Violations Management

Applying violations to the system requires a set up process to be completed before records can be dynamically managed. Once the setup is complete, managing many violation records, sending many violation letters, and keeping track of the ongoing process and status transitions, become a very simple and highly automated task.

Violations Setup

Connecting the Violations system to the Accounting System requires that the violation type is added, and the Invoice and/or Cash templates are connected to the specific violation. This will involve:

creating the custom Billing Type creating the invoice and/or cash templates relating the invoice and/or cash templates to the Billing Type relating the Billing Type to the individual Violation codes creating a letter template for each of the status transitions adding the violation codes that will be managed in the system

Creating the Custom Billing Type

Go to System Admin and select Manage Value Lists.

Select AR_CustomBilling by clicking the text link in the Value List column.

When the Custom Billing screen grid opens, click the ‘Click here to add new item’ text link.

Add ‘Violations’ to the list, assign a unique Value, and click Update.

In most instances, this task has already been done for you when your new system is deployed for use.

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This action will begin the process of connecting the violation bill type to the Account Receivable module so that fees and fines can be manages normally, as an invoice and open balance that will be present on the property balance screen, can age normally, and remain as an open balance until the balance is collected.

Creating the Invoice and/or Cash Templates

Violations may be managed in the accounting system as an invoice or a cash receipt, or you can apply them as either one. If you want to have the option at the time of applying a fee to a violation, you should set both up when activating the violations management system. Here’s how to do both.

For Invoices, go to Accounts Receivable, expand the Setup menu item, and select Invoice Setup.

When the Invoice Templates screen opens, select Add New Invoice Template.

The New Invoice Template screen will then appear.

Fill the appropriate data fields and click Update.

As you can see in the above and below screen shots, the appropriate cash, receivable, and income accounts must be assigned in order to manage these fees and fines in the core accounting system.

The accounting system is completely integrated with all system modules, assuring that all bills, fees, fines, and penalties, are applied in real time as they are applied to the system in each separate department application.

To set up the cash receipt process, go to Accounts Receivable, expand the Setup menu item, and select Cash Setup.

The Cash Template screen will open where you can click to ‘Add New Cash Receipt Template’.

Fill the appropriate data fields and click Update. As you can see in the below screen, only the Cash and Income accounts are selected for Cash Receipts. This means that the full amount of the fee, fine, or penalty is collected at the same time that the violation record is applied, and the violation record can be closed if no further action is needed.

With both the Invoice and Cash transaction options applied to the system, we can now relate the invoice and cash templates to the billing type.

Go to Accounts Receivable, expand the Setup menu, and select Assign Templates.

Find the Billing Type created in the Value Lists and assign the Invoice and/or Cash Templates

This system enables the user to add CC&R records to the system with the actual regulation document content so that details can be attached to the record as well as any letter correspondences required in managing the violation record over time.

CC&R codes can be uploaded to your system by providing us with them in an Excel spreadsheet, CSV file, comma delimited file, or any approved format that we can use to easily move records into the system.

This will save you time by eliminating the need to manually key data into the Violations module.

To access and manage CC&R codes, expand the Violations main menu, and select CC&R Codes.

If we added your existing codes as explained above, your codes will appear in the screen grid. You can then add new ones by clicking the Add New Violation Code text link.

The new code screen will open.

Fill the appropriate fields and click Update.

When Fine is selected from the Fine/Citation menu, the Billing Type menu will appear. Select the Billing Type created in the Value Lists from the menu.

The Status Transitions tab empowers the user to create a custom event process for each violation so that specific letters can be queued at specific time intervals and sent to the member until the violation record is closed.

In the above example, specific letter templates were created for each Status as Word docs for each of the Action Days. So in this example, the first letter will be auto-generated and ready to go one day after the record was created.

Fourteen days later, the second letter will be auto-generated, and 30 days later the third letter will be queued.

As long as the letter templates are added to the system with the correct letter placeholders, the letters will be auto-generated and queued in the Print Letters screen of the Violations module.

Expand Violations in the main menu, and select Print Letters.

All letters in the queue that are scheduled to be printed “today” will be printed when the Print button is activated.

To view and manage the Violation Records without opening the Print Letters screen, expand the Violations option in the main menu, and select Violations Records. The Violations screen grid will open.

The content in each of the first four columns are linkable which enables the user to drill to each of the related records – Violation record, the CC&R code, the property details, and the member details.

With violation codes, letter templates, status schemes, and fees attached to the appropriate A/R, Cash, and Income accounts, new records can be easily added to the system by expanding the Violations in the main menu, select Violation Records, and click the Add New Violation link.

The New Violation record screen will open.

Fill the appropriate fields in the top section of the screen and click Update.

All fields will automatically draw information from existing properties and members already added to the system. The Description field is a free text field where you can apply a quick definition of the violation.

To further define the violation relative to the CC&R codes, click on the “Click her to add new item” text link in the Items tab.

A search popup will appear so that you can search the CC&R by keywords or codes.

Use the radio buttons to further define the violation, and use the Keyword search field to find the actual rules/restrictions in the community CC&R records.

If the resulting records display the appropriate code, select it by checking the checkbox in the left grid column, and click the Add Selected button.

After adding the related code violation, the detail will appear in the Items grid.

The status will remain open, the Compliance Required checkbox has been manually activated, and I also have the ability to apply a fee to the record that must be collected – as part of the compliance -- before the record can be closed.

If I click the Apply Fee text link, a Billing Info popup will appear.

This popup provided the mechanism for applying the fee as either an Invoice or as a Cash Receipt using the Receivable, Cash, and Income accounts that were assigned to this billing template in previous instructions above.

