Author Archives: HMS Cornerstone

About HMS Cornerstone

HMS Cornerstone Solutions is a premier provider of services and support for the Home Building, Property Management, Construction, Manufacturing, and Land Development industries. Our team has decades of experience with a wide range of software and ancillary systems - visit our About page to learn more.

Going Digital with Cornerstone:

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Are you using Digital Signatures yet? Even the IRS has said that as of March 30th it would “begin temporarily accepting digital signatures on documents related to the determination or collection of tax liability.”

Digital Signatures are perfect for maintaining social distancing – customers can sign from their homes, backyards, and even their cars. They are an extremely effective way to keep your business moving throughout any economic disruption.

Digital Signatures are fast and cost effective. They cut out the expense of printing, scanning, and mailing documents, automating your whole signature process. Who doesn’t need automation? Digital Signatures can be implemented through email and on mobile devices, making them available to all your customers. And all of your digital documents can be stored in one centralized repository, making edits and resends quick and easy.

If you have questions about Digital Signatures and how they work, Cornerstone has extensive experience integrating Homebuilder systems with Digital Signature technology. We can walk you through each solution, detailing the pros and cons and tailoring a solution that will work best for your company and your customers.

It’s time to jump onboard and make the Digital Signature change today – it is one change we can guarantee you are most certainly ready for!

 

The Art of Working From Home

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Successfully working from home is more than just setting aside a place, creating “office hours” or putting on regular clothes to get you in the mood. The Cornerstone team is happy to share some methods and mindsets to keep you on track and maximize your work day.

1. How to change from one task to another task mid-stream on a daily basis – this is difficult even when you are in a office setting! Here are a few tips:

– Mark down where you left off before moving onto the next task.
– Jot down any ideas you have for where you were headed when you left off.
– Communicate with anybody who needs to know about any delay in completing the task.

2. What to do if you can’t catch someone else on the phone

– Be patient – this is the best advice we can give. Don’t make any assumptions about why they have not responded. Everyone is busy.
– Follow up with an email. If you don’t want to put everything in the email that’s OK, just say that you want to meet with them to discuss more.
– If you really need to meet and haven’t heard, you can try to schedule a meeting and send them an invitation with a short explanation. Sometimes that will bring a quick response.

3. How to deal with projects that are suddenly abandoned

– Find out if there are outstanding items that need to be wrapped up.
– Let it go – unless you are a stakeholder, it is far better use of your time to try to assist with the next project.
– If you are a stakeholder, try to schedule or be part of a post-mortem discussion.
– If you think there is still value in a piece of the project, make your pitch to continue on with just that part or pitch a different project.

4. How to be strategic about scheduling your day

– Schedule an hour each morning just to catch up on email and communicate with people who are waiting to hear from you.
– Move tasks to a different folder or add new tasks to a list you are keeping so that you have one place that captures all your “To-Do’s.”
– Make a list of the things you want to work on today. Don’t include number of hours or say that you will finish any task, as your plans could get disrupted at any point.
– If you have any tasks that you did not complete that are high priority, make a note of this so that you can start on those tasks first tomorrow (after your catch up hour where you communicate that to your stakeholders).

5. How to be strategic about adding value and getting additional work

– Each morning, review your To-Do list and think about where your stakeholders are going or want to be with each project.
– If you see something that you think will add value to your task that will take negligible time to complete, or takes a little bit of time but will delight your stakeholders, add it to your To-Do list.
– If your value add will also add significant hours, pitch the idea to the stakeholders first. Say, “I think this could bring you tremendous value and this is why” and wait for an answer before you proceed.
– Don’t invest emotionally in projects or tasks. If you feel strongly about the benefits, list them out for stakeholders and quantify them wherever possible. Cold facts are going to beat passionate feelings any day.

6. Communication

– Don’t shy away from communicating news that someone else does not want to hear. Start by drafting an email in Word or Notepad. Take your time to massage your draft until it conveys the tone and message that you want to send without being offensive to anyone.
– Decide whether the message is better conveyed on a call or face to face (if you have that option). If it is, you have your script ready from your draft email. If you cannot reach the person(s) in your chosen method, send the email explaining that and ask to meet for further discussion.
– Communicate daily if you have not set up a date to give your next status update. If you don’t need to give daily updates, set up a date to give your next status update…and stick to it.
– If you encounter an issue, include that in your status update. It may have a bigger impact than you realize.

