How SoShiny works

Association Health (the highlighted Org Health button under Home, which also shows your overall health score) is a report dashboard that answers three questions at a glance: how complete your member profiles are, who you can actually reach, and who has engaged with the portal.

Vitals. The tiles across the top show average profile completion, how many members are fully set up, the share reachable by email, the share opted in to texts, and the share who have ever signed in.

Member profiles. The completion-spread chart buckets every member by their setup-checklist score. "Where members stall" shows each checklist item — done, deliberately skipped (a skip like "I don't have a vehicle" counts as answered), or still open — so you can see which items the community gets stuck on. Below that, the worklist lists every member under 100%, lowest first, with exactly what's still open and a one-click link to their profile.

Reach. The email-reachability ring shows who a broadcast actually lands with — and how many members are letter-only, with a shortcut to Mail Letters or to the directory filter for collecting emails. The text-alerts meter shows how many members have opted in to SMS.

Engagement. Sign-in meters show who has ever signed in and who was active in the last 30 days — and how many members have never signed in at all.

Use the Print button to hand the report out at a board meeting. Payments and financials will join this report as those features roll out.

Send real printed letters by USPS First-Class mail — no printing, stuffing, or stamps. Find it under Operations → Mail Letters. Letters cost a flat per-letter price shown right on the page and are paid from your community's prepaid communications balance (top up with $25 / $50 / $100 via the Add funds buttons).

Who can send: board admins, the property manager, and the board president.

Audiences: all members, owners, one letter per unit (primary owner only — saves postage on co-owned units), renters, board, or members without email — the people you can't reach any other way. You can also send to a single member from their directory profile (the 📮 Letter button).

Before anything mails, the page shows exactly how many letters, the total cost, and your balance afterward — and asks you to confirm. Members without a mailable address are listed by name, never silently skipped. Each mailing keeps a full record: who received it, delivery tracking, and the letter itself under "View the letter that was sent."

Postage choices & delivery details

Pick per mailing: First-Class (about 3–5 business days) or Standard (cheaper, about 1–2 weeks) — the preview reprices live. The "members will be skipped" note links to exactly who and why; if a member's mailing address can't receive US mail, their profile offers a one-click switch to deliver letters to their unit at the community instead.

The PM Schedule (Operations → PM Schedule) tracks preventive-maintenance tasks that repeat on a schedule — so recurring upkeep never falls through the cracks.

Creating a task

Click + New PM task, give it a title (e.g. “Replace pool filter cartridges”), optionally a category and location, then choose how often it repeats: daily, weekly, every two weeks, monthly, quarterly, twice a year, yearly, a custom number of days, or one-time. Set the first due date and how many days before due you want the reminder to go out.

Assigning & reminders

Assign each task to an employee or a board member. SoShiny emails the assignee a reminder before the task is due, and an overdue warning if it passes its due date. (Email goes to whoever has an address on file; SMS reminders are coming once text messaging is enabled.)

Completing tasks

When the work is done, type an optional note and click ✓ Done. The task is logged complete and the next occurrence is scheduled automatically based on its frequency. Use the All / Mine / Due soon / Overdue tabs to focus the list. Pause or archive a task anytime from its Edit screen.

Completing a task & the Done list

When you mark a maintenance task Complete, a prompt confirms it’s done and asks whether to schedule the next one — with the next date pre-filled and editable. Uncheck the box to stop the recurrence instead of rescheduling.

The schedule opens on the Next 2 weeks view by default. Use the date range to look at any window, and the ✓ Done tab to see every completed task (what, when, who, and notes).

Tasks (Operations → Tasks) is a shared to-do list for your community team. My Work is your personal inbox that gathers everything assigned to you in one place.

Adding & assigning tasks

Click + New task, give it a title and optional notes, set a due date and priority. Board members and managers can assign a task to any employee or board member; everyone else adds tasks for themselves. When you assign a task to someone, SoShiny emails them so it does not get missed.

Tracking progress

Each task has a status — Open, In progress, Blocked, Done — that you can change right from the list. Use the Mine / Assigned by me / Open / Done tabs to filter. Overdue tasks are flagged in red.

My Work

The My Work page is one prioritized list of everything on your plate: your open tasks, preventive-maintenance items coming due or overdue, and any work orders assigned to you — newest and most urgent first. Click any item to jump to it.

Opening, printing & sharing a task

Click a task title to open its detail view. From there you can Print it, Email it to selected team or board members (with an optional note), or Text it (once SMS is enabled).

Done report

The Done report button lists tasks completed in a range — this week, last week, this month, last 30 days, or a custom range — and you can print it or email it to your board.

Searching & filtering tasks

Use the search box to find a task by its title, notes, or the assignee’s name, and the Assigned to dropdown to narrow the list to one person, a group, or unassigned tasks. Your search stays put as you switch between the Open / Mine / Done tabs.

SoShiny has three task-like tools that are deliberately different — think of it as what kind of work:

The simple rule

• Work Order = “something on the property is broken or needs a contractor” → tracks the job, its cost, and which unit/location.
• To-Do Task = “a person needs to do something” → lightweight, no cost/contractor, just an assignable action.
• PM Schedule = “this maintenance repeats on a schedule” → auto-generates the next one when you complete it.

When an owner or renter sells or moves out, you want to remove them from the unit but keep their history. There are two steps.

1. Deactivate the person (the “keep their history” step)

Directory → open the member → Deactivate. This sets them to inactive: they drop off active rosters and can’t log in, but their record and full history stay intact — nothing is deleted. You can find them later under the Directory’s Deactivated / former members view, and reactivate them if they ever return.

2. Update the unit

Open the Unit → under Occupants, Remove the old owner/renter and Add the new one. That makes the unit show the correct current people.

In short: Deactivate = preserve the person + history; remove-from-unit = fix who’s currently there. Do both.

The Vehicle Registry is a full record of every vehicle parked on or assigned to the property. Members register their own cars from their profile (look for 🚗 My vehicles), and board admins or property managers see and edit the full registry from /dashboard/vehicles.php.

For each vehicle, the registry captures plate + state, year / make / model / color, kind (car, truck, SUV, motorcycle, RV, trailer, golf cart, or other), parking choice (assigned spot, general parking, or off-site), and a board-assigned sticker number with issue date.

For boards: two printable views are one click away — a per-vehicle parking pass (laminate-ready, identifies the car as authorized) and a wrong car in the lot warning notice the board fills in on the fly with the offending plate. A print-ready list of every active vehicle in the association is also available.

For residents: add your own vehicles from your profile so the board knows what belongs and what doesn't. If your car gets a sticker number from the board, it will show up on your record automatically.

Who's Away is a digital housekeeping board for tracking which units are temporarily unoccupied. It's useful for snowbird season, hurricane prep, scheduling worker access, and giving the board an at-a-glance view of who's gone.

For residents: mark your own travel ranges from your profile (look for ✈️ My travel schedule). You can record a quick trip or a long snowbird absence, with optional emergency contact, authorized entry, pet on premises, vehicle left behind, encrypted key location, and notes. Your travel ranges are private to you — other residents don't see them.

If you're a returning snowbird, the system will offer to clone last year's absence forward by one year, so you don't have to retype everything.

For boards and property managers (this view is board-only by design and not configurable to lower roles): visit /dashboard/whos-away.php for the management grid — filter tabs (All / Away now / Scheduled / Home), unit-number search, inline add/edit forms, and unit cards with absence rows. The companion print-ready emergency view at /dashboard/whos-away-emergency.php lists every currently-away unit with all contact details for hurricane prep or building shutoffs. Key locations are intentionally excluded from the print view and must be looked up per-unit (every reveal is audit-logged).

Key locations are encrypted at rest with libsodium and only decrypted on demand.

The Notifications log is your audit trail for every transactional email SoShiny has sent on behalf of your association — invites, password resets, document-sign requests, broadcast emails, marketplace approvals, board notifications, welcome emails, the works.

What you'll see for each entry:

• Recipient — who got the email, by user record + the actual address it was sent to.
• Subject — the same line they saw in their inbox.
• Kind — what flow triggered it (e.g. document.sign_request, broadcast.send, welcome.day0).
• Status — queued / sent / failed / bounced. If the send provider reported a hard bounce or spam complaint, it's marked here.
• Sent at — when SoShiny handed it to Postmark for delivery (not necessarily when the recipient opened it).
• Sent by — the board member or system component that triggered the send.

Why this matters:

• Someone says "I never got the document-sign email" — search the log by their name to see whether it actually went out and whether it bounced.
• Someone forwards you a phishing email that claims to be from your association — you can check the log to confirm whether SoShiny actually sent it.
• Board changes: see what notifications the previous admin triggered before they stepped down.
• If you ever suspect the platform isn't sending an email, you'll see the failure here with the error message from the provider.

