The Main Violations Page of the EasyHOA Software

The main violations page can be accessed by logging into the software and clicking on violations in the main software menu located at the left hand side of the software. The violations page is where you can see, update, and manage all current violations or create a new violation. When you first open up the violations page you will see some buttons at the top right of the page starting with the button violation settings. Below these buttons you will see a list of all violations than have not been archived. The columns for this list starts with the title which is the title of the violation, and then to the right of this it shows what unit the violation is for, who created it, the primary owner for that unit, the type of violation, the status, when it was created, the estimated completion date, how many days the violation has been open, and then an archive column where you can click the garbage can icon to archive that violation. At the top of this main violations page you can also see a search field that you can use to search for a specific violation, to the right of this search field is a status dropdown that allows you to sort the violations by status, and then to the right of this status dropdown there is a year dropdown where you can select a certain year to show as well if you want to show just violations for a specific year. On this main violations page you will also see the following buttons at the right starting with a button called, "violation settings". When you click on this violation settings button it will take you to the violation settings page. On this violation settings page you will see at the top left three titles to three different pages the three titles are, Types, Rules, and Statuses. The first title on the violation settings page is called, "types". When click on types you will see a list of all the different types of violations your HOA currently has setup. You can search by types by using the search bar at the top and then you can click on the "add new type" button location at the top right of this violation settings page. When you click on the add new type button a box will pop up where you can add a title and details of the violation. This is how you add new violation types. When you are looking at this types page that list all the violation types you can see the title of the violation, details of the violation which are shown when you create a violation and can be tied into your CC&Rs, after this details column there is an edit column where you would click on the pencil icon to edit that violation type, and then to the right of this there is an delete column where you can click on the garbage icon to delete the violation type. The second title or page on the violation settings page is called "rules". When you click on this title of rules it takes you to the rules page where you can set up a specific rule for open violations. This rule page is used to set up a reminder to a board member for when a violation has been open for "X" amount of days. At the top right of this rules page there is a button called "add new rule" This is where you would add a new reminder rule. When you click on this add new rule button you will see where you can give the rule a title, the number of days you want this reminder to be sent, the email content of the reminder, and then to whom you want this reminder to be sent to. You can add all board members to this rule or just one board member if there is only one board member in charge of violations. Once you are done adding this information for the rule click on the "save" button at the bottom right. This will save the rule so that the software will send a reminder email to a board member after so many days after a new violation has been created. The third title or page on the violation settings page is called "Statuses". When you click on statuses you will see a list of the current violation statuses. The software will start with the two default statuses of "open" and "closed". This usually suffices for most HOAs but if you would like to add more statuses you can do so by click on the "add new status" button at the top right of this statuses page. When you click on this add new status button a box will pop up where you can add a title of the status, select whether you want this status as editable by toggling this setting on or off. If you make the status editable, it means you can edit the title of this status in the future. The defaulted statuses of open and closed are not editable. The other setting you need to turn on or off when creating a new violation status is the "consider closed" option. If you toggle this setting to on then you are telling the software that when a violation is changed to that status it will be marked and considered closed in the software. On the main statuses page where it lists your current violation statuses it will list the title of the status, whether it is editable, and then the last column is an archive column where if you click on that garbage icon it will archive that status. As you go back to the main violations page where it lists all the current violations. You will see that you can click on the title of the violation this will take you the page for that specific violation. At the top of the page of a specific violation starting at the top left you will see a number which is the number of the violation. Each violation is assigned a unique number in the software. to the right of this you will see dropdown where you can change the status of this specific violation. For example you could change the violation from open to closed by selecting the closed status in this dropdown. To the right of this status dropdown there is an "edit" button. If you click on the edit button you will be taken to the edit page for the violation where you can edit the title, type, violation details, and then to what unit that violation is assigned. Once you edit any of these settings click on the "update" button at the bottom right. On a specific violation page under the number, status, and edit button there is a table of information that gives you details of the violation. This information is the Title of the violation, for what unit, the type, owners of the unit, number of days open, estimated completion date which can be edited at anytime, the violation details, and then who created this violation. Below this table of information about the specific violation, there is a title called "communication log". Under this communication log section you will see a list of emails or texts that the HOA has sent to the owner. If you can't see all the communications click on the "load more" button located at the bottom right of this communication log section of the specific violation. If you want to send the owner a new email or text message regarding this violation click on the "compose email/text" button located at the top right of this communication log section. When you click on this compose email/text button you will see three new sections appear. The first section is called Violations Fee. You would use this violation fee section to add an amount, fee name, and due date of the fee to be added to the unit billing history as part of sending the new email or text communication. Below this fee section you will see an email content section. This where you would compose the email you want to send to the owner about this violation. You can composed a custom email or used a template by selecting a template in the select template dropdown. Then below the email content section you will see a text content section. This would be used if you wanted to send a text message. To send a text check the box called "send text message" at the top left of this text content section, compose your text in the text message content, select the recipient in the available recipients dropdown and then click on add. To send the email, text, or both click on the "send" button at the