Unlocking the Benefits of Maintenance Tracking Software

There’s nothing more frustrating for a PM than scheduling multiple maintenance visits to fix a broken dishwasher or shuffling through paper invoices for routine upkeep. 

A property management platform can help, but the wrong choice means you’ll still be burning through hours of your day chasing details and troubleshooting costly errors. Worse, these issues are transferred downstream to your reporting, impacting your tenants’ daily lives, and damaging your reputation with potential renters. 

Fortunately, well-designed maintenance tracking software can make running a tight ship an effortless task by organizing and tracking the life cycle of every job. Whether issuing work orders, job prioritization, or recording real-time payments, a great platform leverages all your data to keep your property in ideal condition. 

Optimizing Maintenance with Data Analytics

Unlike paying recurring water and gas bills, maintenance requires scheduling and tracking the work of dozens of different vendors, often in response to problems rather than on predictable timelines two residences are alike, each with their own unique appliances and hardware. Miscommunications can quickly lead to multiple visits that add cost, time, and complexity to a simple task.

This is where property management software (PMS) that organizes your data and delivers powerful analytics can be a game-changer from the front desk to the back office. 

Maintenance Tracking

By storing and organizing data for each residence, vendor, and request, a property management platform can streamline the process and track the status of every job. 

Your maintenance tracking software should make it easy for PMs to:

• Receive and process requests with simple templates 
• Automate work order creation by auto-populating relevant data
• Track the status of a work order
• Generate invoices and monitor payments 
• Update ledgers in real time

All of these processes reduce errors and free up time to concentrate on other tasks. And with a customizable, intuitive interface, property managers can organize all their maintenance work to track it at a glance.

Reporting and Analytics

These clean workflows and accurate data streams translate directly to better decisions about the business when coupled with powerful analytics. 

A PMS that optimizes maintenance workflows should support leadership with:

• Real-time reporting 
• Sustainable budgeting
• Better resource allocation 
• Adaptability to emerging market trends

Ideally, maintenance tracking software should be designed to allow PMs, leadership, and every manager in between to look at the same data in the same format to avoid confusion if an issue arises. This gives everyone complete visibility of the maintenance process to maximize the time and resources available. 

Choosing the Right Software 

Many maintenance tracking software platforms are on the market, but very few deliver all the benefits you should be getting from your data sources. When you’re looking for a tool to revolutionize your data strategy, prioritize features like:

• Real-time data. The best property management programs present dynamic data instead of giving you a snapshot of outdated information.
• A customizable dashboard. To get the most out of your data, you’ll need to see it at a glance with a dashboard—especially one you can customize as you see fit.
• Flexible work orders. Your property management software should also allow you to customize work orders for your properties.
• Work order access control. Thanks to this feature, you can determine who work orders and additional information are visible to. Job prioritization. If you can assign different urgency levels to other jobs, you’ll have no trouble knowing what you should do next.
• Mobile accessibility. You won’t need to check your maintenance orders at a fixed workstation when you can use your property management software on mobile devices.
• Status tracking for work orders. With this feature, you’ll always be in the loop regarding work orders—whether an order has been canceled or you’re still waiting for inventory.
• Automatic alerts. Do you have a maintenance appointment coming up? If so, your property management software will let you know.

The Impact of Data Analytics for Property Management

Maintenance is one of the largest expenses for any property, and errors and inefficiencies can easily add thousands of dollars to the books. Maintenance tracking software can keep mistakes to a minimum with clear data streams and automated workflows that make scheduling and tracking tasks simple for PMs.

However, these benefits are just the tip of the iceberg when picking a PMS. For instance, the data your software collects can help you analyze previous maintenance requests and make educated estimates about tenants’ future repair needs—a process known as “predictive maintenance.” It can also reveal opportunities to reduce long-term expenses by investing in more efficient appliances and smart tech, improving resident life, and making your properties more attractive to potential renters. 

Also, by monitoring trends, you can identify tenant behaviors that indicate abuse of your facilities or issues that have gone unnoticed. Elevated utility bills in a particular unit could reveal a costly leak or poor insulation. A larger pattern may indicate an appliance brand is a poor investment, and your PMS should support any issues with easy-to-access warranty information and service history. 

Finally, these metrics will give leadership a better understanding of optimizing cash flow, implementing large-scale renovations, and anticipating potential expenses. 

Take a Closer Look at Maintenance Tracking Software

No matter how much experience you have in property management, staying on top of maintenance can be a challenge. f you adopt the right maintenance tracking software for this job, it can be much easier with powerful features like real-time data, automated reminders, and a powerful reporting process that maximizes the value of your property. 

ExactEstate is a best-in-class property management platform that will equip you with all the tools you need to optimize your maintenance processes. From automated workflows for requests, work orders, and payment tracking, ExactEstate simplifies your business and delivers powerful data and insights for decision-making. Schedule a walkthrough of the only all-in-one property management software on the market today.