How to Say Goodbye to Spreadsheets for Senior Living Property Management

Cut and paste. Write formulas. Are they correct? Was that cell copied? Does that column total correctly?

Let’s face it. Spreadsheets are no longer trés chic. They’re cumbersome, often inaccurate because of human error and bulky when reviewing and distributing all across the company.

But most businesses rely on spreadsheets for budgeting, planning and forecasting revenue. If this is true for your senior living business, it’s time to make a change for 2019.

Streamlining budgeting in the world of senior living

The senior living business has gotten far too complicated to manage using traditional methods. Housing operators deal with a unique set of variables that many other businesses just don’t face. Every resident needs special care, which defies using many outdated business practices. Being able to streamline the budgeting process is critical for senior living.

Of course, every budget has good intentions and assumptions are made that it’s a matter of pulling together data from all the departments and blending into one presentation. The truth is, combining spreadsheets from other areas is time consuming and information may be inaccurate. More time is spent collecting data than analyzing it.

Also, just upping the numbers a bit isn’t realistic. It’s a simple approach and one that only seems likely to be easily approved. However, businesses change and the budgeting process has to conform to peaks and valleys, whether it’s in occupancy or changes in laws and regulations that affect costs or revenue.

Spreadsheets also don’t account for change and allow for effective collaboration. That usually means having to explain variances to the budget every single month to owners and investors.

Addressing critical business components with reliability

Today’s forward-thinking senior living operators are relying more on web-based budgeting tools that integrate with existing property management and accounting systems. Tools help guide properties through a balanced, fair and actionable budgeting process to address and communicate critical business components like:

• Performance targets
• A baseline for property reviews
• Income and expense projections based on market drivers and assumptions
• Capital improvements, planning and projections
• Property issues that need to be resolved

RealPage® Budgeting is designed by, and for, the real estate industry and for the complexities of senior living communities today. The web-based solution helps pull together information from all functions and create plans and budgets that are timely, relevant and adjustable for when dynamic expenses happen.

The right budgeting platform can save time, reduce costs, improve accuracy, increase visibility and encourage collaboration, and forecast quickly … without subjecting the property or portfolio to the pitfalls of traditional spreadsheets and methods.

It’s time to do away with bad habits, especially when entering a new budget cycle.

Learn how to gain budgeting control in 2019. Download the new eBook, “Time to Bite the Budget.”