Table of Contents
- Table of Contents
- Spring Into Action
- On the To Do List: Update Amenities and Access Control Information
- On the To Do List: Communicate
- Introducing Mass Email Templates
- Project / Tasks
- Project / Tasks versus Internal Tasks
- Maintenance Work Orders
- Quick Tips: Easily Closing Internal User Alerts
- Learn More!
- Looking Ahead
Spring Into Action
It's a good thing the days get longer as summer approaches because in our business there is a lot to do: we're getting amenities ready to open for the season, and as the weather warms more owners turn their attention to outdoor improvements meaning more ACC submissions. And of course violation enforcement becomes a focal point of many, if not most, single family communities. CiraNet can help managers keep a handle on all of these important aspects of our management. Let's take a tour of some of the tools at your disposal over the next two issues and how to use them as well as taking a peek at a brand new feature!
On the To Do List: Update Amenities and Access Control Information
How is the information for your community's Amenity and Access Control looking? Is everything up-to-date for the upcoming season? Does it answer all the common questions owners call or email in about at this time of year? If the answers are no, that's not a long-term problem because it can be updated at any time from the new Management Portal.
On the To Do List: Communicate
One of the cornerstones of CiraNet since its inception is to allow management team users to communicate with both boards and owners using various tools. Over time, the options available have expanded, but the goal remains the same: to provide information to owners and boards that they can access at their own convenience so they are able to get the answers they need, and you can be freed up to handle larger issues. Sharing news pertinent to the members is never a bad idea, but as summer approaches, there's a lot going on in most communities, so perhaps it is more critical now than at any other time of the year. Set Announcements with important dates and information about amenities, ACC submittals, you name it. They'll be seen by anyone logging in to the Resident Portal. Also put amenity opening dates on the Community Calendar, which is also visible on the Resident and Board Portals.
Amenities and Access Control is nested under the Community node in the Management Portal, under Information. Existing amenities can be edited by clicking on Action and selecting Edit. Have a new amenity to list? From that same location click on the Add Amenity button on the top left to create a new entry. Notice there is not a delete option. If an amenity is no longer relevant to the community, it can be deactivated but not deleted altogether. The amenity can be shared on the Resident Portal as an option but in almost all cases, amenity information should be shared with the owners. From their view, it is part of My Community under Information.
Help anyone on the front lines taking initial incoming owner calls by creating Alerts providing key information needed to respond to common questions.
And of course we support Mass Communications to help get the word out quickly to an entire community. And we have an exciting new feature to share! See the next page for more info.
Don't stop with just one method: cover your bases and use all these tools. From the Mass Communication module, we made that easy for you since you can elect to have Announcements and Alerts created automatically when the email is sent.
Introducing Mass Email Templates
We are very excited to announce the introduction of the first round of Mass Communication Email Templates that internal users can choose from to create sharp, professional and eye-catching emails to owners with only a few customized areas, so it’s fast to create the message too!
Begin the process as you always do by setting the Contact Types for the message and when you move to the Compose screen you will see the option of System Template. Click on the downward arrow to open to the list of initially available templates and make your selection.
The template will open as a new window with the fields you need to populate listed along the left-hand side of the window and the template on the right. Fill in the information, review it carefully, and when you’re satisfied, click on Select and finish scheduling the mass email as per usual.
Your owners will get a sharp, professional email, and you will have saved a lot of time in working on the format, appearance and content for some of the most commonly sent emails from management companies to their communities. Win. And Win. We’re anxious for you to give these a try and hope you find them user-friendly and a great addition to your communications array.
Summer may be considered the season to laze about and soak in the sun, but that doesn't happen successfully in a community association without a lot of hard work on the management team's part first.
Getting organized and ready can be the hardest part to making sure you have all the ducks in a row and ready for them to safely go swimming when it's time. How can CiraNet help with that? Let's look!