7. When to meet facetime to facetime (or similar)

– When you haven’t touched base with your stakeholders for a while, especially if things aren’t going well. You can convey emotions and show concern much better than with email.
– When you are trying to salvage a project or need to convey more bad news.
– Anytime you have been conversing via email and relationships have not been improving.
– Kickoff meetings and/or when you are getting to know a team for a project.
– You would like more work with the stakeholder in the near future, or you are pitching an idea for another project. A personal touch is a good idea in this situation.

Have more questions? Ask Joe!

Watch out for this Real Estate Scam

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If someone bilked you out of $500, would the police pursue the case? Would you pursue the case? (If you said ‘yes’ to that last question, you are probably making the assumption that the money would be recovered quickly. The longer and more effort it takes, the less likely you’ll continue to pursue the case…or collect anything.)

The latest Real Estate scam counts on it not being “worth the time” to track down the culprit. Here’s how it works:

1. The scammer rents an Airbnb with a stolen credit card and a burner phone.
2. The scammer uses the photos online and information to advertise a room for rent on Craig’s List.
3. On the date of the Airbnb rental the scammer shows up, obtains the key, and makes copies.
4. During the rental period the scammer shows the room, provides a bogus ‘contract’ to sign, collects a deposit and provides the ‘renter’ with a key.

Some scammers have several “showings” a day, collecting several thousand dollars from unwitting victims. Most victims don’t bat an eye at the fact that the funds are requested in cashier’s checks as that is a normal request of legitimate landlords.

This scam is particularly successful because the scammer checks all the boxes: receipt of funds, contract, key…all appearances point to a legitimate transaction. It is also successful for the scammer because the amount that s/he scams individual victims out of is small enough that the likelihood of the victim to try to or be able to recover it is low.

Let’s talk about PropTech

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Proptech may be the technology that assists real estate professionals with performing their daily tasks, but there are a wide range of ways this technology has been implemented, and to varying degrees of success.

Some people are concerned that the ever growing technology sector will push humans out of the equation. But according to Forbes, property managers provide superior personalized experiences for tenants, as well as acting as advisors to owners for “opportunities to buy, sell, invest or upgrade properties” and consult on ever-changing regulations and bylaws, thus making them an effective investment for the foreseeable future.

But in addition to that unsurpassed human experience, technology is needed to meet the expectations of savvy consumers and to give property managers back the time they need to build real relationships with their customers.

To train and retain excellent property managers, owners need to ensure that mentors are available to all new hires. Forbes suggests focusing company culture, though their advice on providing growth opportunities may not be feasible in smaller communities.

No doubt property managers are excited to get their hands on all the new technology emerging almost daily. According to cpexecutive.com, instead of a property manager turning on a piece of equipment and just setting the temperature, they’re now able to receive additional analytics that allow for fine-tuning the equipment. ‘Roving engineers’ use predictive technology to monitor from afar and only go onsite if there’s an alerting request.

For commercial buildings, propmodo.com says proptech “should be capable of handling mountains of complex data while providing actionable insights in real time, such as locating a specific worker.” Further, it should be able to report problems in tenant spaces and common areas as well as handle vacancies and contracts.

For more insights into PropTech and the human factor, check out the articles below:

https://www.propmodo.com/how-iot-can-power-scalability-in-office-and-property-management/

https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesrealestatecouncil/2019/10/01/how-property-managers-can-survive-and-thrive-in-the-era-of-proptech/#3e775fe32bd0

https://www.cpexecutive.com/post/how-big-data-is-reshaping-property-management/

https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesrealestatecouncil/2019/09/12/how-to-keep-talent-in-property-management-its-your-biggest-problem/#14b580fd2ab1

100 yr old homes become Passive

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Baxt Ingui, a New York City architecture and interior design firm, achieved a few modest (wink) goals so far: The first certified passive house in a landmark district, the first certified passive house in Manhattan (also LEED Platinum), and the first Passive Plus house in the United States.

These projects, and several others shown on their website, highlight their commitment to retrofit existing houses to “use a fraction of the energy that a typical residence consumes, have better air quality, and [be] more comfortable to live in.”

Check out the entire gallery on their website: https://www.baxtingui.com/passive-house/

Systems Selections Booming

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We are almost through Q2 for 2019 and we can tell you that there is a definite trend afoot in the real estate industry. In the last six months, we’ve seen a surge in “system selection” projects. These are not small ancillary system projects, these are ERP projects all across the industry – including land developers, home builders and property/asset management companies.

Why this sudden movement? If you’ve been around as long as the Cornerstone team, you can recall how Y2K forced so many of us to upgrade our back-office systems. For many companies, that was the last time they took a hard look at the future of their systems. Folks, that was 19 years ago. To be fair, some companies did make changes in the last ten years, but that window is also aging out.

