The Community view in the Management Portal, while allowing access to individual owners, as we learn as we go through the pages, is designed with the management of the overall community in mind. This Process and Service Description will take you through the wealth of information available in this section.

Table of Contents

• Section One: Access and Usage Tips
• Access
• Working in the Community View: Tips and Usage Examples
• Community Workspace
• Understanding How to Use the Community View
• Section Two: Community Modules
• Communications
• Announcement Logs
• Communication Logs
• Mail Merge
• Mass Communications
• Resident Contact Logs
• Compliance
• Detailed Violations Log
• Inspection
• Last Inspection Log
• Open Violations Log
• Record Initial Violation
• Report a Violation
• Restriction Summary
• Information
• Additional Info
• Amenities and Access Control
• Board / Committee Members
• Calendar
• Common Lots
• Community Assets
• Community Notes
• Documents
• Enforcement Policy
• Graphs & Metrics
• Info Summary
• Insurance
• Legal Summary
• Map
• Property Tax Appraisal
• Vendor Management
• Properties
• Property Details
• Resident Directory
• Reports
• Move-In Summary
• Summary – Previous Month
• Recommended Practice / Follow-Up
• Appendix A: Configuring Property Details

Section One: Access and Usage Tips

Access

• From the top of the Navigation pane, click on the Location icon, which looks like a map pin, type in at least a partial name of the community and click on the magnifying glass to search. The results will populate in a pop-up window where the user can click on the blue name of the community to be taken to the Community view.

• From My Company, select My Communities to populate a full list of communities within your portfolio presented in a grid format. From there you can click on the sift icon in the Community column to open to a list of communities or use the filter row to type in the community. Once you have narrowed the search, click on the name of the community to navigate to the Community view.

• If working in CiraMail, users can use Actions to Navigate to Community.
• Alternatively, from the CiraMail InBox, click on the Community name, which is a hyperlink to the Community view.
• The same hyperlink option is also available when searching for an individual owner. From the results pop-up window, if users wish to look at the Community information for that owner, they can elect to click on the community name.

Working in the Community View: Tips and Usage Examples

Having identified the community you wish to work on, using any the of the methods above, when you first open to that community you will see the default Community Workspace.

Community Workspace

When navigating to a Community view for the first time, the default Community Workspace that opens was setup to match the Community Dashboard in the Management / Board Portal (“Classic”). However, unique Workspaces can be configured in addition to this information-laden default, and the default can even be deleted or demoted from being the primary if you prefer not to use that Shared Workspace. In short, there are a plethora of options available to leverage this initial view to work best for your individual needs. For more information on setting up Workspaces, please see CiraHelp and the Workspaces and Bookmarks Process and Service Description.

However, we trust most users will find this default Workspace helpful. For one thing, since it is basically the same view the Board sees when they log in to the Management / Board Portal, it keeps you on the same page if they ask you about any data they are seeing if they are in the Classic portal. But more than that, it is a wellspring of information about the community collated together for easy discovery. Among the information users can see there are:

• Work Processed Last Thirty Days. This section is a summary view of the key management metrics processed during the last 30 calendar days. Clicking on the numbers on any of the lines opens to a pop-up window with additional details. Therefore, you know at a high-level immediately that 700 assessment payments have been processed but click on that figure to find out precisely who makes up that number and how they paid. Want to drill down even further? Click on any data in those pop-up reports in blue, which are hyperlinks, to look at additional information, such as the owner record, etc.
• Community Calendar. The community calendar is available for view from here. Users can hover over the dates that are highlighted in light gray to see the events scheduled for that date.
• Community Metrics. Several key community statistics that many of us rely on, including the overall status of the community, are populated here. This can be key for on-boarding communities, because users can tell immediately if the community is AR Ready, among other statuses. ACH statistics, what billing fulfillment (coupons or statements) the community has elected to use, the fiscal year, etc. are all served up in this section.

• Community Statistics. This section helps users understand some basics about the community, such as how many lots/units it has, what the Community ID is, what type of community association it is (condominium, single family, etc.), when it went active on the platform (which is not necessarily the same date as the contract commencement), and a high-level description of the community and its amenities.
• Quick Links. This section contains hyperlinks that open directly to certain other pages in CiraNet or documents in the Documents module, such as the most recent Monthly Management Report and meeting minutes.
• Community Service Team. The team assigned to the community are shown in this section, along with their email and phone numbers.

These are just some of the widgets contained in this Workspace. Look at any community within your portfolio and find out for yourself how much information you have jam packed on this one page!

Understanding How to Use the Community View

The Community view, seen here in from the Navigation Pane contains several primary “nodes”, or clusters of information if you will. We will detail the contents of each as we go, but first, let’s consider the practical uses for some of the information that you can find in these areas.

Example One: Answering the question, “How do I get my pool key?” Moving is hot and hard work, so one of the very first things many new owners want to know is how to get access to the pool.

1. After selecting the community, open the main node of Information and select Info Summary. A list of configured community amenities will be listed, among other helpful information about the community.
2. The name of the amenity is a hyperlink that users can click on to open to more details, including Access Rules.

