Cool. Check Scanning is integrated with Bank Rec. Whatever that means.
x9 standards changing all the time. new version coming out soon. x9 has variations between banks so there will be a lot of headache, setup, and testing to get checkscannig working with each bank we might use.
Hard to tell how long we'd have to wait for this to be ready for primetime. Roll your own by bank? That project is a bit stalled.
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Check Scanning (4)
6.0.8.22 Sp 5 or above. 5 companies are using in it beta right now.
Wow, eft, ebanking, and checkscannning are all different modules. That's really confusing. eft is a few posts back and ebanking is lockbox. Sounds like being a one-stop shop for all your banking needs wiil be pretty expensive.
Wow, eft, ebanking, and checkscannning are all different modules. That's really confusing. eft is a few posts back and ebanking is lockbox. Sounds like being a one-stop shop for all your banking needs wiil be pretty expensive.
Check Scanning (3)
Tenant setup is integrated to check scanning so maintaing the tenant bank account table will be a lot easier. Similar to the recommended gl codes in ap.
Need to go the the "TaskRunner" session, she says it will schedule the transfer of the x9 files to the banks via (s)ftp.
Ouch! "This is not released yet. It's going to the beta process next week" blah blah blah. Jerks.
Another good feature: you can get to the check image from the receipt screen.
Need to go the the "TaskRunner" session, she says it will schedule the transfer of the x9 files to the banks via (s)ftp.
Ouch! "This is not released yet. It's going to the beta process next week" blah blah blah. Jerks.
Another good feature: you can get to the check image from the receipt screen.
Check Scanning (2)
Tamara is the presenter now. You may remember her from earlier but I'm too lazy to link to it for you.
Sounds like some of the stuff we saw yesterday is still really new. The distinction is EFT vs "Check Scanning". Semantics confusion with similar features! Fun!
They can provide X9/Check21 file formats but with Nat'l banks like Wells Fargo.
They only working with 2 scanners right now. I remember that too. Panini has 90% market penetration, but she's heard that they are not as reliable as the Magtek. (Not) coincidentally, it is more expensive.
Looks like this is the AFS replacement we've been looking for. Matches checks against tenant bank accounts, reads the amount on the check vs the amount due. Trying to get more detail on 'duplicate bank accounts' at the tenant level. She didn't understand I hope. If she did then it will prompt for a tcode rather than showing you the tcodes that have the bank account.
Sounds like some of the stuff we saw yesterday is still really new. The distinction is EFT vs "Check Scanning". Semantics confusion with similar features! Fun!
They can provide X9/Check21 file formats but with Nat'l banks like Wells Fargo.
They only working with 2 scanners right now. I remember that too. Panini has 90% market penetration, but she's heard that they are not as reliable as the Magtek. (Not) coincidentally, it is more expensive.
Looks like this is the AFS replacement we've been looking for. Matches checks against tenant bank accounts, reads the amount on the check vs the amount due. Trying to get more detail on 'duplicate bank accounts' at the tenant level. She didn't understand I hope. If she did then it will prompt for a tcode rather than showing you the tcodes that have the bank account.
EFT For Commercial (3)
Also processes one-time credit card payments. She says the new version will be able to process recurring credit card payments. Not sure why a commercial tenant would want to come to 210 Park and swipe their credit card, but whatever.
Trying to find out if we'll need a new scanner, and if it works with billTo. Could get interesting since from what I learned during the upgrade session, there's no such thing as billTo. But multiple suites are setup on the same lease record, so I'm guessing the new payment systems in compatible with the new tenant system.
Trying to find out if we'll need a new scanner, and if it works with billTo. Could get interesting since from what I learned during the upgrade session, there's no such thing as billTo. But multiple suites are setup on the same lease record, so I'm guessing the new payment systems in compatible with the new tenant system.
EFT For Commercial (2)
EFT transfer creates an unposted receipt batch, there's an option to create a posted receipt batch.
Deposting account are fully intergrated with Yardi's bank setup. So many depositng bank accounts wouldn't be an issue. Right question?
Deposting account are fully intergrated with Yardi's bank setup. So many depositng bank accounts wouldn't be an issue. Right question?
EFT For Commercial
Session hopping accross sites makes you very late instead of just a little late.