The log only captures email SoShiny sent through its own pipeline. Outbound calls from your personal Gmail to a board member don't appear here (and shouldn't).

Digest lets you send a single rollup email summarizing recent community activity. Use it to keep the board (daily) or all owners (weekly) caught up without flooding inboxes with separate notifications for every announcement, event, document, or meeting note.

How it works:

1. Pick a cohort — Board (just admins/PMs/members), Owners, or All Members.
2. SoShiny shows you candidate items pulled from the last 14 days: announcements, upcoming events, new documents, recent meeting minutes, new marketplace listings, plus board-only items like concerns, ARC requests, pending amenity bookings, open work orders, and recent violations.
3. Tick the items to include and add an optional intro note ("Quick check-in for the board…").
4. Send. Recipients receive a branded HTML email grouped by category.

The "sent once per recipient" guarantee:

• For each recipient, SoShiny filters out items they've already received in any prior digest. So a member who got Tuesday's digest will not see Tuesday's items repeated in Friday's digest, even if you check the same boxes.
• If all the items you picked have already been delivered to a particular recipient, they're auto-skipped (no empty email).
• The compose page shows the recipient count up front and the result page reports sent vs skipped.

Cadence is fully manual — no cron, no schedule. The board decides when to fire. Most communities settle into a rhythm: daily roll-up to the board, weekly to owners.

Every digest send also lands in the Notifications log as digest.sent records, one per recipient, so you have an audit trail of who got which roll-up.

Manage your community's SoShiny plan from Settings → Subscription → Billing & subscription.

Starting your subscription

Every association begins with a 30-day free trial — no credit card required up front. Click Start free trial to set it up. Before the trial ends, add a payment method to keep your community running.

Pricing

During the America 250 special you pay $25/month base + $0.33 per unit (normally $50 + $0.50) — and that rate is locked for the life of your account when you start before December 31, 2026. Every feature is included; there are no tiers.

Payment methods

We accept credit/debit card and bank account (ACH). Payments are processed securely by Stripe — SoShiny never sees your full card or bank details. Use Manage billing to update your payment method, download invoices, or cancel anytime.

How units are billed

Your per-unit charge follows the number of units in your directory. As you add units during setup, your billing trues up automatically before your next invoice — there are no surprise mid-cycle charges.

If a payment fails

Stripe automatically retries a failed payment over about two weeks and emails you to update your card. Your community keeps working during that window; access is only paused if every retry fails.

The Board Meetings page manages the full lifecycle of a meeting — building the agenda, recording attendance, capturing resolution votes with per-member tallies, and producing print-ready minutes in the format required by Florida statute.

Creating a meeting

Click + New meeting and fill in the date, time, location, and meeting type (Regular, Special, Annual, Emergency). The system automatically adds an "Approve minutes from the last meeting" item to every new agenda. Add additional agenda items on the meeting detail page.

Agenda items

Each item has a type (Discussion, Resolution, Vote, Report, Old Business, New Business, etc.), a description, and optional fields for the motion text and BE IT RESOLVED clause. Items are displayed in sort order — adjust the sort number to reorder them. During or after the meeting, set each item to Approved, Denied, Tabled, or No Action.

Resolutions and per-member votes

Resolution-type items show a vote grid with one row per board member. Votes can be Yes, No, Abstain, Not Present, or N/A. Only board members and managers appear in the vote grid — residents do not. Vote counts tally automatically and appear in the minutes. Add the full resolution language in the BE IT RESOLVED field.

Print-ready minutes

Click Print minutes on any meeting to produce a clean, formatted document with the meeting header, all agenda items in order, resolution votes with counts, and a signature block. Formatted to Florida §718.112 board meeting standards and ready to sign.

Minutes archive

All meetings stay on record. The Minutes page in the Resources section gives members read-only access to past meetings according to the permission you set in Settings → Permissions → Read meeting minutes.

The Voting page handles formal ballot-style votes separate from board meeting resolutions — budget approvals, bylaw amendments, board elections, or any issue that needs a recorded community vote.

Creating a ballot

Click + New ballot and fill in the title, description, deadline, and eligible voter group (all members, owners only, or board only). Add the question and the choices voters will select from.

Casting a vote

Members who are eligible see open ballots on the Voting page and click to cast their choice before the deadline. Each eligible member can vote once. Once cast, a vote cannot be changed.

Anonymous by default

Votes are anonymous by default — only participation counts are tracked during the open window, not who voted what. Individual choices are not stored against user accounts.

Results reveal

Board admins control when results are revealed. Before the reveal, only participation count is visible ("X of Y eligible members have voted"). After the board reveals results, vote totals and percentages appear for everyone eligible.

Closing a ballot

After the deadline passes, no new votes are accepted automatically. The board can also close a ballot manually before the deadline. Closed ballots stay on record with final totals.

Email Broadcasts let the board send a formatted email directly to members inboxes — meeting notices, maintenance alerts, newsletters, emergency notifications, or any communication that needs to reach everyone at once.

Composing a broadcast

Go to Email Broadcasts in the sidebar and click + New broadcast. Write a subject line and body, choose your audience (all members or a custom selection), optionally attach a PDF, and click Send.

Audience selection

By default the broadcast goes to all active members with a real email address on file. Use the Custom member selection option to open a member picker and select specific individuals — useful for committee-only notices, floor-specific alerts, or targeted unit owner communications.

PDF attachments

Attach one PDF per broadcast — meeting agendas, budget summaries, formal notices, or any document you want to accompany the email. The PDF is included as an email attachment for every recipient.

Delivery tracking

After sending, the broadcast detail page shows per-recipient delivery status — Sent, Delivered, or Failed. Members with placeholder email addresses (addresses that are not real inboxes) are automatically excluded from the send count and recipient list.

Who can send

Board members and above can send broadcasts by default. The board admin can adjust this in Settings → Permissions → Send email broadcasts.

Activity log

Every broadcast is recorded in the Activity log with sender, subject, recipient count, and timestamp. This provides an audit trail for all community communications.

Open tracking

Every broadcast records who opened it. The broadcasts list shows an Opened count and percentage for each sent message, and inside a broadcast each recipient row shows whether (and when) they opened it. Open tracking is approximate — recipients who block images won’t register even if they read it.

Replies come to you

When you send a broadcast, the Reply-To is your own email, so member replies come straight to you instead of a shared inbox.

Bounces & unsubscribes

If a member’s address bounces it’s flagged in the directory and excluded after repeated failures. Members can unsubscribe from optional broadcasts via the footer link (they see a last-chance warning first) but still always receive required notices like dues and legal notices. See who has opted out from the dashboard’s “Unsubscribed” chip.

SoShiny includes a built-in e-signature workflow for PDF documents — lease addenda, estoppel certificates, policy acknowledgments, and similar documents that require a resident signature on record.

Requiring signatures on a document

On the Documents page, open a PDF and use the Required signers tag field to select which members must sign. Start typing a name and select from the autocomplete list. You can add multiple required signers. Click Notify to send each pending signer an email with a direct link to sign.

Signing a document

When you receive the signing notification (or open the document yourself), you see a preview of the PDF. Drag and resize the signature placement box to position where your signature will appear on the document. Click Sign and save. Your saved signature image is used automatically — you do not need to redraw it each time. Manage your saved signatures from your Profile page.

Signed copies

After signing, a signed copy of the PDF is generated and stored against your signer record. You can download your signed copy from the document page. Board admins can see all signed copies for all signers.

Audit certificate

Every signed document has a dedicated audit certificate page showing: who signed, the timestamp of each signature, the IP address at signing, the document hash before and after signing, and the legal disclosure text each signer accepted. This meets the core requirements of the federal E-SIGN Act and Florida UETA.

Signature badge

Documents with required signers show a signature status badge in the Documents list — how many have signed out of how many are required, and whether you specifically still need to sign.

Legal note

E-signatures are legally binding for most HOA documents under E-SIGN/UETA. However, some specific notice types — foreclosure proceedings, fine hearing notices — may still require physical paper service under Florida statute. Confirm with your HOA attorney for anything consequential before relying on e-signatures exclusively.

Signing documents you compose in-app

You can collect signatures on a document you write right here — not just uploaded PDFs. When you Compose a document, use the Request signatures field to add the people who must sign (leave it empty if no signature is needed).

• Each required signer sees a “You have a document to read & sign” prompt at the top of their dashboard.
• They open it and sign with a saved signature, by drawing, or by typing their name.
• The signatures appear in a signature block at the bottom of the document, with date and audit details.
• From the document page you can Notify a pending signer by email or remove them. Once everyone signs, all signers are emailed the completed document.

The Lobby TV is a full-screen display designed for lobby kiosks, monitors, or any TV with a browser. It shows announcements, upcoming events, and marketplace listings in real time without requiring a signed-in user account.