(Note: Keeping this information up-to-date is critical to allow everyone who supports the community to have the right information for any owners needing it. This is done from the Amenity and Access Control sub-node that we will look at in the pages below.) Example Two: The community maintains a Zoom account to allow the board and some of the committees to meet virtually, and you need to store the login information for both your team and the board to be able to access. Information about a community can be captured in Community Notes, and the sky is really the limit as to what can be documented there, with note categories being configurable to control the audience to only internal users or for both internal and executive users (the latter of which see them via the Board Portal).

1. Again, from Information, select Community Notes.
2. Click on Add a New Note to open to a simple pop-up form that allows a note to be created to document the Zoom account’s user ID and password and any other salient information someone would need to know about using it. (Note that the audience preference is set from the Tools and then Configuration modules only available in Classic currently.)

Example Three: You need to know if the community has a restriction on the type and color of shingles allowed after a severe storm comes through the area and damages several homes. While you could comb through the documents for the community association and find the specific reference, someone already did that during the on-boarding phase and all the usage restrictions have been neatly collated into the Restrictions Summary.

1. From the Compliance section, click on Restriction Summary to find the same information the inspector uses when inspecting via CiraMobile, but in this case, all the data for the entire community is presented in a grid format for easy scanning to find what you need.
2. This entire grouping can be turned into a report that can be downloaded into a spreadsheet format to provide to board members or even residents who may want information on the community’s restrictions (they do have this same view available in the Resident Portal).

Example Four: You are overseeing a project to upload several documents to the Document Archive and need a way to monitor the progress and verify everything is being uploaded into the appropriate folder. The New Document Summary is a great way to see what documents have been added to the Document Archive, whether you are on-boarding, managing a project like the one in the example, or just need to remember if you added that newly recorded policy the attorney just sent over.

1. From the Information category again, select Documents and then click on New Document Summary.
2. This will open a page that defaults to a list of documents added in the last 30 days along with the folder it was added to.
3. To see a wider range, or perhaps a narrower timeline, adjust the number of days and click on Refresh.
4. Click on the document name to download a copy of it.
5. The data can also be exported into a spreadsheet.

Section Two: Community Modules

We have given you some usage examples that we hope clarify the concept of the Community view in the Management Portal. Those only scratch the surface of the data available in this area, so from this point on we will look at each module in the order it appears on the Navigation pane and what they contain.

Communications

Announcement Logs

From here, users can see Resident Portal Announcements, both Active and Expired, or they can Add New Announcement.

Note in the illustration above that the page defaults to Active Announcements. In the upper right-hand side of the active announcement showing, the Announcement can be edited by clicking on the blue pencil icon or permanently deleted by clicking on the red trash can icon. Expired Announcements have the same edit/delete options. Selecting Add New Announcement opens a pop-up composer. Remember that executive users with Full Access can add Announcements as well as internal users.

Communication Logs

This page shows all emails and call logs specific to the community. All communications are stored here, but for the sake of efficiency, the default view limits the results to the last 90 days and any communications logged for the community (not resident specific).

The date range can be changed up or down to accommodate a larger or smaller date range, and all owner-specific emails and call logs can be brought into the grid by switching from Community Only to All.

Once the data you are looking for loads to the page, there are several actions you can take directly from here, including opening the text of a call log or an email. Using the Actions option for any emails (this is not available for logged calls), users can do many of the same things they can directly from the CiraMail module, including replying, forwarding, and transferring. Users can also see any notes left by themselves or others on the email / case, view the status of the item (whether it is in an Inbox or Completed), and which CiraMail box it currently sits in. This allows users to keep tabs on any cases they have opened. For additional information, refer to CiraHelp.

Mail Merge

The Mail Merge tool is a convenient way to have a community’s entire mailing list at your fingertips. Please see CiraHelp to detail how to use the functions to their fullest but in brief users can create labels directly and very easily, from this page, or use the letter template functionality to create an individualized mailing for owners. Executive users do have access to this tool.

Mass Communications

This tool allows certain users to compose and schedule community-wide email and text messaging. Detailed instructions for this module are covered in a CiraSchool course, but there is a new feature in this version that we have not had previously, which is the ability to take advantage of and build templates. For example, your team can create a standardized template for board meeting announcements that managers can use to keep the messaging consistent, sharp, professional and, above all, quick!

Resident Contact Logs

This is a summarized table of the incoming phone contacts received from community owners broken down into two columns: Last 30 [Days] and Historical. This is one of the areas your work to attribute Call Logs pays off with the ability to monitor the volume and types of calls a community receives, which can be important in keeping an eye on hot button issues. Email communication is not included in this view. Note that any number above 0 is in blue, indicating it is a hyperlink allowing the internal user to pull up a more detailed view of who called, how long the call was, and be able to see the notes from the log.

Compliance

Detailed Violations Log

This page reports on all violation records for the community presented in separate tabs, with the information in each presented in a grid format. The tabs are shown and detailed on the following page.

• Open. This tab shows all violations that are in an open status, whether they be Fixed or Not Fixed. For definitions of those statuses and for details on each column, please refer to the page’s CiraHelp link. However, in brief, users can use the Action button to be able to escalate an open record, refer it to an attorney, close it if applicable or load a Custom Response Template. Additionally, clicking on the clock icon in the History column opens to a pop-window with every action taken from the inception of the record forward.

• Closed. This tab is similar in appearance to the Open tab with a couple of notable differences. For one there is not an Action button available, since the items are all closed (closed violations cannot be re-opened). There are two columns unique to this tab that indicate, in turn, who closed the violation and the reason for its closure.

