TOPS Home E-Zine

Issue #9 - November 2002

Inside TOPS Home:

1. TOPS Announcements
2. TOPS Web Sites Provide a Helping Hand
3. What's New in TOPS Community Web Sites
4. New Web Wizard in TOPS 2000™ v3.1
5. Spotlight: Riverview RV Resort
6. Support: Using Feature Descriptions
7. Support: Uploading New Homeowners
8. Call for Ideas--Your Input is Valuable

Announcements:

Welcome to TOPS Home, the web site e-zine for TOPS Community Web Sites. This month we will take you on a journey through TOPS Community Web Sites. We start you off with a helping hand and lead on to a list of the new features that have recently been added to TOPS Community Web Sites. Next we introduce you to the newest web site development in TOPS 2000™, the Web Wizard. Our spotlight for this month is Riverview RV Resort, a 55+ resort community in Arizona. Our support articles for the month detail instructions for using feature descriptions and uploading new homeowners. We conclude this issue with a request for your input in helping us make our product the best in the industry.

As always, enjoy your reading, and if you have any questions or comments feel free to call us at 800-556-7852, or e-mail us at WebSales@TOPSSoft.com. Support requests should be directed to WebSupport@TOPSSoft.com. We look forward to speaking with you!

 

Need a Helping Hand to Enhance Customer Service Levels?
TOPS Web Site Service is the Solution!

Many TOPS clients have taken advantage of the TOPS Community Web Site Service and are already reaping the rewards in enhanced customer service at all levels, accompanied by cost reductions at the management office. Our web sites reduce the burden on the manager by providing direct access to information for the community: owners, to their accounting data; board members, to financial statements; residents, to community documents and time sensitive e-mails and so much more!

This access results in fewer calls to the manager, allowing the manager to focus on tasks that are truly important to the whole association. In addition the web site empowers the residents, allowing them to solve their own perceived problems. Each of our time-saving features results in increased customer service levels to the association!

If you would like additional information on how to reap these rewards, please contact us at WebSales@TOPSSoft.com

 

What's New on Your Community Web Sites:

This section is dedicated to listing the new features that have been added to your web sites each month. The following changes were activated on all TOPS Community Web Sites as of November 1, 2002:

1. All users may now edit their own messages on the message board.
2. When adding an event to the events calendar, Administrators may now send an eMail Bulletin to ALL community members listed in the address book, instead of just a particular eMail Bulletin category.
3. Notes indicating how to use the new "drop down list" field type have been added to the eForm design screens.
4. The layout and formatting of eForms have been updated to make them more visually appealing.
5. Administrators may now delete pictures from any feature that allows pictures.
6. A new "header row" has been added to the Address Book Export feature to show what fields of information were exported. This makes for easier use in other programs.

 

New Web Wizard in TOPS 2000™ 3.1:

Uploading data from TOPS 2000™ to a TOPS Community Web Site entails three steps: setting up server information (a one -time task you won't have to perform again), uploading data from TOPS 2000™ to the web site (typically a weekly or monthly task), and generating the form letters to inform homeowners of their login names and passwords (typically a one-time task for each new community web site). While data uploads may be old hat for you, others may be rusty or brand new to some or all of these steps, and this is why we created the Web Wizard.

The Web Wizard has two significant new features. First, you will now have the option to select which owner information you wish to upload to your community website. This includes optional uploading of Owner Contact Information, Accounting Information, Work Orders, and CCR Violations & ACC Requests. Secondly, the new web wizard offers five different initial login schemes for your communities. Each of these schemes has unique advantages and disadvantages. Following is a list of the available login schemes:

• Standard Scheme: The Standard Scheme is the same scheme that is used in TOPS 2000™ version 3.04.
  Login=First 5 characters of owner's last name + 3 digit number (smith001)
  Password=TOPS Property ID
• Random: This new scheme is a completely randomized generation of characters, symbols, and numbers for both the login name and password. Each field is exactly 8 characters, no more nor less.
• Simple Schemes: These schemes offer a generic, easy way to inform owners of a uniform login name and password (e.g. via a newsletter).
  • Simple 1*: Login=Last Name + Street Address Number (smith1030)
    Password=Street Address Number (1030)
  • Simple 2*: Login=Last Name + Lot/Unit Number (smith103)
    Password=Lot/Unit Number (103)
  • Simple 3*: Login=Last Name + Account Number (smith10103)
    Password=Account Number (10103)

  * It is very important to note two things about the simple schemes.

  1. Since the login name must be unique for all owners to be able to log in to the web site you must ensure that the simple scheme you choose will not result in duplication. If you are a condo association, for example, you should not use simple scheme 1, since the street address number is the same for many owners. Thus, two owners with a last name of "Smith" living at 100 Easy Street would receive duplicate logins of "Smith100".
  2. Because these logins share a similar login structure, you must be advised of the security risk inherent in the simple schemes. Owners could easily figure out a neighbor's login information, and log in as that individual. Because of the sensitive nature of the data available from TOPS 2000™, if you choose to use a simple scheme, you should warn owners to change their password as soon as they login for the first time.

