IT system for managing building

[lkn]

Is anybody aware of a computerized building management system?

 

Such system would be able to handle things like:

 

• Daily/weekly/monthly to-do list for building staff.
• Task list / registering issues, for example change light bulb on 3rd floor.
• Accept meter readings, for example daily readings for building values and monthly readings for co-owners.
• Keep an account per resident where utility consumption is debited automatically, but it would also allow to be used as a POS system for services like cleaning or a replacement key card. Prepayment should be possible.
• Ability to print and email invoices to settle accounts.

 

Ideally I am thinking this should be a tablet application so the building staff can walk around with a tablet when doing inspection rounds, reading consumption meters, etc.

Edited January 26, 2017 by lkn

[lkn]

Even if you have no knowledge of such system, I would be interested in feedback about the feasibility of such system, what other things it could possibly do, and incase you are a board member or just familiar with the management of your building, if such system sounds appealing.

 

Not looking for business opportunities, I just want to improve record keeping in our own building, as too many things are written by hand, which means we have little usable data history to work with, mistakes are made, and tasks are forgotten.

 

[Peterw42]

I would say most condo management are using a computer system, I get bills for condo fees and water printed out, have a running account in the system. At any time i can go and ask for a printout, whats owing, water use etc.

Google condo manager software, lots of results. 

Edited January 26, 2017 by Peterw42

[lkn]

1 minute ago, Peterw42 said:

I would say most condo management are using a computer system, I get bills for condo fees and water printed out, have a running account in the system. At any time i can go and ask for a printout, whats owing, water use etc.

Definitely our accountant uses a spreadsheet as well, and we get printed monthly invoices.

 

But the actual meter readings for our utilities are written down on a piece of paper (given to the accountant), any “sale” at the front desk is written down in a receipt book (which is then passed onto the accountant), etc.

 

[Peterw42]

7 minutes ago, lkn said:

Definitely our accountant uses a spreadsheet as well, and we get printed monthly invoices.

 

But the actual meter readings for our utilities are written down on a piece of paper (given to the accountant), any “sale” at the front desk is written down in a receipt book (which is then passed onto the accountant), etc.

 

I dont think you can avoid the manual meter reading etc, unless you did a major investment in electronic meters wired back to a server etc. Handheld scanners etc, but someone still has to walk around to all the meters. The labor for that is cheap in thailand, and to enter the data.

[lkn]

14 minutes ago, Peterw42 said:

I dont think you can avoid the manual meter reading etc, unless you did a major investment in electronic meters wired back to a server etc. Handheld scanners etc, but someone still has to walk around to all the meters. The labor for that is cheap in thailand, and to enter the data.

I don’t want automatic readings (although today you have wireless meters, so no wires are required), I just don’t want the staff to write the number down on a piece of paper which is then handed to the accountant.

 

So e.g. on the 1st of the month, the staff sees a notification on the tablet that says “go read meter X”, they will go to meter X, enter the value and confirm it (it could show last reading and ask for confirmation if consumption is say, 100% more or less than last period), and once they have done this, an automatic email can be sent to the owner of this meter with how much their account has been debited, or possibly the accountant has to sign off on such email.

 

But my post was not specifically about meters, it is just an example of where a computerized system could probably improve the workflow.

 

Having a real point-of-sale system could also go a long way to eliminate petty cash at the front desk, as your account would just be debited with the services rendered, plus you would collect data that could be used to determine how much bottled water should be ordered for next week, etc.

 

[Peterw42]

3 minutes ago, lkn said:

I don’t want automatic readings (although today you have wireless meters, so no wires are required), I just don’t want the staff to write the number down on a piece of paper which is then handed to the accountant.

 

So e.g. on the 1st of the month, the staff sees a notification on the tablet that says “go read meter X”, they will go to meter X, enter the value and confirm it (it could show last reading and ask for confirmation if consumption is say, 100% more or less than last period), and once they have done this, an automatic email can be sent to the owner of this meter with how much their account has been debited, or possibly the accountant has to sign off on such email.

 

But my post was not specifically about meters, it is just an example of where a computerized system could probably improve the workflow.

 

Having a real point-of-sale system could also go a long way to eliminate petty cash at the front desk, as your account would just be debited with the services rendered, plus you would collect data that could be used to determine how much bottled water should be ordered for next week, etc.

 

I get what you are saying, i think some research and there would be scale-able software solutions, basic stand alone POS system then add backend to accountant software package, server package etc. There are POS dealers and shops around, with off the shelf hotel/condo software, and they do custom systems.

[lkn]

29 minutes ago, Peterw42 said:

There are POS dealers and shops around, with off the shelf hotel/condo software, and they do custom systems

I would think that many Thai condos face the same duties, so was hoping for an off-the-shelves solution, and my question was basically, if anyone was aware of such one :)

 

I don’t need someone to build me a custom solution because that is too expensive and I only recently started to take an interest in how my building is being run, so I don’t feel I have enough experience yet to specify exactly what we need.