Barbara and myself recently went for getaway weekend to Galena, IL and neighboring Dubuque, IA. During our morning run and walk, we explored the campus of LORAS COLLEGE, a private Catholic liberal arts college nestled on several hills above downtown Dubuque. As we found our way to the football stadium, we saw a sign posted for FIELDTURF USA INC., a worldwide leader in artificial turf surfaces and a longtime customer of PreLien2Lien.

Another longtime PreLien2Lien customer, Oskaloosa, IA based MUSCO SPORTS LIGHTING, is the leading provider in the U.S. of sports and transportation/infrastructure lighting solutions. On almost any softball, baseball, soccer, or football field you will find the lighting structures with the distinctive MUSCO logo affixed to them.

After serving as Interim Software Development Manager since April 2019, Jan Vit was promoted to Software Development Manager, effective immediately.

Jan’s responsibilities include managing PreLien2Lien (www.pl2l.com) and MyLienCenter (www.myliencenter.com), two software as a service (SaaS) websites. Additionally, he is responsible for managing our business relationship with AMAZON WEB SERVICES (AWS).

“I am proud of the work Jan has completed in a short period of time working for TRADITION SOFTWARE and TRADITION LIEN SERVICE said Craig Altman, Founder/President of TRADITION SOFTWARE. Among his significant technical accomplishments, he has moved all company websites to AMAZON WEB SERVICES (AWS), resulting in a significant cost savings, improved website security, and upgrades to our online web technology. He redesigned the data entry process for MyLienCenter (www.myliencenter.com). And he has developed an exciting Research and Development plan for our overall Information Technology objectives in 2020.”

Jan has worked for twenty (20) years in senior level IT positions in Chicago, New York and Europe. He is a External Lecturer for the UNIVERSITY OF ECONOMICS in Prage, where he previously earned both a Bachelors and Master’s degree in Economics and Management. He also earned an MBA from BRADLEY UNIVERSITY in 2012.

TRADITION SOFTWARE’s annual subscribers to PreLien2Lien (www.PL2L.com) were upgraded over the Veteran’s Day holiday weekend to AWS (Amazon Web Services).

The project, co-managed by TRADITION SOFTWARE President Craig Altman and interim Software Development Manager Jan Vit, occurred four (4) months after online users of MyLienCenter (www.MyLienCenter.com) and MyLienWaiver (www.MyLienWaiver.com) were upgraded to AWS.

Marketing websites for TRADITION SOFTWARE (www.TraditionSoftware.com) and TRADITION LIEN SERVICE (www.TraditionLienService.com) were also upgraded recently to AWS.

Moving all company websites and Software as a Service (SaaS) solutions to AWS brings greater reliability in terms of website up time compared to traditional web hosting providers. Security, scalability, and cost savings were also realized by the AWS migration and upgrade from the previous web hosting vendor.

PreLien2Lien (www.pl2l.com) continues to allow users the benefit of using the DYMO Label line of USB and ethernet print server label printers for printing mailing labels for PreLien2Lien.

In recent years DYMO has continued to have difficulties printing to web browsers like the market leading Google Chrome.

The most recent download from the DYMO support site of their DYMO Connect for Desktop v1.0 for the DYMO LabelWriter 450/450 Turbo does not work with Google Chrome. If this driver is installed, removed the software and download an older version of the software v.8.7.1 from our website at the following link: https://traditionsoftware.com/downloads/DLS8Setup.8.7.1.exe

With an 85% adoption rate of PreLien2Lien Online (www.PL2L.com) by customers at the end of 2017, TRADITION SOFTWARE is upgrading and consolidating in January 2018 it’s web hosting infrastructure from facilities in Denver, CO and Los Angeles, CA to a single facility near our suburban Chicago headquarters. Corporate marketing websites for TRADITION SOFTWARE (www.TraditionSoftware.com) and TRADITION LIEN SERVICE (www.TraditionLienService.com) have already been moved. PreLien2Lien Online (www.PL2L.com) will be moved the weekend of January 19-21. MyLienCenter (www.MyLienCenter.com) and MyLienWaiver (www.MyLienWaiver.com) will be moved at a later date to be determined.

