TOPS Home E-Zine; Issue #38 - July 2005

Welcome to TOPS Home, the web site e-mail magazine (e-zine) for the TOPS Community Web Site Service.

In this issue:

SALES DEPARTMENT: Is Your Community "Boomer" Ready?
WHAT'S NEW: Four New Updates to your TOPS web site(s)
UPCOMING EVENTS: Live Chat
JUST FOR FUN: Fun on the Internet Is Not Just for Kids
NEW AND NOTES: Send Reports to Community Web Site in PDF Format, Online Support Center
SUPPORT TIPS: Using the Statistics Menu
CONTACT: Contact Information for TOPS Software

TOPS Web Sales: (800) 556-7852 WebSales@topssoft.com
TOPS Web Support (800) 899-5689 WebSupport@topssoft.com

SALES DEPARTMENT

Is Your Community 'Boomer' Ready?

Baby Boomers are the first generation to have transitioned their use of computers and the Internet from the work place to home as a personal resource. Approximately 84% of Boomers with access to a computer go online regularly, almost as heavily as younger adults. By contrast, only 34 percent of older Americans go online.

Unlike their predecessors, boomers are more likely to turn to the Internet for any question. Whether it's to research a product, pay bills, get driving directions or do some online holiday shopping, they know the Internet is open for business or pleasure 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and they take advantage of it. They are also more inclined to use e-mail as a quick way to keep in touch with friends and family.

Every day over 10,000 Baby Boomers are turning 55. And like their predecessors, they are selecting CIC’s (Common Interest Communities) because they want a maintenance-free lifestyle, freeing them up to travel, socialize and pursue the active lifestyles they want to lead.

Do you offer a Community Web Site with easy to access information, and services? Via a TOPS Interactive Web Site residents can:

Check Current Owner Account balance
View Last Payment Info
Pay Association Dues Online
View Contact Information on record
Track CCR Records
Track Work Orders
And More!

TOPS Interactive Web Site is also a great way to dissemeninate valuable information to your community.

To learn more about TOPS Interactive Web Sites and how they benefit you, the HOA Officers, and residents
go to www.topshome.com or Contact TOPS Web Sales at (800) 556-7852 or websales@topssoft.com.

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WHAT'S NEW

Four new Updates to your TOPS web site(s):

In eForms: you now have the ability to add an attachment to the eform when you submit it. (there is an "add attachment" field you can add to the form).
In eForms: you can now design a form with a drop-down selection box called Directed Recipient Field. Then, based on the particular item the respondant chooses in that drop-down box, the eForm is forwarded to a specific recipient. For example: on a PM site, when a resident fills out an eform for an accounting request, they choose the name of their community from a drop-down box, and then the eForm is directed off to the property manager for the community they choose.
Site Search: is now integrated with the address book search; so the main site search feature searches address book as well as the other features.
Address book Super Search: There is a new "Address Book Search" BOX imbeded on the Address Book page (like the site search box). Now to search in the address book, you simply type the name or address or word into the box. This replaces the old method of having to click on "search the address book" to go to the template page, then scroll through the address book template and finally type in the word/name/address.

If you have any questions about how these enhancements work please contact TOPS Web Support at WebSupport@topssoft.com or (800) 899-5689.

UPCOMING EVENTS

Live Chat - Interactive Web Site

We had another great chat this month. The topic was Promoting Your Web Site. There were some terrifc ideas shared on how to create exposure and interest within your community as well as a lot of terrific information about search engines and how to maximize your exposure to the public at large. The transcript of this chat is available on our Administrator Forum web site under Documents.

Our next scheduled live chat for TOPS Web Site Administrators on Thursday, August 11th at 2pm EST. The topic will be Interactive Web Sites with the focus on "Interactive." We will discuss how an interactive web site can foster a genuine sense of community by keeping your residents interested and coming back.

