Case Study #2 NW Community Management

Problem:

Northwest Community is a large property management firm that oversees and manages several medium to large apartment complexes for the owners.  They have multiple managers who are each responsible for one or more properties.  Their biggest challenge was billing and expense tracking for each of their owners.  For example, at any given property there are multiple items that need to be printed or copied on a regular basis.  Tenant Billings, Rental Agreements, and Tenant brochures and manuals are just a few of these items.  Each manager was responsible for tracking every copy or print that was produced for the respective property and owner for billing purposes.  The way they did this was the old fashioned way of just writing it down on a ledger each month and forwarding it to corporate so they could bill the owner.  It was extremely inefficient and Northwest Community had no real way of knowing for themselves or substantiating a billing to an owner if the count was accurate. 

Analysis:

After discussing Northwest Community’s business operations and learning the frustrations they were experiencing with their current reporting and accounting methods we performed a complete audit of their current equipment and did a work flow evaluation to help them determine a “best practices” approach to their challenges.  

Solution:

We recommended the replacement of all of their equipment with multi-function color copier systems that included an “Account Code” function.  In addition, we recommended a compatible software application that would manage the entire process for them.  Each manager and client now had an account code assigned to them.  Whenever work was performed the account code was entered and everything was tracked and stored in the software application.  The software also allowed Northwest Community to include the charges for each copy, print or scan so that at the end of each month all they need to do was press a button and the exact counts and charges were produced for each client.  This solution relieved a lot of stress from the company, the managers as well as the clients.  Managers no longer have deal with keeping track day-to-day and compiling totals at the end of the month and corporate no longer has to wait on reports in order to produce timely billings to clients.  It’s a win-win-win for everyone involved!