Seems pretty cool so far. Supported merged ach files and provides a download link in the brower so you can upload the file but it also seems to support some integrated transfer modes. That would be nice.
Seems pretty cool so far. Supported merged ach files and provides a download link in the brower so you can upload the file but it also seems to support some integrated transfer modes. That would be nice.
Leasing Workflow
I know, I've already got one of those. Might be worth a look.
Currently demo'ing the "Community Manager Dashboard" [[insert Obama joke here]]
Currently demo'ing the "Community Manager Dashboard" [[insert Obama joke here]]
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Commercial Conversions (2)
It will be interesting to see all the changes we'll have to make. The big design change on the backend is that there don't seems to be "tenants," instead they're all leases.
Also, user security isn't compatible and has to be redone in the ui (as opposed to importing it).
So, I guess this session is a feel-good, feel the love type deal. As in Yardi must think I'm only coming to this session because I'm nervous and I need to be reassured that Yardi knows what they're doing. I feel so much better already.
Also, user security isn't compatible and has to be redone in the ui (as opposed to importing it).
So, I guess this session is a feel-good, feel the love type deal. As in Yardi must think I'm only coming to this session because I'm nervous and I need to be reassured that Yardi knows what they're doing. I feel so much better already.
Commercial Conversions
Side-by-Side upgrade is nice. Not sure how that works, but it sounds safe.
Right now, just going over the broad perspectives on Yardi's approach to upgrading clients. It's a really good thing we waited to upgrade. He's going over the challenges they ran in to on initial conversions. Now they have support and development team dedicated to upgrades and converting customizations including custom reports. Always good to have some hand-holding on a project this big.
Right now, just going over the broad perspectives on Yardi's approach to upgrading clients. It's a really good thing we waited to upgrade. He's going over the challenges they ran in to on initial conversions. Now they have support and development team dedicated to upgrades and converting customizations including custom reports. Always good to have some hand-holding on a project this big.
Revenue Streams
This just in, there's 2k companies running Enterprise. That's our market to export PEC's customizations.
TE121 Commercial Conversions
Long day, last session of the day, and probably the most important session. Moving from Enterprise to Voyager. Talked to a few people at lunch. One moved from Enterprise to Voyager and one upgraded from Voyager 5 to 6 with Commercial. Both said it was awful, etc.
Big picture, I don't think "it's hard" is a good reason to stay on Enterprise. I know there are a few things that are better about Voyager. Also, since we own Enterprise outright, there are real costs associatated with upgrading beyond "it's hard." Some of the new functionality we'll be able to duplicate, some we won't, some it won't be worth the trouble either way.
This session is in the other hotel so I had to take the shuttle over. It's pretty easy to get turned around so I'm not sure if this hotel is on-the-way to mine, or in the wrong direction.
Hmm, presenter is John Pendergast. You may remember him from earlier.
I hope he does a better job this time. It was a close race of "Best Fluff Piece" between this guy and Scott Wiener.
Big picture, I don't think "it's hard" is a good reason to stay on Enterprise. I know there are a few things that are better about Voyager. Also, since we own Enterprise outright, there are real costs associatated with upgrading beyond "it's hard." Some of the new functionality we'll be able to duplicate, some we won't, some it won't be worth the trouble either way.
This session is in the other hotel so I had to take the shuttle over. It's pretty easy to get turned around so I'm not sure if this hotel is on-the-way to mine, or in the wrong direction.
Hmm, presenter is John Pendergast. You may remember him from earlier.
I hope he does a better job this time. It was a close race of "Best Fluff Piece" between this guy and Scott Wiener.
Bank Rec (3)
Looks like it's something we can duplicate, just have to spend some time thinking about how to deal with the situation with the bank screws up. Yardi provides a few different options in the from of bank adjustments and journal entries. JE's affect both the GL and the bank rec, adjustments only affect the bank rec and need to be rec'd with the corresponding transaction the following period.
Overall it really seems feature-complete. Some of the other Yardi functions have obvious holes (like the enterprise bank rec).
Overall it really seems feature-complete. Some of the other Yardi functions have obvious holes (like the enterprise bank rec).
Bank Rec (2)
Looks like the bank rec doesn't use an electronic banking file, which our planned bank rec does. Gotcha there Yardi (if we can pull if off that is).
