Project Overview

Tailored Property Management System for a Canadian NPO This project highlights the development of a custom property management solution designed to meet the specific needs of a Canadian non-profit organization. The system automated housing services for a community of 5,000 residents, replacing inefficient manual processes and transforming the organization’s operational landscape.

Automation of Housing Services The solution eliminated the inefficiencies inherent in traditional manual workflows. By automating housing services, the organization achieved enhanced operational efficiency and productivity, benefiting both staff and residents.

Scalable and Cost-Effective Solution The newly developed system was designed to be both scalable and cost-efficient, enabling the organization to handle its growing needs while remaining within budget constraints.

Improved Resident Satisfaction With streamlined daily operations, the system created a more seamless and satisfying experience for residents, fostering a better sense of community and trust in the organization.

The Problem

The Client faced several critical challenges that were hindering overall growth and operational efficiency. These issues included outdated systems, inefficiencies in workflows, and a lack of integration between various functions. As a result, the business struggled to keep up with customer expectations and internal demands, leading to delays, errors, and missed opportunities.

Property Maintenance is Manual

Before the project, the NPO had a manual dependency for maintaining properties. The results of having such processes included delays in service delivery, mistakes in delivery, and general inefficiency in addressing issues on time. There was no tracking mechanism for services like repair orders, schedules, or requests, which meant that the opportunity to provide remedies in a timely manner was reduced. As a result, resident satisfaction decreased due to the inability to address maintenance needs promptly.

Poor Automation

The lack of automation created significant issues for the NPO. Critical activities such as tracking household details, maintaining inventory, and calculating rent were done manually. This made the process not only labor-intensive but also prone to human errors, leading to misrecorded information and late payments. As the organization scaled, these inefficiencies worsened, resulting in backlogs of maintenance requests and delays in rent collection.

Resource Allocation Problems

The maintenance team faced difficulties with scheduling and task allocation due to disorganization. Without an effective management mechanism, service requests were allocated randomly, and task priorities were often set incorrectly. This resulted in subpar service delivery and contributed to poor quality of work. The disorganization strained the relationship between staff and the community, creating dissatisfaction among residents and affecting the overall quality of service.

Scalability Requirements

As the NPO grew, its operations became increasingly complex, requiring a solution that could scale with the growing community. The manual processes were unable to handle the rising demands of the organization and lacked the capacity to accommodate future growth. The system needed to support an expanding number of employees, tenants, and properties while being adaptable to the ever-changing needs of the community.

The Solution

To resolve these challenges, a comprehensive solution was implemented that focused on modernizing systems, automating processes, and improving communication across teams. This approach streamlined operations, reduced inefficiencies, and enhanced the ability to meet customer needs. The solution empowered the business to improve performance, ensure smoother workflows, and stay adaptable to future demands, driving long-term success.

Discovery and MVP Development

The project began with an intensive discovery phase lasting five months, from April to September 2021. During this period, the team worked closely with the Client to ensure a comprehensive understanding of the challenges they were facing. Wireframes were developed, the UX was carefully planned, and the overall architecture of the solution was defined.

Following the discovery phase, a Minimum Viable Product (MVP) was developed. The MVP focused on addressing the most critical needs of the organization, particularly the key functionalities related to member profile management, property tracking.

Full-Featured Solution Development

After the MVP, the team proceeded to develop a comprehensive, fully-featured property management system. The following functional blocks were implemented: This module tracks household addresses, house IDs, room details, rent schedules, and other property-related information. It ensures that all essential details regarding maintenance and rentals are up-to-date, allowing the NPO to monitor and manage properties much more efficiently.

Tech Stack

To ensure the solution was secure, scalable, and reliable, the following technologies were utilized: AWS was chosen for its secure cloud environment, scalability, and reliable infrastructure. It provided all the necessary resources to store and process large volumes of data while ensuring that the system could scale to meet the organization’s future needs.

Support Services

Several support services were integral to the successful deployment and maintenance of the system Functional and regression testing were conducted to ensure that the system met all functional requirements and was free from bugs or technical issues. The system was deployed on AWS with a continuous deployment pipeline in place, ensuring smooth updates and the seamless integration of new features in the future.

The Result

With its scalable, cost-effective property management system, the NPO is now addressing all its business needs. The solution has enabled the organization to better manage its housing services while maintaining the ability to scale with its ever-expanding community and adapt to changing requirements. Staff efforts have been significantly reduced in key tasks such as property maintenance, inventory tracking, and rent collection. This has allowed maintenance personnel to address issues more effectively, enhancing problem resolution and contributing to improved resident satisfaction. Newly implemented procedures have significantly improved the lives of beneficiaries, making processes such as submitting maintenance tickets easier and ensuring timely rent reminders. The system accommodates the current requirements of 30 members while leaving room for growth to support up to 5,000 community members reliant on the NPO’s services.

Empowering a non-profit organization with a tailored property management solution to optimize resource allocation, streamline operations, and enhance cost efficiency.

Scalable and Cost-Efficient Property Management Software for a Non-Profit Organization

About The Project