bottom right of this communication log section. Down below this communication log section on the specific violation page you will see four other sections. One called "Fees" that shows all the fees that have been added to the unit as part of this violation. You will also see an "add new" button in this "fees" section where you can add a new fee associated with this violation. When you click on the "add new" button located in this fees section it will bring up a box where you type the fee amount, fee name, due date, and then click "add fee" at the bottom right. This will add a new fee to the unit billing history for the unit that this violation is for. The next section to the right of this "Fees" section is a section called "Internal Notes". The internal notes section is where board members would add notes they want to keep on this specific unit. These notes can only be viewed by logging into the software, going the violations page, and then clicking the title of a specific violation to take you to that specific violation page. Under this internal notes section for the specific violation you can see a list of the notes, with who added the note, when it was added, and then a pencil icon to edit and a garbage icon to delete. There is also an "add new" button at the top right of this internal notes section where if you click you will open up a box where you can type out and add a new notes. Underneath the "Fees" section on this specific violation page you will see an "Images" section where you can see any images that have been added or attached to this specific violation. You can see a thumbnail of the image, who added it, the date, and then a garbage icon out to the right if you want to delete this image. To add a new image click on the "add new" button at the top right of this image section. To the right of this "Image" section on the specific violation page you will see a section called "Files". This will list all the files or documents that have been added to this violation. You can click on the name of the file to open or view it and you can delete it by clicking on the garbage icon out to the right of the file. To add a new file click on the "add new" button at the top right of this file section. On the main violations page to the right of the "violation settings" button is a button called "create new violation". When you click on the create new violation button you will be taken to the page where you add a new violation to a specific unit / owner. On the create new violation page you will see at the top left there is a field called "violation name" this is where you add the name of the violation, to the right of this violation name field is a dropdown where you select which type of violation it is. Below this you will see a box called "violation details". This is where you add the details of the violation. What is the violation? What did you observe? When? etc. Below this violation details page starting at the left hand side you will see a dropdown called "to unit" this is where you select which unit you are assigning this violation to. To the right of this to unit dropdown there is a "to owner" dropdown where you select the the owner that this violation will be assigned to. Below the to unit and the to owner dropdowns you will see the "fee amount" field where you would add a fee amount if you want to charge a fee to the unit/owner with this violation. To the right of the fee amount is a "fee name" field where you add the name of the fee. To the right of this fee name field is a "due date" field where you add the due date of the fee and then to the right of this due date field is an "estimate completion date" field. This is where you can track that date that the violation should be taken care of. Below the Fee Amount, Fee name, due date, and estimated completion date fields there is a titled section called "files". This where you could attach a file to this specific violation. To this click on the "add file" button to the right of this "file" section. Below this file section there is a titled section called "internal notes" where you click on the "add note" button and add any custom and specific notes for this violation. These internal notes will not be shown anywhere to the owner. They for internal purposes only. Below this internal notes section on this create new violation page you will see a toggle setting to the left called "send notification with this violation". If you toggle this on you will see a "Notification" section appear below where while you are creating this violation you can also create a notification to be sent to the owner at the same time. Under this notification section you will see an email content section and a text content section. Under the email section you can select a template or create a custom message then select the owner to notify under the available recipients dropdown at the bottom. Under the text content section you can type a custom text message. If you are going to send a text with the violation make sure the checkbox called "send text message" is checked. You may also send both an email and text message or one or the other. At the bottom right of this page click on the button called "create and send" to create the violation and send the notification. If you are just creating the violation and not sending a notification to the owner at the same time then leave the "send notification with this violation" toggle off and the button to create the violation will be called "create violation". Once you click the create and send or the create violation buttons the violation will be created in the software. If a fee was add as part of the violation that fee will show up in the billing history for the unit. If you opted to send a notification as well the notification will be sent as part of the creating of the violation. On the main violations page to the right of the create new violation button is a button called "Archived Violations". When go to the archived violations page you will see a list of violations that have been archived. This list shows the same information as the list of violations shows on the main violations page except now you will have the option to unarchive the violation or delete the violation. It shows the title of the violation, for what unit it was for, who created it, the primary owner, the type, the status, when it was created, estimated completion date, number of days open, an archive icon which looks like a half circle with an arrow, this will unarchive the violation and put it back on the main violations page, and then the last icon is a garbage can delete icon. This will delete the violation. You can only delete a violation once it has been archived and you cant archive a violation unless its status has been changed to closed. At the top of this archived violations page starting at the top left there is a search bar, dropdown filter where you can filter the violations by status, and then a dropdown year filter to filter the violations by year. At the top of this page towards the right you will also see a button called "active violations" if you click on this it will take you back to the main violations page. There is also two buttons to the right of this, once called "export to csv" which will export the list you are looking at as a CSV file to your computer, and then an "export PDF" button which will export the list you are looking at to a PDF file on your computer. On the main violations page to the right of the "archived violations" button you have a button called "export CSV" which will export the list of violations you are viewing on the main violations page to a CSV to your computer and then to the right of this export csv button there is an "export pdf" button where you can again export the list of violations you are viewing to a pdf to your computer. Once the lists are downloaded you could email them if needed by finding the downloads section on your computer and attaching that file to an email.