• Allowances. This tab shows any allowances set for any property within the community. An Allowance, as the name suggests, is a method to notify the inspector to forego citing a particular property for what would otherwise be a violation of the restrictions. Typically, allowances are set for a specific period, such as when a family is having company and will have additional cars parking in the drive but can be set with no end date to accommodate permanent situations. From this view, the users can click on Action to Edit the record or Delete it permanently.
• Notices. This tab shows the actual notices fulfilled in a grid format. This can make viewing the notices generated by date easier to see and allows for quick access to the letter copy and any images for downloading.

Inspection

This page allows an internal user to schedule a compliance inspection from a browser as opposed to CiraMobile directly. The page is split into two panes, which by default in the Management Portal show Side By Side but can be changed by clicking on the gear icon to show Top / Down.

Left in its default position, the left-hand side of the page shows any inspections scheduled within the last five days. Click on any of the lines to populate the list of properties in queue for Inspector Follow-Up. To schedule a new inspection, choose the inspector and then click on the Add New Inspection button to complete the form to create the schedule.

Last Inspection Log

This page provides a summary view of the number and category of violations cited for the last two inspections and a total for the last 180 days. Individual citations that may occur outside the primary inspection schedule will count toward an inspection event in this case. Users can click on any numbers in blue to open to a new pop-up window that lists additional details, including the addresses cited.

Open Violations Log

This differs from the Last Inspection Log in that it reflects all open violations. The data is listed by category and the number of notices at each stage. The numbers are hyperlinks that allow the viewer to open to a more detailed view of the owners/addresses cited, the sub-category and any regarding text. The full history of the violation is also available in that detail.

Record Initial Violation

This option is only available at the time of on-boarding and is designed to be used to record any open violation records “in-step”. This means that the recorder needs to, as closely as possible, match the escalation level from the previous system to the Escalation Configuration setup in CiraNet. If the issue is noted on a subsequent inspection, the system will escalate it appropriately to the next notice level. This option also allows for any previous notices to be uploaded to the owner’s record as well as any photos for reference.

Report a Violation

Reporting a violation, on the other hand, is always available, and is used to create and/or escalate a violation record.

While the violation process in CiraNet is beyond the scope of this Process and Service Description, we will provide a brief overview of the page here. The page is split into two sections: the top half is the form to add the specifics on the violation you are reporting. Once the Property is selected, any previous activity will populate below. This is particularly helpful in assessing if the record is already active, in which case you can simply escalate the existing record. However, you can proceed to open a new violation report using the same category and subcategory if appropriate. Note that additionally the bottom half of the page allows users to see an entire history for that Property, including any Allowances to help better assess how to proceed with the record you are entering. To learn more specifics about using not only this page but the process as a whole, refer to CiraHelp.

Restriction Summary

The Restriction Summary allows a view of all the usage restrictions that have been configured in the CiraNet Platform. This provides a handy summary reference for users to see what is allowed in the community. This view differs from the restriction summary offered in the Property view in that it reflects any restriction language for any section, while the Property view is filtered to show only those restrictions applicable to the property’s section of the community. The information is presented in a grid format and can be exported.

Information

Additional Info

Additional Information is a customizable module that a management team can use to track data that is unique to a community's needs, such as vehicle registrations, lease tracking, pets, etc.

This page contains a drop-down menu for each type of Additional Info database that is enabled for the community. By default, only Household Members is enabled. In contrast, the Additional Info grid in Property Owner View displays the records that relate just to the selected property. Users manage the information by selecting the tab they wish to edit / view located along the top of the pane.

1. Add. To add a new record in this module, select the right database from the drop-down and then click on the Add New button to open to a pop-up window that will differ depending on the database configuration. Once the form is complete, click on Submit to add the information for the specific owner.

2. Actions. If a change needs to be made, or if the item being tracked is no longer valid, users can click on Actions to Edit, which re-opens the pop-up window to allow changes. Or select Set Inactive, which removes it from the default Active view, but does not delete the entry.

Amenities and Access Control

This is a critical component for not only managing certain amenity processes but as an information sharing venue so it has its own dedicated Process and Service Description, but we will take a high-level look at the page here:

Like other pages, this one is split into two panes, with the top pane listing the existing amenities. Select one by clicking on the line and the details for it will populate on the bottom half of the page. Note in the illustration above, the specifics for the amenity are split into three tabs: Amenity Details, Access Media, and Vendors. To create a new Amenity, click on the Add Amenity button at the top left-hand side of the page.

