Upgrade Achievement

Buzz Oates goes to Voyager 7S

By Erica Rascón on Dec 2, 2016 in People

The “Upgrade Like a Rock Star” series continues, offering insights for a smooth transition to Yardi Voyager® 7S, our latest property management platform.

For the second installment, Kimberly Chambers, Senior Vice President, Accounting and Tax Services, at Buzz Oates real estate firm shares how she led her team through a two-month conversion from Voyager 6 to 7S.

Getting Started

The conversion of Buzz Oates models how a small team can make big strides towards efficiency in a short timeframe. At Buzz Oates, there are just 45 staff members using Yardi Voyager to manage 22 million square feet of real estate.

“We run lean and mean,” laughs Chambers. “Since we expected our users to handle their regular workload and test, it was, ‘Okay, well, we’re going to test what we can and then we’re going to go for it.’ And we did. And the conversion wasn’t a very long timeframe.”

The resourceful team prepared for the transition by watching training videos and tutorials on Yardi Client Central. Through the online portal, Yardi customizes virtual training tools to expedite user education for each client.

Buzz Oates then invited Yardi specialists to offer onsite training for the group. The specialists covered new features in Voyager 7S and addressed questions that arose during the virtual training.

Chambers says, “When a user had issues, the Yardi representatives were able to go around and help us get them up to speed right away. The users didn’t have to wait for our one IT person or myself to run around. We had a few more hands on deck that could answer their questions.”

Testing and Challenges

While a small staff size made training more manageable, it posed unique challenges during the testing phase. Without a designated IT team for the task, staff members conducted their own testing amid their daily responsibilities.

“That was one of our challenges, trying to keep on top of the testing.  We gave users some checklists to follow and asked, ‘Have you tested? Have you worked on it?’” explains Chambers. “But the more testing and the more things they can think of and identify ahead of time, the smoother the transition will be when you go live.”

Staff ran tests on the database, workflows, sample payables, and scanning procedures to make sure that everything would code and route properly. The team paid special attention to permissions, which often change during the conversion process.

“So my one thing with it is that your permissions change,” recalls Chambers with a sigh. “That was a big piece of the testing, to identify those permissions that have changed, and then figure out what we need to do when we go live so that we could get it rolled out to the users.”

Buzz Oates also realized that a few of its reports and the bulk of its correspondences did not transfer over.

“I’ll caution, you really need to have your users go through those. Identify some of those items so you can work with your account manager to make sure everything can be reloaded and brought over,” Chambers advises.

Thorough preliminary testing paved the way for a relatively seamless conversion from Voyager 6 to 7S.

Favorite New Features

Within two months of training, Buzz Oates went live with 7S. The staff enjoyed many of the new features, particularly the software’s integration with Yardi PAYscan™.

“I think that’s probably one of the biggest benefits to our group,” begins Chambers. “The staff didn’t have to go into a separate URL for PAYScan, which was huge.”

On the previous setup, users maintained separate credentials and screens for Voyager 6 and PAYScan.

“You were constantly jumping back and forth,” says Chambers. “Now it’s all through Voyager. You can just change your role or you can, depending on how you do your menus, just have it do a mirror menu.”

During the transition from dual logins to a single credential, Buzz Oates opted to keep the PAYScan role due to its tighter security features.

The single login permits users to efficiently multitask. Property managers were excited that they could review analytics, approve invoices, and run reports in a single system, says Chambers.

Voyager 7S is compatible with several mobile apps, including the PAYscan app. It’s a feature that helps staff optimize time in the office and in the field. Apps are available for any mobile device including iOS, Android, and Windows systems.

“The PayScan app empowers folks when they’re out in the field, especially our property managers visiting the properties,” says Chambers. “It’s great that they have the option to make approvals on the desktop or on their mobile devices.”

To learn more about Voyager 7S and its new features, register for an upcoming webinar.