Accessing the TV display

Navigate to /tv in any browser. Enter your community slug (e.g., bellair) and the 4–10 digit PIN set by the board admin. After a successful login you will receive a bookmarkable URL — set this as the home page on the lobby browser. The URL never expires unless you change the PIN.

Managing the PIN

Go to Settings → Lobby TV. The current PIN is shown. Click Change PIN to set a new 4–10 digit numeric PIN. Changing the PIN invalidates all previously bookmarked TV URLs immediately — every TV screen will need to log in again with the new PIN.

Layouts

• 3-column — Announcements, Events, and Marketplace displayed side by side. Each column scrolls independently. Best for wide-format landscape screens.
• Ticker — All content (announcements, events, marketplace) merges into a single horizontal scrolling feed of large cards, sorted by date. Best for narrow displays or when you want one unified stream.

Themes

• Dark — navy background, white text. Default. Best for dim lobbies where dark screens pop.
• Light — white background, dark text. Better in brightly-lit lobbies where dark screens wash out.

URL parameter overrides

You can override layout and theme in the bookmarkable URL without changing Settings. Append:

• &style=columns or &style=ticker
• &dark=1 or &dark=0

Example: ?slug=bellair&pin=2727&style=ticker&dark=0

Useful if you have multiple screens in the same community with different layout preferences.

What the TV shows

• Announcements — active, non-expired posts with audience set to All or Members
• Events — upcoming events in the next 30 days; recurring series expanded to individual dates
• Marketplace — active listings with photos when available

The page auto-refreshes every 10 minutes to pick up new content without manual intervention.

Weather widget

The TV header shows current conditions (temperature in °F and a description) using the free Open-Meteo weather API. It uses your association latitude and longitude from Settings. If those coordinates are not set, the weather widget will not appear.

Rate limiting on login

After 10 wrong PIN attempts from the same IP address, that IP is locked out for 15 minutes. This prevents brute-force PIN guessing.

Display modes

Choose how the board looks under Settings → Lobby TV → Display Mode:

• 3-Column Board — Announcements, Events, and Marketplace side by side, each scrolling.
• Horizontal Ticker — all items scroll across as large cards; good for portrait screens.
• Slideshow — one full-screen item at a time (big image with title and details) that auto-advances every 7 seconds. Best for a single eye-catching display.

You can also pick a layout on the soshiny.com/tv sign-in screen, or add ?style=columns, ?style=ticker, or ?style=slideshow to the TV URL.

Setting a TV PIN

In the Lobby TV settings, set a 4–10 digit PIN, then on the TV go to soshiny.com/tv and enter your Community ID and PIN. Bookmark the page and the TV just reloads that bookmark.

New on the TV

The rotation now includes a 5-day forecast for your city, today's tide times (coastal communities), sunrise & sunset with the UV index, Trivia of the Hour, This Day in History, hourly Dad Jokes and Quotes to Make You Think, and automatic red weather-alert cards whenever the National Weather Service issues one for your area. Owners can watch from home via the Lobby TV link in their sidebar.

Board admins can configure exactly which role is required to access each feature in the portal. Go to Settings → Permissions (board admin access only).

How role tiers work

Each configurable feature has a minimum role. Anyone at or above that role can access the feature. Roles in order from least to most access:

1. Renter
2. Staff
3. Owner
4. Property manager
5. Board member
6. Board admin
7. Super admin

Setting a permission to "Board member" means board members, board admins, and super admins can all access it — but renters, staff, owners, and property managers cannot.

What is configurable

• Full resident directory (contact details visible to members)
• Contacts page
• Meeting minutes (read-only)
• Work orders (read-only view)
• Violations (read-only view)
• Employee roster
• Insurance records
• Submitting concerns
• Submitting ARC requests
• Managing area attractions
• Posting property listings

What is not configurable

Management write actions — creating work orders, issuing violation notices, editing employees, uploading documents — are always restricted to board and management roles. A misconfiguration cannot accidentally expose those to residents.

Defaults

If you have not changed a permission, it uses the system default. Permissions that have been customized are labeled so you always know what your association has changed vs. what is default.

The Violations page lets the board formally record rule violations, issue notices, track progress, and maintain a complete audit trail from first observation to resolution.

Recording a violation

Click + New violation. Fill in:

• Unit number where the violation occurred
• The resident involved, if known
• The specific community rule being violated (searchable from your rules list)
• A detailed description of what was observed, with dates

Save it and the violation is on record with a timestamp and the recording officer.

Notice types

From the violation detail page, issue one of four notice types:

• Warning — first contact, informational, no fine yet
• Cure notice — requires the violation to be resolved by a specific deadline
• Fine notice — formal notice of a fine amount and due date
• Hearing notice — summons the resident to appear at a board hearing

Each notice pre-populates a letter template. You can edit the letter before saving. Every saved notice is timestamped and appears in a timeline on the violation record.

Print-ready letters

Click Print on any notice to produce a print-ready letter with your association letterhead, the rule citation, applicable deadlines, fine amounts, and a signature block. Format is suitable for mailing.

Status tracking

Violations move through statuses: Open, In Progress, Hearing Scheduled, Resolved, Closed. Update the status as the situation progresses. Each status change is logged in the timeline.

Converting from concerns

A resident concern submitted through the Feedback page can be converted to a violation with one click. The violation form pre-fills from the concern text, preserving the original report.

Resident view

The board controls whether residents can see violations in Settings → Permissions → View violations. If enabled, residents see a read-only view of violations (they cannot see internal notes). By default, violations are board-only.

Florida law note

Florida Chapters 718 and 720 have specific service requirements for violation notices — especially for anything that could lead to a fine or hearing. Certified mail with return receipt is the safe default for anything fineable. Confirm your process with your HOA attorney before relying solely on in-app letters.

New: rich notices, signatures, email & evidence

• Rich-text notice body — format the notice (bold, headings, lists); what you see is exactly what prints.
• Choose the signer — pick which board member or manager signs each notice and apply their saved digital signature (or leave a blank line to sign by hand).
• Edit & escalate — edit a notice after issuing it, and use "Issue another notice for this matter" to escalate (warning → cure → fine → hearing) on the same violation.
• Email to owner — send any issued notice to the owner of record (the named resident plus the unit's owners) as a branded email; it shows an "Emailed" badge. Issuing or saving a notice never sends — only the Email button does. Printing is separate too.
• Evidence & attachments — attach photos, screenshots, and PDFs to a violation and keep them with the case as you work it.
• File a violation from a unit — the unit page has a "File a violation" button that prefills the form with the unit and its owner.

Finding, sorting & archiving violations

Use the search box to find a violation by unit number, resident name, or type, and the sort dropdown (newest, oldest, by unit, by status) to order the list. The status pills still filter by state (Open, Notice issued, Cured, etc.).

When a matter is finished and you want it off the list, open it and click 🗄 Archive. Archived violations drop out of every status view (including “All”) but are never deleted — click the Archived filter to see them, and Restore to bring one back.

On a violation’s page the Update status control sits at the top for quick access.

Work orders are internal tickets for maintenance and repair tasks. Board admins and property managers create and manage them. Residents can be granted read-only access via the Permissions page.

Creating a work order

Click + New work order on the Work Orders page. Fill in:

• Title — a short description of the task
• Description — full details, including what failed, who reported it, and any access instructions
• Priority — Low, Normal, High, or Urgent
• Location — building area or common space
• Unit — if the issue is unit-specific
• Assignee — any active employee, board member, or management contact

Status tracking

Work orders move through: Open → In Progress → Blocked → Completed → Closed. Each status change is logged in a timeline on the work order. You can add free-text notes at any status change — useful for recording what the contractor said, parts ordered, or estimated completion.

Posting a status announcement

When updating a work order status, an optional "Post an announcement" section appears. Tick the checkbox to publish a community announcement at the same time. This lets you close the work order and notify residents in a single action — no need to write a separate announcement.

Converting from concerns or ARC requests

A resident concern or an approved ARC request can be converted to a work order with one click. The work order form pre-fills from the source record, keeping the paper trail connected.

Resident view

The board can enable resident read-only access to work orders in Settings → Permissions → View work orders. Residents see status and description but not internal assignee notes.

The Directory gives board admins full control over the member roster — adding new members, editing details, inviting members to activate their accounts, sending password resets, assigning roles, and deactivating accounts.

Adding a member

Click + Add member from the Directory page. Fill in name, email, role, and unit assignment. The member is created with no password — they activate their account via an invitation email.

Importing members from CSV

Use the Import CSV button to bulk-import a list of members. The CSV must have columns: first_name, last_name, email, unit_number, role. Members without a real email address can be imported with a placeholder email — they will not receive an invitation but will be in the system for record-keeping.

