Property Management System
In 2007, Baker depended on a home-grown, single-user MS Access application to define and manage the projects they were brokering on behalf of condominium and other real estate developers. By that time, they had grown to the point that they needed considerably more functionality, flexibility, and security.
Baker sales agents had to re-enter purchaser information such as name, address, contact information, identification number, expiry date, and so on. As well as taking time to gather and enter this information, there was a risk of introducing typos that could require subsequent reworking of legal documents. Purchasers had to manually sign a large number of pages, which then had to be correlated back into the master documents. And in addition, sales agents had to photocopy identification documents and deposit cheques.
What we did
In 2008, we replaced the single-user application with a suite of client-server Java/JSP applications. This served Baker quite well until 2015 when they started to feel pressure from their developer clients to conduct sales using a more modern interface, and from within the company to perform sales in a more efficient manner.
In 2016, we designed and deployed an iOS app, iBaker, with a modern graphical interface and guided workflow to lead sales agents efficiently through the sales process. It enabled:
- The scanning of driver’s licences to accurately capture purchaser information and automatically populate the system.
- Sales agents to take pictures of identification documents and deposit cheques.
- Purchasers to sign documents electronically, reusing their signatures and initials once entered.
- Developers to send registration information from their own websites to PMS via a RESTful API that we developed.
In 2018, we upgraded the technology stack from Oracle, JBoss, and JSP/Struts to MySQL, WildFly, and Angular. At the same time we implemented a number of new features, including agent and client relationship management, paperless sales processing, and management dashboards.
How it helped
Baker has a flexible application and reporting framework to support the needs of individual clients. They experienced a significant reduction in the time it takes to close deals—critical at sales launches where there may be hundreds of signings to process. Accuracy has improved. There has been a reduction in the amount of paper they use. And the bottom line is that they have been able to maintain a prime position in the Canadian condominium marketplace in the face of an increasing number of niche vendors.
