A Fully Bespoke Property Management System

Case Study: Franklin Management - Property management made easy

Overview

Franklin Management are a Midlands based property and block management company that specialise in the management of residential developments on behalf of leaseholders. With a strong focus on transparency, proactive communication and tailored services Franklin provide end-to-end management solutions from financial oversight and maintenance coordination to long term planning and Right to Manage support. They operate across prime locations including Nottingham, Mansfield, Lincoln and the wider East Midlands and have built a solid reputation for improving underperforming buildings and delivering a more accountable, resident focused approach to property management.

The challenge

Like many growing businesses, Franklin began to feel the pressure of managing their day to day ops through spreadsheets. As their portfolio expanded to over 60 apartment blocks - each with its own residents, compliance requirements and maintenance needs - this approach became increasingly inefficient and carried significant risk. Managing key processes such as document control, health and safety tracking, renewals and remedial works within Excel made it ever more difficult to maintain any sort of clear oversight, consistency and operational efficiency.

They knew they needed a centralised solution that encompassed task management, ticketing, asset tracking and document storage whilst being able to integrate with their O365 calendar for appointment scheduling. They initially explored existing SaaS platforms but found that they all came at a high monthly cost yet still failed to fully meet their specific requirements.

As a result, Franklin approached us to develop them a bespoke system that would be fully tailored to their workflows - one that could centralise and streamline their operations, vastly reduce manual effort and ensure they has access to the right information at the right time.

The solution

The solution was a fully bespoke Property Management System that essentially digitised all of Franklin’s excel processes and wrapped them into one coherent platform.

At its core, the system provides a centralised hub where each building is managed individually with detailed records for every apartment. This includes leaseholder and tenant information, service charge apportionments and comprehensive building level data including insurance policies, lease details, budgets and compliance documentation all of which are stored in a structured and easy to navigate format.

One of their key areas of focus was on improving compliance and risk management. We implemented a stringent health and safety module allowing Franklin to track assessments, schedule maintenance and automatically generate reminders for upcoming actions. This is linked to an integrated ticketing system where tasks can be raised, assigned, prioritised and tracked through to completion with full visibility at every stage.

The platform also includes advanced document management and provides secure storage of everything from insurance certificates to service charge schedules alongside automated renewal notifications to ensure nothing is missed. An asset management feature was included to give clear oversight of building specific details such as access systems, utilities and fire safety equipment to ensure important information can be accessed with ease.

To further enhance efficiency, Franklin requested a live dashboard providing an overview of open tickets, appointments and upcoming renewals across all buildings.  This key information can be pushed into the Franklin calendar via an integration with Microsoft 365 with syncs directly with their Outlook calendar.

The result

With the introduction of their shiny new Property Management System, the way Franklin operate on a daily basis has completely transformed. Because they now have all buildings, data and processes in one centralised system, the team has complete visibility across their entire portfolio allow them to manage their 60+ developments with much greater control and confidence.

Key tasks that were once completely manual such as tracking health and safety requirements, managing documents and overseeing maintenance works are now streamlined and automated. The inbuilt ticketing system ensures that issues are logged, assigned and resolved within appropriate timescales and the use of automated reminders for renewals and compliance deadlines significantly reduces the risk of anything being overlooked.

The improved structure and accessibility of information has also enhanced internal efficiency allowing staff to spend less time searching for data and more time focusing on delivering a high quality service to their clients. At the same time, the system provides a clear audit trail and better organisation of records which in turn, supports a more professional and accountable approach to block management.

Overall the new bespoke system has not only reduced the complexity and risk across Franklin’s operations but it has also provided them with a scalable foundation for future growth ensuring they are well equipped to manage their ever expanding portfolio with ease.

The future

Cool Code Company will continue to work with Franklin Management into the future providing support and maintenance as necessary, enhancement and additions as hey continue to grow. There is room for additional integrations, new modules and much more that shall remain under wraps for now!

Testimonial

David Thomas, Managing Director at Franklin Management had this to say about their personal experience working in partnership with Cool Code Company -