In Perspective

TOPS Software enhances Flex Data to Unlimited User Defined Fields

We listened – to both suggestions from our user groups and also to the change in the community association industry! Having been in this industry for upwards of 18 years, I have personally seen many changes in the way we do business. In the past, we community managers, both onsite and portfolio, were “physical” property managers; the accounting was typically outsourced to an accounting or CPA firm. With the advent of better PC’s and good programs like the ones from TOPS, financial transactions and reporting were brought in-house – this was a major change.

As the industry has grown, so too have our responsibilities as managers, now with the added element of information management. TOPS has addressed this most recent change in the industry with the enhancement of our Flex Data feature in the Owner Database. “Flex Data” offers the ability to create user defined fields, which greatly adds to the flexibility to track whatever information an association and/or management company needs, to perform its contractual or fiduciary responsibilities.

With this enhancement you can now define an unlimited number of fields, and even specify the type of field you’d like, to further customize the information being tracked. There are many field types to choose from, including text, number, date, checkbox, pick list, email or web link, and more! The new Flex Data feature includes the ability to organize your fields via a tab structure which you also define and place in the order you wish.

It’s great to track said information but if you cannot access it or better yet create reports, what use is it? In the current form, you can access the Flex Data via the property with an up or down arrow. The new Flex Data program has a search feature, which can be used to search all Flex Data fields within the community for specific information. We’ve also incorporated a report writer which allows the user to create reports and even filter the information so now you can receive a report which includes only the information that you’ve requested!

The Viper project, which is the next version of our programs, will be incorporating more CRM (customer relationship management) best practices and principles.

By: Bruce R. Gran, CMCA, AMS, PCAM