06/03/2011
These release notes are broken down into 2 sections for major and minor enhancements to the application. A third section lists all new windows and tasks that have been added where your System Administrator will need to set security in order for you to have access to them.
This is a summary of enhancements made with 9.0. Details of each enhancement are described in the appropriate sections of the Help documentation, which you can get to by clicking the links for each of these enhancements.
Property Manager provides System-Defined Roles on the System Administration > Define Access tab which allow users to have initial security access setup right out of the box. These System-Defined Roles have a red tick mark to indicate that fact.
With 9.0, these default roles can no longer be deleted. Instead, you can use the new task, Active/Inactivate Roles, to make these roles inactive if they are not being used.
Custom Roles added by users will be sorted to the top of the list, with the default roles listed next and inactive roles listed last.
With the upgrade to v9.0 (and all future upgrades), new objects (Tab Containers, Tabs or Tasks) will be given the desired security settings based on which of the System-Defined Security Roles they are to be included in, ensuring that the relevant Property Manager roles will have access to the new objects they need to do their work.
If you utilize Custom Roles, you will still need to update those Roles with new objects with each new version of Property Manager.
The latest Crystal Report DLLs necessary for running reports at Reports > Select Reports will be available with the installation of this version of Property Manager. This installation of Property Manger will check to see if you have the latest Crystal Report DLLs on your computer, and if it doesn’t, you will be required to download and install them. The installation of the Crystal Report DLLs is separate from the install of Property Manager.
Property Manager is now sensitive to the Time Zone that you are working in. The Time Zone is calculated for each community based on the state entered on the Community Detail > General tab.
Notes entered in various areas of Property Manger, Household Detail > Notes and Community Detail > Notes for example, will have time stamp defaulted to the local time.
Jump down to:
Maintenance Detail/Work Order Detail
New Building Detail Tab Container
New Community Detail > Program Groups Tab
Service Provider Subsidy Receivables
Resident Screening - Rent Grow
New Windows/Tasks to be set in Security
Various Lookup Tables and Work Order Templates have been combined into one tab under System Administration Detail for Maintenance Setup. This provides one central/library view for setting up the various components behind Maintenance To-Do List Activities, Templates and Work Orders.
As part of the Maintenance Detail, Work Order Detail and Maintenance Setup enhancements, the System Administration > Maintain Lookup Tables - Priority table has been removed. Priority is now either: High, Normal or Low, which is an attribute of a Work Order. If you had created Priorities such as: Emergency, Urgent or Serious, they will be converted to “High” on upgrade to v9.0. “Emergency” is now an attribute of a Work Order Template. When creating new Work Orders, you are required to select a Work Order Template to create it from. Therefore, if a work request is an emergency, then the Work Order should be created from a template that indicates that it is an emergency.
From the System Administration > Maintenance Setup tab, you will choose an item to maintain and the appropriate tasks will be available for each:
Appointment Blocks (New)
Construction Company Accounting Codes
Construction Company Materials Accounting
Fixed Assets - Item Groups
Fixed Assets - Item List
Fixed Assets - Location Codes
Fixed Assets - Type Codes
Inspection Templates (New)
Job Titles
Location Item Deficiency (New)
Deficiencies related to a specific Item are maintained in this System Administration > Maintenance Setup table. Deficiencies are used to describe problems on work requests or as a list of items to look out for on an inspection.
Deficiencies can be marked impacting health & safety and/or the existence of a particular deficiency should be considered an emergency.
Each Deficiency is assigned to a Default Item (System Administration > Maintenance Setup - Location Items).
Item Deficiencies are displayed in the Create Work Request task for the selected Location Item when a Problem is being reported, which should lead you to which task needs to be performed.
Each Item Deficiency can have an optional Default Task assigned to it. This Default Task is used in the Create New Work Request task.
Each Item Deficiency has a default “Failure Rating” to help signify the amount of risk from the deficiency.
The Failure Rating can be set to Level 1, 2 or 3.
