STRATAFOLIO’s Pain-Free Full Service Onboarding

Estimated reading time: 4 min

We’ve heard it from all our customers that left their previous property management systems to start using STRATAFOLIO how painful it was for them when they went through the initial onboarding on their previous systems. At STRATAFOLIO, we have learned from other companies’ mistakes and we have set up processes in place to avoid recurring pitfalls that are common in the industry.

At STRATAFOLIO, we understand every real estate business out there runs at maximum capacity, so during the onboarding process, we have two main goals.

  1. First, it is our job to help you through the onboarding process to make it painless.
  2. Second, we also understand that every day you are not fully using STRATAFOLIO, your organization is losing money, so our goal is to get you up and running as soon as possible. This way you can start saving and taking advantage of your new software solution.

What to expect

Expect a series of 30-minute weekly meetings, and emails until all your data has been updated in STRATAFOLIO, and we have completed your audit and training. We are an agile company, so we will perform an iterative process as we go through the onboarding. This will ensure that if we come across issues, we capture them early and address them right away. 

The onboarding will contain multiple activities: 

  • Initial meeting
  • Adding users
  • Understanding the ownership breakdown for each legal entity (If applicable)
  • Connecting to your QuickBooks Accounts
  • Building out your Hierarchy
  • Mapping your QuickBooks Accounts
  • Completing an audit 
  • Training your team on how to use STRATAFOLIO

Initial Meeting

During our initial kickoff meeting, we will discuss multiple things:

  • We’ll review your current organizational structure to help us understand how to set up your account. If you do not currently have an organization chart, a handwritten one will suffice.
  • We’ll discuss what your organization’s goals and objectives are in more detail, so we can set up your software to help you achieve your company’s goals and objectives faster by taking full advantage of STRATAFOLIO. 
  • We will also set up a weekly meeting, milestones and action items. 
  • We share with you your own secure share drive where you will be able to place your documents and other deliverables. 
  • You will be required to provide all the Properties listed below that are marked with an (R). This is the data that is required in order to set up your organization. The items marked with an (O) are optional, and they are not required in order to complete your setup.
  • Your first task will be to provide a list of all the users along with their access levels that will have access to your organization. 
Properties

Below is the information we will load into STRATAFOLIO 

  • The items with an (R) are required.
  • The items with an (O) are optional.

Organization

  • Organization Name (R)
  • Organization Postal Code (R)
  • Contact First Name (R)
  • Contact Last Name (R)
  • Contact Email (R)
  • Contact Phone # (R)
  • Sign Out Users if Inactive For (O)
    • 15 min
    • 30 min (Default)
    • 1 hr
    • 2 hrs
    • 3 hrs
    • 4 hrs
    • Never

Default Owner:

The default owner can be a corporation, partnership, or sole proprietor. It is assigned total or partial ownership of all Entities not otherwise assigned to Investors, and cannot be deleted or transferred.

  • Entity Nickname (O)
  • Legal Entity Name (R)
  • Tax Payer Id # (O)
  • Inception Date (O)
  • State of Registration (O)
  • Secretary Of State Website Link (O)
  • Entity Renewal Frequency Months (O)
  • Entity Notes (O)

Entity

  • Entity Nickname (O)
  • Legal Entity Name (R)
  • Tax Payer Id # (O)
  • Inception Date (O)
  • State of Registration (O)
  • Secretary Of State Website Link (O)
  • Entity Renewal Frequency Months (O)
  • Entity Notes

User with Login Access

  • First Name (R)
  • Last Name (R)
  • Email (R)
  • Mobile # (R)
  • Access Role (R)
    • Administrator
    • Manger
    • Reader
    • Investor
    • Property Manager
    • Maintenance
  • Contact Role/Title (O)
  • Secondary Phone # (O)
  • Extension (O)
  • Mailing Address (O)
  • City (O)
  • State (O)
  • Postal Code (O)
  • Date Of Birth(O)
  • Contact Since Date(O)
  • Contact Rights (O)
    • Request Work Orders
    • Assigned To Work Orders
  • Contact Notes (O)

Contacts

  • First Name (R)
  • Last Name (R)
  • Email (O)
  • Mobile # (O)
  • Contact Role/Title (O)
  • Secondary Phone # (O)
  • Extension (O)
  • Mailing Address (O)
  • City (O)
  • State (O)
  • Postal Code (O)
  • Date Of Birth(O)
  • Contact Since Date(O)
  • Contact Rights (O)
    • Request Work Orders
    • Assigned To Work Orders
  • Contact Notes (O)

Investor

  • Investor Name (R)
    • Need contact for the investor
  • Investor Since Date (O)
  • Investor Notes (O)
  • Entities the Investor Invested on including (R)
    • Date Of Investment (O)
    • Percent Ownership (R)
    • Investor Dollar Contribution (O)
    • Is The Investor A Guarantor on the Entity Loans? (R)
    • Investment Notes (O)

Assets

  • Legal Entity Name (R)
  • Asset Type (R)
  • Asset Nickname (O)
  • Asset Street Number/Range (R)
  • Asset Street Name (R)
  • City (R)
  • State (R)
  • Postal Code (R)
  • Valuation Date (R)
  • Asset Value (R) 
  • Valuation Method ®
    • Self-Assessed
    • Cap Rate
    • Appraised
  • Valuation Notes (O)
  • Lot Size (O)
  • Lot Size Units of Measure ( O )
  • Asset Parcel # (O)
  • Asset Parcel Link (O)
  • Acquisition Date (O)
  • Acquisition Cost (O) 
  • Acquisition Transaction Type (O)
  • Asset Notes (O)
  • Sale Date (O)
  • Sale Price (O)

