{"id":16854,"date":"2016-12-02T05:00:12","date_gmt":"2016-12-02T13:00:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/?p=16854"},"modified":"2020-12-24T21:56:05","modified_gmt":"2020-12-25T05:56:05","slug":"upgrade-achievement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/upgrade-achievement\/","title":{"rendered":"Upgrade Achievement"},"content":{"rendered":"

The \u201cUpgrade Like a Rock Star\u201d series continues, offering insights for a smooth transiti\"kimberly_chambers-2\"on to Yardi Voyager\u00ae 7S<\/a>, our latest property management platform.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Getting Started<\/strong><\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe run lean and mean,\u201d laughs Chambers. \u201cSince we expected our users to handle their regular workload and test, it was, \u2018Okay, well, we\u2019re going to test what we can and then we\u2019re going to go for it.\u2019 And we did. And the conversion wasn\u2019t a very long timeframe.\u201d<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Chambers says, \u201cWhen 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\u2019t 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

Testing and Challenges<\/strong><\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was one of our challenges, trying to keep on top of the testing.\u00a0 We gave users some checklists to follow and asked, \u2018Have you tested? Have you worked on it?\u2019\u201d explains Chambers. \u201cBut 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo my one thing with it is that your permissions change,\u201d recalls Chambers with a sigh. \u201cThat 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

Buzz Oates also realized that a few of its reports and the bulk of its correspondences did not transfer over.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll 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,\u201d Chambers advises.<\/p>\n

Thorough preliminary testing paved the way for a relatively seamless conversion from Voyager 6 to 7S.<\/p>\n

Favorite New Features<\/strong><\/p>\n

Within two months of training, Buzz Oates went live with 7S. The staff enjoyed many of the new features, particularly the software\u2019s integration with Yardi PAYscan\u2122.<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cI think that\u2019s probably one of the biggest benefits to our group,\u201d begins Chambers. \u201cThe staff didn\u2019t have to go into a separate URL for PAYScan, which was huge.\u201d<\/p>\n

On the previous setup, users maintained separate credentials and screens for Voyager 6 and PAYScan.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou were constantly jumping back and forth,\u201d says Chambers. \u201cNow it\u2019s 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.\u201d<\/p>\n

During the transition from dual logins to a single credential, Buzz Oates opted to keep the PAYScan role due to its tighter security features.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Voyager 7S is compatible with several mobile apps, including the PAYscan app. It\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe PayScan app empowers folks when they\u2019re out in the field, especially our property managers visiting the properties,\u201d says Chambers. \u201cIt\u2019s great that they have the option to make approvals on the desktop or on their mobile devices.\u201d<\/p>\n

To learn more about Voyager 7S and its new features, register<\/a> for an upcoming webinar.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The \u201cUpgrade Like a Rock Star\u201d series continues, offering insights for a smooth transition to Yardi Voyager\u00ae 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 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":440,"featured_media":16894,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_s2mail":"yes","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,3354],"tags":[1752,116],"class_list":["post-16854","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-people","category-team-yardi","tag-buzz-oates","tag-yardi-client-profile"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nYardi Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The \u201cUpgrade Like a Rock Star\u201d series continues, offering insights for a smooth transition to Yardi Voyager\u00ae 7S, our latest property management platform.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Upgrade Achievement\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The \u201cUpgrade Like a Rock Star\u201d series continues, offering insights for a smooth transition to Yardi Voyager\u00ae 7S, our latest property management platform.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/upgrade-achievement\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Yardi Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-12-02T13:00:12+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-12-25T05:56:05+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/15\/2016\/12\/Kimberly_Chambers-2.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"250\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Erica Rasc\u00f3n\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Erica Rasc\u00f3n\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/upgrade-achievement\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.yardi.com\/blog\/upgrade-achievement\/\",\"name\":\"Upgrade Achievement - 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