Village Grande at English Mill Homeowners Association Home . About . Committees . Board . Resources Policy The website will not replace any form of paper that the community desires. It is in addition to the paper communications. The website is a convenience and a library to serve our needs. The website itself needs to be sustainable so that it is available year after year. One of the keys to keeping the website sustainable is to keep it simple so that people are not overwhelmed with work. Instead the website activity should be fun and fulfilling for those that are interested in maintaining it and of value to the residents. TOC General Website Policy Sever Archive Structure - NOT Internet Accessible Maturity Levels Organization Maturity Levels HOA Website Maturity Levels Security Website Security Resident Account Approaches Domain and Hosting Security Website Architecture Email Accounts Email Setup Smart Phone and Computer Setup Accounts FTP Operations Downloading Installing Setting Up Filezilla Managing Files On Your PC Website Search Engine Communications and Trouble Reports Website Support General Website Policy The website exists for the residents It is useful and satisfies the needs of the residents It does not conflict or interfere with other forms of community communications It is easy to maintain so that anyone in the community can maintain it It is able to grow as new members move into the community who are more dependent on the Internet It uses open source as much as practical so that all residents have access to the website maintenance tools The website exists for the VGEM non-profit corporation that is the HOA It provides official company email accounts for all board staff It provides official company email accounts for committe staff as approved by the board It houses all VGEM documents in the non public area of the web hosting company Operations and Accounts A website charter is established so that a committe is formed The website committe head and a minimum of 2 board members have access to the domain registration account The website committe head and a minimum of 2 board members have access to the webhosting account Periodic website maintenance and user training is provided by the committe The website committe interacts with all other committees as needed to gather data for the website The website is owned by the HOA The intellectual property belongs to the HOA Should a commercial company take over the website, the HOA is to be reimbursed for any website intellectual property Website intellectual property are items such as layouts, structure, html pages, web images, programs, business model, resident volunteer time using industry hourly rates The HOA data on the website belongs to the HOA Any money earned by the website is provided to the HOA << Back to TOC Sever Archive Structure - NOT Internet Accessible This is the HOA corporation archive. It serves to ensure that all records are kept regardless of management company changes and board changes. The main path is /usr/vgem. It is not Internet accessible. The suggested directory structure is: State Documents Covenants and Restrictions Letter of Incorporation Metes and Bounds Other Code Violations Meetings Agendas Minutes Special Announcements Board Committees Clubs Other Publications VGEM News Gazette Quality Management Brown Forms Green Forms Other HOA Defects Procedures Forms New Residents (Welcome Packages) Committees Charters Clubs Finance Purchase Orders Payables Receivables Budgets Tax Filings Accounting Reports Vendor Selection Requests for Proposals Tradeoff Selection Cost Reasonableness Analysis Contracts Vendor Interaction Venders Landscaping Management Pool Janitorial HVAC Other Legal Lawsuits Other Insurance Claims Other Maintenance Internal Business PII Legal Violation Letters Fines Collected Liens Other << Back to TOC Maturity Levels The concept of maturity levels has been applied to organizations. This is an important concept and is used to determine the organizations ability to perform. The higher the maturity level, the more effective the organization. The names, evidence, and broad descriptions tend to be similar in most maturity level assessments. Maturity assessments are performed internally by the organization and externally by a potential client wanting to engage the organization in providing goods and or services. The source of this comes from the Aerospace companies in the 1960's and it was transferred to Carnegie Mellon University in the 1980's. The reality is that this always existed when serious systems and money was involved, it was just not codified and made a general body of knowledge until the 1980's. Organization Maturity Levels Levels Named Typical Evidence Failure Risk Description 1 Chaotic None Very High There are no processes other than weak paper trails. Everything is random, you don't know what anyone will do next, things are very political, lots of liars and bullshit artists (Per Professor Frankfurts' book - On Bullshit), and honest folks are afraid, management prays on the innocent. Failure risk comes from no documented evidence and conflicting statements from people. 2 Repeatable Tribal Knowledge High Things tend to get done in a repeatable way, everyone knows what everyone else is doing and how their part fits into the collective. Failure risk comes from no documented evidence. 3 Documented Documents Medium There are documented processes that people follow and the documents are maintained, in other words they always represent more or less what is happening no matter the time of the year or what year it happens to be. Failure risk comes from poor documents because there are no reasonable automation tools. 