Sending an invitation

From a member edit page, click Send invite email to send a welcome email with a secure one-time link. The member clicks the link, sets their password, and their account is activated. Invitation links expire after 72 hours.

Sending a password reset

From a member edit page, click Send password reset to send the member a 1-hour reset link — the same link generated by the Forgot password flow, but triggered by the board admin. Useful when a member is locked out and cannot receive the automated email for some reason.

Editing member details

Board admins can edit any member name, email, role, unit assignment, phone, and status. Use the Edit button on any directory row to open the edit form.

Roles

• Renter — limited access; cannot file ARC requests or see owner-only content
• Staff — building staff; slightly more access than renter
• Owner — full resident access; can file ARC requests and see owner-only content
• Property manager — management-level read access to operational data
• Board member — full board access except admin-only settings
• Board admin — full board access including permissions and settings changes

Deactivating an account

Set a member status to Inactive to disable their login. The member cannot sign in but their data is preserved. This is the correct approach when a resident moves out — do not delete accounts, deactivate them. Inactive accounts are hidden from the directory by default.

Board notes

Board admins can add internal notes to any member record — visible only to board and management. Useful for recording context, move-out dates, outstanding issues, or special arrangements.

Last login tracking

The Directory table shows the last login timestamp for each member. Use this to identify members who have never logged in (shown as "Never") and may need a reminder invitation.

Email health at a glance

The manager dashboard shows chips for members with no email, units where no owner has an email, bounced addresses, and unsubscribed members — each opens a filtered list. In the directory, rows show a 📞 Call to get email, ⚠️ Bounced, or 🚫 Unsubscribed badge.

Owners, renters, staff — and combinations

Ownership and role are separate. “Owner / renter status” (Owner, Renter, or Neither) is independent of “Role / access” (Resident, Staff, Board member, Board admin, Property manager). So a person can be an owner who is also staff, or a pure employee (Neither + Staff) with no unit.

Members without an email

You can add or save a member with no email on file — leave it blank and they show a “Call to get email” prompt (no welcome email is sent). Add a real address later when you collect one.

Passwords

Use Set / change password (its own page) to set one directly, or Send reset link to email a one-hour link — both are in the Password panel below Save on the member’s edit screen.

New: member documents, contact log & smarter search

• Documents — attach files (leases, agreements, IDs; PDF, images, Word/Excel) to a member from their profile. Board/manager-only.
• Contact log (CRM) — log calls, texts, and emails (inbound or outbound) plus general notes against a member; they appear as a timeline with who logged them and when.
• Search by phone — the directory and global search now match partial phone numbers regardless of formatting (e.g. "4444" finds "(386) 353-4444").
• Mark moved out / sold — one click deactivates a member and ends their unit occupancy while keeping the unit's history.

The Units page is a registry of every residential unit in your community — unit number, floor, type, residents assigned, and any unit-specific documents or board notes.

Unit records

Each unit has: unit number, floor, unit type (Studio, 1BR, 2BR, etc.), and a list of residents currently assigned to it. Multiple residents can be assigned to one unit (owner + renter, for example).

Assigning residents to units

Residents are assigned to units when their account is created or edited in the Directory. You can also reassign a resident from the unit detail page — open the unit, then use the resident assignment section to add or remove members.

Unit documents

Board admins can attach documents to a specific unit — floor plan, lease agreement, inspection report, etc. These documents are visible to residents of that unit plus the board, using the Unit Only access level. Useful for keeping unit-specific paperwork organized without making it visible to all members.

Board notes on units

Board admins can add internal notes to any unit record — renovation history, outstanding issues, special access arrangements, pet registrations not yet in the Forms system. Notes are visible to board and management only.

Parking

Parking spots can be linked to units from the Parking page. See the Parking help topic for details.

Renters, missing contact info & leases

On the Units list, the 🏠 Renters only filter shows just the units that have a tenant, and rows flag “✉ no email” / “☎ no phone” when a unit’s owners have no contact info on file (so you can see which units you can’t reach).

Open a unit and use the Lease section (in Occupants — it auto-opens when a tenant is attached) to record the lease term and rent, and to log renewal decisions (approved or denied, with notes). The Units list flags leases that are expiring within 60 days or already expired.

The Registered Guests page (Operations → Registered Guests) gives the board and managers one place to see every guest a resident has registered through the guest-registration form.

What you see

• Guest — name and party size
• Unit the guest is visiting
• Visit dates — when the guest arrives and leaves (if provided)
• Vehicle — color, make, and plate for parking
• Registered by — the resident who filed the registration
• Status — Here now, Upcoming, or Past

Tips

• Use the Current & upcoming tab for who’s here or arriving; switch to Past or All for history.
• Search by guest name or unit number.
• Tap any row to open the full registration card (and print a parking permit if needed).
• Residents register guests from Forms → Register a guest.

Instead of one email per event, SoShiny can roll community activity into a single daily summary for the board. Choose how your community is notified under Settings → Board notifications.

The three modes

• Everyone, immediately — the board and the property manager each get an email as soon as something happens.
• Manager now, board daily summary (default) — the property manager gets operational items right away; the board gets one end-of-day summary.
• Daily summary only — everyone gets just the once-a-day summary.

What the summary includes

• Needs the board’s attention — new join requests, amenity bookings, property listings, feedback, forms, and architectural requests.
• Maintenance — how many preventive-maintenance tasks are past due and what was completed that day.
• Leases up for review — rental leases nearing their end date (reminders at 60, 30, 14, 7, and 1 days out, and on the day).
• New in the community — announcements, events, and items for sale posted that day.

The summary is sent around 5 pm in your community’s local time zone, and only on days there’s something to report.

The Employees page is a roster of building staff and regular vendors — superintendents, maintenance technicians, doormen, cleaning crews, and anyone else who works in or for the building.

Adding an employee

Click + Add employee and fill in name, title, department, employment type (Full-time, Part-time, Contract, Seasonal), contact information, start date, and notes. Financial details like pay rate and salary are restricted to board admin and super admin view.

Assigning to work orders

Active employees appear in the Assignee dropdown when creating or editing a Work Order. This keeps work order assignments connected to real people in your roster.

Employee documents

Board admins can attach documents to an employee record — W-9, contract, certification, ID. These documents are board-only and quota-tracked against your storage allowance.

Access control

The board can control who can see the employee roster in Settings → Permissions → View employee roster. By default the roster is board and management only. Financial details are always board admin and above, regardless of permissions setting.

The Insurance page tracks the community insurance policies and certificates of insurance (COIs) for vendors and contractors who work in the building.

Community policies

Add your community master policy, directors and officers (D&O) coverage, flood policy, umbrella policy, and any other community-level insurance. Each record tracks: carrier, policy number, effective date, expiration date, coverage amount, and attached certificate PDF.

Vendor COIs

When a contractor or vendor does work in the building, they must provide a COI naming your association as an additional insured. Track those COIs here with the vendor name, expiration date, and the attached PDF. Set an expiry reminder so you know before a COI lapses.

Expiry tracking

The Insurance page highlights policies and COIs that are expiring soon or already expired. Review this regularly — an expired COI means your association may be liable if the contractor causes damage.

Access control

The board can control who sees the Insurance page in Settings → Permissions → View insurance records. By default it is board and management only.

The Committees page lets the board create and manage standing or ad hoc committees — Landscape, Social, Welcome, Budget, Rules Review, and so on.

Creating a committee

Click + New committee and give it a name, description, and optional chair assignment. Committees can be marked active or inactive.

Adding members

Add any signed-in community member to a committee. Renters cannot be added to committees per the access rules — only owners and above can participate. Each committee member can be designated as Chair or Member.

Committee interest forms

Residents can express interest in joining a committee by submitting a Committee Interest form from the Forms page. Board admins review the submissions and add members manually.

Visibility

Committee rosters are visible to all signed-in members by default. The board can discuss committee business using the document system (Board Only access level) or meeting minutes.

The Parking page tracks assigned parking spots, visitor spaces, and the residents or vehicles using them.

Parking spots

Add each parking spot with its identifier (number, letter, or combined label), type (Assigned, Visitor, Handicap, Reserved), and any notes. Link the spot to a unit to track which unit holds the assignment.

Vehicle tracking

Record the vehicles associated with each resident — make, model, year, color, and license plate. This makes it easy to identify unauthorized vehicles or verify a resident complaint about a specific car.

Temporary parking passes

Residents can request a temporary parking pass via the Forms page (Temporary parking pass form). Board admins receive the request and can issue or deny it. Issued passes show in the parking system with an expiry date.

Parking violations

If a parking violation is observed, you can file it as a Violation from the Violations page with the vehicle details and parking rule citation. The violation workflow handles the notice and tracking from there.

