Setup Plan Introduction

Organization is the key to smooth and successful system setup. Making decisions prior to actually setting up the system can save you headaches down the road. Adding information to the system in a specific sequence can save you time and frustration. We suggest that you formulate a setup plan based on the following advice.

Setup Steps

Read Setup Steps, which provides detailed guidance intended to minimize the time it takes to complete your system setup. It also explains what information you need to have at hand when actually entering data into the system.

Setup Sequence

Read the Setup Sequence topic that introduces the types of setup available: EZ Residential Setup Sequence, Full Residential Setup Sequence, EZ Commercial Setup Sequence, or Full Commercial Setup Sequence. The sequence you use to set up the system is important because the selections you make on one tab may affect other tabs. For example, a Property Policy Code must be set up prior to setting up a property because you must be able to select a Property Policy Code on the Properties tab. Thus, following the recommended setup sequence saves you transition time from tab to tab and can save you some frustration. Following the sequence exactly is not absolutely necessary unless otherwise noted. The system is flexible enough to withstand deviation within a setup sequence.

Note that setup sequences also indicate whether or not a setup is required. Asterisks ( * ) denote required items. A few setups—Amenities, for example—are optional. They may be set up at any time because they are not central to the running of the system; they enhance the system.

Planning Setup

Initially, we suggest that you concentrate on planning global, rentable, and property policies.

Global policies provide users with defaults that lighten their workload and cause business data to be processed in a consistent manner. These policies affect how fields display, how reports print, batch processing, bulk payment entry, resident transfers, month end processing, interface options, inter-property movement, and field labels. The Global Policies provides setup details on policies and includes set of questions that should help you plan global policies for your business. As part of the planning process, we ask that you fax a copy of your global policies to Customer Support. If we have this information on hand, we can support your system more efficiently.

Setting up rentable items policies allows you to establish rules for leasing rentable items. Property policies customize the functional response of your system for all properties associated with a policy code based on the policy type selected; Residential or Commercial. The Property Policies provide setup details on user policies, and at the end of the policy sections, includes set of questions that should help you plan policies for each of your properties. As part of the setup process, we ask that you fax a copy of your property policies to Customer Support. If we have this information on hand, we can support your system more efficiently.

Planning the Remainder of the System Setup

After you have global, rentable, and property policies planned, you are ready to plan the remainder of your system setup.

The supporting documentation and questionnaire sections follow the sequence detailed in the appropriate setup sequence. Each section includes setup details on the item you are setting up and a set of questions that should help you plan for the entry of each item. Actually completing each questionnaire is optional; they are provided for your convenience. In instances where a system has been converted, most of the data for your setup may already be in your system. If you do not use the questionnaires, when setting up—actually entering data into the system, you may want to keep a copy of the questions at hand because they can sometimes provide insight beyond that which is provided in field descriptions appearing in online Help or the User Guide.

When setting up—actually entering data into the system, be sure to follow the steps detailed in the Setup Steps. Following this numbered list of steps minimizes the amount of flipping between tabs.