Board / Committee Members

This tool is essential to managing executive user access to the portals, hence it also has its own Process and Service Description; however, here are a few salient features of the page to get you started:

1. Add New Community Board Executives. To add a new executive user, click here. There are more detailed instructions in the separate Process and Service Description.
2. Email. This is a convenient shortcut to be able to compose an email from CiraMail to all or a subset of your executive users.
3. Show All. The default view when opening the page is a listing of currently active executive users. Any former users who were deactivated, or even current users with expired terms are suppressed from that default listing. To bring them into view in the page, switch the toggle from the default option of No to Yes.
4. Action. In short, once an executive is added, this is how the management team manages their access and helps the executive if needed. Again, there are more details in the separate Process and Service Description, but briefly the options are:
1. View/Edit. This option opens the form you used to add the board or committee member and allows you to edit the information or access if needed.
2. Board Approval Setup. This action allows a user to be assigned, or unassigned, to any of the approval processes that have already been configured for the community.
3. Send Reset Password Via email. This option prompts the system to send the executive an automated email with a new temporary password.
4. Set New Password. Choosing this allows an internal user to manually set a new password for the executive.
5. Change Portal User ID. This allows internal teams to manually change the executive user’s portal ID, which by default is their email address.
6. Deactivate. Selecting this option gives the internal user options to manage the executive’s access. If they are retiring from the board/committee, the recommended best practice is to select the middle option of Deactivate Executive, which removes the outgoing individual’s access but leaves their record archived for reference.
7. Attach Executive to Owner. This can be used to link the executive to a specific address.
5. Board Portal Statuses. These columns allow a user to see what the executive has been enabled for immediately. The green check means the status is enabled. The red X means it is not.

6. Portal Username. We can see an executive user’s Portal User ID but not their passwords.
7. Properties. This column shows the address the executive user is linked to. Note that it is a hyperlink so you can open a new tab showing the Property view for that lot.
8. Last Logged In. The executive’s most recent login is recorded here. This can be helpful when troubleshooting approval issues, for example, or just to monitor how active the executive is on the portal. Note that we cannot manually reset a password for an executive user if they have not previously logged in.

Calendar

My Calendar allows users to see events that pertain to the community. Some events are systemically added to the calendar: debit statement generation and violation inspections scheduled through CiraNet or CiraMobile for example. Others are added by the management team and can be setup as recurring meetings or one-time events. Here are some key points to the Calendar view:

1. Community and Amenity Tabs. All community calendars minimally have the Community tab, but if one or more of the community amenities allows reservations as configured in CiraNet, the Amenity tab is also available to show events scheduled at the amenities. (Owners can view that an event is scheduled for a particular amenity but not see the name of individual who has reserved it.)
2. Month and Year. The default view is the current month and year but can be adjusted to view another time as needed.
3. Time Zone. The time zone the events are being shown in is clearly indicated along the top of the calendar view and can be adjusted by clicking on the “change” hyperlink. This will change the time zone set in Preferences as well, which does impact other actions, such as note logs, etc.
4. Label and Label Type Filters. These options allow you to filter down to specific events using their labels.
5. Add New. This is the button that allows users to set new events. When first clicking on the button, you will see the choice to set an Appointment (a single event) or Recurring Appointment. Once you make your selection, a pop-up form will open:

Note that any fields denoted with the red asterisk (*) are mandatory. Also note that events are not shared on the Resident Portal automatically; there is an option to make them visible to owners. When done, click OK to save the event.

6. Timeframe Options. The default calendar view is the current month, but users can change the view using any of the options listed.
7. Calendar Events. Click once on the event to open to a summary view of it that includes the time. Click twice to be able to edit it.
8. Export. This downloads the calendar’s contents in an .ics format allowing you to integrate the community’s events with your work calendar.

Common Lots

The Common Lots page is used to manage common lots within the community association and the property tax bills, if applicable, associated with them. Note that the page is split into two halves (top and bottom). The top section is parsed into four tabs:

1. Common Lots. This default tab lists all common lots as well as their basic location and some available details about them (e.g., retention pond, drainage easement, etc.). Notice the Action button to the far left-hand side of each lot listed. The options are as follows:
1. View/Edit. This opens to the same pop-up window used to add a new common lot, allowing the user to modify any information for the existing lot.
2. Change Exempt Status. The selections are commonly Not Exempt (from taxes), Exemption Filed, or Association Not Responsible (typically used when another entity, such as a declarant or municipality owns the lot).
3. Activate/Deactivate. Common lots cannot be deleted, but if they no longer fall within the community purview, they can be deactivated. Conversely, a lot can be reactivated if circumstances warrant.
2. PTA Received (Property Tax Appraisal Received). For those regions where common lots are subject to property taxes, this page will allow for the tracking of the appraisals as well as invoices paid. This second tab shows all tax appraisals received for the community’s lots, filtered by year.
3. PTA Not Received (Property Tax Appraisal Not Received). As the name suggests, this tab shows the opposite information: any lots where the appraisal has not been received populate to this tab by year.
4. Property Taxes Paid. This tab shows all tax invoices that have been paid. The basic information includes the lot address / location, the payment status, the amount paid and a .pdf of the invoice.

To activate the bottom section, click on one of the common lots above to have any files associated with the lot to populate below. Both sections are presented in a grid format so they can be modified to meet individual user’s needs.

Community Assets

This page allows managers to maintain a listing of all community association capital assets in an easy interface that allows a great deal of flexibility in how the assets are grouped to meet the individual needs of each community.

While, as mentioned, the page is not complicated to use, its importance in the budgeting process for anyone using CiraBudget is key, so there is a separate Process and Service Description for just this process, as well as detailed instructions in CiraHelp.

Community Notes

This page is a handy repository for notating information relevant to the community, with each note type being able to be set for an internal-only audience or for both the management and executive users.

