Unlike other residential property management companies, Univesco, Inc., handles the management of their 21 properties as opposed to hiring a third-party company. Kim Grogan, Director of Operations, describes each of Univesco’s communities as, “little cities with property managers serving in a mayor-like role.” However, Grogan estimates they onboard a new manager, across their portfolio, every six months.
With the company’s policies still in physical binders, printed on paper, and five years since the last update, Grogan and the management team were unsure if employees were reviewing or even receiving crucial content. "We were getting fined because we did not have the right documentation," said Grogan. They needed a way to update policies and procedures, communicate them to employees, and track accountability. "An inspector would show up at any of our apartment communities and either the permits couldn't be found or they were not up to date. There are a lot of permits at any given time. A boiler, for example, can have a fine as much as $500. We were getting fined quite
frequently and needed a solution," recalled Grogan.
Kim Grogan - DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS, UNIVESCO, INC.
By incorporating PowerDMS, Grogan and the Univesco team were able to transfer all their policies and procedures to an electronic format, make changes in real time, track and archive past versions of signed content ,and provide Spanish versions of most of their documents. With PowerDMS, they can also see when an employee reviews content and how much time they spend on any given document.
From routine issues like landscape challenges to critical issues like securing a crime scene, PowerDMS allows Univesco’s team to communicate policies, training, and other important information to employees quickly. Landscapers, who were unable to access this kind of information in the field, now have access to the information they need through PowerDMS.
Univesco was experiencing a high turnover rate of property managers. With property managers serving as the “mayor” of each community, they are responsible for the upkeep and issuance of permits. However, Grogan estimates they were onboarding a new property manager every six months and each time, with no digital record to access, the paper documentation was getting lost.
“Each manager had their own system and method for tracking permits, and when they left so too did their knowledge of where the permits were and which were expired,” explained Grogan. “We started getting fined for not having the right documentation.”
Kim Grogan - DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS, UNIVESCO, INC.
PowerDMS has been “a game changer” for Univesco, according to Grogan. They now use PowerDMS for tracking and managing certifications and permits that have expiration dates. Additionally, while each property is still responsible for their own documents, because each location is streamlined into the PowerDMS platform, anyone including headquarters can see and pull reports and documents immediately. "Since putting PowerDMS in place for managing permits," Grogan says, “we never get fined now.”
Spending budget dollars on permit fines from lost documents were eliminated and the overhead costs associated with having to look for critical documents has subsided for Univesco. Employees at each community now have clear policy direction and can review processes anytime, even on their mobile phones. Should any employee need a quick reference for how to handle a law enforcement matter, for example, they can look up the protocol on their cell phones and follow the step-by-step procedures, reducing possible litigation from evidence tampering.
The ability to track employee acknowledgment of policies offers Univesco protection and assurances the employees are receiving content and are being held accountable. Additionally, by going paperless, Univesco eliminated the man hours and paper costs it would take to keep each policy binder current at each location.
Problem |
Solution |