After entering the property and cutoff date, the system pulls in the open transactions for your to checkmark the transactions that have cleared the bank statement. Also allows for a new date field so you can track the date the transaction cleared the bank. Lets you filter by transactions type as well (don't know how important that is).
2nd caveat, bank rec summaries je's that net to 0. makes sense to me.
After entering the property and cutoff date, the system pulls in the open transactions for your to checkmark the transactions that have cleared the bank statement. Also allows for a new date field so you can track the date the transaction cleared the bank. Lets you filter by transactions type as well (don't know how important that is).
2nd caveat, bank rec summaries je's that net to 0. makes sense to me.
Bank Rec
I'm the only Enterprise (by the showing of hands, so there could be more) hold-out. Presenter says I'll upgrade for this. -- We'll see. Hopefully we can roll-our-own without too much trouble.
1st caveat, bank rec only uses the cash books. That means all transactions need to be booked to cash or both.
1st caveat, bank rec only uses the cash books. That means all transactions need to be booked to cash or both.
Custom Analytics (4)
Not impressed. Albeit a solid attempt at brining report writing to the end user, still too hard, too much strange syntax. My guess is that you'd still need a report writing person to build the reports, just for this tool. And if you have that anyway, might as well use more mature tools like crystal or reporting services.
Looking forward to the next session: Bank Reconciliation
Looking forward to the next session: Bank Reconciliation
Custom Analytics (3)
What is this now, like 5th way to right reports for Yardi? Ad Hoc, YSL, Custom Analytics, Custom Financials (yes, they're different, he spent a few minutes keeping us from getting confused), Sql/Crystal. And these are all provided by the vendor, not to metion ms sql rs.
So many people trying to solve the same problem: End users don't know sql. Problem is, the learning curve for these functions aren't much better. Espicially if you take crystal out of the equation. From what I've see of MS Sql RS 2005's Report Builder or the Excel connection to Cubes, I think it might be the best -- now if I could just get either working.
So many people trying to solve the same problem: End users don't know sql. Problem is, the learning curve for these functions aren't much better. Espicially if you take crystal out of the equation. From what I've see of MS Sql RS 2005's Report Builder or the Excel connection to Cubes, I think it might be the best -- now if I could just get either working.
Custom Analytics (2)
Lots of overlap here with the cube reports/excel services we've been working on. Select/Filter/Subtotal by any attribute and summarize the financial columns.
Custom Analytics
A quick, customizable, financial report builder, natively creates drill down, supports property, date and attribute filtering. Not sure if we're missing any custom reports this late in life. But this might be a good tool to roll out a new report.
Now session is getting good, and by good I mean confusing. Hopefully we're never need segemented accounting.
These report also easily to excel and pdf, and use account trees.
Wow, now he says Yardi wants to get people off YSL, in favor of these reports. Cool. That is except for the fact that I don't have Voyager.
Now session is getting good, and by good I mean confusing. Hopefully we're never need segemented accounting.
These report also easily to excel and pdf, and use account trees.
Wow, now he says Yardi wants to get people off YSL, in favor of these reports. Cool. That is except for the fact that I don't have Voyager.
Session 2 - Custom Financials
Back from lunch. Tasty.
Guy Brown - Technical Consultant Professional Services
Off to a good start, seems to know what he's doing, now we'll see if the content is any good.
Guy Brown - Technical Consultant Professional Services
Off to a good start, seems to know what he's doing, now we'll see if the content is any good.
Session 1 - Customizing your Database (2)
Kinda hard to see a use for all their examples. The example have been in the "maintence module," PEC's is 10 times better.
Running out of battery, over and out till after lunch.
Running out of battery, over and out till after lunch.
Session 1 - Customizing your Database
Not as advanced as it sounds, but still good info. Bascially will be a session to cover adding the custom buttons, tables, screens, menus, etc that I already know how to do in Enterprise. Don't expect it to be much beyond that, but probably the best session for PEC in this timeslot. The "Standardized Interfaces" session was referring to the kinds of thing PEC does with OGE billings. I'm guessing any future integration with PEC and a vendor on a standardized interface will be a one-off, and we'll want to customize it beyond what voyager supports anyway. This session on the other hand I know will be very useful if we make the jump to Voyager.