This fee will be applied using the same A/R billing process used throughout the Management Gateway system.

If the logged in user has an open batch currently, they can select the open batch, or open a new one.

If Category types have been added to the system in the Value List section, one can be selected.

A priority and due date can also be assigned. It is also possible at this time to assign different accounts to be used for managing this record if the need arises.

The user will select a batch, apply the fee amount in the Amount column of the Items grid, and click OK in order to register the fee to the violation record.

The violation record and the fee associated with the record have now been applied to the system.

If you go to the member details screen, and/or the property details screen, the violation record will now appear in the Violations tab grid along the bottom of the screen.

Adding a NEW violation record can also be done on either of these two screens.

So if the system user is on the property (first image below) or member screen (second image below) as part of their typical violations work flow, they do not have to navigate to the violations module to begin the process.

Since this specific CC&R record has three letter templates related to status, and 1, 14, and 30 days has been assigned as the schedule for sending these letters, the system will automatically queue these letters on the assigned day so that the specific letter is ready to be printed.

If hundreds of violation records require letters to be printed on the same day, all will be concatenated and saved to one PDF document and will be ready for the user to click the Print button.

This happens regardless of the CC&R violation, regardless of the letter template, and regardless of the status letter being used in the schedule.

All the right templates for all the right violation records for all the right members will be printed on the right day as long as the setup is completed correctly and the checkbox to the left of the violation number is activated.

Templates

Generating the various transition letters has become a simple task in the new version of Management Gateway.

We provide a new tool screen where the placeholders can be selected and added to letter templates.

Expand the Violations option in the main menu, expand the sub menu item Print Letters, and click the Letter Placeholders text link.

Using a document application, such as MS Word, format and write the letter template you will use for each violation status schedule.

For example, the first letter may be a cordial notification of the violation and the course of events that must follow in order for the violation record to be reconciled and closed.

When we want to automatically input fields that are unique to each individual violation record, such as:

the member’s name and contact information the violation code number and description any fee amounts that have been applied to the member/property balance the important dates associated with the record, etc

…we simply point and click the placeholder to copy the coded for the placeholder, then point and paste the code to the Word document.

Click First Name in the Placeholders menu…

Paste First Name in the document…

Click Last Name in the Placeholders menu…

Paste Last Name in the document…

Click Number in the Placeholders menu…

Paste Number in the document…

And so on.

When the template is ready and saved to your hard drive, you can add it to the system by expanding the System Admin main menu option and selecting Manage Templates.

When the Templates screen grid opens, click the Add New Template text link in the top left corner of the screen.

When the New Template screen opens, fill the appropriate data field and select the appropriate Usage from the menu.

For printing specific letters are triggered by an event in the system, such as on a specific scheduled date, or when a status of some record in the system is changed either manually or automatically, Print On Event is the appropriate Usage option.

When the appropriate fields have been filled and selected, upload the template to the system by clicking the Select File button.

This will open the popup that will enable you to find and select the letter template you created and saved to your hard drive.

Click on the file name and click the Open button to upload the letter template to the system.

Click the Save file button, then Update the record, and the system is ready to select and use that template when it is supposed to.

Here is a quick bullet-point review to reference when using this module:

Create the Transition Letter Templates:

1. Go to System Admin >> Manage Templates >> Add New Template2. Use placeholders to create a letter for each violation transition3. Save the template to your hard drive4. Upload the template to the system

Managing Violation Records & Letters:

1. Go to Violations >> Violation Records

Violation records will populate this grid when you open this screen.

You can drill down to the individual violation record, the letter template that has been assigned to the violation type, the CC&R code, and the lot and member records associated with the violation.

The grid will also display the important record dates and the current record status.

2. Go to Violations >> Print Letters

Open violations will be queued in the grid when you open the screen.

The sequential status of the records are dynamic, so the will change automatically as you print the letters.

If you have a reason to change the sequence – for example, if a member complies with the violation requirements – you can move to any level in the sequence on this screen as well.

3. All open violation records appear in the grid4. All current letters that should be sent to the member are queued in the Status column5. The number of days that letters should be sequentially sent is managed by the user6. To review the number of days between letters, see the Status Transitions tab in the CC&R code7. The Action Days column will dictate the timing of different letters8. All action days are displayed in the Follow-up or Action Date column9. The appropriate template name will also appear in the Template column on the correct date10. The user should address records when today’s date is greater than or equal to the Action Date11. To print letters for these actionable records, click the checkbox in the far left column

If a member has complied with the requirements of the violation, and the queued letter in the status column is now incorrect, click the Update Status radio button in the top left corner of the screen.

When you do this, an Update button will also appear.

You may select any letter template from the Status menu in order to change the current status of individual records and then click the Update button to save these status changes.

When you are done, click the Print Letters radio button to return to the letter printing workflow.

12. When all the appropriate checkboxes have been checked, click the Print button13. The system will concatenate all letters into one PDF and display the PDF for review14. Print the letters when the display is confirmed

It is important to address Action Dates as quickly as possible.

It is highly probably that a warning letter will go out before a fine is applied.

This means that sending out the first letter late will shorten the time the violator has to comply.

We certainly don’t want one letter saying that the violator has ten days to comply, and the notification that the fine has been applied being delivered two days later.

To avoid this, the system is programmed to assign the Action Days to the date of the printed letter, and does not hardcode the Action Dates.

So if a letter is sent three days late, the next letter in the queue will display a dynamic Action Date that has been calculated by adding the Action Days in the violation code record to the date the previous letter was printed.

When the print button is selected, all violation records are updated, and all Action Dates are dynamically reset.

For more information, or if you have questions about this highly automated module, please contact your Management Gateway representative.