Whenever you log in to 8i you’ll be taken to the Home page, or Dashboard. The Dashboard gives you a snapshot of key items related to your business – activities, listings, and closings. You can also search for all the contacts you’ve established and access your account settings, all from one central location. If you wish to return to the Dashboard, click the Home icon on the main menu.

The Dashboard is divided into 9 different areas.

1. Activities for Today Portlet

   View a list of activities that have come due in the last 7 days.

   

   Click the drop-down list in the top right-hand corner to view activities for assistants or team members. By default, appointments appear at the top of the list.

   Tip: Links allow you to open records in 8i. Any time you hover over text that becomes underlined, 8i allows you to open that record by clicking on the link. For example, if you hover over “Initial follow-up” in the image above, the text becomes underlined, and all you have to do is click the link to open that record to view its full details.

2. Leads Portlet

   See a list of your recent leads. You can use the tabs to see either leads received today, in the last 7 days, in the last 30 days, or your Favorite leads (no time limit). You can also click the Lead Quality tab to view lead quality for all leads in your database.

3. Listings Portlet

   View a list of your active listings to help you keep track of those that are close to expiring. The exclamation icon next to the listing’s expiration date reminds you that it will expire soon.

4. Closings Portlet

   View a list of your pending closings, sorted by closing date.

   Tip: You can sort records for the activities, listings, and closings portlets by clicking on the column name you’d like the records sorted by. For example, listings are sorted by Address by default. If you’d like to sort them alphabetically by seller, simply click on the Sellers column name.

5. Contact Status

   Statistics on all of your contacts based upon multiple criteria, such as if they have been contacted (and how many times) and information entered into their record. This portlet must be enabled inside Preferences, on the Contacts tab by selecting Contact Status Setting. The information is updated nightly.

6. Contacts Look-up Portlet

   This portlet allows you to search for any contact and view a summary of contact information.
   
   Click the View Contact link from an open contact to view the record’s full details, or click the email address to send an email to the contact.

7. Main Menu Bar

   The Main menu bar is a list of icons that organize access to key features and records in one central location. The names of the icons represent the type of record or feature available to you. Clicking on an icon, such as the Contacts icon for example, opens a list of submenu items that show what you can do from the icon.

   

   The only icon that doesn’t have any submenu items is the Home icon. Click this icon any time you want to return to the Dashboard.

   Clicking on a main menu item opens a landing page where you can view portlets that give you a handy statistical overview of the selected record type. You can also create detailed reports. This analytics tool is designed to help you understand your business better so you can take more strategic action.

   For example, clicking on the Contacts main menu item opens the Contacts landing page. Contacts, leads and referrals are organized on separate portlets.
   

8. Information and Account Setup Links

   These links give you access to product help and your Top Producer 8i account preferences and setup information.

   • Contact Us: Click the link to obtain contact information for Top Producer services and support.
   • Self-Help Topics: Click the link to open Top Producer Campus, our online community and support center for Top Producer customers.

     Tip: If you need information about a particular 8i feature, click the icon to take you to its corresponding online help topic. For example, if you are unsure what the icon on the Contacts look-up portlet is for, click the question mark icon to open online help information about the Dashboard and its features

   • Preferences: Opens the Preferences page where you can set up different areas of 8i to better suit the way you do business.
   • My Account: View or change your 8i account information, including your contact information, photos, and team members.
   • Sign Out: Click this link once you’ve finished using 8i for the day.

   Tip: Because Top Producer 8i is a Web program, you can use all the features available to you from your Internet browser, such as using the Back and Forward buttons to go back to previously viewed pages, or take a screen capture of the browser window and print it out.

9. Full Screen and Quick Access Features

   Full Screen

   Click the link to temporarily hide sections of an 8i page of for a fuller view of the main content. Click the Close Full Screen to restore the hidden sections. This feature is available on any Top Producer 8i page.

   Quick Access
   Click the link to show the Quick Add and Calendar Portlets. Quickly add records or open other Top Producer programs from this feature. These portlets are accessible no matter where you are in 8i. They’re a great way to maximize efficiency – you can add and save records without interrupting what you’re doing in other areas of 8i.
   

   Create 3 of the most common types of records – contacts, leads, and to- do activities. Click on the portlet name to open a quick add form. Click the Add button to save the information.

   Click on any date on the calendar portlet to quickly switch to the full day’s schedule in the 8i Calendar. Use the arrow buttons to choose a different month.