybe you even wanted to change the backup type or even download it from a location where you do not have TOPS 2000™. Well then, you're going to like our newest enhancement.

We have now added a web-based interface for the Internet Backup Service that lets you review the backups you have on our servers. Here's how it works: go to the web site http://www.topsbackup.com. Click the Login button on the top menu bar. Enter your Client ID, username and password you used to setup your Internet Backup account. If you have forgotten your username and password, you can click the Forgot Login link to have it sent to you via e-mail. Once you login, you will now see a table on the left that displays each of your communities that re backed up and a summary of their backup information.

On this community listing table, communities are displayed up to 10 at a time. You can use the page buttons at the bottom of the table to go to different pages in the community list. As you can see, the community listing includes the community ID, the last date that the community was backed up, the total number of backups for that community, and the total size of all the backups for a community. There is also a View column. If you click the yellow arrow in the view column next to a community, it will bring up another table on the right that will display details on each of the backups for that community.

The table on the right will display all of the backups for the community you selected. As in the other table, it will display 10 results at a time, which can be paged through using the page buttons at the bottom of the table. This table will display the date of each backup, the backup size, the backup type (daily, weekly, monthly, yearly, permanent), and the name/description of the backup. You will also notice 2 icons in each row. One is a blue pencil icon in the far left column. This icon will put that backup's row into edit mode.

Edit mode will replace the display with text boxes and let you edit the backup type and the name/description of the backup. You can save the chanegs you just made by clicking the floppy disk icon or cancel them by clicking the red circle and line icon. Finally, you will also notice a yellow arrow pointing down in the far-right "Get" column. This will let you download the backup in ZIP format.

Once you click on this link, it will wait a few moments (it has to prepare the backup for download). Next, it will prompt you to either save or open/run the file (what exactly it displays will depend on your browser settings). You can save the file anywhere you want on your local computer, then open it.

The web-based interface for the Internet Backup Service is designed to help you access and utilize your Internet Backup account while you are at a location that does not have TOPS 2000™. From now on, you can check on your account to make sure that backups are being made and uploaded, no matter where you are.

UPDATER

New Enhancements to TOPS 2000™

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.

• Corrected Online AP upload so that City, State, and Zip pulls
  data from location of homes in Owner, Control Info.
• Corrected Internet Back Up so that backups larger than 8
  gigabytes no longer report as negative usage.
• Corrected Online AP Approval so that single quotes and double
  quotes nolonger prevent data from uploading.
• Corrected Duplicate Data Issue.
• Added to CC & R Control Info, the ability to change the charge
  code to a specific code.
• Added the option for Developer Resale in the Owner Maintain
  function.
• Corrected the add/waive charge function to allow more than 100
  transactions per day.
• Corrected printing check register for ALL Bank Accounts to display
  total disbursements at the end of each bank account listed.
• Corrected the Global AP MICR check issue.
• Corrected the issue with Activity Report detail option.
• Added the ability for Web Reports Manager to upload to multiple
  Internet servers per the community configuration.

Internet Backup

Internet Backup now contains a web-based interface that lets you review the backups you have on the TOPS servers.

The web-based interface for the Internet Backup Service is designed to help you access and utilize your Internet Backup account while you are at a location that does not have TOPS 2000™. From now on, you can check on your account to
make sure that backups are being made and uploaded, no matter where you are.

CC&R Documents Attachment

You are now able to attach files to the CC&R records. Attachments can be drawings, documents spread sheets, as long as the attachment is an electronic file that can be stored with the CC&R record it can be attached. Whatever the attachment type, be sure the necessary application/software needed to open and view the attachment is accessible from the users workstation.

For example if you wish to attach a Microsoft(R) Word document then the user's workstation must have access to an application capable of opening a Word (.doc) document.

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 http://www.topssoft.com/downloads.htm.
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 2000™.

SUPPORT:

Companion Manuals

Downloaded a new feature and now your not sure what to do next! Before you call TOPS Support you may want to check the manual.

The following Companion Manuals are available in downloadable PDF format from the TOPS web site:

• Tops Mobile PDA
• Windows Payroll
• MICR Check with Digital Signature
• Utility Billing
• Custom Report Export Utility
• Online AP Approval
• Online Payments

Go to http://www.topssoft.com, select Downloads, User Manual Downloads, scroll down to the Companion Manuals section and view the manual on line or print a copy for future reference!

Contact Us

Here is a list of some of the most common contact data for TOPS Software:

Designed by Property Management Systems Inc., d.b.a. TOPS Software. Copyright© 2005 Property Management Systems, Inc., 364-C Christopher Ave, Gaithersburg, MD 2879. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

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