Navigating Multifamily with Accounting and Operations Dashboards

The depth of information about vehicle performance available on today’s electronic dashboards is light years ahead of the basic speed, fuel, temperature, tachometer and voltage gauges common on cars 40 and 50 years ago. And rightfully so. Cars are far more complex than those gear-noshing metal beasts in the golden age of automobiles. Driving conditions are just as convoluted, and tracking performance is critical. The dashboard is there to help the driver navigate better and get a real-time feel of the road. A fast, detailed view of performance Likewise, property management accounting and operations software has to provide a similar view in conditions just as complex. Leasing professionals will tell you that getting a fast, detailed analysis of a property’s performance is essential to navigating today’s multifamily housing markets. “Imagine driving down the freeway and you glance down and your dashboard is missing,” RealPage Vice President of Operations Christine Bright said. “The reality is that you would not drive a car without a dashboard. So why would you run your business without one?” Accounting and operations software dashboards can provide a quick glance of key performance indicators and trends for a single apartment community or complete portfolio. A good one, says RealPage Vice President of Commercial Development Kim Maddox, provides meaningful, actionable information so that operators can identify trends and take corrective actions. And without the hassle of manual input and compiling spreadsheets to drill down to crucial operational information. Bright recalls her days as an asset manager in Texas when she needed a performance check on all the properties within her region. Without a property management system and dashboard, she was resolved to running numerous reports and accumulating data, then plugging the information into a spreadsheet. Even with the help of a modern spreadsheet program, the process took...