THE COMPANY

Established in 1993, Phoenix-based Reliance Management, LLC is comprised of Reliance Management and Arizona Commercial Management (ACM) and is the largest privately owned property management and maintenance company in Arizona. Since it was founded, it has operated 180 multi-tenant properties comprising 16M square feet and 2,500 tenants, allowing the company to implement renovation and management programs for properties ranging from 25,000 to 1M square feet. The company has developed award-winning multi-tenant industrial projects using complex environmental remediation throughout Maricopa and Pima counties.

THE CHALLENGE

The challenge was to extract over 200 total properties from previous systems being used by Reliance and ACM and consolidate them into one Yardi Voyager database. Each company had its own requirements for Voyager based on its respective management process, so it would be necessary to configure Voyager in such a way that it would meet the distinct needs of each company for reporting, processing and Voyager modules.

Complicating the challenge was a tight Go-Live timeframe in which most of the implementation would have to be done in within 90 days. This had to include some important major tools that are usually reserved for implementation after the core system has already gone live, but in this case would be necessary for Reliance/ACM to go live.

THE EFG SOLUTIONS

• EFG streamlined the process of exporting data out of the previous systems into a Voyager Import Ready format to allow for conversion and transfer of a large amount of data in a manageable amount of time.
• Several creative solutions were implemented to ensure that both companies could operate in a single database:

  • Custom Account Trees for financial reporting requirements

  • Custom reports to allow them to continue their standard operations, including rent rolls, lease abstracts, sales tax functions, report packets and others

  • The use of Attributes and Dynamic property lists, and workflows for the different requirements for AP

• A pilot test of four properties was run over a two-month period to ensure that all data was properly set up, and configurations and functionality were working in time for go-live.

• A carefully planned, comprehensive training program that included live demonstrations, targeted small group training and custom training manuals ensured the companies were ready to use both Voyager Commercial and key add-on products, including PAYscan, Bill Pay and Payment Processing, by the go-live date.

THE OUTCOME

A fully consolidated database of 237 properties that can be managed uniquely by Reliance and ACM respectively, along with:

• 4,200 Units
• 2,000 Vendors
• 3,300 current and future Tenant records, tenant options, unit references, late fee setup, industry classifications and deposits
• Tenant Beginning Balances by date and charge code - Open charges, open credits, and prepays imported as individual charges resulting in perfectly accurate aging by charge code
• 3,200 Lease Contact records converted to make Yardi Commercial Correspondence easier, and then uploaded into Voyager
• 14,000 Lease Charge Schedules - Current future charge schedule increases (future rent steps)
• 2,200 Tenant Insurance Policies uploaded into the Tax and Insurance Module
• 12/2017 – 06/2020 Monthly Trial Balances

Reliance’s and ACM’s differing management processes were accommodated by creating the following special configurations, tools and custom reports:

• Custom Chart of Accounts using Account Trees to allow Reliance and ACM as different companies to use the same database  
• Three custom Rent Rolls – one for the owners, one specific to ACM and one to make validation easier during the tenant imports
• Custom Lease Abstract tied to the lease amendment screen to satisfy the owners’ specific lease entry process
• Custom Sales Tax update tools to allow for easy mass-updates to Sales Tax rates
• Multiple Custom Validation reports on a custom Validation Tools menu for easy mass-validation of data
• Custom leasing guides tailored to Reliance’s specific month-to-month tenant requirements
• Custom Commercial Correspondence tools for each company, including Custom Tenant Statements, Invoices and Default Letters
• Multiple Custom Financial Analytics along with custom training so that Reliance could create additional custom analytics as needed
• Custom Report Scheduler Packets, including custom Rent Rolls, custom Financial Analytics, and System Analytics

Not only did Reliance/ACM go live on time with Voyager core property management and accounting, but also with processes that most companies implement post Go-Live, including:

• Custom Correspondence
• Financial Reporting
• Report Scheduler
• Management Fees
• Account Trees
• CAMs
• Maintenance & Budgets

Reliance and ACM had also made significant progress on implementing add-on products and ancillary processes in CommercialCafe and full service Procure to Pay.