4 Measurable Computer Tools Internet Website Low The organization actually starts to measure stuff that matters, everyone knows those measures and are not afraid of the measures because everyone is enlightened enough to not hurt anyone in the group, so it's not about shallow productivity asset stripping schemes by poor management. Failure risk is low because there is documented evidence. 5 Predictable Computer Tools Internet Website Very Low Based on metrics the organization evaluates new techniques, technologies, tools and it is able to make qualitative and quantitative predictions about their introduction into the process. Failure risk is very low because there is documented evidence and the organization is constantly thinking about improvements rather than ignoring issues as they arise. * Failure risk is a the risk of a negative event. << Back to TOC HOA Website Maturity Levels Levels Named Rating Failure Risk Website Email Resident Content Storage HOA Docs Defect Database Description 1 None Very Low Very High - - - - - - No website. No company email accounts. HOA data is not being archived in an online service. This usually is the state when the builder is still in the community. Once the builder turns the HOA operation over to the HOA non profit company it must move to Level 2. Failure risk comes from personal email accounts used for official HOA business. 2 Rudimentary Low High X X - - - - Website and company email accounts. Website is rudimentary splash page with no real content that is helpful to anyone. Failure risk comes from lost data such as meeting minutes and unreasonable access to old paper documents 3 Casual Medium Med X X X - - - Level 2 plus. Website has events, meeting minutes, and HOA documents on file at the state level. It is primarily for the casual resident. While most of the important non personal identifying data is archived on the website, the other HOA business is not archived except on the management company computers which may withhold the data after contract termination. 4 Professional High Very Low X X X X X - Level 3 plus. Includes HOA documents like budgets, policies, procedures, and HOA data is archived on web server non public area. It is a serious tool for the engaged resident, the board and committees. Both the public HOA data and the private HOA data is preserved and will not be lost. 5 Professional Elite Very Low X X X X X X Level 4 plus. There is a defect and communications submission mechanism with reporting that is an electronic online database. There are procedures, forms and training for  Quality Management, Vendor Selection, Board Training from the resident perspective, Budget Analysis, Technology, and Conflict Of Interest. * Failure risk is a the risk of a negative event. << Back to TOC Security Think in terms of security boundaries: Boundary 1 - Public Boundary 2 - Residents Boundary 3 - Board and special committee members (finance) Boundary 4 - Website maintainers Boundary 5 - Account admin (charge card access) Accounts Access Level Zoom Meetings (future) Residents HOA Email Account Board, Webmaster HOA FTP Account (Office area) Board, Webmaster HOA FTP Account (Internet area) Website Committtee Email Account Setup Website Committtee FTP Account Setup Website Committtee cPanel Access * Website Committtee cPanel Super User Access (only 1 possible) * Webmaster, backup Webmasters Web Hosting Company * Webmaster, backup Webmasters Domain Registration Company * Webmaster, backup Webmasters * Account access credentials are on file with the Board. << Back to TOC Website Security Website Area Blue Heron Little Mill VGEM A VGEM B Entry Page Public Public Public Public Beyond Entry Page Access Yes No Yes No About Public Public Residents Board Public Public Residents Announcements As they arrive Public Public Residents Events (recurring) Public Public Residents Calendar Public None Use Announcements None Use Announcements Committees (members) Public Public Residents Clubs (members - Public Residents News Online Gazette VGEM News Gazette - Public Residents Flyers - Public Residents Directory - Residents Residents Search Engine - Public Residents Communications Electronic Form Submissions Trees online form submission Landscaping online form submission Quality Defects online form submission Clubhouse Outdoor Pool Indoor Pool Jacuzzi Sauna Exercise Area Forest Area Retention Pond Suggestions online form submission Event Community Clubhouse Pool HOA Website General Contact online form submission * Board Committee Club * Public Public Residents Communications Online Reports ? Public Residents Communications Online Reports Admin Level ? Board Website Commmitte Board Website Commmitte Home Projects Suggestions Price Club - Public Residents Leisure Activities - Public Residents Movies (external) - Public Residents Towns - Public Residents Egg Harbor Twp (external) - Public Residents Bylaws & Rules Covenants Letter of Inc Metes and Bounds Community Rules Public Public Residents Meeting Minutes Agendas Minutes Public Public Residents Operations & Forms associa-documents charters community-documents * contracts forms * landscaping maintenance policies * procedures quality rules * * Public Public Residents (Quality: currently board only) Finance Summary Summary Public Public Residents Finance Details and Analysis ? Board Finance Board Finance Infrastructure Equipment List Reserves Engineering Studies HVAC * Exercise Room Irrigation Office Equipment Pools * Retension Ponds Tech Study * ? Public * some content Residents