Welcome to the Aspire News

At Aspire, we’re always working to bring more value to our customers. One of the ways we do this is by partnering with companies whose solutions answer additional needs for our users and complement their experience using Aspire.

Today Aspire is pleased to formally announce our strategic partnership with Savvy Otter , a development company specializing in custom integration solutions. At Aspire, we strive to ensure the success of our customers. Through this partnership, both current and future Aspire clients now have the opportunity to integrate additional tools they use to run their businesses with the Aspire platform.

At Aspire, we strive to consistently and continually evolve for the better, not just as a software provider but as an organization as well. Today, we’re excited to announce the beginning of a fresh, new look for the Aspire brand with the unveiling of our new logo—one that we feel not only reflects our culture of innovation and our commitment to continuous improvement but also our position as a market-leading provider of landscape business management solutions.

Aspire will deploy a new release Thursday evening, May 28. Major updates in Aspire v5.6 include estimating, scheduling, and invoicing enhancements to further expand the functionality of the Master Schedule of Values, streamline scheduling, and optimize the invoicing process. Complete details of all improvements will be provided to Aspire customers in the release notes. Estimating Enhancements Master Schedule of Values: Adding Negative Line Items In a recent update, we introduced the concept of Master Schedule of Values for Fixed Price, Open Billing Work Orders, providing users with a centralized schedule of values sheet for each project. With this release, we’ve improved upon this even further. Users can now create a negative line item directly inside the Master Schedule of Values (SOV) when they create/win a change order that has a negative value. Once the Master SOV is ready for invoicing, users will navigate to the Invoicing Assistant and proceed as normal. The negative Master SOV line item will appear along with the positive items. Work Orders and T&M per Service Invoices Now users can add a new invoice type to their Fixed Price, Open Billing (FPOB) opportunities on a service. By clicking into the service on the estimate (base estimate or change order), the user can select a new invoice type of “T&M per service”. The service will operate like any other T&M service but now fits into the FPOB workflow. Once a T&M service is complete, it will appear inside the Invoicing Assistant as ready to invoice for the opportunity. Users can invoice these services alongside the Master Schedule of Value line times from the original work order. Scheduling Enhancements Schedule an Event: Opportunity Tag Now Available Opportunity tags are a great way to sort and organize in Aspire. This data field is now exposed in the “Schedule an Event” grid to help increase accuracy and efficiency when creating your schedule in bulk using this feature. Auto-Expenses: Additional Invoice Types Last year, we rolled out a new Auto-Expenses functionality that allows users to create material and hours for their subs that changes based on the agreed-upon price. We’ve now expanded this functionality to pull in more invoice types, greatly increasing the ways in which you can leverage Auto-Expenses. Multi-Visit Services Hours and Material Quantities For multi-visit services, users can now set default values for both the hours and material quantities that appear in the Visit Detail screen as well as the Crew Mobile app. This improvement will eliminate the need to remember specific amounts and reduce time spent on data entry for services that require large material counts upfront for use in smaller quantities over the service's lifecycle. Invoicing Enhancements Attach Proposal to Emailed Invoices Users can now choose to attach proposals to the same email when sending invoices. The system will use the correct layout, even if multiple exist, or will allow the user to select one if it was never set. This enhancement makes organization easier by allowing users to send emails with multiple PDF attachments. If you have any questions about these features, contact AspireCare for more information. If you are not an Aspire customer but want to learn more about our software, please contact us .

Last week, Inc. magazine revealed that Aspire Software is ranked among the 250 fastest-growing companies in the Midwest on its first annual list of America’s top businesses in the region. The Inc. 5000 Series: Midwest list is the most prestigious ranking of the fastest-growing private companies in Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, and Wisconsin. With 133-percent growth over the past two years, Aspire is positioned at No. 156 on the inaugural list.

