Welcome to the Power of Nine eNewsletter. The goal of this free newsletter is to provide TEA users with tips and tricks on using TEA IX as well as news and other information about TEA IX. Please feel free to forward it to your co-workers, or let them know that they can access it from the TEA IX website.
What's New !
Version 9.12 Released
The latest update to the TEA software was officially released March 15, 2004. More details directly below in the TEA IX Updates section.
Mission Complete - TEA Installed in Cameroon, Africa
Our travelling installer/trainer has returned from his journey to Africa, completing a successful install of the French-language version of TEA in Douala, Cameroon. John didn't have a whole lot of time to explore this diverse country (afterall this was a business trip) but he returned with many stories to share and memories to last a lifetime. Read about his adventure here.
New Documents added to the Online Document Library
Several new training and tutorial documents are now available for download from the TEA Support website, including:
- Working with Loan Statuses
- Creating a Custom Report Header
- Working with User Profiles and Security
TEA IX Updates
Version 9.12
TEA 9.12 has officially been released and is full of new features and enhancements. We strongly advise that you complete the update, if you haven't done so already, to take advantage of these new features. Here are a few items that have been added in version 9.12:
- New loan status choices: Collection, Bankruptcy, Legal Action, Consolidation and Repossession
- New transaction type: Repossession
- Expanded, detailed address tracking
- Added the ability to change the standard report header/footer
- Expanded collateral tracking - realization, loan position, appraisal info
- Bulk Email
- and much more!
New Modules Available
In recent releases of the program, we have added several new add-on modules to TEA. These include:
- Credit Reporting - allows credit reporting for Equifax and other credit bureaus
- EFT Manager - for Electronic Funds Transfers, used with automatic debits and banking
- Escrow Manager - allows for the collection and release of funds in escrow
- Grant Module
The Grant module allows organizations to completely manage all Grant programs within their organization. The module facilitates the grant process by allowing organizations to track virtually all parameters related to the issuance of grants. Incorporated into the module is the Grant Fund Manager (GFM) which allows you to track all sources of fund capitalization for individual grant funds in addition to tracking all disbursements and net fund balances.
The module allows for the tracking of multiple grants funds, use of funds, multiple grant disbursements, accounting integration, user-definable grant status tracking (pipeline)in addition to several other key features that allow for effective grant program delivery.
This module is the latest addition to TEA and will be available in the upcoming month.
Upcoming Events
A rolling stone gathers no moss! Here's a look at some of the stops we'll be rolling into within the coming months.
- 2004 Vision Quest Annual Conference
Winnipeg, MB - May 11-13, 2004
This is an annual conference involving native organizations and those companies or organizations serving the aboriginal communities of Manitoba. Sponsors/Partners include 6 Manitoba CFDC's. Our role will be demonstrating TEA at a trade show booth to be viewed by individuals and organizations delivering programs to participants and aboriginal communities.
Paul Hodgert will be attending.
- 2004 AEO Annual Conference
Philadelphia, PA - May 24-27, 2004
14th Annual Association for Enterprise Opportunity (AEO) Conference and Membership Meeting. The 2004 conference, “A Declaration of Economic Independence – Strategies for Sustainable Microenterprise Development,” is co-hosted by the Pennsylvania Microenterprise Coalition (PMC) and is considered the premier microenterprise training event in the United States.
We are excited about the conference as it is always an excellent means for us to visit with our existing customers and expand our knowledge of the microenterprise sector in general. We will be exhibiting for the duration of the conference and will be providing a TEA software demonstration during the Networking Lunch on Wednesday, May 26, 2004 from 12:30 to 2:00 pm. If you would like additional information about our company or our products or services please attend as it will be quite informative. We look forward to seeing all of you at the conference!
Scott Rowat and John Meredith will be attending.
Additionally, to all of our Canadian organizations, we strongly recommend that you consider becoming a member of the Association for Enterprise Opportunity (AEO) and, if at all possible, attend the annual conference. It is an excellent way to learn what types of funding, Community Economic Development (CED) and innovative lending and technical assistance programs are being developed in the US. In addition, they have several excellent resources to assist microenterprise organizations to increase effectiveness and overall strategy for community impact. Visit their website at http://www.microenterpriseworks.org to learn more about their organization.
