HI-TECH will hold the 2003 User Forum February 22-23 in Las Vegas, Nevada, at the Las Vegas Hilton Hotel and Casino. The 2003 User Forum will be held just prior to the Inside Self Storage Expo at the Las Vegas Hilton February 24-26, and is for users of HI-TECH’s RentPlus and MiniStoragePlus software programs. Classes will run throughout the two days, with continental breakfast and lunch included.

With thousands of software features and capabilities, ever changing technology, and the incredible opportunity the Internet represents, users should not miss this exciting seminar. Offered are two separate tracks: a Beginner/Intermediate track for those who are just starting with RentPlus and for those who have been using RentPlus for several months. The Advanced User Track will focus on issues such as system administration, multiple site operations, trouble-shooting, disaster recovery, accounting, and security. Each track offers two full days packed with seminars covering all the different areas of RentPlus, providing the best educational experience possible. A computer lab gives attendees the opportunities to get hands on with the system.

On Sunday, February 23, HI-TECH is pleased to welcome Jim Chiswell as the User Forum’s guest speaker. Mr. Chiswell is one of the self storage industry’s best experts on a wide variety of self storage topics. He is the author of Inside Self Storage magazine’s “Thoughts from the Road” column, and is the president of Chiswell and Associates, makers of the LockCheck™ system and a leading provider of feasibility studies, acquisition due diligence, and customized manager training.

Get the most from your HI-TECH software by taking advantage of this fantastic opportunity to learn more. The Education Seminar will provide a great opportunity to meet and socialize with dozens of other HI-TECH customers, as well as to hear one one of the industry’s best guest speakers We hope you will join us. If you have any questions, please let us know.

RentPlus version 1.8 was cleared for release this month and will be shipped to customers during December and January. The update is free to all customers who have current technical support agreements or who have purchased RentPlus recently. Customers who do not qualify may reactivate their technical support agreements to receive the update, or purchase the update separately. Contact customer service at admin@hitechsoftware.com or call 1-800-551-8324 for more information.

Michael Richards, president of HI-TECH, spoke highly of the update. “This update is truly an update customers will like. Almost every new feature, refinement, and enhancement in the update came from suggestions from customers, the people who use RentPlus day in and day out. They are the ones who deserve the credit for the continual evolution of RentPlus.” The company spent more time than expected testing the update. “We originally expected to ship the update by September, but decided on another complete round of testing, after the initial testing period of June/July. The update has now been in the hands of a couple of hundred users for some time now, ensuring a smooth update process and a solid version 1.8.”

The update contains well over a thousand modifications from version 1.7. A copy of this list is included on the version 1.8 upgrade CD.

Some of the highlights include:

• New Daily Activities folder, which displays icons (shortcuts) for the most popular functions. Users can edit and customize the list using the Customize This Folder option.
• New Collection Wizard allows you to add a charge or print a letter to a selected group of customers.
• Right-click on a unit in the Units folder to quickly show all, vacant, occupied, or only out-of-service units.
• Options to Save a copy of all receipts, billing notices, and late letters so they may be reprinted.
• RentPlus Data Mapping, including a menu option in RentPlus to export Mapping data and a RentPlus Data Mapping Wizard menu option in MapPoint (requires purchase of a separate RentPlus Add-In, which includes MapPoint).
• Reminders now allow you to specify the status of each reminder.
• Add a photo during the Move-In process.
• Enlarge viewing area for customer photos and retain the original dimensions of the image. A zoom button was added which provides the opportunity to print the image.
• New printouts added for reverse payments and transfers.
• Payment coupons may now be printed for any contract.
• It is now easier to set the number of copies to print for a receipt.
• E-Mail receipts.
• Save reports as Snapshots for fast and easy sharing and archiving.
• Increase security by setting the minimum Length for login names and passwords.
• Enhanced the Report Wizard.
• Added new reports, including:
  • Rent Roll
  • Units by Walk-Order
  • Size Occupancy Stats and Size Statistics
  • Rent Changes (rent increases/other changes)
  • Tax Invoice Listing by Category
  • Unavailable Units
  • Discounts In Use, Discount Activity
  • General Ledger Accounts by Customer
  • and more!

HI-TECH has announced the formation of HI-TECH Smart Systems Australasia Pty Ltd (HTSSAP), a fully-owned subsidiary based in Queensland, Australia. HTSSAP was formed to enhance support and services to HI-TECH’s customers in that region, and to better meet the technology demands of the growing self storage market in Australia, New Zealand, and Southeast Asia. HI-TECH also announced that Robert Broadbent has joined the new company as its Managing Director. Mr. Broadbent has many years of security, software and self storage experience. Prior to joining HTSSAP, Mr. Broadbent managed PTI Australasia, the exclusive distributor for PTI Access Control Systems in Australasia. Prior to that, Mr. Broadbent represented HI-TECH Smart Systems in Australia for Storage Technology. The new company, a member of the Self Storage Association of Australasia, exhibited at the recent annual association trade show. In addition, the company hosted training sessions for its customers in Brisbane, Melbourne, and Sydney. RentPlus is the leader in international self storage software, with RentPlus in use in more than 22 countries worldwide. For more information, contact HTSSAP at +61 (07) 3886 4205 or aus@hitechsoftware.com. In Australia, call toll-free 1 300 130 408. o

If a bug is reported to HI-TECH, it is posted on the HI-TECH web site. You can see this list and the current status of each one by following the link “Known Problems in RentPlus” at http://www.hitechsoftware.com/rentplus/help.

From the RentPlus Explorer, click Reports on the toolbar, and then click Customize. A list of all of the available reports is displayed, with a checkbox next to each report. The reports that are marked will be hidden when the report list is displayed. The customize button is only available if the user has been given permission to customize the report list in Users and Permissions.

For a quick vacant list, with the Units folder displayed, right-click any unit and select Show Vacant Only from the menu. This will filter the Units folder to only display the vacant units. Click any column header to sort by that column (unit number, size, rent, etc.). You may select to filter by occupied or out-of-service units as well.

When calling for tech support, have your serial number ready to help our technicians quickly identify your account. The serial number is displayed in the status bar at the bottom of the RentPlus screen.

Always Logout

For security purposes, you should always Logout when you move away from the computer. To logout, select Logout from the File menu. You can also logoff by simply clicking the new Logout icon on the RentPlus toolbar.

If you want to ensure that notes that are entered in a customer’s account are not ever changed, there is a new setting in Options, Customer Notes may not be changed or deleted, only added. If checked, then you can only add new customer notes, you cannot modify or delete notes entered previously.

You can easily e-mail receipts for payments to customers. When taking a payment, click Next until you reach the final screen, then check the box marked “Preview receipt”. Click Finish to display the receipt on screen, then click Send to e-mail it to the customer.