Please let us know that you will be attending so we know how many people to expect. You can email your RSVP to websupport@topssoft.com, or submit it on the site at www.topshome.com/admin. You must have a login name and password to access the site and attend the chat, so be sure to visit the web site and request your login info today.

JUST FOR FUN

Fun on the Internet Is not Just for Kids!

While computer and Internet usage is growing rapidly among the 55+ age group, the most common reason they go online is to seek information. Active adults typically don't think to look for fun stuff for themselves, because even they have bought into the stereotypical myths associated with aging. How many times have you heard the expression 'Use it of Lose It'? John W. Gardner, American author and one time Secretary of Health, Education and Welfare said it best: "To stop growing is to go to seed." The following links will take your active senior residents to fun sites where they can flex their brains, have a some laughs, or take a trip or two down memory lane. Many of the links below are not just for Seniors, feel free to add them to the 'Hot Links' section of your community web site.

Fun Links

www.seniorsummerschool.com Summer School and Camp is not just for kids and can be loads of fun. At this site your Active Adult residents will learn about some great and affordable opportunity to enrich their summer through leisure, learning in retirement, and discovery, there are locations across the U.S. and Canada.
www.elderhostel.org The ElderHostel is an organization providing incredible learning and travel programs all over the world for Active Adults. Their programs include intergenerational programs, as well as programs for grand-parents and their grand-children. They offer creative workshops that include folk art, glass art, painting, wood carving and more. Many of these workshops can be shared with the "grand-friends" creating memories that will last a lifetime. There are Service programs that include Art and Culture Curations projects, or Global Volunteer projects such as teaching English in Xi'an, China or Ostuni, Intaly.
www.radiolovers.com These free old time radio shows take you back to the days when families used to sit in their living room each night to listen to radio shows such as Abbott and Costello, Superman, Groucho Marx, The Avenger, Gunsmoke, Sherlock Homes, and many others. Most of these shows went off the air with the arrival of TV. Now you can find them websites such as this one and on weekly nostalgia radio broadcasts worldwide.
www.webcrosswords.com: Test your metal and knowledge with the hundreds of crossword puzzles on the Universal Crosswords site.
www.jigsawland.com: Online jigsaw puzzles can provide hours of fun and entertainment. They range from easy to complex.
www.libraryspot.com: For your residents who may want to tackle the long list of reading they promised they would get to when they retired. Online Library sources as well as a directory of public and specialty libraries worldwide can be found at.

Publications

The following publications are all geared toward the 55+ community and available online. They are a convenient resource for news and trends for the mature market. There are articles on entertainment, books, travel, products and services.Your residents will find information about health, finance, real esatate, cooking, hobbies, sex life, gardening, education, and vacations. Many of these sites Include links to even more sites of interest to the Active Adults in your community.

Feel free to add these links and any of our Helpful Hint information on your community web site. If you have some great ideas for web site content that you'd like to share, please drop us a line at insider@topssoft.com

Disclaimer: The links are provided as a service to you and are not sponsored by or affiliated with this web site or under the control of TOPS Software. We are providing these links to you only as a convenience, and the inclusion of any link does not imply endorsement by TOPS Software of the site nor any views or opinions expressed or implied on a site.

NEWS & NOTES

Send Reports to Community Web Site in PDF format

As you may have heard, TOPS Software will soon be releasing version 3.2.1 of our TOPS 2000™ association management software. This new version has dozens of new features for TOPS users, but there is one feature in particular that affects web site administrators directly, which I think you will be very excited about.

The Web Reports Manager was introduced approximately 3 years ago. In this system, customers have limited options as to what reports can be uploaded to a web site, and the upload process must be performed within the Web Reports Manager in TOPS 2000™ on a community by community basis. Additionally, a few of the uploadable reports have had issues such as missing headers, due to the HTML conversion routine that the reports undergo before being sent to a web site. Rather than trying to update an old system, TOPS Software has opted replace the existing report upload functionality with a new, improved process.