The Activity log is a full audit trail of every meaningful action taken in the portal — who created, edited, or deleted what, and when. It is append-only: nothing is ever removed from the log.

What is logged

Every significant action is recorded: member logins, document uploads, announcement posts, violation notices issued, work orders created or updated, broadcast emails sent, settings changes, permission changes, member invitations sent, signature events, and more. Minor read-only views are not logged to keep the log useful.

Filtering

Use the date range pickers and the action type dropdown to filter the log to a specific window or event type. Search by member name to see all actions by or about a specific person.

Access

The Activity log is visible to board members and above in the dashboard (Activity in the Configuration group). Super admins see a platform-wide log at /admin/activity.php covering all associations.

Common use cases

• "Who deleted that document?" — filter by document.deleted
• "When was the last violation notice sent?" — filter by violation.notice.issued
• "Has the broadcast email been sent yet?" — filter by broadcast.sent
• "Who changed the permission settings?" — filter by permission.updated

The Settings page is where the board configures association-wide details — profile, address, geocoding, public landing content, lobby TV, and permissions. Board admin access is required for most sections.

Association profile

Set the association name, slug (used in the public landing URL), address, phone, email, and description. The Photon geocoder runs automatically on save to set the latitude and longitude — these coordinates power the weather widget on the Lobby TV and the map embed on the public landing page.

Public landing sections

The public community landing page at /{slug}/ is built from content you maintain in Settings: about text (Quill editor), amenity list, community photos (from the Media gallery), meet-your-board members (opt-in per user), FAQ, announcements (public ones), events (public ones), and a Plan a Visit section (directions, parking, hours, notes).

Lobby TV

Set or change the TV PIN, choose the default layout (3-column or ticker), choose the default theme (dark or light), and view the bookmarkable TV URL. See the Lobby TV help topic for full details.

Permissions

Configure which role can access each configurable feature. See the Permissions help topic for the full list of what is configurable.

Your account (personal settings)

The Settings page also has a personal section for changing your own password and managing your directory privacy toggle. These settings apply to your account only, not the association.

Plan and storage

Your current plan tier and storage usage are shown in Settings. Storage usage breaks down by category (documents, media, avatars, branding). If you are near your quota, delete old files or contact us about upgrading.

New members are added to the system by board admins, then activated via an invitation email that lets them set their own password.

The invitation flow

1. Board admin adds the member in the Directory (name, email, role, unit).
2. From the member edit page, click Send invite email.
3. The member receives a welcome email with a secure one-time link. The link is valid for 72 hours.
4. The member clicks the link, sets their password, and their account is active.

What the invitation email contains

The invitation email includes a personalized greeting, a summary of what SoShiny offers, and a clear call-to-action button linking to the account setup page. It is sent from your association email and signed with the board admin name.

Resending an invitation

If the member missed the email or the 72-hour window expired, open the member edit page and click Send invite email again. A new token is generated and the old one is invalidated.

Members who never activate

The Directory last-login column shows "Never" for members who have not logged in. Use this to identify who needs a follow-up invite. You can also bulk-see this in the directory stats panel (board admin only).

Sending a password reset instead

If a member has previously activated their account but is locked out, use Send password reset from the member edit page instead of a new invitation. The reset link expires in 1 hour and uses the same reset flow as Forgot password.

Members without real email addresses

If you import a member without a real email (using a placeholder like "noemail@example.com"), you cannot send them an invitation. These members can only access the system if you manually set their password and give it to them — there is currently no in-app mechanism for offline credential distribution.

Locations are named places inside your community — lobby, pool, clubhouse, mail room, parking lot, dog park, gym, garbage chute room, anywhere a service or event references a specific spot.

Why they matter

Locations are referenced by:

• Work orders — "fix the light by the south stairwell" reads better as a structured field than free text.
• Amenity bookings — every bookable amenity is a location.
• Events — pick a location instead of typing "the clubhouse" every time.
• Concerns and ARC requests — owners pick the affected area from the same dropdown.

Setup

Edit the list from /dashboard/locations.php (board admin / property manager). For each location set a name, a short description, and optionally a photo. Locations show up in dropdowns across the dashboard immediately.

Use cases: a marina names every dock and slip; a condo names every floor, stairwell, and trash room; a campground names sites and shared cabins.

The public website that every SoShiny community gets at soshiny.com/{your-slug}/ can include a Newsletter Signup section — a small form where prospective owners, neighbors, and curious visitors leave their name and email. You build the list before they move in.

Turning it on

From /dashboard/settings.php → Landing tab, scroll to Newsletter signup and enable the section. Set the headline ("Stay in the loop") and supporting text. Save.

What the visitor sees

A simple two-field form (name + email) on the public landing page with a one-click signup and an immediate confirmation message. Honeypot + rate limiting prevents spam.

Where the captures land

Subscribers appear under /dashboard/subscribers.php (board admin) with name, email, signup date, and source page. Export to CSV for your mass-mail tool of choice, or hand the list to the marketing committee. Members can also one-click unsubscribe via a link in any broadcast — that's respected automatically.

Every SoShiny community starts with 1 GB of storage included — plenty for hundreds of documents, photos, and signed PDFs. The Storage Tracking page shows a drive-style breakdown of what's using that space.

Where to find it

/dashboard/storage.php (board admin). The page splits usage three ways: by file type (PDFs, JPGs, PNGs, etc.), by category (documents, media, signed PDFs, work-order photos, ARC attachments), and by user (whoever uploaded the file).

Cleanup actions

• Identify the 10 largest files in the system in one click.
• Archive or delete old documents from the same view.
• Spot photo galleries that have grown larger than they need to.

Going over 1 GB

Additional storage is available as a paid add-on. Storage Tracking shows projected usage growth so you can plan ahead rather than getting surprised.

By default your community lives at soshiny.com/{your-slug}/. For $99/year you can serve it from a domain you own — yourcondo.com, bellaircondos.com, whatever. Members see the SoShiny portal under your domain; nothing else changes.

The setup

1. Register the domain anywhere (GoDaddy, Hover, Squarespace, Hostinger — any registrar works).
2. From /dashboard/settings.php → Custom Domain tab, paste the domain. Save.
3. Under the same tab, click Send DNS instructions — SoShiny will email a board-friendly walkthrough to whoever does your DNS (registrar-specific instructions for the most common registrars). The two records to add: A @ → SoShiny's IP, A www → same IP.
4. Once DNS propagates (typically 15 minutes to 24 hours), the site serves under your domain with an auto-provisioned SSL certificate. No further action needed.

What stays the same

Members can still log in at the original soshiny.com/{your-slug}/ URL too — both addresses route to the same portal. The board-side and member-side experience is identical.

The branded login on your custom domain shows your association logo, hero image, and name above the sign-in card — automatically, no extra setup.

Every community on SoShiny gets a full public-facing website at soshiny.com/{your-slug}/ — no web developer required, no separate hosting, no maintenance. The site lives alongside your member portal and shares the same logo, hero image, and brand.

What can go on the public site

• Hero banner with your community name + tagline
• About your community (rich text, photos)
• Meet your board (board members opt in individually from their profile)
• Amenities, community photos, area attractions, plan-a-visit info, property listings
• Public documents (community-approved documents only)
• Upcoming events (only events with audience=all surface publicly)
• FAQ (the same one that's inside the portal)
• Announcements (only the ones marked public)
• Embedded map, social links, contact form, newsletter signup

Configuration

Every section is optional. Toggle each one on or off from /dashboard/settings.php → Landing tab. The public site renders only sections that have content + are enabled. Helper text reminds you which URL members will see ("…what residents see at soshiny.com/{your-slug}/ or your custom domain").

The whole thing is built mobile-first and ready to share with prospective owners, neighbors, contractors, or anyone else who wants to know who you are.

Amenity Booking lets members reserve shared community spaces — clubhouse, pool deck, BBQ pavilion, conference room, or any common space the board has set up.

To make a booking: visit /dashboard/amenities.php, pick the amenity and date, then choose between Open to members (party with the building — neighbors will see it on the community calendar and can join) or Private event (the space is reserved but the occasion stays hidden). Either way, the booking shows on the community calendar as soon as it's approved (or immediately, if the amenity is set to auto-approve).

You'll see all of your bookings under My Bookings on the same page, with the status (pending, approved, denied) and an Open/Private badge.

For boards: the same page shows every booking in the community with one-click approve / deny / cancel. Approved bookings automatically create a calendar event so the rest of the community knows the space is reserved. Denials and cancellations cleanly remove the calendar entry. From the amenity edit form, set auto-approval per amenity, set a max attendee count, and set blackout dates.

Announcements are how your board communicates with the community — meeting notices, maintenance alerts, social events, emergency advisories, and more.