TRADITION SOFTWARE has also hired a new interim Software Development Manager, Jim Boyd, along with two (2) additional software development professionals, to replace Miriam Liskin, who retired in early December after eleven (11) years working for the company. She was the chief technical architect of the PreLien2Lien software redesign in 2007. Miriam co-designed along with myself MyLienCenter in 2009, and PreLien2Lien Online in 2016. Her work had a far reaching positive effect for so many people, whether it was helping thousands of companies in getting paid, or in the resulting jobs, benefits and paychecks for employees of TRADITION SOFTWARE. On a personal level, Miriam helped me with programming homework for Computer Science classes I took for professional development. She even taught my son Randall and daughter Lauren how to geocache at a company party on a hot California summer day. For everyone she has helped through the years, we wish her the best.

Legislators for the state of CALIFORNIA have enacted Senate Bill (SB) 2, Chapter 2.5 of the Statues of 2017 that will in effect increase by $75 the cost to record CALIFORNIA Mechanics Liens and Releases in all fifty-eight (58) counties in CALIFORNIA effective January 1, 2018. This is addition to the Real Estate Fraud Prosecution Trust Fund Fees that range from $3.00 – $10.00 in certain counties PLUS each counties respective recording fees that range from $9.00 – $28.00.

According to Jaime T. Pailma, Division Manager, Document Recording Division for Los Angeles County’s Registrar-Recorder/Clerk’s Office, “….the bill imposes a mandate on County Recorders to charge an additional $75 at the time of recording every real estate instrument, paper, or notice required or permitted by law to be recorded, except those expressly exempted from payment of recording fees, per each transaction per parcel of real property, not to exceed $225.”

The Nevada County Clerk Recorder-Registrar of Voters, Gregory J. Diaz, notes that a waiver of the $75 fee “….shall not be imposed on any real estate instrument, paper, or notice recorded in connection with a transfer subject to the imposition of a documentary transfer tax as defined in Section 11911 of the Revenue and Taxation Code or on any real estate instrument, paper, or notice recorded with a transfer of real property that is a residential dwelling to an owner-occupier.”

For a listing of CALIFORNIA County Recorders with addresses and phone numbers to contact about the new law and price increase, you can visit our listing by counties at TraditionSoftware.com/county-assessors-clerks-recorders/california/.

Thirty percent of current customers using software as a service (SaaS) solution.

Companies aggressively converting to cloud based version.
In early 2016 our first online version of PreLien2Lien (www.pl2l.com/demo) was released for early adopters. Version 2.0 was released in July 2016, with a single screen data entry design users have greatly enjoyed. Currently two (2) companies per day on average are switching to the new version, with thirty (30) percent now using PreLien2Lien Online.

Companies are asking their employees to multitask.
People across multiple departments are sharing in the workload for simple sales, customer service, accounting and legal tasks. “Bob Smith”, Sales Manager, can logon to PreLien2Lien to enter basic information for a 1st notice. “Mary Jones”, Accounts Receivable Manager can logon and print a Conditional Waiver And Release Upon Progress notice to attach to an invoice to incentivize payment. And “Brandon Johnson”, Chief Legal Officer, can logon to PreLien2Lien to print a Construction Lien to record. Companies of various sizes can share one or more user licenses instead of installing software on multiple PC’s in multiple departments.

People increasingly don’t want to install software every year.
People are increasingly using their large cell phones for traditional computer business tasks. At times they are alternating from reading a book on a tablet to surfing the web. Someone could use their cell phone or tablet to enter project information into PreLien2Lien Online or even print notices to a Bluetooth enabled printer.

All data entry on one screen.
It was not that long ago that screen sizes and resolution prevented a large amount of data entry to occur on one screen. Now, monitors for desktop PC’s are large, cell phones and tablets let you magnify portions of a screen, and graphical user interface (GUI) design promotes ease of use on one screen so that there are not tabs to click for secondary data entry.

Annual subscription pricing remains the same for PreLien2Lien Online.
Unlike competitors who raise the cost of their subscriptions every year, PreLien2Lien has had only one small price increase in twelve (12) years. Annual Subscription pricing for PreLien2Lien Online will remain frozen at $220 (One-State), $275 (Regional) and $330 (USA). Customers who will not make the change to the cloud based version will see a $70- $80 price increase in 2018.