On that note, I'd also like to discuss the speed of voyager. I was laughing at the presenters who were obviouly slowing down their speech between loading screens. It's slow, there's a delay to get from any screen to the next, any menu to the next submenu, any selection to the detail view. People complained at PEC that AP was slow and I know there's been a lot of work done to speed it up and use ajacks. The new Ap is still twice as fast as interacting with voyager -- during the demo. I asked Tana if it was faster here, and she said yes. Bad sign.
On that note, I'd also like to discuss the speed of voyager. I was laughing at the presenters who were obviouly slowing down their speech between loading screens. It's slow, there's a delay to get from any screen to the next, any menu to the next submenu, any selection to the detail view. People complained at PEC that AP was slow and I know there's been a lot of work done to speed it up and use ajacks. The new Ap is still twice as fast as interacting with voyager -- during the demo. I asked Tana if it was faster here, and she said yes. Bad sign.
Anat Yardi
10,000 ft view of Yardi corporate. Had been adding a lot of new periphial (sp) features to Property Managment software over the last 3 years. Refocusing on service, support, integration, disappointment.
Rob Teel
VP of Commercial and Investment Management
RealDCF - simply put, a valuation and forecasting tool. sales comps tool? argus competetor?
Now demoing. Looks like the dashboard reports Mr. Parrack came up with, but with a focus on valuation, income/expense/debt/capex.
Doesn't seem like it pulls from a current db though. Has said we can input this or that a lot.
RealDCF - simply put, a valuation and forecasting tool. sales comps tool? argus competetor?
Now demoing. Looks like the dashboard reports Mr. Parrack came up with, but with a focus on valuation, income/expense/debt/capex.
Doesn't seem like it pulls from a current db though. Has said we can input this or that a lot.
Scott Wiener
VP of IT
More fluff than Tamara. That's good, I don't have to type as fast.
"Hosted is better, look at all of our data centers, dr centers, etc, you don't have to patch your server or upgrade, you don't have to log anything or secure anything, you don't have to audit the logs, we've spent a lot of money on speeding it up, we have lots of memory, firewalls, bandwidth."
*the above it not a quote. Sucks the IT guy is all about the sales pitch for hosted services.
More fluff than Tamara. That's good, I don't have to type as fast.
"Hosted is better, look at all of our data centers, dr centers, etc, you don't have to patch your server or upgrade, you don't have to log anything or secure anything, you don't have to audit the logs, we've spent a lot of money on speeding it up, we have lots of memory, firewalls, bandwidth."
*the above it not a quote. Sucks the IT guy is all about the sales pitch for hosted services.
EFT
Supports ACh, x9, cc, corporate check, recurring, one-time payments. Also integrated with voyaeger gl, and portal. Also "rapid funds resolution" limits nsf (because you get the money before it goes to their other vendors). Frank Abagnale is sad.
That's it!
That's it!
Check Scanning
Eft, Check 21, Money orders, and Corporate Checks (that's new btw)
Banking interface is masked to the bookkeeper, they just process the check and it's set up in yardi how to process.
Also supports ftp to deposit the file(s) to the bank. Sounds like this software has really made a lot of improvements over last time we checked. Now if it would just work with Enterprise.
Dashboard report, drill down from deposit to check (skipped a few steps there) -- not impressed.
Banking interface is masked to the bookkeeper, they just process the check and it's set up in yardi how to process.
Also supports ftp to deposit the file(s) to the bank. Sounds like this software has really made a lot of improvements over last time we checked. Now if it would just work with Enterprise.
Dashboard report, drill down from deposit to check (skipped a few steps there) -- not impressed.
Tamara Berndt
Product Manager Client Services
Check Scanning module. Works with two devices, one named panini. You can get it at panara bread. Intergrates with Yardi tenant ledgers -- duh. She says it can read the amount though, that's cool.
Result page is color coded. Green is fine, Yellow means the amounts owed and paid are different. Red means Yardi says wtf.
She talks to fast.
Check Scanning module. Works with two devices, one named panini. You can get it at panara bread. Intergrates with Yardi tenant ledgers -- duh. She says it can read the amount though, that's cool.
Result page is color coded. Green is fine, Yellow means the amounts owed and paid are different. Red means Yardi says wtf.
