CLIENT CASE STUDY
Optimizing Government Housing with a Seamless Salesforce and Yardi Integration
SOLUTION STACK
Salesforce Field Service
Experience Cloud
MuleSoft
Shield
Yardi Integration
Custom Mobile App Integration
AWS S3 Integration
STORY SUMMARY
A government housing owner aimed to streamline lease processes and develop a portal for residents and vendors to manage move-outs and work orders. Additionally, they wanted to create a custom app for field technicians. This comprehensive solution improved the resident experience, ensured data integrity, and enhanced work order management, effectively meeting service level agreements.
THE CHALLENGE
A housing owner contracted by the U.S. government, managing over hundreds of thousands of residents and tens of thousands of homes, faced significant challenges in streamlining operations and complying with new regulations. Under a specific housing privatization initiative, eligible companies receive bonuses for achieving performance incentives. However, some companies have recently falsified data to meet these objectives. Additionally, the Tenant Bill of Rights mandates providing active-duty service members with the maintenance history of a home before signing a new lease. These regulatory requirements, combined with the organization’s digital transformation goals, aimed to enhance the resident and employee experience.
Internally, the organization struggled with integrating systems due to historical silos and organizational hesitation towards integration. Complex legacy data required extensive scrubbing, and delays in data access further hindered integration efforts. The cost-prohibitive Yardi API required an alternative solution for near real-time data, and the large number of Salesforce objects needed a custom solution to reduce the number of data calls. Achieving alignment on the feasibility of bi-directional integration and navigating an undefined pathway with Yardi integration methodology were additional hurdles. Furthermore, Yardi’s processing was a black box, highly dependent on its architecture and integration, adding to the complexity.
THE SOLUTION
To address these challenges, Fortimize implemented a multi-faceted solution that streamlined data integration and improved overall efficiency. The solution included:
Foundation Setup
Established a system to manage Yardi-specific information, enabling real-time updates and ensuring cleaner billing data.
Cost-Effective Data Integration
Enabled tools to communicate with Salesforce using a single identifier and set up nightly data exports from Yardi to Salesforce.
Data Handling
Converted data into CSV files and stored them on a server for easy access, reducing costs.
Flexible Integration
Built a system to pull data from a backup Yardi database, making the system adaptable to different technologies.
Enhanced Experience
Created a process and portal to manage unit turnovers, including inspections and work orders, and integrated property and vendor data with the existing contract system.
Mobile Accessibility
Sent data to a custom mobile app, providing inspectors and technicians with easy access to necessary information for quick decision-making and improved efficiency.
THE RESULTS
The implemented solution yielded significant benefits for this organization, particularly in optimizing the resident experience and supporting residents and their families. By streamlining the move-out and move-in processes, Fortimize ensured smoother transitions for families, enhancing their overall experience.
Field technicians experienced improved work order management thanks to the custom mobile application, which provided them with the necessary data and tools to complete their tasks efficiently. This improvement directly contributed to better service delivery and higher satisfaction levels among residents. Fortimize also implemented hard controls to ensure data integrity, preventing the falsification of data and maintaining compliance with the housing privatization initiative and the Tenant Bill of Rights. These controls helped meet or exceed Service Level Agreements (SLAs), guaranteeing high standards of service and accountability.
Overall, the solution successfully integrated disparate systems, allowing for real-time data updates and more efficient operations. The project not only supported the organization’s digital transformation goals but also established a robust foundation for future growth and excellence in managing government housing.