In TOPS 2000™ version 3.2.1, you will have the option to print any report from any module directly to your community web site. The upload of the report happens immediately, as soon as you select "Send to Community Web Site" and click the "Print" button. Reports are uploaded in PDF format instead of the old HTML format, so headers, formatting, alignment, etc. all transfer over exactly the same as if you had printed the report to the printer in your office. You will continue to have the benefit of the Web Reports Manager functionality for deleting reports, removing items from the web site, or attaching documents or images to reports, but you will no longer need to use this interface to print your reports.

The Job Streaming module has been updated to allow a saved set of report defaults to be automatically printed to the web based on a schedule. This functionality will allow you to define the report defaults for all of your month-end financials to be uploaded, save those settings, define the printing options to upload to community web sites, and define a schedule for the reports to generate and the upload to be automatically performed. The new Job Streaming and Report Defaults use the same PDF printing engine, so the reports are always as crisp and clean and beautifully formatted as if you had printed them yourself.

We just know that you are absolutely going to love the new features that have been included in TOPS 2000 version 3.2.1! You can find a full list of the new features at
www.topssoft.com/TOPS_2000/Updates/index.htm.

The product is currently in the testing phase, and is expected to be available for general release in September 2005.

Online Support Center

Now, TOPS Software adds yet another value added service for those customers on a Maintenance Support Agreement (MSA), The Online Support Center!

The Online Support Center is fully integrated with TOPS’ internal ticket tracking software to allow you to track all support tickets generated for your company. The Online Support Center will allow you to fully manage your support account, including:

View your company’s support ticket history. (From January 2005)
Search and filter on your tickets to view specific tickets you are looking for.
Create a new ticket.
Submit a request to re-open a closed ticket.
Review your support minutes used for the current period.
Check your billing information and monitor the amount of your support bill for the current period.
Review TOPS records on your company contact information, and submit a change request, if necessary.

Each TOPS customer on a valid MSA will be able to access the Online Support Center by requesting a log in from www.topssoft.com. Only one account may be set up per TOPS Customer ID. Once your account has been verified, you will receive an email with instructions on how to use the Online Support Center. You can log in at any time of the day or night to check up on your TOPS support services.

In addition to our new Online Support Center, customers with a valid MSA also reap the benefits of instant program updates through the TOPS Internet Updater.

SUPPORT TIPS

Using the Statistics Menu

One of the best ways to gauge the usage of your web site is to examine the statistics. The statistics menu in TOPS Community Web Sites allows you to see which homeowners are logging onto your site, who is just visiting, and which pages are viewed most frequently.

To view your statistics:

Log in to your site using your administrative login name and password.
Scroll down to the Admin Only section and click on Statistics.
The statistics menu provides several options for displaying information about your site:

Show Page Views for Last Thirty Days -- This option, also called "show hits" in older versions of our sites, displays page hits on your web site over the past thirty days. A summary section displays total hits for the last 30 days, as well as average information.
Show Most Frequented Pages --This option displays a listing of the pages that are most commonly visited by your users. Only the top 20 most frequented pages are displayed.
Show Login Statistics -- This option displays a complete listing of all registered users, and the total number of times each user has logged on to the site, with the last login date and time.
Show Security Settings -- This option will display all of the currently defined VIEW security levels for every feature on your site. Additionally, it will display the currently defined security definitions, such as 50 - Resident, 25 - Board Members, 1 - Administrator.

If you have any questions about how these enhancements work please contact TOPS Web Support at WebSupport@topssoft.com or (800) 899-5689.

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!

CONTACTS

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

Department	Contact	Email	Phone
Software Sales	Nicole Sezov	sales@topssoft.com	800-760-9966
Web Site Sales	Susan Sanders	websales@topshome.com	800-556-7852
Technical Support	Jeanne Plennert	support@topssoft.com	800-899-5689
Web Site Support	Brandon Kelley	websupport@topssoft.com	800-899-5689
Accounting	Cande Estrella	billing@topssoft.com	301-869-8144

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TOPS Home E-Zine; Issue #38 - July 2005

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