It really depends on if you are coming up w/ something new, or working on trying to get something up, you have already done ( think web app w/ 50 reports all w/ json datasets visualized by javascript ).
This has a lot of potential. I'm going to try it out, and if it is as ruff as timerickson said, I might have to come back to it once they sand it down.
Agreed, a framework is just a toolkit of best practices and useful tools.
Another benefit of using a framework is it lets you 'work' with other amazing coders. I have increased my php knowledge many times over by using symfony. Sometimes this happens because you just have to dive into the frameworks sourcecode to see what's going on.
Good question. We are hitting 2 different markets.
Our ability to automate a lot of the managers monthly activity sets us appart. Rentmonitor currently only does 'after the fact' accounting, meaning tenants still have to bring in a check or pay an e-bill. Our system allows tenants to pay electronically through their site and submit work orders.
So the time savings w/ our software can be huge. As well as payments getting 'lost' or not recorded doesn't become an issue anymore.
#1 we have in place 2 similar systems to track maintenance per unit and rate your units by this number. And another report to be even more granular to the tenant level :)
About 1/3 of our city's population is students as well.
I have heard nightmare stories about 'Turn' taking weeks to complete because of the high turnover rates in our city.. As well as managers being at whits end 1/2 the time because of workload. We really tried to develop our software to ease these tensions. In some of the companies we have studied, we were able to reduce the workload of the company and reduce the stress.
And in doing so, hopefully we make a happier rental env for everyone :)
Setting up tenants for an online account is optional. Heh, I wouldn't want to create more work either. However, if tenants are setup w/ an online account w/ rental collection online, the amount of paperwork would be slashed to a fraction. Every thing would automatically be digitized and collected, and your staff that normally collects the 800+ checks a month (400 units * 2 tenants) will have more time to sit at the local starbucks and browse hacker news :). Oh, and that is for non 'turn' months. 1000+ unit managers spend weeks during turn. We can turn those weeks into days :)
Hah, good point. Probably should add a plan w/o the online payments to cut down on the internal cost so we can push out a cheaper plan.. Heck even a freemium plan
Right now, fisa is slightly ahead because it is a bit faster.