The available categories and the audience settings are set from the Configuration module, which currently is available in the classic Management / Board Portal. But once set, adding a note is a simple process of clicking on Add New Note, setting the Category and Figure 28: Adding a Note Subcategory, creating a Subject, and then entering whatever note is needed, which includes supporting formats and images. Then Save. To edit an existing note, click on the Action button to the left of the note itself and select Edit. To remove it from view, from the same Action button select Inactive. Notes cannot be deleted, but this action will remove it from the Active Community Notes view.

Documents

This section contains three subsections: Archive, Cloud Drive and New Document Summary. We will touch on all three here, but the Document Archive has its own Process and Service Description, and your management company may have additional SOP’s pertaining to document retention that you will want to consult with your leadership team about.

Archive This is, in essence, the virtual file cabinet for all community association documents: legal documents forming and governing the community association, rules and regulations, minutes, financials, insurance policies and information, and the list goes on. If it is a document relevant to the community association, it should be cataloged and stored in the Archive. As noted above, there is a complete Process and Service Description detailing the usage of this page as well as best practices as to where documents should be stored that we recommend each internal user review, but we will provide an overview here as an introduction.

1. Documents and Resale Package Tabs. The page is parsed into two separate tabs, with the full Documents tab opening by default. This tab is where the entire document inventory for the community resides. Documents must first be loaded here to be able to add them to the Resale Package, which, as the name implies, is the sub-set of documents the management team intends to have included in the community’s resale disclosure packet. More on the edit process below.
2. Upload Document. This opens to a pop-up form to allow internal users to upload a new file. This process is detailed in the separate Process and Service Description, but in essence the fields noted by the red asterisk (*) are required. The platform will support .pdfs, word processing and spreadsheet documents, and .jpgs and .pings. A few tips to keep in mind: prepare the document before uploading it by naming it appropriately and make sure it is positioned correctly (if you scan a document upside down or sideways and upload it, it will open using that same orientation for all users, for example). If you wish it to be a fillable .pdf or able to be scanned for key words, make sure to prepare the file accordingly before uploading it. Then use the description to help clarify what the document is. If the name of the file is an amendment for the purpose of annexing land, for example, use the description to clarify what tract, phase or section is being annexed in. The effective date, if used carefully, can be a great help in sorting and locating documents later, particularly since some folders parse out into sub-folders by date. Finally, some folders automatically are visible to board members, while others are internal only.
3. Search Folder. This allows a user to find any documents with certain key words by typing them into this search field (which is one of many reasons to be conscientious how files are named).
4. File Name. Clicking on a file name will allow the user to download it to their local drive.
5. Description. Viewers can see the description of the document in this column to help them determine if it is the one they need.
6. Effective Date. Since the documents are displayed in a grid format this column can be sorted to list the contents in date order.
7. Actions. There are several action items that users can take to manage a document. Not all users can access all action items.
1. Edit. Selecting this option opens to a pop-up form that allows you to manage several things about an existing document, such as the description and effective date. Enabling a document as visible on the Resident Portal is managed from here, but only certain ACAM roles and above can take this step. Board Portal access can also be edited from here, but the content in some folders are not able to be enabled for board view, while others cannot be removed from their access.
2. Rename. Just as the name suggests, this allows the document to be renamed.
3. Email. This is a convenient way to send another party a document straight from the Archive. It will open to a CiraMail email composer with the document attached.
4. Change Owner. If the document is attributed to an individual owner, users can change the owner from here.
5. Delete. This allows certain users to delete documents. The individual who uploaded the file can delete it, as can a supervisory manager (DCAM) or above.
6. Add To Resale Package. This adds a copy of the document to the Resale Package. It does not remove it from the Documents tab.
8. Uploaded By. This is not visible to executives on their Board Portal view, but for internal users we can see who uploaded the document originally in case we need to ask them a question about it.
9. Resident Portal and Board Portal. These two columns allow the user to visually assess what external audience a document has. If the column is populated by a green check, that document is visible on the respective portal. A red x of course tells us that the document is not visible to that portal audience.
10. Log. This allows us to see who took actions with the document and when.

Cloud Drive This option is available for team members of the RealManage Family of Brands as a convenient access point to a third-party software program allowing for the storage of working files. Those team members should consult with their leadership team to learn more about this access and how to use it.

New Document Summary This option allows users to see all files added to the community’s Documents during a certain timeframe to be able to assess what documents were uploaded to what folder on what day, with the default view being the last 30 days. The files are shown as hyperlinks, allowing you to click on them directly from this page to download them.

Enforcement Policy

This opens to a summary view of the Violation Escalation Configuration. This is a view-only page.

Graphs & Metrics

This page is also known as Community Dashboard and allows a high-level view of metrics pertinent to core management functions of the community association. Each graph is based on a corresponding On Demand Report. See CiraHelp for details on which report corresponds to which graph.

Clicking on the hamburger menu in the upper right-hand side of each graph quadrant allows you to open to print options.

Clicking on the gear icon found in the upper right of the page allows users to change the color palette of the charts, which can make them compatible with slide deck presentations if you choose to embed them.

Info Summary

This page, also known as Community Information, displays configured general information about the community. While the primary configuration for this page is controlled through the Administration node, management team members assigned to the community do have the ability to edit existing categories (the exception being the Amenities and Access Control category) from this view by clicking on the Edit button to the right of the existing verbiage.

For additional details on managing the Info Summary fields, please refer to the separate Tip Sheet.