HOA Happenings Public Community Reminders Public Residents Master Plan Phase I and Phase II Plan Community Layout * Metes and Bounds * All Public Offering Statements * Warranty Floor Plans Builder Interior Pictures * Public Public Residents Policy - Public Residents Website Support - Public Residents Disclaimer - Public Residents << Back to TOC Resident Account Approaches One user name and password like: vgem, vgem (changes periodically) Street based: street, street Address Based: 100 bluebell, 100 bluebell (400 accounts to setup but little maintenance) Email Based: email, email (400 accounts to setup but maintenance with each house sell) Email Based: email, email but resident changes password (400 accounts to setup but massive maintenance as residents are unable to reset password) The reality is there is nothing to protect. The Resident access is a hindrance towards using the website and causes issues. Protect what needs protecting like the special Finance Area. This appears to be the Blue Heron approach. << Back to TOC Domain and Hosting Security Domain Charge Card acount level: 2 board members plus website maintainer. Hosting Charge Card acount level: 2 board members plus website maintainer. Hosting cpanel access: website maintainer plus committee members. Hosting email admin: website maintainer plus committee members. << Back to TOC Website Architecture As an age 55+ community, the website is sensitive to the Americans for Disability Act (ADA) and will attempt to minimize difficulty in using this website. Examples of difficulty of use are: Drop down menus Poor text / background contrast Small text size and poor font choice Inconsistent link placements Poor color choices Images that have no meaning or relevance General Approach Tradeoff Comments HTML Based Accepted Open source, works everywhere, easy to transport across web hosting companies, reflowable text, been around since the early 1960s, very stable, maximum creativity for content developers, can be developed on PC and on webshosting company HTML development platform. Easy to integrate custom Perl software applications like defect tracking. WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) user interface as you build. JAVA Rejected JAVA is a language trying to displace HTML and is usually used by CMS. It is impossible to maintain, has cross platform compatibility issues, after 20 years still crashes. It is highly unstable. It appeared circa 1999, did not make in roads until dreamweaver and CMS systems appeared. CMS (Content Management Systems) Rejected Example includes wordpress. Very difficult to transport across web hosting companies. Very difficult to build, time consuming working with platforms, NOT WYSIWYG. Based on marketing brochure concepts and shopping carts. Creative content is almost impossible. Difficult to integrate custom Perl software applications for things like defect tracking. Wiki Rejected Example includes wikipedia. Very difficult to transport across web hosting companies. Very difficult to build, time consuming working with platforms. Creative content is almost impossible. Difficult to integrate custom Perl software applications for things like defect tracking. No longer available with most web hosting companies, need to find your own open source software and install it on your webhosting company space. << Back to TOC Email Accounts Email accounts are created for each board member, the finance committe person that handles the books and interacts with financial institutions, and for each each committee member or other resident identified by the board. The email formats are: firstname.lastname@vgem.org or function@vgem.org. When someone leaves their position in VGEM, the account is disabled and the content is archived. When a new individual arrives that needs an official VGEM company email, a new account is created. When a functional account is transferred the password is reset and the content remains for the next user. In no event shall any email account be used by multiple people. This is a critical security issue and if violated the account will be disabled. The reason for this is because of audit trails in the event there is an issue. This standard security practice has been in place since the last century and it is considered normal business operations. The email accounts are only to be used for VGEM activities. Reasonable attempts will be made by the website committee to archive the email contents, but there is no guarantee that emails are not lost. The web hosting company also provides some archiving events, but again there is no guarantee that emails are not lost. Functional emails are associated with a particular function like president@vgem.org. These emails have 1 person assigned to them and cannot be shared between multiple people for security and audit reasons as stated above. They may be rejected by organizations because of their internal policies associated with legal and secure communications. An example, of an acceptable functional email is webmaster@vgem.org. A functional email like president@some.org that is used for official business rather than general public access is typically unacceptable. Basically these types of emails are only for general public access and not the conduct of normal business activities. In the past email formats included the following examples: Jsmith@some.com, Joe_Smith@some.com, JoeSmith@some.com. While they are acceptable for normal business communications because the persons name is clearly visible, they have been overcome with the dot format of Joe.Smith@some.com. While the emails are shown and