Project / Tasks
Start by creating a Project / Task for major deliverables that will take multiple steps to complete. There are several advantages to this besides the most obvious one of keeping yourself organized. It's also a great way to keep everyone else in the loop since more than one individual can see and participate in the progress of the overall goal, including executive (board) portal users. Projects can be reassigned to other users if there needs to be a hand-off once your part is complete. But it also allows multiple maintenance work orders to be linked to a single task.
Trying to manage a project without project management is like trying to play a football game without a game plan. - Karen Tate
Project / Tasks versus Internal Tasks
Many of you have been assigned an Internal Task at one time or another. Some management teams can also create and assign their own. So what's the difference between that task and the Project / Task we are recommending as an excellent way to track multi-layered maintenance projects? Internal Tasks are, as the name suggests, only visible to internal users. Project / Tasks are not only visible to board members, they can be assigned a task and/or open one themselves. A best practice is to document all community action items as a Project / Task so your board knows what you are working on. But an Internal Task might be a better choice if you want to track an item "behind the scenes".
Maintenance Work Orders
And, speaking of which, creating and linking Maintenance Work Orders to larger projects can help keep track of Which vendor is responsible for what part of a larger project. In opening a pool for the summer season, for example, you likely are involving a cleaning service to stock and prep the restrooms, a pool company to inspect and clean the pool, perhaps multiple vendors for purchasing supplies such as new furniture, lifeguard equipment, paper products and other cleaning supplies. What if you need additional media for incoming owners, etc? The list can go on. Create a maintenance work orders for each piece of the overall project and then link them to the Project / Task as well as the corresponding workflows. Why is tracking vendor work using work orders important? Obviously, major and recurring maintenance should be documented in mutually agreed upon contracts but even on one-time tasks can become contentious without a written agreement, which can be achieved by issuing a Work Authorization from the module to issue to vendors to set forth the scope of the work and the agreed upon price. Maintenance Work Orders also offer the advantage of helping managers track order or work statuses and provide an audit trail in case there ever becomes a disagreement over the scope of services agreed to.
Both Project / Tasks and Maintenance Work Order modules are available from My Work Queue in both the Portfolio and Community-specific views, but one can open a new Maintenance Work Order or link an existing one straight from the Project / Task. Conversely, if you are working in the Maintenance Work Order module you can link a work order to an existing task from the Action button. Together, they can help keep you on track as you get ready for the summer season!
Quick Tips: Easily Closing Internal User Alerts
Internal alerts are important, so we designed them to make sure everyone who accesses the community cannot help but to see them. And to that point we're aware they do open in the middle of the pane in the Management Portal: they are definitely hard to miss! But a quick way to close them out and be able to use the page is to use your mouse pointer and click anywhere on the page. This closes the alert pop-up window but does not delete it you will see it again if you open to that page again or if you navigate to an owner within that community). If you realize you need to refer back to it you can click on the bullhorn icon on the top far right of the pages in the Community node and the alerts will re-open.
Learn More!
Interested in learning more about any of the topics covered in this edition? We have additional material available for you, accessible with just a click of the mouse.
Amenities and Access Control
https://www.ciranet.com/v2/managementportal/cirahelp/2062/ct/GO?portal=mp
Alerts and Announcements
https://www.ciranet.com/v2/managementportal/cirahelp/2265/ct/GO?portal=mp
Maintenance Work Orders
https://www.ciranet.com/v2/managementportal/cirahelp/2830/ct/GO?portal=mp
Mass Email Communication
https://www.ciranet.com/v2/managementportal/cirahelp/2807/ct/GO?portal=mp
Project / Tasks
https://www.ciranet.com/v2/managementportal/cirahelp/2831/ct/GO?portal=mp
Looking Ahead
In our next issue we will continue our spring project by taking a look at managing compliance issues in the Management Portal and how modification requests can be submitted and documented in the portals.
Shared Services Group:
855-877-2472, Option 3 Fax: 214-269-2501
www.ciranet.com