Insurance

This data is available for those clients who subscribe to our Insurance Shared Services Group services. That team monitors a community association’s policies, and this tool populates the data on this page.

Notice the page is broken into two tabs. The default is Insurance Info and will automatically load any policies that are current. However, users can use the drop-down at the top left-hand side to select Show All and pull back historical data. The second tab opens to Internal Tasks generated from the Insurance Services Group with the default being My Tasks, meaning that those Open Tasks assigned specifically to you will open. This is important since CiraConnect Insurance Services delivers insurance policy quotes via Internal Tasks to CAM’s initially.

Legal Summary

This page displays legal information about the community, primarily from its governing documents, that relates to how the community operates as a non-profit corporation. These items usually include the number of directors and their terms, the annual meeting requirements, rules for increasing assessments, requirements for approval of architectural modification requests, etc. The fields, as with the Info Summary, can be edited by the management team assigned to the community from this page from the Administration node.

Map

The Community Map is far more than just a Google Map aerial view of the community and each address within it. Different layers of information can be enabled and suppressed to display addresses with active violations, delinquencies, open work orders and even recent conveyances.

For more details on the map pins and what they represent, refer to CiraHelp but in brief, clicking on a map pin opens a box with an overview of the property/owner:

Property Tax Appraisal

The function of this module is to allow for the review and evaluation of common area property tax appraisals for those regions where that is applicable. The page opens to a two-tab view: Approval and Not Received. When a property tax appraisal notice has been received and added to the system it will show in the Approved tab. If there is nothing showing, it would indicate there are no appraisals waiting for approval. If there is an item pending, the management team has two action options: Approve or Protest. Approving the appraisal moves it out of the queue where it can then be referenced from the Common Lots page. Marking it for Protest allows it to remain in the Approval queue, but please note it does not notify the taxing authority that it is being protested. Rather, it is a tracking mechanism for the manager to know what parcels they need to work on. Not Received shows the common lots/parcels that have not received a notice of appraisal. There is a record for each lot by year. When the notice is received, there is an Action button allowing for the upload of the document.

Vendor Management

This module is large and powerful enough to have also earned its own Process and Service Description, along with robust CiraHelp instructions. Therefore, our focus for this purpose is to the look at the community-level page and grid and what options are offered there. From this Community view, the information is pre-filtered to the specific community and will open to the active vendors for the community immediately. However, Vendor Management is also available from a portfolio view from My Portfolio. In that case initially, the page opens blank except for the drop-down selector box Figure 36: Selecting the offering the user to Select a Value. Click on it to be able to search Community for the Management Company, Branch Location or Community you are needing to work in. For most management team users, that final layer, the Community view, is where they want to be and can manage the vendor information on behalf of the community association, so that is where we are focusing our attention as well.

1. Select a Value. The name of the community will show here. Once done working in that entity, if you wanted to move on to another location, click on the box to open the drop-down and type in at least part of the name to filter down to the result you want.
2. Show Community Vendors. This is the default setting. However, users can toggle to Show Location Vendors to bring up any vendors added at the “branch” level.
3. Show Active Community Vendors. This is the default view as well but can be switched to Show All Community Vendors that populates any inactive vendors into the grid below.
4. Action. This opens to a wealth of options*, which we will review briefly here: * Options: The items any specific user can view differ depending upon user role.
1. View/Edit. This option opens a pop-up window that allows access to three tabs:
1. Vendor. Which has some basic information about the vendor such as the name, vendor type, and the primary phone if it was added at the branch level. The actionable item from this tab is the Merge Payment Request, which is set to No but can be toggled to Yes to allow a single check to be cut for multiple invoices from the same vendor processed at the same time. Often applicable for utilities or attorneys who invoice per issue they are handling for the community.
2. Contacts. This allows multiple contacts to be added for the vendor. Keep in mind this at the community level so these are unique to that community. Any contacts added here become available in the CiraMail Email composer.
3. Remit Address. While the address on the vendor’s W-9 is added at the branch level, it can be overridden at the community level.

