After the acquisition by Intuit, MRI has focused on automating workflow for greatest functionality and ease of use

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MRI Real Estate Solutions has been one of the leading players in the property management software sector for more then three decades. Their clients range from small property management firms to large REIT’s and Fortune 500 companies. Historically, the company has focused on developing customized solutions for property managers and is one of the early innovators of web-based applications that deliver increased functionality and ease of use to end-users.

Last June, the company was acquired by accounting/financial services powerhouse Intuit Inc. in a cash deal valued at $92 million. The addition of Intuit’s considerable resources further strengthens MRI’s support network and ability to provide quality customer service. Intuit’s resources also add depth and a broader scope to the application development process.

“There’s no denying that our acquisition by Intuit strengthens our capabilities,” says Russ Sandlin, senior manager of the residential business management group for MRI. “We’re benefiting from Intuit’s strong market influence and its commitment to process excellence. As a result of the acquisition, we’re able to offer expanded services in implementation, support, and training. Certainly, Intuit will be playing a strategic role in the forefront of how our products evolve and they will be driving a lot of the thought process on how we develop our products through Intuit initiatives like the ‘voice of the client feedback process’.”

MRI’s strongest push of late has been in two core areas, enhancement of functionality in core processes and ease of use. Taking cues from recent industry specific usability studies, MRI has focused on workflow issues and on enhancing users’ ability to personalize the product. Improvements have been made that enable property managers to navigate the system more easily and to enter and exit various data centers fluidly. Building on their rolecentric concept, MRI uses a centralized role page that helps users move directly into specific areas of individual focus quickly and expedites the ability to drill down through data.

“Our driving concept is to create work-flows that mirror job descriptions of the users and give them the ability to have, at their fingertips, information needed to manage properties, review lease expirations, check service requests, or monitor delinquencies,” says Sandlin. “Throughout the system we’ve populated alert dialogs with associated hyperlinks that take the associate directly to an open service request, lease expiration, or outstanding delinquency in real time.”

According to Sandlin, the increased capabilities being integrated into MRI’s product suite are designed to retain the flexibility and personalized traits of the software, allowing users to use automated functions, take control manually and exercise a variety of options.

One of the newest enhancements to MRI’s property management software is the ability to manage the lease expiration inventory on a monthly basis by unit type, with an annual lease expiration budget integrated into the application. Managers have the capability to restrict an associate’s ability to lease an apartment that is out of inventory and intervene with options.

MRI is also fully integrated with Lease Rent Options (LRO), a yield management system developed by Manugistics in conjunction with Archstone-Smith, an MRI client and one of the nation’s largest apartment REIT’s. The system enables firms to manage and implement automatic pricing and multiple lease terms and more effectively manage concessions.

Other new capabilities include electronic funds transfer tools that eliminate the manual posting of checks which reduces processing time by as much as 75% of the time used to post checks traditionally. MRI also offers a variety of online solutions for properties, including residential portals and integrated electronic funds transfers for residents.

MRI is not resting there. It has also added new functionality that allows the transfer of data to and communication with PDA’s and an online leasing process with the ability to capture Internet leases. This will produce a fully integrated online leasing process with real-time pricing, email, guest cards, concession options, and other tools all integrated into the main system with the ability to capture data as it is generated.

“We’re talking about a paradigm shift in an industry where scores of properties still deploy paper-based systems.” Says Sandlin. “There now exists the ability to reengineer and automate processes that once took days and now takes hours or less. The ability to access real-time data requires property management firms to restructure their workflow processes and adopt best practices that will allow them to act on this data more quickly and engage in decision-making and proactive strategies that maximize their effectiveness in managing properties. These new tools enable managers to react to market conditions responsively and maintain greater awareness and control of the property’s operational environment.