Successfully migrating DPRE’s disconnected systems into one streamlined tech solution that not only saves time and money but supports their long-term goals.
Dakota Pacific Real Estate (DPRE) was expanding best-in-class properties in the thriving Intermountain West markets with an uncompromising commitment to excellence. However, in the pursuit of excellence in expansion, there was an area of their business that was running less efficiently than desired — they were overspending on property accounting.
Using a patchwork of different systems and methods, both in-house and outsourced, they struggled to effectively produce financials and had to navigate multiple general ledgers and software reporting packages each month. A lack of standardized processing and a mishmash of systems that didn’t smoothly integrate meant an inefficient operation.
With Proper as their one-stop shop for accounting needs, we’ve helped DPRE streamline their systems and cut spending by nearly 60%! Woohoo!
What software do they use? Yardi Breeze Premiere
How many units do they have? 149
How often do they process owner/vendor payments? General AP is processed weekly, management fees and expense reimbursements are done monthly
How do they collect rent? As they are commercial, some tenants pay via CommercialCafé (a commercial version of RENTcafé), but most pay with checks that are deposited on site
How many bank accounts do they have? 33 (including management company books)
How often do they prepare bank reconciliations? Weekly
When DPRE came to Proper, they were overspending on accounting and using several different softwares to close their various books. Additionally, they were using Avidxchange to process all of their accounts payable. The accounting was being completed by a third-party firm in the Philippines, causing the close process to be delayed due to time differences between Utah and the Philippines.
Understandably, DPRE was struggling to effectively produce financials (they were not being completed until the end of the following month) and had to navigate multiple general ledgers and software reporting packages each month. That’s a lot of moving parts to try to keep straight!
DPRE wanted to consolidate all of the accounting functions into one software but needed to have all of the historical data loaded for the past 5 years.
Once Proper was on the case, we project managed the software transition and data migration — successfully migrating 5 years of transaction data from over 6 softwares in less than three months. Holy wow! (Sometimes we even impress ourselves).
Our migration plan and implementation allowed all properties, joint ventures, 3rd party managed properties and the management to produce similar-looking financials that were easily comparable and use one general ledger to do it, cutting down on the errors from multiple GL’s. This greatly improved DPRE’s management efficiency.
“We are grateful for Proper’s assistance in implementing the Yardi Breeze Premier accounting software. The Proper Team carefully researched, made a plan, and walked us through the implementation process and we were able to meet our internal timelines as a result.”
—Peter Owen (DPRE Director of Finance)
Then came time to further streamline and set DPRE up for success. We standardized processes, set a solid closing calendar and met daily for several months to ensure we solved questions as soon as possible. As we got the team trained up we have now moved to twice-weekly meetings and will eventually have once weekly as we progress.
But our work here was still not done, we also re-directed the AP email box to the Proper team and began entering all of the AP, saving the client the added expense from Avidxchange.
DPRE is now using one general ledger and one software system to close their books. They have saved nearly 60% on straight accounting alone, with more being saved on being able to bring all accounting functions under the umbrella of one team. Financials are consistently delivered cleanly and on time. These new and improved financials now include expense reporting functions and job cost accounting for their new development properties.
And look how they’ve grown!! After three quarters of working with Proper, DPRE has gone from 109 doors to 149!
“If you are considering a change to Proper, we would definitely recommend it. They are very responsive to our needs and willing to put in the time and effort to meet our timelines. We appreciate their ongoing improvement of our month-end close and their partnership in continuing to create more efficiencies for our business.”
—Peter Owen (DPRE Director of Finance)
We would love to help you achieve your own property accounting success story. Talk with us today to find out how we can streamline your finances whilst saving you time and money.