2. Manage Insurance. This opens the window to load the vendor’s proof of insurance, often in the form of a COI.
3. Manage Contracts. This option allows the user to load the contract(s) between the community association and the vendor. To know the specifics on what to select based on the type of contract and the renewal provisions, please refer to the more detailed instructions mentioned above.
4. Set Inactive / Set Active. This allows the user to inactivate a vendor that the community association no longer uses or re-establish them as active if they are re-hired. Keep in mind that inactive vendors cannot be paid in the system, so if there are outstanding invoices, the Payables Lockbox team will need to re-activate a vendor to process the workflow(s).
5. Set Approved. What constitutes an Approved vendor differs per entity and vendors can be set as approved at any level. A vendor that is not approved can still be paid without any adjustment to their status.
6. Email Vendor. This option opens a CiraMail email composer and the Email Address Book set to the Vendor Contacts tab, allowing the user to select any vendor contact they need to reach out to.
7. Generate New Work Order. Selecting this option opens the Maintenance Work Order window, which is automatically linked to the vendor for the purpose of issuing a Proposal or Work Authorization. (NOTE: This option is available for General Service Providers.)
8. Submit an Invoice. This opens the AP Payment Request screen allowing users to start an AAP Workflow already set to the specific vendor.
9. Apply 1099 Adjustment. The Lockbox Payables team uses this tool to enter a manual adjustment to the amount paid to a vendor for reporting on IRS Form 1099. This is only used if a community comes onto the platform during the year and there are payments made to the vendor by another software platform that need to be accounted for in addition to what was paid via our system.
10. Electronic Payment. This option is not available for all users but allows the Payables Lockbox team to set the vendor up for Vendor ACH. (NOTE: Not all partner banks currently support Vendor ACH; please verify eligibility before offering the service to your vendors.)
11. AAP Workflow Auto Actions. CiraNet can support automatic actions for workflows. This will allow the user to see what is in place for that vendor and some users can edit existing conditions or add new ones for that specific community vendor.
12. AAP Workflow Template. This is the functionality to set default GL coding for a community vendor, as well as being able to set specific handling (e.g., a specific vendor’s checks need to always print to the local check printer), and which account it is disbursed from as well as being able to set a default description.
13. AAP Workflow Checklist. Allows the user to see the current checklist configured for the vendor, if applicable, and set new checklist items if warranted.
5. Vendor Name. The vendor’s name is listed in this column.
6. Active. By default, when opening to this view, only the active vendors populate, but if a user changes the setting along the top of the page to Show All Community Vendors, inactive vendors will populate in the grid below. Any active vendors are indicated by a green check mark in that column. Inactive will show as a red “x”.
7. Approved. What defines an approved vendor can differ by management company, branch or community, and a vendor can be set as “approved” at any of those levels. The designation does not impact the system’s ability to pay a vendor, nor does it make that vendor a priority payment.
8. Vendor Type. While most vendors are configured as a General Service Provider, we do support other labels that impact other areas of the application (e.g., Utility vendors are handled as priority vendors, Professional – Attorney/CPA vendors are able to be selected for collection referrals, etc.). The label the vendor was set up with is listed in this column and can be sorted or filtered by vendor type.
9. Work Orders. Not all vendor types have the icon populated in this column. An example of where it is not applicable are utility vendors. But where the icon is present, users can click on it to be taken to the Maintenance Work Orders page and any work orders in existence linked to that vendor will populate. If there are none, if you open a new work order from that page and that vendor will be pre-selected.
10. Description. This field can be populated at the “branch” level, but any content will show in this column. The only individuals on the management team with access to edit a branch level vendor are DCAM roles or above but if they chose to, as one example, use that field to further define what their general vendors specialize in (plumber, cleaner, pool service, etc.), that would be an excellent pathway to do that.
11. 1099. While this setting, which is a designation to mark whether a vendor receives a 1099 at the end of the year, is only set at the “management company” level, users can see the designation in this column.
12. W9. Again, this is the responsibility of the Payables Lockbox teams to manage and is added at the “management company” level, if there is an Adobe symbol in the column, that means one is on file for the vendor and users can click on it to download it.
13. Accounts. Some vendor types (utility and insurance providers) require that accounts be configured for the vendor. In the illustration above, you will note the tag icon in the column for the utility vendor, which indicates that accounts have been set up for it. Users can click on the icon to open the Community Vendor Accounts for that vendor.
14. Last Activity. This column is more robust than one might realize at first glance. On the surface it is a helpful guide to see the most recent date for activity in the system involving the vendor. But notice that date is a hyperlink. Click on it to open to a Search Invoice window pre-filtered for that vendor in the status of All. The settings work precisely like Search Invoices, just filtered to that specific vendor.

15. COI. If there is a Certificate of Insurance on file for the vendor, we will see an Adobe symbol in that column. Clicking on it will allow the document to download.
16. COI Eff. & COI Exp. These two columns show the effective and expiration date of the polic(ies).
17. INS Waiver. The other option is to upload an Insurance Waiver, which would populate as an Adobe symbol in this column.
18. # Active Contracts. The module allows more than one contract to be uploaded for a vendor (e.g., the landscaper has the routine maintenance contract, but is also working on a major entryway renovation that entails a separate contract). The number of contracts uploaded that are current will show in this column. The number is a hyperlink. Clicking on it opens to a window with additional details, including the ability to view the actual contract(s).
19. # Expired Contracts. This works much the same way the Active Contracts do, but of course this provides information on any expired contracts. And there’s a few more!

20. # Future Contracts. Managers can upload contracts for future periods as well and they will populate into this column in the same manner as we have seen in the previous contract columns.
21. Notes. Users can make notes about the vendor in general. This is different than notes in a specific workflow. These are permanent items of note about the vendor. An example might be a notation that the vendor cannot support EFT.
22. History. If some of the information is changed for the vendor, it is logged as to when the change was made and by whom.

Properties

Property Details

When first opening to it, this page looks much like its classic portal counterpart the Property and Owner Info. However, Property Details offers a level of customization that its counterpart does not by allowing each user to configure what information about owners they wish to see. More on this in Appendix A (below).

But to help learn the page navigation overall, the page presents a list of all owners in the community, including lots, units, owner type, and other owner/property information presented in a grid format. For definitions of the standard columns, click on the question mark to the right of the header for information in CiraHelp.

If a user clicks on the Property Address or Account # hyperlink, it will open to a new tab defaulting to the Property Workspace the user has configured.

