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Landing Page
Most community executives' access is limited to a single community association, so there is no need for the portfolio view tiles that many of us, as internal users, have, so their login takes them directly to their Community node and the Community Landing - Board Workspace.
This initial view is a pre-formatted series of "widgets" in a Workspace. This is designed to provide quick access to information about the community association and the core management processes based on user feedback over time about what is most helpful to have at hand. For individuals who have restricted permissions (committee members, CPAs, etc.), their view may be limited somewhat based on what modules they have been enabled to access. However, as you know from using CiraNet, users can create unique Workspaces by making a customized set of widgets on their landing page if that suits them best. There is separate help for creating Workspaces designed just for executive users in CiraHelp.
The exceptions are any executives who serve multiple communities (e.g., developer/builder board members, those who serve on master/subs, etc.). Configuring those members for a single login for multiple communities is addressed in the CiraConnect Board and Committee Setup and Maintenance Process and Service Description. However, once they log in, those executive users land on a portfolio view with a default Workspace listing their assigned communities. As you can, they can navigate to any of them by clicking the community's name to have it open in a separate tab.
Page Header Options
Regardless of which landing page an executive user sees upon logging in, the options along the top of the page provide some valuable information and actions for them:
- Hamburger Button. When clicked once, the user can collapse the Navigation Pane to allow for more space on the main page. Click it again to expand the Navigation Pane once more.
- Bell. This is visible for executives who are assigned to approve items. The badge will indicate how many items are waiting for their approval. They can click on it to be directed to the Board Approvals page. If the bell is clear with no badge, they have no items currently assigned to them for review.
- Foghorn. This tells them they have announcements to view. If they have not seen them previously, by default, when they first log in, they will open as a pop-up in the center of the page, just as they do for you. They can mark them As Read to avoid them opening again the next time they log in, but they can still view them by clicking on the icon. The badge indicates the number of active announcements.
- Keep Alive Session Timer. This timer starts a countdown when they log in, showing how long they have before the system automatically logs them out of the currentsession. Once time is close to expiring, the clock will turn to red. At that point, they can extend the session by re-entering their password or logging out and back in completely. We recommend, however, that all users log out of their session each time they are finished.
- Preferences and Log Out. Clicking on their name opens these two options. Preferences allow them to set their view to fit their inclinations and enable them to view information in their correct time zone. This last is essential so they can view any calendared events at the proper time.
Community Executive View versus Internal User View
The oft-asked question of what a board member can see is a complex one to respond to since not all board or committee members have equal access to CiraNet, which is controlled to a degree by the internal management team. But, assuming that most community executives are granted "Full Access" during the setup process, they can certainly see and do a lot. This is one of the cornerstones of our software: allowing transparency into a board's community association, both to allow them the peace of mind to see how their affairs are being handled but also to be able to self-help and find information at their convenience without having to reach out to the management team. If appropriately leveraged, the Management/Board Portal and the information they can find on it allow the manager more time to concentrate on caring for community matters. However, there are some differences in what an "external" user like a board or committee member can do and see as opposed to what we, as "internal" users, can. To assist the management team members in telling the differences, CiraNet employs a shield symbol throughout the application as a quick visual aid:
Among some highlighted differences in usage:
This does not represent an exhaustive list
Module | Comments |
Amenity and Access Module | Executives can see the data but cannot edit it.
|
Community Alerts
| These are the internal alerts that open as a pop-up in the center of the screen when the community or an owner within the community is first selected.
Community executives cannot see these or add them. |
Document Archive
| While the Board can see some documents by default, they do not automatically have access to them all. For a detailed listing, please refer to the CiraConnect Document Management Process and Service Description. That same Process and Service Description will provide instructions on how to manage the audiences for any documents, both for the executives on the Management/Board Portal, but the owners on the Resident Portal as well.
However, in all cases, executives cannot add documents or edit the information on the documents already uploaded. |
Information Summaries
| While the internal team can determine the audience for most of the Information Summary sub-categories, for those that the executives can view, they have readonly access.
|
Maintenance Work Orders | Board members and other executives can view them, but not create or edit them. |
Owner Information | Board members can view select data from the Property module, but there are some aspects of the data that they cannot view, among them:
Account information. Executives can view statement data for any owner not actively in collections but cannot generate a statement. If the owner is in collections, they are prevented from viewing the statement nor are they able to see the composite (back to a zero balance) statement from the Delinquency Detail any longer.
Communications. Executives cannot see this subnode.
Owner Information. Executives can see this information, but not make changes to it.
Property Notes. Executives cannot see this information.
VIP Influencer/Has Tenant/Violations Require Review. These features from the Property Statuses widget are not visible to the executives. |
Photos
| Executives can view them, but not add or delete them.
|
Reporting a Violation | Community executives can report a violation through CiraNet either through the Board or Resident Portal, but in both cases, the notice does not go out automatically. Those reports are placed in "watch" status as all owner reports do until they are verified during the next inspection.
|
Resident Contacts | Executives can see the statistics on incoming contacts from residents made:
Number of emails and phone calls
Duration of phone calls
Who made the contact
And the Domain and Category assigned to the contacts
But they cannot see the emails themselves nor the call notes.
|
Vendor Management | Executives can view the information at the community level for their vendors, but the only direct action they can take from there, provided they have full access, is to submit an invoice for a vendor from the Action menu. |
Announcements
| These are the announcements that appear to the owners when logging in to the Resident Portal, and community executives can add them. Managers receive an email notification any time one is added, regardless of authorship so they can monitor the activity. |
CiraBooks - Accounts Payable
| Executives can action most of the same main features within the Accounts Payable module, including Open AP and AP Expense Detail. They even can submit an invoice into AAP Workflow if necessary (again, based on their access level).
Be aware that they do have a view into the Search Invoices sub-node, which shows them all workflows in step past the CAM Approval stage if they choose to change the radio button to All, but they cannot action on items from there. If they are set up to approve invoices, they should work that step from the Board Approvals page in My Work Queue. |
CiraBooks - Accounts Receivable
| Much like they can for payable records, executives can see several of the main modules that internal users can relating to the community's receivables, including billing rules (but not conveyance fees), the AR Ledger and the Delinquency Detail. |
CiraBooks - Financial Reports | Executives can view and interact with the Actual v. Budget detail as well as the Financial Summary and Benchmark Report. By interact, we mean they can drill into the hyperlinks to see more details on transactions and even reclass invoices. |
Projects/Tasks
| Board members can not only add them but be assigned to them. |
Reclassify AAP Workflow GL's | Board members can reclass a payable before it is disbursed or after, if it is within the same fiscal year, just as internal users can. |
Reports | The array of On Demand Reports available to community executives is more restricted than the reports internal users can access, but they still have a robust selection from which to choose that they can run at will to track information on any number of aspects of the community management. |
Remember that these primary modules are based on an executive having full access, which not all do. As a troubleshooting measure, if an executive states he or she cannot see a node, check their permission settings. For more details on this process, refer to the CiraConnect Board / Committee Setup and Maintenance Process and Service Description in CiraHelp.