Redesign of software based PreLien2Lien will have data entry on one screen.
April will be our twelfth anniversary of acquiring PreLien2Lien from SIERRA PHOENIX. The tabbed data entry process has not changed much since the program’s original inception in 1996. But like the online version, the software based PreLien2Lien version will have a major (GUI) redesign that will eliminate the tabs in lieu of a single data entry screen design.

GENERAL PLUMBING SUPPLY COMPANY, headquartered in Walnut Creek, CA is a provider of plumbing, electrical, heating, air conditioning and commercial lighting equipment for residential and commercial applications.

The Sonora, CA location started using PreLien2Lien in 2005. Three (3) other locations later became TRADITION SOFTWARE PreLien2Lien-One State customer sites to print lien notices and waivers in California, including Walnut Creek, CA (2007), Brentwood, CA (2007) and Auburn, CA (2011).

Loyal, left competitive software solutions, using in multiple states, adopting online software.

Two hundred and thirty-four companies have been customers for eleven consecutive years.
During my two year tenure as a Vice President at PreLien2Lien’s main competitor, LienWriter, owned by GOLDENOMEGA.NET, my daily frustration was that there needed to be a better lien software solution. In March 2005 I completed the purchase of LienWriter’s direct competitor, SIERRA PHOENIX. Since then, in addition new customers being added each year, two hundred and thirty-four (234) companies across the U.S. have remained loyal annual subscribers. Our success comes from long time customers like BLAZONA CONCRETE CONSTRUCTION (West Sacramento, CA), CITY LIGHTING PRODUCTS (St. Louis, MO) and METAL SALES MANUFACTURING (Louisville, KY).

Thirty-five current customers were previous LienWriter customers.
History shows that LOTUS had a spreadsheet called 1-2-3 before MICROSOFT Excel. YAHOO was the leading internet search engine before GOOGLE. While LienWriter was the first lien software solution to market in 1996, thirty-five (35) current customers have switched from using LienWriter to PreLien2Lien. Companies such as BRISTOLITE DAYLIGHTING SYSTEMS (Santa Ana, CA), MEAD CLARK LUMBER (Santa Rosa, CA) and TNT EQUIPMENT (Columbus, OH, Dallas, TX) have all benefited from a software solution that is easier to use, more reliable, and most importantly, more legally compliant for about half the cost.

PreLien2Lien is used by companies in thirty-one states.
Construction lien laws are different on a state-by-state basis. PreLien2Lien has over 1,600 legal lien notices that are customized per the laws of each state. While a significant portion of our customers are in our home state of California, in thirty-one (31) states elsewhere companies such as WASTE CONNECTIONS (Clifton Park, NY), ROBERTS SAND (Tallahassee, FL) and SUBURBAN SHEET METAL (Kennedale, TX) are using the software for their state’s respective lien laws.

Twenty companies are lien services.
A lien service prepares construction lien notices potentially on behalf of hundreds companies as a professional document preparer. Our own TRADITION LIEN SERVICE division has used PreLien2Lien to mail and record notices for the benefit of three hundred and eighty (380) customers. Companies in Chicago, IL, Phoenix, AZ and San Diego, CA represent a portion of the twenty (20) lien service entities that use PreLien2Lien and it’s online portal, www.MyLienCenter.com.

Twelve companies switched recently to PreLienLien Online.
Our new software as a service (Saas) solution released in December 2015 for construction lien management is PreLien2Lien Online (www.PL2L.com). Current online customers including GB SYSTEMS (Kenmore, WA), PARCELL STEEL (Corona, CA), and WAREHOUSE PAINT (Auburn, CA) are enjoying the benefit of logging on from any computer, cell phone or tablet with an internet connection. They can then enter construction project information for printing 1st notices, waivers, warnings, bond claims, stop notices and lien claims.

CITY LIGHTING PRODUCTS, headquartered in St. Louis, MO is a provider of lighting solutions, both locally and nationally, to the construction and maintenance industries.

The St. Louis, MO location started using PreLien2Lien in 2003. Three (3) other locations later became TRADITION SOFTWARE PreLien2Lien-USA customer sites to print lien notices and waivers in multiple states, including Kansas City, MO (2006), Pittsburgh, PA (2006) and Denver, CO (2016).