Location Item Tasks
You have the ability to set the minimum number of employees to assign to a task, as well as the default time estimate for the task.
Location Items
When a Location Item is removed from a location on this table, the Location Item will still display for Locations that were selected on the Community Detail > Maintenance > Maintenance Definition, Building Detail > Maintenance > Maintenance Definition, Unit Detail > Maintenance > Maintenance Definition and Amenity Detail > Maintenance > Maintenance Definition tabs. However, they will show as inactive for the Location. If you deselect the Location Item on any of these Maintenance Definition tables and it is the only Location Item for that Location, the Location will be removed.
Location Items can now be created for Amenities (Amenity Detail > Maintenance > Maintenance Definition tab).
Location Items are now assigned to Location Types instead of to each Location. Therefore, when in the Create New Work Request task, when you select a Location, all Location Items assigned to that Location’s Location Type will be available for selection.
Creating new Location Items will be easier because you will only need to assign it to one Location Type instead of the many Locations included in that Location Type.
Location Items now have a Material Type attribute, which links the Location Item to a Material.
Material Types linked to Location Items are considered to be either Inventory or Fixed Assets.
Location Items also have an Asset Type attribute which defines it (and the associated Material Type) as either:
Inventoried - quantifiable items, just want to know the count, how many do a I have on hand
Fixed Asset - each individual item is important, specific details and where it is located.
Location Items without an Asset Type (None) are considered Consumables.
Location Items now have a “Condition” parameter, which allows you to define any special conditions present for a selected Location Item. The list of conditions available in this drop down list include: Lead Paint and Asbestos.
The selected Condition will display in the Alerts section of a Work Order.
Location Items now have a “Standard” parameter. When selected, the Location Item will always be selected for the Locations of the same Location Type and cannot be deselected from the Community Detail, Building Detail, Unit Detail or Amenity Detail > Maintenance > Maintenance Definition tabs.
Locations
Location can now be created for Amenities (Amenity Detail > Maintenance > Maintenance Definition tab).
Locations are now grouped by Location Types. Grouping by Location Types will allow for more general and faster setup of Location Items, which will be filtered by Location Type at any particular community, building, unit or amenity.
Location Types include:
None
All
Site Wide
Entire Building
Building Common Area
Entire Unit
Area within Unit
Entire Amenity
Site Wide Systems
Entire Building System
Entire Unit System
Systems with Unit
Entire Amenity System
Hazards
Inventory - selecting this Location Type makes the Location an “Inventory Location” and it will show as such on the Maintenance > Inventory tabs under Community Detail, Building Detail and Unit Detail.
With this enhancement, Location Items are now assigned to Location Types, instead of directly to Locations.
Material Type (New)
Materials
Materials that Go With Items (New)
Materials that Go With Tasks
Renovation Codes
Skill
Unit of Work
Work Order Templates (New)
Work Order Transaction Sub Type (New)
The old Community Detail > Program Info Tab has been split into 2 new tabs under Community Detail. Parameters that apply to Funding Program Group Details (details that apply to all funding programs in a group) have been separated from Funding Program Details (details that only apply to one funding program in a group).
Community Detail > Program Groups Tab (Funding Program Group Details)
Funding Program Groups
Funding Program Group Details
General
Resident Screening Required
Agency Rules
Security Deposit
Annual Recertification
Funding Programs in Program Group
Details about a Funding Program specific to which Funding Program Group it is included in.
If a Funding Program is included in more than one Funding Program Group, these details may be different depending on which Funding Program Group you are looking at.
Community Detail > Program Info Tab (Funding Program Details)
Funding Programs - Funding Programs are shown outside of the context of which Funding Program Group or Groups that may be included in.
Funding Program Details - These details are specific to the Funding Program.
If the Funding Program is included in more than one Funding Program Group, these details are the same no matter which Funding Program Group is in context.
