LandlordMax Newsletter - LandlordMax Network version updateThe main focus of today's newsletter is to update you all on the status of the upcoming networked and multi-user version of LandlordMax, version 6.05e. Most of you are already aware of our publicly available
daily status update page, but for those of you who are new the newsletter, you can find it at:
http://landlordmax.com/v605estatus We update it pretty much on a daily basis. There are two charts, the first is the total number of remaining tasks and the other is the number of total tasks versus the number of completed tasks. Basically when the first chart reaches zero, or the two lines from the second chart meet, we should be ready to launch.
As well this month we had an unfortunate event on our servers where an update of the database engine to a newer version failed. Although we were able to repair and resolve the issue within a day, any support requests submitted by email or through the website on Friday Nov 9th were unfortunately lost as we had to revert to a previous instance of our support system in the wee hours of Friday night and early Saturday morning to successfully complete the upgrade. On a positive note everything is now fully upgraded and we have been fully operational since.
LandlordMax News and Updates:Desktop version:
Since the last newsletter, there isn't a lot more to report on the desktop version as all our efforts are focused on releasing the networked version. That being said, you can expect to see new features in desktop version 6.05e that were not planned. Basically as we're preparing to release the networked version we've encountered a few instances were we needed to add some new functionality and features, and each time this happens the desktop version also gets the exact same improvements as they share the same code base. As well this week we were able to achieve some reasonable performance improvements for very large databases. Of course when it's released we'll publish all the details of what's new on the website along with
the existing release notes
. And if you already own version 6.05 of LandlordMax, please do note that the upgrade to version 6.05e of the desktop is completely free as it's included in your license.
Networked version update:Just like the last newsletter, a LOT of progress has occurred over the last month.
And I do mean a LOT! You can see the effort for yourself at:
http://landlordmax.com/v605estatus
That being said, as I've mentioned several times before, not all tasks are created equally. Some tasks in these charts are very simple and can be completed in less than an hour whereas other tasks can be very difficult and take quite a while, possibly as much as some days (no task should ever take a full week, if so it's divided up into smaller sub-tasks). The single longest tasks since we started to publish this effort has been creating the new installers. Because the system has been completely restructured internally to be able to leverage the same programming code base for both the desktop and networked version, the installer has also required a major effort. Above this new structure, the installer now also has you select which offering of the software you want to install (desktop, server, or client) all in the same installer to make things a lot easier for you. This one task (updating the installer) which I had initially assumed would take maybe a day's worth of effort turned into well over a week's worth of effort, probably closer to two weeks, and was accordingly divided into several sub-tasks.
Another task that hit us pretty hard recently was
the user management feature that I mentioned in a previous newsletter
. To quickly recap, the software will offer several different "User Types". That is you will have an Administrator, a Manager, a Front Desk Clerk, a Maintenance Person, and so on. Each different user will have different levels of access as to what they see and can and cannot do within the software, even down to specific fields in some cases! Anyways, as we were developing this we realized that we needed to add a new feature into the software for the Front Desk Clerk to properly function. I won't get into the details now as we're still implementing and testing our solution, but needless to say it looks like we had to add a new feature to the software (for both the networked and desktop versions). The end result was that we added a bunch of a new tasks as you can see on the chart on Nov 6. The effort to figure this all out and come up with a design is what caused slowdown on the chart starting around Nov 2 and lasting about 6 days.
To give you an analogy, this is similar to someone doing a home renovation and finding out at some point that the plumbing you had setup in the upstairs bathroom has an issue. Perhaps the on-demand water heater unit is too far away and as such the water in the pipes cool down so much that by the time they reach the bathroom the water is now lukewarm at best. It's not something you really could've known before because it's how the pipes in the walls were setup and not the distance between the water heater and the bathroom, so now you have to make some adjustments which take some time.
On the positive side we're already aware of the situation and have already started to implement the plan. Yes it has caused a blip on the chart, causing a delay of probably a good couple of weeks,, but a solution is well on it's way to being implemented!
In any case, we are definitely seeing some progress on the release. When we first launched the chart in Oct we had 246 tasks remaining. As I write this, we have just 101 remaining. And that includes two very big and unexpected new items that were added. The user management adjustment alone added about 30 new tasks. So although it looks like we only completed 145 tasks, in reality we completed 218 tasks!! In other words, had we not added new tasks, we'd be pretty close to be done, within days instead of weeks.
Assuming we continue at our current rate we should hopefully be ready to released, unofficially of course, sometime in December. Again, when the first chart on
http://landlordmax.com/v605estatus
goes to zero, that means the software is completed and ready to be released. And my prediction is that it will go to zero sometime in mid to late December based on current pace and trends. Of course as you can see the daily progress, you too can make your own educated estimates as to when you believe the release will be ready!
For those of you who are wondering about testing, those efforts have been in action for some time. The software is already going through a lot of testing. Although we still have some tasks to be completed, a lot of the software can already be tested as most of the work is no longer feature based, it's mostly cleaning up existing issues or putting on the finishing touches. As an analogy it's almost like we're in the drywall and painting phase of a renovation. We do have some items we need to finish up, but it's mainly drywalling and painting at this point, so most of the work is touchups and fixes from testing.
Other news:
I would like to welcome our newest team member Jacinthe. She has joined us as a our Support Director. Above working in technical support (some of you might have already met her there) and assisting us with testing of the software. She's also starting several initiatives within the company to help us in several different aspects from which we're already starting to see positive results in such a short time. Join me in welcoming Jacinthe to our team!
LandlordMax tip:Although the software automatically creates Scheduled Entries for your rents when you enter in new leases, you can also create as many custom Scheduled Entries as you wish to help automate your data entry. For example you can create Scheduled Entries for your utility bills, your property taxes, mortgage payments, management fees, and pretty much any other recurring accounting entry that you have to enter.
And don't assume you can only create Scheduled Entries for amounts you know ahead of time, you can also create them for variable amount entries, just leave the amounts blank and fill it in when the software creates the related Suggested Entries. Although you still have to enter in the amount, after all there's no way the software can know the amount if you yourself don't even know, all the rest of the information is already pre-filled for you and you just have to fill in that one field.
Property Management Tip:
Related to the last newsletter's property management tip, are your lease agreements up to date? When was the last time you had them checked? Over time the laws and regulations on lease agreements can and do change, so it's a really good idea to have your lease agreements revised once every so many years. Similar to the last newsletter, the worse time to learn that your lease agreement is no longer valid is when you need to enforce it.
Industry News, Information, and Recommendations:Story/Tip of the Month:If you have an interesting tip, a funny story, or even a horror story, you'd like to share with us which we can publish in this newsletter (with the names changed of course), please send it to
[email protected].
LandlordMax Testimonial of the Month:
"I really like all the features and also I really like how many different reports I can run ( since I tend to micro-manage :) ). Ive been playing around with the software quite a bit and I would say that I can navigate it really well now. Besides those minor issues I came across, the program is very easy to use.
I sincerely appreciate the time that you have spent helping me and also following up to make sure that the program is working for me. It is hard to find that level of customer service anywhere, especially when you are asking for support from a software company. ( Trust me, I have dealt with a lot of them with my normal 9-5 job). I will be buying the software and also referring my fellow investors to your site to see for themselves what a great program you have!!
Thanks again!"
- Shannon JasmerFinal Words:
If you haven't already done so, I again welcome you to visit our daily progress chart for version 6.05e of LandlordMax at:
http://landlordmax.com/v605estatusAnd as always, please feel free to contact us to let us know what you think.