Although the wizard was designed to be used only once to set up each new community web site, you can use it each time you want to do an upload if you don't want to do them manually. The web wizard will be automatically shipped with TOPS 2000™ version 3.1. If you have questions, problems, suggestions, or need help with using the Web Wizard, please send an email to WebSupport@TOPSSoft.com.

 

Customer in the Spotlight: Riverview RV Resort

Riverview RV Resort is a self-managed, gated resort in Bullhead City, Arizona. The community was created as a planned development intended for the occupancy and enjoyment of residents 55 years of age and older. Their website, www.RiverviewResortHOA.org is an excellent tool for the promotion and development of this community.

To help promote the community to potential residents, the public side of the website has a complete listing of available facilities along with photographs. Interested parties can check out the 'Homes for Sale', 'RV Lots for Sale', and 'RV Lots for Rent' sections to find available locations within the community. The private portion of the website is even more full-featured than the area available to the public. Residents can easily access a detailed community calendar, view photos of community events, or participate in a community-wide survey. All of this is in addition to the owner-specific information that is uploaded from TOPS 2000™ on a weekly basis.

RiverviewResortHOA.org is an excellent example of a well-run community web site. Please check out the public side of their site at the address above.

 

Support: Using Feature Descriptions

Recently the ability for you to add your own "copy" to almost every page of your web site was implemented via Feature Descriptions in which you can add plain or HTML-coded text. We have updated our TOPS template from which new TOPS web sites are created to include default feature descriptions in the form of HTML-coded text on most pages. (Items such as What's New and custom modules such as Recipes, and Kids' Playgroups do not have feature descriptions). Therefore any new sites created in the last month or so will already have HTML code in the Feature Descriptions which you can modify or delete.

NOTE: You do not have to know HTML to use the feature descriptions functionality. If you type straight text into a feature description it will be displayed as such. However, if you want fancy, formatted text, pictures, or links you will need to use a little bit of HTML. If you have not used HTML before, there is a quick tutorial on HTML in the appendix of your community web site manual. Additionally there are a number of sites online that can teach you the basics of HTML. (Our favorite is HTML Goodies, but you can also find a lot of information at About.com) Of course, we are always available to help you out as well.

When using HTML code only include the code that would be found between the <body></body> tags. On our Demo site Ocean View you can see several examples of HTML-coded feature descriptions. Although it takes some time to create and perfect all these feature descriptions, they are an excellent way to get important information to your homeowners, and sure can help dress up a site.

So now you're able to do this yourself, but you can still rely on us to help you out, especially if you're HTML-challenged. Send your copy (formatted as you'd like it to appear) in a word processing document to WebSupport@TOPSSoft.com.

Support: Uploading New Homeowners

When an owner resale is performed, the new homeowner needs to replace the previous owner both in TOPS 2000™!, and in your TOPS Community Web Site. This poses an interesting problem for the address book on the community website, as the password for online functionality is tied to the property rather than the homeowner. Thus, in order to set a new login name and password for the new owner, a few key steps must be performed. Follow the steps below to reset the new owner's website login:

1. Open TOPS 2000™, and click Owner, Maintain.
2. Navigate to and open the the property with the new owner.
3. Check the option labeled "Disable Web Interface". This will delete the old owner from the address book.
4. Perform a manual upload of all owner data to the web site.
5. In TOPS 2000™, return to the property record in Owner Maintain, and uncheck "Disable Web Interface". This will activate the new owner.
6. Click "Utilities", "Rebuild Owner Access Data".
7. Perform a second manual upload.
8. Log on to the Internet and load the community website.
9. Under the Admin Only heading, click "Address Book Report", and create a report containing Name, Login Name, and Password. You should be able to confirm in this report that the old owner has been removed and the new owner has been added with the correct login name and password.

Once you have completed the steps above, you should be able to confirm the existence of the new owner in the address book of the Community Web Site. You should also see that the old owner has been removed from the site.

 

Call for Ideas--Your Input is Valuable:

As you have seen in this and previous issues of The TOPS Home E-Zine, TOPS Software is dedicated to providing you with the best web site service in the industry. To achieve this goal, we are constantly adding new features to our community web sites and to the TOPS 2000™ Internet functionality. We have planned a developer meeting in January to go over all of the requested updates and determine which ones will be included in the software and online. If there is a feature or change that would make your life easier, please send your feedback to WebSupport@TOPSSoft.com. We keep track of every suggestion we receive, and many of these have already made their way into TOPS Community Web Sites!

 

Did you know that TOPS Software will provide you with a free
community web site  CD demo?  Follow this link to apply for your free demo today!

 

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About the Authors

Lucy Fox is your Community Web Site Support Representative
Andrea Drennen is the Director of Publishing and Standards at TOPS Software
Susan Sanders is the Lead Sales Representative for the TOPS Community Web Site Service

 

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