exchanged between people with case sensitive text, all emails are automatically converted to lower case before they are transmitted and received. This is to ensure that there is minimal human factors errors. All email accounts are created, managed, disabled, and deleted from the server using the cPanel. The passwords are reset from the cPanel if a user forgets their password and is unable to automatically recover the password. The size of the email accounts are set at the cPanel. The cPanel email management area is accessed periodically to determine if an email account size needs to increase. The webmaster and certain designated website committe members have access to the server cPanel. The emails can be accessed using webmail with the link provided in the resources area, or on the account holders computer and smartphone. It is highly recommended that all VGEM email account holders setup their computer and smartphones to receive and transmit emails. There are 2 types of accounts that can be setup. The first is an IMAP account and the second is a POP account. The POP account will download all the emails to the device. For the POP account, depending on the settings, the emails will remain on the server or they will be deleted after a period of time. The board must decide how they want to operate IMAP or POP or both. Most organizations force the account holders to use the IMAP approach. However, the IMAP approach will lead to potentially massive storage on the server causing VGEM to either cleanout the email account or purchase the next service level up that provides more storage. While many organizations tell their account holders to delete their old email, that is not a good practice for history and audit needs. The POP account will keep the server storage low but if there is an event the users computer and smartphone will be confiscated by law enforcement officials. This is why most organizations use the IMAP approach or issue company computers and smartphones to users that then have POP accounts. When a user gets a new email account they must immediately change their default password. This is critical to ensure proper security of the account. The account will be checked to determine if the default password was changed and if it was not changed the account will be deleted. Yes this is a serious breach of security. While all of these email items are known by the current workforce and it is second nature, for this organization this email policy / education section is needed for the foreseeable future. The core email accounts are currently: President Robert Kennedy President@vgem.org Vice President Art Farnum VicePresident@vgem.org Treasurer Eileen Mayer Treasurer@vgem.org Finance Chair Jim Lichtenwal FinanceChair@vgem.org Finance Admin Don Cheatle FinanceAdmin@vgem.org Secretary Jo-Anne Goldberg Secretary@vgem.org Trustee Abe Greenbaum Trustee@vgem.or These emails will change as people come on and off the VGEM board and committees. Some more considerations: When someone leaves with a personal account, that account exists, it is just disabled. It is then policy that determines when that account is deleted. Also, when an account is disabled, all the emails can be transferred to the next person. I just don't know what the legal ramifications are if those emails are transferred to the new account. If there is 1 email that transitions from person to person, one of them in the chain might maliciously alter the emails, and all of the sudden, all the other people are impacted with no easy ability to determine who did what. If the decision is made to have the functional emails then I will delete the personal email accounts. Keep in mind we can have both accounts. The personally identifiable email accounts are going to be deleted. What drove this decision was a life lock commercial on the TV. My perspective was the "company" not the "volunteers". I now see why some may not what their names encoded in the emails. There are issues, but from the volunteer stakeholder perspective and their acceptability of the role, it is probably best to use functional emails. << Back to TOC Email Setup When you receive a VGEM email account you will need to reset the default password. To get started (read first, don't click the links yet): go to www.vgem.org The splash page is presented Press Enter Here link under the logo That takes you inside the content At the top select Resources That takes you to the bottom of the page with all the links At the bottom right is the Email Login link Login with your email address and default password Logout of the email (roundcube), the link is at the top right To change your default password continue Repeat steps 1-3 in other words get back to the content page At the bottom right is the Email Password Reset link, select it Login with your email address and default password The webmail management page is presented Scroll down to Password and Security and change your default password Add your alternate email, that will allow you to recover your email at the email login screen You must change your default password or the account will be locked To access your email you can use the webmail tool or setup an account on your computer and or smartphone. To access the webmail use the Email Login from the previous steps.To setup your computer and or smartphone accounts use the Client configuration settings for email message provided in the webmail. If you have difficulty contact webmaster@vgem.org. Smart Phone and Computer Setup It is strongly suggested that the email account is setup on the smartphone. That way there is no need to