With so many moving pieces of the puzzle that is a real estate development, development managers owe it to themselves to ensure their projects run as smoothly as possible. A huge part of this is using the right tools and processes to keep projects on track.
When looking for a platform to improve project management, ignore the unnecessary bells and whistles. Think about what you really need from a platform to accomplish your objectives.
A recent survey revealed that development managers would universally benefit from three things: integration, centralization, and automation. These are the bread and butter of real estate development-focused software platforms.
Integration with Existing Accounting Platforms
Imagine completely eliminating back-and-forth requests with accounting.
Instead of, “The invoice is still missing,” you hear, “The draw request is ready to go!”
Instead of, “Did you see my last e-mail?”, the accountant says, “I have all the documentation I need.”
How amazing does that sound? Outcomes like these are only possible with the right integrations.
Development management software should easily integrate with—or connect to–accounting and AP software.
Why is this a game-changer? Because right now, you’re doing the connecting. You’re running back and forth from the accounting office or getting flooded with emails as everyone tries to stay on the same page. An integration connects these two teams, including all their shared information.
Centralization and Unification of Data and Documents
When systems are integrated, development managers benefit from having one central repository for information. Wherever the document came from and whoever needs to see it, there’s one location where it can quickly be found.
Have you ever had the feeling that something is missing, but you can’t figure out what it is? Centralization solves that problem by giving you a quick glance at your unified project data—giving you visibility to what’s missing. Over 60% of development managers say they struggle knowing where a project stands at any given time. This is largely due to missing documentation, waiting for the accounting department to reply to an email, or not having information easily organized and accessible—in short, a lack of unified data and documentation.
Additionally, centralized information makes it easier for software to update, review, and analyze your project details. With automatic centralization, you don’t need to maintain and organize files on your own. This gives you more bandwidth to focus on managing the project, not managing paperwork. Technology platforms, especially ones like Rabbet that aim to align data from various data sources, offer maximum benefit when they can see the full picture of your data.
Automation to Increase Efficiency and Reduce Project Risks
Mistakes happen, but that’s no consolation to the development manager who accidentally approved the same invoice twice for payment. Over 85% of development managers say they spend too much time checking work for accuracy, but triple-checking your work until your brain is fried is still not enough to mitigate the risk of errors during manual data-entry. Fortunately, today’s development managers have the opportunity to take human error out of the equation using automation.
Real estate development-focused software uses machine learning to gather information, read data, and organize it in the appropriate places. Once the system has absorbed enough of this information, it can move from data processing to data analytics—essentially predicting an outcome based on past results and the facts at hand. Software platforms like Rabbet can extract information from hundreds of invoices, pay apps, and lien waivers and connect the right information to the right line of the project budget.
OPIN Systems, an enterprise reporting software provider, notes an individual manually entering data will make about four errors per every 100 entries. When you think about how much information is included in each project, that error rate becomes daunting. A draw request alone can have more than 500 documents. Automation takes the potential for hundreds of errors and reduces it to almost none.
The Commercial Real Estate industry faces challenges that no other industry can even comprehend. Depending on your unique situation, you might need to look for additional functionalities, such as:
- Ability to track multiple funding sources
- Cash flow projections and cost modeling
- Costs forecasting
Focusing on what you truly need from a solution will save you the risk of making the wrong decision. Think about your ideal day-to-day and find the functionalities that match what you truly need from a software platform.