She talks to fast.
PayScan
Pretty much PEC Ap so far. I'll let you know if we're missing any features. They're missing a few so far.
Don't think they have the new fancy group approve feature. Seems like they want you to actually review the payable before approving it. Weird.
The image will pop-out so you can move it to the other monitor. I'm pretty sure our does that.
They're inroducing something called AJacks, which means asynchronous apply jacks. Before you had to finish your bowl and get more, but now you can refill your bowl before it's empty, without hitting submit. We have that.
Nevermind on the group approve bit. They have two checkboxes though. Reject and Approve. No thanks.
Don't think they have the new fancy group approve feature. Seems like they want you to actually review the payable before approving it. Weird.
The image will pop-out so you can move it to the other monitor. I'm pretty sure our does that.
They're inroducing something called AJacks, which means asynchronous apply jacks. Before you had to finish your bowl and get more, but now you can refill your bowl before it's empty, without hitting submit. We have that.
Nevermind on the group approve bit. They have two checkboxes though. Reject and Approve. No thanks.
Commercial Property Portals Now
He must have read my mind. Showing the tenant logging in now where they can access the lease terms/clauses, some rent roll based info -- still has the ledger too.
Moving on to payables through "PayScan"
Moving on to payables through "PayScan"
Self-Service
Current Tenants also integrated on the same website. Tenants can view ledgers, make payments (ach or cc, or monthly), create work orders. That would be nice. Not sure if there's as much of a need for this type of interface for commercial tenants, but the integraion from prospect to tenant to Voyager reports to receivables and work orders is nice.
Web Developer
Looks like they have done a good job creating web based site development tools. End users should be able to create a decent looking (albeit template based (just like this blog)) web site for the property. Again integrated with Yardi Voyager, updating the reports that show prospects, and creating the new tenant record once they get approved.
Pretty cool. Keeps from duplicating work. Can they integrate it with the phone system prospects too?
Pretty cool. Keeps from duplicating work. Can they integrate it with the phone system prospects too?
Portal
Sorry, portals. Websites for prospects, investors, tenants, owerns. Again, old news for PEC. Maybe the'll have some features we can steal. That is besides the 'rotating picture jpegs' on the website.
Ok, now starting to sound like a prospect can schedule a showing (keep in mind this is residential, apply, get credit checked, move in, etc all through Yardi. Seems like that's good end-to-end integration.
Ok, now starting to sound like a prospect can schedule a showing (keep in mind this is residential, apply, get credit checked, move in, etc all through Yardi. Seems like that's good end-to-end integration.
Lots of improvements
But the changes they're touting seem a little too obvious to me. They have a knowledge base for trouble tickets, the developers meet with the tech support staff, they want to improve system performance and reliability.
Guess they needed to have something to get us started, but a fluff piece doesn't set the tone very well. My expectations are probably too high.
Guess they needed to have something to get us started, but a fluff piece doesn't set the tone very well. My expectations are probably too high.
Death by PowerPoint
Too soon for more slides.
Staffing Plan - Yardi hires people, people with real-world Yardi experience, wink wink.
Looks like we'll be spending a lot of time talking about the interal working of Yardi Corporate as far as their approach to client and employee training as well as internal reviewing of documentation and upgrades of new features.
Staffing Plan - Yardi hires people, people with real-world Yardi experience, wink wink.
Looks like we'll be spending a lot of time talking about the interal working of Yardi Corporate as far as their approach to client and employee training as well as internal reviewing of documentation and upgrades of new features.
John Pendergast
Senior Vice President Client Services
Pleanty of corporate-speaking to go around here. Service Oriented this, synergy that.
Moving on to vendors Yardi's purchased. Rcash, not so great. PEC Cash -- better.
Pleanty of corporate-speaking to go around here. Service Oriented this, synergy that.
Moving on to vendors Yardi's purchased. Rcash, not so great. PEC Cash -- better.
General Session
First up, the conference room is a little drab. Low lights and low spectial effects budget. The projectors alerady seem tired and there's really not enough pzaz on the graphics. Not a good sign for the polish on the next release.
First guy is giving us the run-down on who's speaking this morning.
First guy is giving us the run-down on who's speaking this morning.
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