Aspire will be deploying a new release Thursday evening, March 26. The updates included in this release are designed to help streamline operations and provide Aspire users with increased control. Major updates in Aspire v5.5 include construction- and payment-related enhancements to help users improve job costing through the use of General Conditions templates, improve flexibility and allow grouping capabilities within the Schedule of Values, and streamline communication with automatically emailed transaction receipts. Complete details of all improvements will be provided to Aspire customers in the Release Notes. **General Conditions Kits ** General Conditions kits can now be created to increase the overall price of the estimate's services by a fixed amount or proportionally by hour or quantity to account for items and services that are often missed in the estimating process. Users can setup templates for common General Conditions, such as design fees, loading hours, and porta-pottys, to apply to Work Order estimates. This functionality helps ensure that these frequently overlooked costs are incorporated into the estimate, improving profitability and margins. **Schedule of Values Adjustments ** The Schedule of Values (SOV) has been updated to increase flexibility by allowing adjustments. Now, users with permission can modify the SOV after an opportunity is won. Additionally, a new grouping UI allows users to create new groups, nest services, and alter the SOV to best fit their billing needs. With this change, once a Fixed Price Open Billing opportunity is won, the SOV now allows for adjustments as projects progress. **Electronic Transaction Receipts ** Instead of taking valuable time to send ‘paid’ invoices or manual receipts from CardConnect, Aspire’s new Digital Receipts function allows clients and customers to opt-in/-out of receiving automatic receipts when their electronic payment methods are used. Customers can log into the client portal and subscribe to electronic transaction receipts or Aspire users can opt customers into the receipt subscription. When the customer is opted in, they'll receive an emailed receipt anytime their electronic payment methods are used to process payment in Aspire as well as an automatic email each time they are subscribed or unsubscribed. **Signature Capture on Proposals ** With this release, users can now accept signatures right from the Opportunity screen on their tablet-device—a significant update for residential users. To accept a signature, users simply select “Sign and Win” from the Opportunity options menu and capture the customer’s signature. **Pay Code Overrides at the Opportunity Service Level ** If a pay code value needs to remain constant but the wage amount varies, users can now configure a flexible amount, by pay code or by service, to be applied as a Pay Code Override. Pay Code Overrides are assigned on an estimate's service detail screen to allow the use of variable wage amounts by service. This improvement unlocks payroll flexibility and enables the use of multiple pay codes. If you have any questions about these features, contact AspireCare for more information. If you are not an Aspire customer but want to learn more about our software, please contact us .

The Aspire Software Company, a leading provider of business management software for the lawn, landscape, and snow/ice industries, is proud to be named to Deloitte’s 2019 Technology Fast 500 list. The Fast 500 program, now in its 25th year, is a ranking of North America’s 500 fastest-growing technology companies, both public and private, which are transforming the industry. With Aspire’s revenue increasing 390 percent, the accolade recognizes the company’s substantial growth over the past three years.

For the second year in a row, The Aspire Software Company made the St. Louis Business Journal’s Fast 50, a list of the fastest growing businesses in the St. Louis area. Out of all privately held companies considered for this award, Aspire officially ranked #16 overall and we're keeping our eyes on making the list once again next year to continue our streak.

Blake's Technology Expertise to Support Aspire’s Growing Technology Footprint The Aspire Software Company welcomes Dan Blake as its Chief Technology Officer. Dan joins Aspire with over three decades of technology and senior executive experience in the design, development, and implementation of large-scale, operationally complex, and highly available systems. Mr. Blake has a history of growing technology products into more robust SaaS-based solution suites. “We’re excited to welcome Dan as our new CTO,” said Mark Tipton, CEO of Aspire. “Dan will make all executive decisions regarding the technological interests of the company, including our technological vision, strategies, and alignment of resources. This is a critically important role in supporting our mission to help landscaping and snow & ice companies transform their businesses through technology.” Dan joins the Aspire team from MedSpeed LLC where he served as the company’s senior technical executive. While there he oversaw all aspects of the replacements of the company’s core back-office and courier mobility solutions. Prior to MedSpeed he held the top technology position at Valence Health, a healthcare services provider, overseeing more than fifty engineers, architects, and support personnel. At Aspire Dan will be responsible for product management, software engineering, quality assurance, infrastructure, and the ongoing evolution of the current platform. Dan comments, “I’m excited to make the move to Aspire. It’s the leading business management software for landscapers and I intend to use my technology leadership experience to continue and enhance its value to the industry.”