Other salient features of the Properties & Owners page are as follows:

1. Toggle Collapse. After selecting an owner, the user can click the Toggle Collapse icon to change the view to a full-page Property Statuses / Property Information for that owner.

2. Property Details. This view is the listing of community owners presented in a grid format.
3. Community Map. The Community Map is displayed as a separate tab within the page. The Community Map makes use of Google Maps aerial view to provide a visual view of the community and each address within it. Various layers of information can be turned on or off to display homes with violation, delinquencies, and more. For more information on the variety of information provided through the Community Map, refer to CiraHelp.
4. Current Owners Only / Current & Previous Owners. By default, the page opens to current owners only, but users can toggle to Current & Previous Owners and click on Refresh to reload to see both current and former owners (for the time the community has been on the platform).
5. Layout Settings. Clicking on this gear icon allows a choice of one of the following:

Side by Side

Top / Down

These views can be modified by grabbing the spacer bar with the mouse pointer and moving it up and down or right and left.

6. Configure New. This feature, unique to the Management Portal, allows individual users to customize the information about the owner / property selected from the Property Details grid and is covered in detail in Appendix A.

Resident Directory

This page provides a listing of the addresses in the community, filtered by either Shared or All, along with certain information about the owners that they have chosen to share by managing the information in the Resident Portal. From this view, the directory is a read-only view. A view of the information is controlled by the features detailed on the next page.

1. Shared / All. When opening to the directory, the view is filtered to just those addresses where owners have elected to share information. Toggling to All will list all addresses in the community. If the user clicks on an address without shared information the right-hand side of the page will state “The property owner and contact information has not been shared with the community resident directory.”
2. Search. Users can use this search bar to type in an address or owner name to filter down to those specific results.
3. Print. Clicking on this icon allows the user to print the directory to their local printer.

Reports

Move-In Summary

This report reflects any conveyances that have closed in the last thirty days presented in a grid format. The names of the new owner and the property address are both hyperlinks that open to the Property view. The report can be exported as a spreadsheet.

On Demand

This page accesses to a wide array of reports that range from payables metrics, receivables, collections, Resident Portal metrics, and on…and on. By accessing this page from the Community view, many, but not all, reports are pre-filtered to only that specific community view. The listing of reports is presented in a grid format allowing users to determine several things about the report and its audience. For a complete listing and definition of the columns, refer to CiraHelp. To run a report, click on Action and select Run Report.

If there is a report you find yourself running often or want quick access to if you need it again, you can Add as Favorite to be able to have it show in a list in the Filter drop-down. If you wish to remove it later from that short list, simply click on Action again and select Remove from Favorite.

Summary – Previous Month

This report, also known as Operations Summary – Previous Month, has some similarities to the Work Processed Last 30 Days, which is a Community widget available in Workspaces. Several of the reporting metrics are the same, and both feature the ability to click on the numbers to open to the corresponding On Demand Report for additional details. But where the Work Processed Last 30 Days is literally a snapshot of the last 30 days and is subject to change daily, this report is a snapshot of the previous month.

Recommended Practice / Follow-Up

Now that you have read about the Community view, we suggest the following practice exercises:

1. Configure a Community Workspace that is unique to you. Get comfortable with how it looks and how to use it.
2. Is there a page you use more than others? Try Bookmarking the page.
3. Review your Info Summary and Legal Summary. Do they need a refresh? Try editing them from this portal.
4. Play around with the Map and try enabling and suppressing different pins to see how much faster the map loads from its classic counterpart. If you have never used the map before, then spending that time test driving it can show you what it can illustrate about the community.
5. Check the Calendar. Are all your meetings and events there? If not, try adding them from here. This is also another great way to test the efficiency over the classic portal.

Appendix A: Configuring Property Details

We discussed the Property Details above, but there is a material difference between the Property and Owner Info you think you know and the Property Details you have as a resource in the Management Portal. The Management Portal allows each of us to set up the owners’ Property and Owner Information tabs to meet our individual needs and to appear in the order we find works best for how we need to use it. If we need something different the next day, we can re-configure the tabs to meet our needs then. This allows us to reset the configuration if we have a special need and then restore it to a default view later even. We’ll step you through how it works.

The default configuration splits the information into two tabs: Property Information, inclusive of widgets Property Statuses and Property Information, and Owner Information with the widgets (or sub-tabs) of Owner Information, Contact Information and Communications.

These default configurations can be modified, deleted, or joined by additional tabs by clicking on the Configure View button to open to a pop-up window to manage the information as below:

1. Delete. Clicking on the trashcan icon will delete the tab and all included widgets.
2. Priority. The order in which the configured tabs appear to a user can be changed by moving them up or down in the window.
3. Widgets. Using the mouse pointer to click on the widgets bar opens to a full list of available widgets users can select to include within that tab. For a full list of available widgets and their function, click on the question mark to the right of the header title to open to CiraHelp. To remove any widgets, users can either open to the list and uncheck the box or click on the “x” next to the left of the widget name in that column.

4. Add New. Users can add a new tab by clicking here. This will cause a new line to populate with a default name of Workspace – 3, 4, etc. The Name can be customized. Add widgets next to complete the addition.

5. Restore or Save. To save any changes, click Save to have them populate immediately. If changes are made in error, or the user simply wants to undo edits they have made in the past, there will be a Restore button to the left of the Save button.