- 2004 OACFDC Annual Conference - On the Horizon
London, ON - May 30-June 1, 2004
CommonGoals Software will be attending the 11th Annual OACFDC Conference in London this year. We will be exhibiting at the conference highlighting some of the changes that have occurred with the new release of 9.12 and exhibiting our new add-on modules now available. This is also a good time for board members and managers to gather information, ask questions or receive a brief demo so they have an understanding of the managing and reporting capabilities of TEA. CommonGoals will be sponsoring the Awards Reception and we look forward to seeing all of our Ontario users at the conference and appreciate your continued support.
Scott Rowat and John Meredith will be attending.
We truly enjoy attending these conferences and value the opportunity to get out and "meet the people"! If you know of any conference or event where you feel our participation would be of interest or benefit to those in attendance, please forward your suggestions and recommendations to our Team. We hope to see you somewhere along our travels!
Training
We recently completed Regional Training for all seven regions in Ontario, Canada. Due to the overwhelming interest from the CFDC's, particularly in the Northeast Region, additional Sessions were required.
The feedback we received from these Sessions has been very positive and most helpful. Several very good recommendations and suggestions were received and will be considered for future updates to the program and future training sessions. Thank you to all who participated!
For further information and available training options, please contact CommonGoals Software. Provide us with your specific training requirements and we'll be happy to provide you with a no cost, no obligation quote. You can also contact us anytime at training@commongoals.com.
QuickHelp
Sending E-Mails and Accessing Client Websites
First we must ensure that this feature is enabled. From within the TEA Administration Module, goto the System Settings section and verify that the Enable hyperlinks on e-mails and website addresses checkbox is checked. You can verify that this feature is enabled from within TEA as the e-mail and Website fields will appear as hyperlinks (underlined text) and your cursor will turn to a little hand when you mouse-over these fields. Now when you double-click an e-mail address, your default e-mail program (as setup on your PC) will open a new e-mail message addressed to the selected e-mail address. Double-clicking a website address will open your internet browser to the specified website address.
Note: Both of these features rely on the default E-mail and Internet Browser applications installed on your pc. If you don't have these or you do not have internet access from your pc these features will not work.
Sending Bulk E-Mails
New in TEA 9.12 is the ability to easily send an e-mail to multiple client, rolodex or business contacts. You are also given the option to add a Note about the e-mail to each of the records selected to receive the e-mail.
Open the Rolodex, Client or Business module, highlight all of the records to be included in the e-mail list by holding down the CTRL key and selecting each of them within the grid with the mouse. Select Tools | E-mail from the menu. To add a note about this e-mail to each of the records selected, check the Add a Note check box and fill in the required particulars for the Note (Category, Analyst, Subject and Text (Optional)).
Checking for solutions to Known Issues before calling TEA Support
If you come upon a problem in TEA, before contacting our Support Team, try checking the Known Issues section on the TEA website for help - the solution you seek might already be there! For known issues, we post details of the problem and, when available, temporary work-arounds or fixes that will help get you past the problem until the next program update.
You can launch the TEA IX Website from within TEA by selecting Help | Visit the TEA Website from the main menu. Upon arriving at the site, enter your Support Login username and password to access the secure Support area. Select Resource Centre and then Known Issues to see the list of any known issues for the current release.
For customer service or technical questions regarding TEA IX, please visit the TEA Support page on the web. You must use your assigned Username and Password to access the Support area. If you have lost or misplaced your login information, you may contact TEA Support and we will email this information to you.
As always, if you have any feedback regarding this newsletter, please email your comments to us. We hope you have enjoyed this issue of the Power of Nine eNewsletter.
Best regards,
The TEA Support Team
Power of Nine
eNewsletter for TEA IX
May 01, 2004
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What's New ! |
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TEA IX Updates |
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New Add-On Modules Available |
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Upcoming Events |
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Training |
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QuickHelp |