Reading announcements

The dashboard home shows the five most recent announcements. Click any one to read the full text. Go to Announcements in the sidebar to see the complete list. You can filter by type and date range from the top of the page.

Announcement types

• General — routine community news and updates
• Event — upcoming social events and gatherings
• Maintenance — scheduled work, outages, access restrictions
• Emergency — urgent notices that display as a red banner at the top of every dashboard page until they expire
• Beautification — landscaping and common-area improvements
• Birth notice / Death notice — community life events

Audience

Each announcement has an audience setting. All residents means everyone including renters. Owners only hides it from renters. Board only is internal and only visible to board and management.

Expiry

Announcements can have an optional expiry date. Once expired, they move to the archive and stop appearing in the main list. Board admins can view the archive from the Archived tab on the Announcements page.

Lobby TV

Non-expired announcements set to All or Members audience also appear on the Lobby TV display in the lobby kiosk, if your community uses it.

More announcement types

Announcements now offer sixteen types across five groups — including ✨ What's New, 🗣️ Have You Heard?, 🔍 Lost & Found, 🚔 Safety & Security, 💧 Utility & Outages, 🅿️ Parking & Towing, 🏢 Office Notice, 🏛️ Board & Governance, and 🎉 Celebration. Each type has its own badge color everywhere announcements appear, including the lobby TV.

The Events page lists community events — board meetings, social gatherings, pool parties, work parties, and anything else the board schedules.

Recurring events

A weekly board meeting or monthly social is stored once and expanded automatically. You will see every upcoming occurrence as a separate entry — not just one row with a recurrence note.

Print calendars

Use the Print buttons at the top of the Events page to get a clean, printable calendar for Today, This Week, or This Month. Useful for posting on a community bulletin board.

Public events

Events set to All residents (public) also appear on your community public landing page so guests and prospective residents can see what is going on. Events set to Members or Board only do not appear publicly.

Timezones

All event times display in your preferred timezone if you have set one in your profile, or in the association local timezone if you have not. Either way, no UTC conversion is needed on your part.

Lobby TV

Upcoming events also appear in the Events column on the Lobby TV display. Recurring series are fully expanded so every upcoming date shows up individually.

The community marketplace lets residents buy, sell, give away items, or post wanted ads — all within your community portal.

Posting a listing

Click + New listing on the Marketplace page. Pick a category (Furniture, Appliances, Free, Wanted, etc.), enter a price or mark it Free, write a description, and optionally add a photo. Your listing goes live immediately.

Managing your listings

You can edit your listing or mark it as Sold at any time from the Marketplace page. Sold listings disappear from the active view but stay in the history. You can also delete a listing entirely if the item is no longer available.

Contacting a seller

Each listing shows the poster name and contact information so interested neighbors can reach out directly. There is no in-app messaging — contact is handled outside the portal.

Lobby TV

Active listings also appear on the Lobby TV display in the Marketplace column, so neighbors browsing the lobby can see what is available. Photos are shown when present.

Moderation

Board admins can remove any listing. If you see something that should not be there, use the Feedback page to let the board know.

The FAQ page is a curated list of common questions and answers about your community — pool hours, guest policies, parking rules, move-in procedures, and anything else residents ask repeatedly.

Finding an answer

Use the search bar at the top of the FAQ page to search questions and answers by keyword. You can also browse all questions in order. Click any question to expand the answer.

Categories

FAQs are grouped into categories set by the board — for example Amenities, Parking, Move-in, Pets. Browse by category or search across all of them at once.

Not finding an answer?

If your question is not answered in the FAQ, use the Feedback page to send it to the board. If the board answers the same question from multiple residents, they will typically add it to the FAQ so everyone benefits.

The Forms page gives residents a library of community forms to complete online — no printing or scanning required. Submitted forms are stored on your account and visible to board management.

Available form types

• Guest registration — register a guest or visitor in advance
• Temporary parking pass — request a short-term visitor parking pass
• Move-in / move-out notice — notify the building of a move date and elevator reservation
• Pet registration — register a pet per community rules
• Service animal notification — protected disclosure under Fair Housing rules
• Key / fob request — request a replacement or additional access credential
• Maintenance request — report something needing repair in your unit or common area
• Lease renewal notice — notify the board of a lease renewal
• Sublease notice — notify the board of an upcoming sublease
• Background check consent — consent to a background screening (if required by community rules)
• Variance / hardship request — request an exception to a community rule
• Committee interest — express interest in joining a committee
• Newsletter subscription — subscribe or unsubscribe to the community newsletter
• Other — general-purpose form for anything not covered above

Submitting a form

Click any form type, fill in the fields, and click Submit. You will see a confirmation message and the submission appears in your form history at the bottom of the Forms page. The board is notified of new submissions.

Viewing your past submissions

Your previous form submissions are listed on the Forms page under the form library. Click any entry to see what you submitted and any board notes added.

The Listings page lets owners advertise units that are for sale or available for rent — directly within your community portal.

Posting a listing

Go to Listings in the sidebar and click + New listing. Fill in:

• Type — For Sale or For Rent
• Asking price or monthly rent
• Bedrooms, bathrooms, and square footage
• A description of the unit
• Contact name, email, and phone for inquiries
• An optional photo

Managing your listing

You can update the listing status at any time — Active, Pending, Sold, or Rented — directly from the status dropdown in the listings table without opening the full edit form. Use Edit to change any other detail or delete to remove the listing entirely.

Public visibility

Active listings automatically appear in the Properties Available section of your community public landing page. This is intentional — prospective buyers and renters often browse community pages before contacting a listing agent, and visibility there can accelerate the process.

Who can post

Owners and above can post listings by default. The board can adjust this minimum role in Settings → Permissions → Post property listings.

The Area Attractions page lets the board curate a directory of nearby places worth visiting — restaurants, shops, parks, gyms, and more. It appears on your public community landing page so guests and prospective residents can explore the neighborhood.

Adding an attraction

Go to Area Attractions in the sidebar and click + Add attraction. Fill in the name, category, a short description, address, optional website URL, and optionally a photo. Click Save and it goes live on the public landing immediately.

Categories

Dining, Shopping, Entertainment, Outdoor, Culture, Services, Other. The public page shows a tab for each category that has at least one active entry.

Distance display

If your association address is geocoded (set under Settings → Association profile), a distance badge appears automatically on each attraction card — for example "0.3 mi away." This uses the attraction address and your association coordinates.

Sort order and visibility

Each attraction has a sort order field. Lower numbers appear first. Use the Active toggle to temporarily hide an entry without deleting it.

Public dedicated page

The public landing page shows a preview of up to four attractions with a "See all" link. That link opens a dedicated /{slug}/attractions page with the full directory, category tabs, and distance info.

Surveys are quick community polls — a light way to ask members what they think, separate from formal Voting. Because they are not official ballots, they carry no quorum or record-keeping requirements.

Responding

Open Community → Surveys, click Respond on any open survey, choose your answer (or write one), and submit. You can respond once per survey. Depending on the survey, you may see the results right after you respond or once it closes.

Creating a survey (board)

Click New survey and set:

• Question type — pick one, pick several, or an open-ended written answer.
• Answer options — for choice polls (leave blank for written answers). You can also let members add a comment.
• Privacy — anonymous (don't show who answered) or named. The board always sees names.
• Results — whether members see results right after responding or only once the survey closes.
• Audience — all members, owners only, or renters only, plus an optional close date.

Publish right away or save a draft. Open, close, edit, or delete any survey from the list. (Answer options lock once members start responding so existing answers stay valid.)

Communities can send text-message (SMS) alerts to members who have opted in — handy for urgent notices like water shut-offs, gate issues, or weather warnings.

Opting in (members)

Go to Settings → Your account → Text alerts and check the box. Make sure your mobile number is on your profile. Message & data rates may apply, and you can reply STOP to any text to opt out at any time (or START to opt back in).

Sending texts (board)

Open Operations → Text Members, choose an audience (all opted-in members, owners, renters, or board & staff), write a short message, and send. Your community name and the opt-out reminder are added automatically. Only members who opted in and have a valid mobile number receive the text.

Text messaging requires an active subscription (SMS has a small per-message cost) and is enabled once carrier registration (A2P 10DLC) is approved for your community.

Texting one member & smarter costs

Board admins and managers can text a single member from the 💬 Text button on their directory profile. The cost preview always shows the full math — segments × recipients × the per-segment price — before you send. A "primary owner per unit" audience is also available so co-owned units aren't double-texted.

The Feedback page lets you send concerns, complaints, compliments, or suggestions directly to the board. This is your primary channel for anything that needs board attention.

What to include

The more specific you are, the faster the board can act. The form lets you optionally:

• Tag a specific member or unit the concern is about
• Cite the community rule being violated
• Include a detailed description with dates and context

Your contact information

When you open the form, it shows your name, unit, email, and phone so you know exactly what the board will use to follow up. If your phone is not on file, there is a link to add it in your profile.