constantly login to see if something arrived. When setting up the smartphone account use the following settings: Incoming mail server: mail.vgem.org Outgoing mail server: mail.vgem.org User name: your email Password: your password Account type: IMAP Do not select POP per board decision If you have difficulty contact webmaster@vgem.org. << Back to TOC Accounts All accounts associated with this website are kept in a document on file at the VGEM office. The accounts are: Domain name registration authority - network solutions Web Hosting company - hostgator cPanel access - used to manage the website and vgem-office areas FTP  (file transfer protocol) - filezilla is used to the transfer files between the web hosting company and client computers List of email accounts << Back to TOC FTP Operations FTP (File Transfer Program) is a general term that refers to transferring files between computers. We use FTP to transfer our website files to the web server computers. We also use FTP to download files from the web server, like visitor logs and requests from residents that use the form entry mechanism on the website. The software application that does this is called filezilla, which is the leader, and our web hosting company recommends. Yes it is free. Currently we have 2 storage areas where FTP is used. The first one stores all the files that make up the website and is visible to the public. The second is a private area not visible on the Internet. The purpose of this storage area is to house all the remaining HOA documents. Between the two storage areas, VGEM should be able to maintain all its records. FTP is what is used to transfer files between a client computer and the web hosting company. The tool used is filezilla. There are 3 account groups that are active: Full Access to all areas - webmaster has this access level, the webmaster can see all the levels listed below. - Active Access to web site - committe members have access to this level - Active Access to VGEM office (this can be further segmented) - board and finance have access to this level - Active Access to VGEM PII area (this is not recommended because of webmaster access) - highly restricted currently not setup - NOT Active The private files are in: user/vgem-office. You will not see that in your FTP tool. That is visible to the webmaster. To manage the files it is important to create appropriate directories and not duplicate files between the public Internet area and the private vgem-office. The system is essentially archiving both groups of files. So there is no need to copy the public Internet files to the private vgem-office area. To access either the public Internet area or the private vgem-office area, the email account and password is used in the filezilla software. So the board automatically has access to the office area. The website committe members automatically have access to the public Internet area. The board members also can be given access to the public Internet area but it will require an additional login user name and password. The good thing is filezilla manages these logins and passwords and all you need to do is just select the area you want to connect to and do what you need. By now it should start to become clear that the email is the way that all accounts are managed. It is the user name and password for all accounts. That means that emails will be created as needed for people to access the server and move files around using FTP. Downloading Installing Setting Up Filezilla Step A is to download filezilla from the Internet and install it on the computer. https://filezilla-project.org. Select the client download option. The next step is to start filezilla and set it up. The web hosting company has instructions for setting up filezilla: https://www.hostgator.com/help/article/how-to-configure-filezilla. The suggested approach is for everyone to download filezilla. Then a collective meeting is called to set it up in a consistent way. For those who want to venture forward the following instructions are provided. Everyone should try this and based on the success a meeting might not be needed. In general you need to: Start filezilla Select File > Site Manager Select General Tab Host: vgem.org Port: blank Protocol: FTP - File Transfer Protocol Encryption: Use Plain FTP Login Type: Normal User: Your email (xxx@vgem.org) Password: Your email Account: Blank Select Advanced Tab Server Type: Default Autodetect Bypass proxy: not checked Default local directory: this is your computer where the files are kept see Managing Files On Your PC in the next section Default remote directory: blank Use synchronized browsing: not checked Select Transfer Settings Tab Select Default Limit number of simultaneous connections: unchecked Select Charset Tab Select Autodetect The above filezilla may be an older version but they are the general settings that will apply. These are some screen shots. Select File > Site Manager Select new site and enter the above info. When ready select Connect. The site is saved if the connection is successful. In the future you can then use the drop down box to select the site and instantly connect. That is why the above list is large, there are many different saved connections. The connect time is less that 3 seconds. If it does not connect instantly, the password is probably wrong. Connected to web host computer vgem-office area. Drag and drop or double click folders and files to transfer. Computer files are on the left and web server files are on the right. Connected to web host computer public_html area - Internet website Drag and drop or double click