Funding Program Layers
If you have services provided to tenants in a community that are paid for by an outside agency, you now have the ability to setup Subsidy Receivables (either one-time or scheduled) to receive payments from these outside agencies for the benefit of tenants of the community.
Required Setup:
Add the voucher source, if not already there, at System Administration > Maintain Lookup Tables - Vouchers.
This should be the Voucher Source that these types of Service Provider payments will be received with. For example, if you have a Local Housing Authority Voucher that pays subsidy as well as money towards a service provider, the Local Housing Authority Voucher would be the Voucher Source you use. In this way both payments can be received in the same payment batch.
From the Community Detail > General tab use the Maintain Voucher Source task to select the voucher for a community and select the “Service” parameter.
Only Vouchers with this parameter selected will be available to add Subsidy Receivables for these Service Provider payments.
Add one or more Subsidy Charge Types using the "Non-Certified Voucher Other-Bill" Internal Type using the Insert Charge Type task at System Administration > Accounting Setup - Charge Type Setup.
This new charge type is what's used for the description of the balance due when creating the open items for this type of subsidy receivable. Please note that the accounting for the GL Entries will come from the Voucher setup.
From each Household’s Household Detail > Accounting > Subsidy tab, you can use the Add New Subsidy Receivable task for one-time charges or the Add New Scheduled Subsidy Receivable task to create a schedule that bills with the frequency you choose.
Open Items, Schedules and Event History is viewed from the Household Detail > Accounting > Subsidy tab and a filter has been added to filter each of these view by a selected Voucher.
Payments for these Subsidy Open Items are received on the Accounting Detail > Payments tab with the Start New Payment Batch task using the Subsidy-Non-HAP payment batch type.
A new parameter has been added to the Community Detail > Rent tab where you can select a Broken Lease Method for each Funding Program Group of a Community. The Broken Lease Method will define what move-out accounting should occur and how the remaining rent through a household’s lease obligation should be billed.
The default selection for this parameter is <None> where no special accounting occurs when a lease is broken (pre-9.0 in Property Manager). With this enhancement, one method is available. If this method doesn’t meet your needs, please contact Bostonpost Support to work with you in creating a new method.
Charge Balance at MO, Rebate if Rented - This method will charge rent to the moved-out household through the remaining term of their lease. If the unit is rented again before the lease term is up, this billing will stop and any excess monies paid will be refunded back.
When a move-out is confirmed the total rent is computed from move out day +1 to the lease end date.
If total due is greater than $0 a broken lease receivable is created for that amount. Its accounting offset is to the unearned income liability account.
The GL Entry will Debit Tenant Receivable and Credit Unearned Income Liability.
You are left with the full receivable the former household owes through the end of their lease obligation
As the former tenant makes payment, the normal payment processing occurs - Debit to Cash and Credit to Tenant Receivable.
This activity is visible on the Household Detail > Accounting > Receivables tab.
A balance schedule is created on the Unit Detail > Gross Potential tab to amortize the unearned income into regular income each month as the billing is run. If the move-out is backdated a catch-up billing is run to post the first amortization(s).
Each month a GL Entry will occur to Debit Unearned Income Liability and Credit Tenant Gross Rent Potential.
This activity is visible on the Unit Detail > Gross Potential tab.
The vacancy schedule is adjusted to start the day after the unearned amortization schedule ends. In other words, vacancy doesn’t start billing until the broken lease obligation ends.
If a new household moves into the vacant unit, the former household’s broken lease obligation will be reduced to end 1 day prior to the new move-in.
If the amount of the Tenant Receivable due from the former household becomes negative, the former household is due a refund.
Cancelling the confirmation of the move-out or subsequent move-in will restore accounting to its state prior to the transaction.
This broken lease accounting only impacts the tenant rent and subsidy accounting is not impacted.
Two new charge types need to be maintained for the above accounting to be created correctly. Use the Maintain Charge Type task at System Administration > Accounting Setup - Charge Type Setup to maintain the Broken Lease Receivable and Broken Lease Unearned Income charge types.