Anonymous submissions

You can check Submit anonymously to hide your identity from the board. Anonymous submissions are accepted, but the board cannot update you on the outcome or ask clarifying questions. For issues that need a resolution you can track, submitting with your name attached is strongly recommended.

Tracking your submission

After submitting, your concern appears in your Feedback page view with its current status — New, In Progress, Resolved, or Closed. You can see any board responses. The board may also add internal notes that are not shown to you.

Converting to a violation

Board admins can convert a concern to a formal violation record with one click. The violation form pre-fills from the concern text. You will not see this action but the board uses it to escalate rule violations through the formal notice workflow.

Access control

The board can configure who is allowed to submit concerns in Settings → Permissions → Submit concerns. By default all residents can submit, including renters.

Any modification to the exterior of your unit — paint color, satellite dish, deck addition, storm shutters, landscaping changes — typically requires approval from the Architectural Review Committee (ARC) before work begins. Check your community rules or bylaws for the specific list.

Filing a request

Go to Arch. review in the sidebar and click + New request. Fill in:

• Category — Paint, Addition, Landscaping, Roofing, Window, Door, Fence, Other
• Planned start and end dates for the work
• Contractor name and contact information, if applicable
• Estimated cost of the project
• A full description of the proposed changes

Submit the request and the board will review. You will receive an email notification when a decision is made.

Decisions and conditions

The board can approve, deny, or approve with conditions. All decisions include a written explanation. If approved with conditions, the conditions are listed in the decision record and you must comply with them to maintain approval.

Converting to a work order

If the approved modification also requires coordination of common-area work, the board can convert the ARC request to a Work Order to track that work separately.

Renters cannot file ARC requests

ARC requests are the unit owner responsibility. If you are a renter and need exterior modifications, the owner of your unit needs to file the request. Contact your owner or property manager.

Access control

The board can adjust who can file ARC requests in Settings → Permissions → Submit ARC requests.

The Documents page is where the board stores official files — bylaws, meeting minutes, insurance certificates, lease addenda, floor plans, and anything else the community needs on record.

Browsing and downloading

Documents are organized by category and access level. You can filter by category using the dropdown at the top of the list. Click the document title to view or download it. Your role determines which access levels are visible to you.

Access levels

• Public — visible to anyone on the community landing page, no login required
• Members — visible to all signed-in residents, both owners and renters
• Owners only — visible to owners and above; hidden from renters
• Board only — visible only to board members and management
• Unit only — visible to residents of a specific unit plus the board

Composed documents

Board admins can write a document directly in the portal using the built-in rich-text editor instead of uploading a file. Good for quick notices, policy clarifications, welcome letters, and announcements that do not need a PDF.

Document archiving

Documents can be archived (soft-deleted) instead of permanently removed. Archived documents disappear from the normal listing but can be restored by a board admin. Useful for superseded bylaws or old insurance certificates you want to keep on record.

E-signatures

PDF documents can be sent for e-signature. Board admins tag which members must sign, send a notification, and the signed copy is stored against the signer record. See the Document signing help topic for full details.

Versions

Each document has a version number. If a file is replaced, the version increments automatically and the history is preserved.

The Rules page gives every resident full-text access to the community rules and bylaws, with live search across all content.

Searching rules

Use the search bar at the top of the Rules page to search by keyword across all rule text, titles, and categories. Results highlight the matching terms. This is the fastest way to find the specific rule governing parking, pets, noise, or any other topic.

Categories and filtering

Rules are organized into categories — Parking, Noise, Pets, Common Areas, Guests, Maintenance, Modifications, etc. Use the category filter dropdown to narrow the list to a specific section of your community rules.

Inline images

Rules can include inline photos and diagrams — useful for illustrating parking layouts, pool signage, or approved exterior color palettes. These appear inline in the rule text when present.

PDF version

Your complete rules document may also be posted in the Documents section as a PDF. The Rules page and the PDF may differ if the board has made updates that have not yet been reflected in both places — always check with your board if there is a discrepancy.

The Legal page gives every signed-in member access to Florida HOA and condo statutes — the actual laws that govern your community.

What is covered

• Chapter 718 — Florida Condominium Act (condominiums)
• Chapter 719 — Florida Cooperative Act (cooperatives)
• Chapter 720 — Florida Homeowners Association Act (HOAs)
• Chapter 553 — Building Construction Standards

232 Florida statutes are loaded in-app with full text for many sections. Use the search bar to find statutes by keyword, or filter by chapter, applies-to category, or topic category.

Reading statutes

Sections with full text loaded show an Expand button to read the complete language in-app. For the remaining sections, an Official site button links directly to the Florida Legislature website for that section number.

Important note

This tool is a reference resource, not legal advice. Laws change and interpretations vary by association type, governing documents, and specific facts. For anything consequential — fines, foreclosures, election disputes, variance requests — consult a licensed Florida HOA attorney before taking action.

The Minutes page gives residents read-only access to past board meeting minutes — the official record of what was discussed, voted on, and decided at each meeting.

What minutes contain

Each meeting record includes the date, type (Regular, Special, Annual, Emergency), location, attendees, agenda items with their outcomes, resolution votes with per-member Yes/No/Abstain tallies, and the final vote counts.

Access

The board controls who can read minutes in Settings → Permissions → Read meeting minutes. By default, all signed-in members can read minutes. If your board has restricted access, you may not see this page or may see only the list without full detail.

Printing

The board can produce print-ready minutes from the board meeting management page. If you need a printed copy for any reason, ask your board admin to provide one.

Florida law note

Florida Chapters 718 and 720 require boards to keep minutes of all meetings and make them available to unit owners. The specific access rules (time window, copy fees) differ by association type. Your board is responsible for compliance with the applicable chapter.

The Media page is the community photo gallery — board members upload photos of common areas, events, renovations, and anything else worth sharing.

Browsing photos

Photos are organized by category and displayed in a grid. Click any photo to view it full-size. Use the category filter to narrow to a specific type — Common Areas, Events, Renovation, etc.

Visibility

Photos have a visibility setting:

• Public — appears on the community public landing page, no login required
• Private — signed-in members only; does not appear on the public page

Captions

Each photo can have a caption. Captions appear in the gallery grid and on the full-size view.

Who can upload

Board members and management can upload photos. Residents can view them.

The Directory lists your community members — name, unit, role, contact information, and headshot when available. Access is role-based and privacy-respecting.

What you can see

By default, all signed-in residents can see the basic directory. The board controls whether full contact details (email, phone) are visible to residents vs. board-only. Check with your board if you cannot see contact information you expect.

Privacy opt-out

Members who have opted out of the directory in their Settings are not shown in your view. They still exist in the system and can use all features normally.

Filtering and search

Use the search bar at the top of the Directory page to search by name, unit number, or email. Filter by role (owners, renters, board, staff) using the role dropdown.

Unit view

Click a unit number in the directory to see all residents associated with that unit — useful for understanding who lives where in a building with shared units.

Board contacts

Board members who have opted in to show on the public landing page will also appear in the Meet Your Board section of the community public site, visible to anyone.

Contacts page

The Contacts page (separate from the Directory) lists management contacts — property managers, building superintendent, emergency contacts, vendor contacts. This page is configured by the board and is read-only for residents.

Owners, renters & staff

The directory lists owners, renters, and staff. A person’s ownership and their role are tracked separately, so someone can be both — for example an owner who also works for the association.

When someone leaves

Boards record a departure with a reason — moved out, sold, transferred ownership, or passed away — and the real date, even backdated. Marking a passing stops all communications to that person immediately, records the family or estate contact, and flags the unit "Estate of…" until ownership is resolved. Past departures can be fixed or undone from the unit's history table.

Export to CSV

Board and management can export the directory's current filtered view — search, role, owners-only, and contact-gap filters all respected — as a spreadsheet via the ⬇ Export CSV button in the filter toolbar.

At the top of the left sidebar there’s a Filter menu box. Start typing and the menu instantly narrows to matching items — matches surface from whichever section they live in, and everything else hides until you clear the box (or press Esc). Handy when your sidebar has a lot of sections.

The Contacts page lists key management and vendor contacts for the community — property management company, building superintendent, maintenance contractor, emergency services, and anything else the board wants residents to have quick access to.

Who maintains this list

Board admins add and update contacts. If a number is wrong or a contact is missing, let your board admin know via the Feedback page.

Access control

The board can control who can see the Contacts page in Settings → Permissions → Read contacts. By default it is visible to all signed-in members.

Emergency contacts

If your board has added an emergency contact (police non-emergency, fire department, building super after hours, etc.), they appear at the top of the Contacts list. Save these to your phone as a backup.