folders and files to transfer. Computer files are on the left and web server files are on the right. Managing Files On Your PC Managing the location of the website area, office area, and program files on the PC is important. Things are easily lost especially if there is no consistent approach to managing the files and folders. Do not try to use the standard approach to managing the files, even if that is how you currently do things. The issue is everything needs to be in one place -  webpages, images, documents and support tools. The suggested approach to managing the office, website, and program files is: Open file explorer and create a folder called z-places In z-places create a folder called shareware In z-places create a folder called vgem In z-places create a folder called vgem-office Place downloaded software in the shareware folder Place website pages in vgem Place VGEM office files in usr/vgem-office (this is invisible to the FTP user) The resulting directory structure will be C:\z-places\shareware and C:\z-places\vgem and C:\z-places\vgem-office z-places is your place for doing work Any programs like FileZilla are in the shareware folder. Make sure the desktop only has shortcuts NOT programs. Any files or programs on the PC desktop severely degrade the PC performance - get them off if you have any and make shortcuts. To copy and paste right click on your mouse and various options will appear. << Back to TOC Website Search Engine The website has a search engine to look for files. The search engine is for all residents to find what they want and for website maintainers to look for duplicate files and clean up the site. The search engine looks at the titles of the files and inside PDF files, web page files, and text files to find a match. There is a Site Map option that will return all the files with links. When this option is selected the files can be filtered by entering search word(s) in the text field. For example, entering "minutes" and selecting the site map option will provide a list of all the meeting minutes and agendas with links so that users can quickly go to a particular meeting or agenda item. These are the search engine options: Fast Search: This is the preferred method to find what you are looking for but it does not go inside PDF files. However, in most cases PDF files will be found because there is a quick file title search. Search PDF files: This goes inside the PDF files as part of a deep search. This may take 2-3 minutes if it has not been run before. For example when dozens of new PDF files are added to the site. When it runs it converts all PDF files to text and when that happens the search is very fast. Some files may not convert to text and a message will be provided. Some text files might be blank or not readable. Site Map: This lists all the site files as links. The site is a public archive of VGEM. This is for those interested in VGEM history and website maintenance. If there is a search term entered, it will filter the results. For example Operations will only list those links. << Back to TOC Communications and Trouble Reports For years one of the biggest issues at VGEM has been communications. Residents submit green forms and they do not receive timely feedback. They then submit multiple green forms. Eventually they arrive at an open session meeting and request to get information about their green form submission(s). The board shuts down the resident and that action alienates the other residents at the meeting. They disengage. The multiple green form submissions on the same problem clog the system and the lack of feedback frustrates the residents. There is also an inability to communicate other issues within the community because the system has been paper based and if a paper form does not exist there is no easy way for residents to communicate to the relevant stakeholders. To deal with this critical issue of poor communications, an online Communications and Trouble Reports system allows users to submit requests and view their request status online. The Communications and Trouble Report system is expanded beyond the paper system to include all types of communications. The communications categories include: Brown Form Quality Defect Green Form Quality Defect Other Quality Defects Common Areas: Clubhouse Outdoor Pool Indoor Pool Indoor Jacuzzi Sauna Exercise Area Forest Area Retention Pond Other HOA Operations: Finance Meetings Communications Website Other Other Submissions Suggestions: Event Community Clubhouse Pool HOA Website Other General Contact: Board Committee Club Other When a request is submitted, its status is open. The status options are: Open Accepted Investigate Closed Deferred Rejected When a resident submits a form it is logged in the system. An email is sent to the resident to let them know they submitted a request. An email is also sent to a designated point of contact that will address the request. The request is then viewable in an online report. As the request is addressed, the record is modified by those working the request. At each Open Session meeting the report should be displayed showing all open, deferred, rejected, and closed items. << Back to TOC Website Support More information is available on the website support page. << Back to TOC This information is intended only for the Village Grande residents, and may contain information that is confidential or privileged. If you are not a Village Grande resident, you are hereby notified that any dissemination, distribution or copying of this information is strictly prohibited. Policy . Disclaimer . Advertising Copyright © 2025