Building

  • Building Type (R)
  • Building Street Number/Range (If different from the Asset) (R)
  • Building Street Name (If different from the Asset) (R)
  • Building Parcel # (O)
  • Building Parcel Link (O)
  • Total Building Sq Ft (O)
  • Year Built (O)
  • Building Class (O)
  • Total Floors (O)

Lenders/Loans 

  • Lender Nickname (O)
  • Lender Legal Name (R)
  • Legal Entity Name (R)
  • Asset Address (R)
  • Loan Purpose (R)
  • Loan Number (R)
  • Interest Rate (R)
  • Loan Start Date (R)
  • Original Loan Amount (R) 
  • Maturity Date (R)
  • Loan Balance At Maturity (R) 
  • Loan Term (Months) (R)
  • Current Loan Balance (R) 
  • Amortization Period (Years) (R)
  • Loan Type (R)
  • Principal & Interest Payment (R) 
  • Escrow Payment (O) 
  • Loan Covenants (O)

Units/Leases

  • Unit # (R)
  • Rentable Sqft (R)
  • Loading Dock (O)
  • Associate Unit to Lease (R)
  • Tenant Name (R)
  • Lease Type (R)
  • Lease Start Date (R)
  • Lease End Date (R)
  • Base Rent (R)
  • Additional Rent (R)
  • Lease Rate Notes (O)
  • Late Charge Notes (O)
  • Payment Due Monthly on (O)
  • Grace Period (O)
  • Lease Renewal Alert (O)
  • Lease Renewal Status (O)
  • Security Deposit (O)

Add users

By our second meeting, you will have your organization set up in STRATAFOLIO along with all the users in your organization. This will allow you to log into your organization and monitor our progress, and provide instant feedback as we complete the onboarding. This will be an iterative process.

We do not limit the number of users that can be added to the system, so you are welcome to add your entire staff, investors, and accountants if you desire. Below are the roles that you can choose from.

Access Roles

  • Administrator – A user with an Administrator role is able to manage other users. They are also able to add/view/update/delete anything within the entire organization.  
  • Manager – A user with a Manager role is not able to add/view/update/delete other user roles or any Organization specific information. They are also able to only add/view/update anything else within the organization but do not have delete capabilities.
  • Reader – A user with a Reader role is not able to add/view/update/delete other user roles or any Organization specific information. They are only able to view anything else within the organization, but they cannot add/update/delete.
  • Investor – A user with an Investor role is not able to add/view/update/delete other user roles or any organization-specific information. They are only able to view information where they are directly or indirectly invested in.
  • Property Manager – A user with a Property manager role is able to add/edit/view the organization’s hierarchy which include assets, buildings, and units. Additionally they can add/edit/view all work orders, tenants, and leases in the Organization. They are not able to add/edit/view any financial dashboards, or investors within the organization.
  • Maintenance – A user with a Maintenance role is able to add/edit/view all work orders in the Organization. They are not able to view any financial data across the Organization or edit anything else in the organization that is not a work order.

During this phase, we will make sure to update your investor ownership structure. STRATAFOLIO can handle multiple types of ownership structures. Some of the most complex ownership structures involve multiple legal entities owning other legal entities with a mixture of individual investors and cascading legal entities. Or, if you have a simpler ownership structure, we can handle that as well.

Connect to your QuickBooks Accounts

During this phase we will need to make your organization’s QuickBooks administrator is in this meeting. This will help us connect to all the QuickBooks accounts that will be connecting to STRATAFOLIO.

Build out you Hierarchy

During this phase, we will start building your STRATAFOLIO Hierarchy data for all your:

  • Assets
  • Buildings
  • Units
  • Loans
  • Contacts
  • Tenants
  • Leases

Map your Chart Of Accounts

During this phase, the STRATFOLIO’s onboarding team will start mapping each one of your QuickBooks chart of accounts to the STRATAFOLIO’s standardized chart of accounts, and each account to the corresponding hierarchy location. During this process, each one of your QuickBooks accounts will start coming to life on your Owner’s Dashboard. STRATAFOLIO is able to map your chart of accounts if you use any of the account types below:

  • Accounts
  • Classes
  • Locations
    • Business
    • Department
    • Division
    • Location
    • Property
    • Store
    • Territory

Complete Audit 

During this phase, our team of experts will request Balance Sheets and Profit and Loss statements from you in order to audit the data in STRATAFOLIO to make sure the data in STRATAFOLIO matches the data in your QuickBooks accounts. We will sign off once this process is complete.

Train your team on how to use STRATAFOLIO

During this phase, our STRATAFOLIO’s onboarding professional will teach your team how to use and get the best out of STRATAFOLIO’s functionality. This will allow your team to get familiar with the software. 

After the initial training meeting, we will check in the following week to answer questions, make suggestions regarding features and functionality. We will also teach how to access additional support materials. Or, how to access our Technical Consulting Service where we can help you with adding additional properties into your portfolio.

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