None of us want to upgrade or change systems. Yet, technology is moving so fast that many of those aging systems are leaving us. For example, if you are on SAP you will soon need to move to their new platform SAP S4/HANA. That will mean almost a full re-implementation for you. If you find yourself in that situation, facing full implementation costs and changes, it is incumbent on you to do your due diligence and include a comparison of alternative solutions in your analysis.

Many other real estate products have been on minimal support and don’t seem to be upgrading; some products have only one or two sources left supporting them. If this is the case with your system, you really need to look forward. Yep, pull your head out of the sand. Or, if you feel you are already above the ground, look around you…are you painting the organization in a corner because you’re waiting to address what you already know is coming?

Some of the products that we see as the “senior” of the “senior citizens” include not only the old SAP, but JDE One World, FAST, Trueline, a version of Builder MT and more. These products have served us well, but if your organization is counting on them, you need to take a serious look at “how much longer?” Not only are you missing out on new technology, features, and tools, but eventually something is going to give. For example, if you are on a product utilizing the AS400 and the hardware goes down, you will need to upgrade to expensive new hardware just to be able to hold on until you can complete a new system selection and implementation.

Don’t drag your company down into defensive mode, go beyond offensive mode and move into pro-active mode. Ask yourself the hard questions and start prepping your management and co-workers for change. Get on the next budget cycle early and make a solid case for necessary expenditures. Assemble teams and include a wide range of departments to build requirements, foster buy in, and ensure your selection is the best one for your entire company. And feel free to give us a call for help; as Cornerstone has done many, many of these projects (= we have the templates!)

SQL Spring Cleaning: You KNOW You Need it!

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Tis the Season of Spring Cleaning! While washing your car and scrubbing the window sills, be sure to include your SQL Server environment in your whirlwind of activity. Yes, much like the base boards, your SQL Server environment needs a little extra ‘maintenance’ attention now again.

Upgrade

Upgrading seems obvious, but we see a significant number of SQL Server installations running on the 2008 and 2012 versions. These SQL Server versions were all reasonably solid, so the “if it isn’t broke, don’t fix it” mentality has created a lag behind. Upgrades do more than solve problems however – they also provide new functionality and address issues that exist, but my not be obvious. Additionally, support for SQL Server 2008 R2 ends July 9, 2019, and SQL Server 2012 is scheduled to reach the end of its lifecycle in only three years. This may seem like a lot of time, but depending upon your other projects and your environment, 36 months can come around quickly. If you are on a SQL Server version below SQL Server 106, we recommend you upgrade to SQL Server 2017. Please review the Supported Version and Edition Upgrades for SQL Server 2017 and the Upgrade to SQL 2017 articles, published by Microsoft, to plan and execute your upgrade.

Since many of our clients leverage SQL Server Reporting Services, we wanted to highlight two items specific to this feature. First, the look and feel of Reporting Services changed significantly in SQL Server 2016, along with adding some long-awaited functionality, such as the ability to control parameter layout, mobile reports, and KPIs in the SSRS Web Portal. Second, the Reporting Services installation is now a separate download and install, rather than a feature component of the SQL Server installation.

Evaluate Licensing

SQL Server 2017 Standard Edition can be licensed on a Server + CAL or a Per Core basis. Your Edition and current license agreement will impact your options. Take a moment to touch base with your Microsoft Software Licensing Provider for a period review of your licensing costs.

Perform an Access Review

Databases move, turnover occurs, leaving orphaned users and old windows accounts straggling as a result. Take a moment to run the sp_validateusers stored procedure to identify an Windows accounts that need attention. SQL orphaned users take a bit more research: the MSSQL Tips article, Different Ways to Find SQL Server Orphaned Users, defines scripts for locating and addressing these.

Review the Basics

The turn of the seasons is a good way to schedule a review of your database health, which should be performed multiple times a year. Review your indexes for fragmentation, your databases for overgrown log files or outdated backups. Schedule and perform a “test drive” of a database restore. It is better to identify problems during a test drive than find out your backups are no good in the middle of a real-life issue. Check your SQL Agent Jobs to make sure they are working as desired and retire any jobs that are no longer needed. Evaluate your Reporting Services Subscriptions and confirm their distribution list is current. Confirm your SQL Server Maintenance Plans are performing tasks against all appropriate databases.

Touch Base with Your Team

Ask the users of the applications that depend upon SQL Server how those applications are performing. Users are the eyes and ears of your back-office system performance, so reach out and solicit their feedback. Team members are often the first to feel the impact of a missing or fragmented index or suffer the delays of a poorly written query. While the performance issue may not be something that can be resolved immediately, often times it can be resolved in time or mitigated. Healthy environments make happy users!