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Software for the Big Picture Enterprise Resource Planning Systems Support Property Management
September, 2007
By Tim Harris
An integrated system is a unified system that integrates all organizational data and software processes under one software package. An enterprise resource planning (ERP) system tailored for property management can increase the availability of information at all levels of an organization, provide accurate real-time price and cost simulations, reduce workflow and increase internal efficiencies.
Nevertheless, integrated systems remains a term that is often only heard around IT boardrooms. For most property management firms today, integrated systems mean patchwork applications and processes to merge data between disparate systems. These systems can range from specialized in-house developed software to off-the-shelf packages.
Finance, HR, CRM and property portfolio management software packages exist independently of one another. Often IT departments are challenged with amalgamating data from these multiple systems for specialized reporting purposes. This can result in either significant IT development time or poor accuracy of data.
Data is often entered and updated independently across multiple departments causing misalignment of information, which can frustrate customers and frontline staff who only see a portion of the overall picture. When tenants make a call, they expect that the person they are dealing with will have all the information at their hands. Being passed around from department to department is not an option when considering tenant retention.
Although the promises of online presence provides the outside user with what appears to be an truly integrated system, the reality is that there are multiple systems powering this website, which often don't talk to one another.
ERP software packages were once considered rigid back office systems, requiring users to conform to the product's way of doing business. Integrating with front-end systems, such as CRM, was difficult at best.
ACCESS & PRODUCTIVITY
Today's ERP vendors present customers with a much greater level of flexibility and adaptability into their products. Enabling traditional back office systems (finance, inventory, etc.) with other parts of the business truly ties all departments within an organization under one roof. Property portfolio management, business intelligence reporting, CRM and project based accounting can all be tied together, providing information quickly and efficiently to those that require it when requested.
Important to property management firms, the ERP system should easily supply business intelligence to owners, managers and other users in all departments. Internal processes should lead to internal efficiency by reducing paper trails and duplicate entry.
If financial tracking is important, then look for systems that handle income and costs related to properties including rental and leasing, management of internal renting, site and plot management. Also essential are features that include integration to drawings, designs, maps, pictures and much more. Document management should be incorporated within the system to support the many document forms that property management firms require.
Integrated systems are the key to automation and accuracy of data entry that enable staff to become more productive. But there is much more than that. According to a Kingsley Associates study on tenant retention, satisfaction with a property management firm can increase retention by 10%. The report goes on to indicate that four factors play a part in the satisfaction of tenants:
* Responsiveness
* Communication
* Problem Resolution
* Follow-Through
An integrated system can deliver these four factors. Responsiveness is increased through better access to a wide breadth of information about the tenant, allowing customer service the full historical information on the client. Communication is increased by better metrics which determine who should be targeted for key communications.
Problems are identified faster through real-time key performance indicators drawn from multiple departments across a property management portfolio, while implementing CRM within the integrated system architecture allows for better follow-through on customer service through built-in work flows.
COMPREHENSIVE OVERSIGHT
Finance departments are now fully tied to front end systems to better track costs and run simulation models against specific business segments. Running "what if" scenarios to make better decisions associated to the portfolio can be a huge strategic advantage.
Better information about a resident's background and credit quality often leads to improved efficiency for the leasing staff and lower collection costs. Using lead management and call contact centres to process potential resident inquiries and provide real-time data to Internet listing companies can improve staff performance and help them be more effective employees. Having more efficient systems creates more time to show units and to follow-up on leads, putting focus on sales instead of maintenance.
One of the biggest issues today for property managers is property maintenance. Per unit costing can be determined with a much greater level of accuracy by integrating maintenance systems with purchasing and using built-in cost allocation.
Another advantage of tracking progress related to maintenance is that exception reporting can help managers determine overdue tasks and better prioritize issues. Coupling that with historical timings to fix issues and lifespan calculations on particular maintenance objects, allows costs to be planned more effectively as a property manager.
Today's technology allows for easy integration of mobile devices to property management ERP systems. These mobile devices track the tasks performed by workers and can even wirelessly update tasks on the fly.
Owners of integrated systems have a more comprehensive oversight of their business than ever before, to gain access to information in real time rather than weekly or monthly. Often called Executive Dashboards, key performance indicators give top-level management a pulse on the day-to- day operations across the whole organization. When issues are identified the users can drill into this data for detailed analysis into the anomaly.
The outlook is bright for true integrated systems in the world of property management. While smaller firms may struggle with the ROI, mid to large portfolios will reap the benefits.
Tim Harris is Director of Professional Services with XAPT Business Solutions Inc. For more information, see the web site at www.xapt.com.
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