SoShiny ships with a full help library covering every feature in the portal. The library is role-aware — you only see topics relevant to your role (renter, owner, board member, board admin, manager, staff).

Two ways to find a topic

• Help page at /dashboard/help.php — browse every topic grouped by category, or use the search box at the top to filter by keyword.
• Global search in the top nav — the same search bar that finds rules, documents, members, and events also surfaces relevant help topics. If you type "how do I book the clubhouse" the Amenity Booking help topic shows up.

What's in a topic

Each topic has a written walkthrough, an optional embedded video, and screenshots when they help. Topics are kept short and practical — "here's how to do X" rather than long manuals.

Boards: add or edit topics from /admin/help.php (super-admin). Rich-text editor with image upload + YouTube embedding.

The search bar at the top of every dashboard page searches across the entire portal. One query, results grouped by source.

What it searches

• Rules & bylaws — full text, with the exact citation surfaced
• Documents — titles, descriptions, and tags
• Members — by name, unit, role, or contact info (respecting privacy settings)
• Events — title, location, description
• Meeting minutes — full text
• FAQs — questions + answers
• Work orders (board view) — title, location, status
• Help topics — every page in this help library

Results are grouped by source and respect your role — owners don't see board-only work orders in their results, renters don't see owner-only ARC details.

Quick tip

Try natural-language queries like "how do I report a leaky faucet" or "fence height rule" — the search index understands intent, not just keywords.

Welcome to SoShiny — a community portal built for boards and residents who want transparency without the runaround. Here is what you can do from the moment you sign in.

Your dashboard home

The home page shows a live count of everything in your community — members, units, announcements, events, documents, and more. Each tile is a link that takes you straight to that section.

The sidebar

Everything is organized into collapsible groups on the left sidebar. What you see depends on your role:

• Community — announcements, email broadcasts, events, FAQ, marketplace, property listings, area attractions
• Resources — documents, forms, rules & bylaws, legal reference, meeting minutes, media gallery, member directory, contacts
• Governance — committees, feedback & concerns, architectural review, violations, work orders, board voting, board meetings
• Operations — units, parking, employees, insurance (board and management only)
• Configuration — activity log, settings (board and management only)

Items you do not have permission to access are hidden automatically — your sidebar only shows what you can use. Click any group header to collapse or expand it. The sidebar collapses to icon-only mode using the toggle button on the left edge of the screen.

Your profile

Click your name or initials in the top-right corner to reach your profile page. From there you can upload a headshot, write a short bio, set your preferred timezone, and manage your saved e-signature images.

Getting help

This Help section covers every feature in the portal. Use the search box in the left sidebar to find a topic, or browse by category. If something is missing or wrong, let your board know via the Feedback page.

Owners and renters can hide themselves from the resident directory without involving the board.

How to opt out

Go to Settings → Your account and check "Hide me from the resident directory." Save. That is it. Other residents will no longer see your name, unit, email, or phone in the directory listing.

What still works when you are hidden

You can still log in, submit forms, post to the marketplace, attend events, and use everything else normally. Hiding yourself only removes you from the directory view that other residents see.

Who can still see you

The board and management can always see every resident regardless of the privacy setting. They need your contact information to manage the community — dues, work orders, violation notices, and anything that requires reaching you directly.

Board members cannot opt out

Board members and admins do not have the opt-out toggle. Their presence in the directory is part of the role — residents have a right to know who is managing their community.

The board can also deactivate accounts

A board admin can mark an account as inactive from the directory edit screen, which hides the member more completely. Your privacy toggle is the self-serve version that does not require any board action.

While signed in

Go to Settings → Your account and use the Change password card. You will need your current password. The new password must be at least 8 characters. After saving, any outstanding password-reset tokens for your account are invalidated automatically.

If you are locked out

Use Forgot password on the login page. Enter your email address and a reset link will be sent to you. The link expires after 1 hour and can only be used once. Requesting a new link cancels any previously sent link.

If the reset email does not arrive

Check your spam or junk folder first. If it is not there, contact your board admin — they can send you a password reset link directly from the directory, or resend your original invitation email.

Rate limiting

For security, no more than 5 password-reset requests per IP address are allowed per hour. If you hit that limit, wait 60 minutes and try again or contact your board admin.

Your profile stores your headshot, bio, timezone preference, and saved e-signature images. Access it by clicking your name in the top-right corner of any page.

Headshot

Upload a square photo — JPG, PNG, WEBP, or GIF, max 8 MB. Your headshot appears in the member directory (if you are not hidden), on the public community landing page in the Meet Your Board section (board members who opt in), and in board meeting minutes.

Bio

A short text bio displayed in the directory and on the public landing page. Keep it brief — a sentence or two is enough. Board members often use this for their title or committee role.

Timezone

Set your preferred timezone and all timestamps in the portal — events, meeting times, announcements — will display in your local time instead of UTC.

Saved e-signatures

You can draw and save one or more signature images on your profile. When you sign a document, your saved signature is used automatically — no re-drawing required. You can save multiple signatures and choose which one to use at signing time. To add a signature, click Add signature on the profile page and use the drawing pad.

Show on public landing page

Board members have an additional toggle: Show me in the Meet Your Board section on the public landing page. When enabled, your name, headshot, and bio appear publicly without requiring a login. This is opt-in only.

You can personalize how your portal looks. Tap the Appearance icon (the gear/sun) in the top bar — on a computer it’s in the top-right corner; on a phone it’s in the top bar next to the bell.

Light or dark mode

Choose Light or Dark to match your preference or your surroundings.

Color themes

Pick from eight color themes — Sunset, Slate, Marina, Garden, Forest, Plum, Crimson, and Emerald — to give your portal a look you like.

Your choice is saved to your account and follows you across your devices.

You can tailor how SoShiny looks on your device. Open the Appearance menu — the sun icon in the top bar, or the Appearance section at the bottom of any public page.

Light or Dark

Switch between a bright Light look and an easy-on-the-eyes Dark look.

Color theme

Choose a color theme tuned to your kind of community:

• Sunset — condos & co-ops (the classic SoShiny look)
• Slate — HOAs & master-planned communities
• Marina — marinas & waterfront
• Garden — mobile-home & 55+ communities
• Forest — campgrounds & RV parks

Your choice is remembered in this browser and only changes what you see.

New to your community portal? The Finish setup checklist walks you through the essentials in a couple of minutes. When your profile isn’t complete, your dashboard shows a Profile completion bar under the greeting — tap Finish setup → to open the checklist.

What it covers

• Confirm what’s on file — your mailing address, cell phone, email, and unit info (one tap if they’re right, Change if not).
• Allow text messages — opt in to urgent community alerts.
• Build out your profile — a photo of yourself, your vehicle, guests, a service animal, an additional phone, and an emergency contact.

Good to know

• Skipping counts. “I don’t have a vehicle” is a complete answer — skipped items count toward 100%, and you can undo a skip any time.
• It completes itself. Do the real thing anywhere in the portal (add a photo on My Profile, register a vehicle from the dashboard) and the checklist marks it done automatically.
• At 100% the bar disappears from your dashboard.

Popups, celebrations, and the board

Every checklist item now opens a simple popup — nothing takes you away from the page, including allowing text alerts. Finishing or skipping an item earns a small celebration, and reaching 100% opens a congratulations window with the welcome video. Board members and property managers see the checklist too.

My Profile is your one place for everything about you — name, contact details, mailing address, headshot, and bio, plus your timezone, text-alert opt-in, directory privacy, and password (all of which used to live under Settings). Board members and managers use Settings only for community configuration.

Quick actions on your dashboard

Your unit card on the dashboard has three quick actions, each opening a simple pop-up:

• 🚗 Register a vehicle — add your car to the community registry (plate, make, model, color) so management can match cars to units for parking.
• 🧳 Register a guest — let management and security know about a guest staying at your unit, with their dates and vehicle.
• ✈️ I’ll be away — tell management you’ll be traveling (for emergency prep and authorized access). While you’re away the button becomes 🏠 I’ve returned — one tap marks you home.

At a glance

• Your unit shows an “away” ribbon while you’re traveling and a “guests staying with you” ribbon when a guest’s visit covers today.
• My Profile shows your current away / returned status and lists everyone you have visiting, where you can cancel a registration.

Travel details and guest registrations are private to management and the board — they never appear on the Lobby TV, public page, directory, or any broadcast.

Your community sends two kinds of email: required notices (dues, legal notices, emergency alerts, meeting notices) and optional broadcasts (events, amenity updates, newsletters).

You can unsubscribe from optional emails using the link at the bottom of any broadcast. You’ll see a confirmation page explaining exactly what you’ll miss versus what you’ll still receive. You will always receive required notices. Changed your mind? Ask your board to switch optional emails back on.