ICYMI: Release Notes Recap from Q3/Q4 of 2018

January 31, 2019

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Rent Manager

In Case You Missed It

New Year, New Features! Welcome to the first 2019 edition of the Rent Manager Release Report! The end of 2018 brought many new features to Rent Manager, and as always, we’re here to highlight some of our favorite enhancements to the program. To learn about these updates even faster, check your inbox for regular Release Notes emails or be on the lookout for the latest webinars and training courses in Rent Manager University (RMU).

Stay On Budget


Rent Manager’s budgeting features saw several improvements in the latest release. New data entry options allow you to enter your yearly budget totals and divide them evenly on a monthly basis or based on the previous budget’s monthly ratios. This allows for a clean and easy way to build budget reports to keep track of your business finances. The new Budget Comments feature enhances communication between staff members by allowing users to add comments to specific budgeting items. And with the new Budget Warning notifications, a yellow or red note will pop up to let you know you’re nearing or exceeding the budget you’ve set for that account. On the reporting end, we’ve added a Budget Exception Report that allows you to easily view accounts that are nearing or exceeding their budgets to help you stay on track for the year. For more financials-related tips, join our webinar on February 28th to ensure your financials stay on track with Rent Manager’s built-in budgeting tools.

Add Prospects Straight From Your Site

Automate the task of adding new prospects by utilizing the new Guest Cards feature on your website! This addition allows visitors to fill out a form on your site that automatically creates a new prospect account within Rent Manager. You can also set up notifications—one to thank each prospect for their interest and another to let your property manager know there’s a new opportunity in the system. If you’re not using Rent Manager’s Web Template Suite for your website, you’ll have to use a plug-in to gain this feature on your site.
*Use F1 to access the Help File and search “Guest Cards” for more information.

Streamline the Service Process

Is there a roof leaking at one of your properties? Or maybe it’s time to repaint a unit before new tenants move in? Thanks to this brand-new Service Manager feature, you can now add Issue Checklists to service requests that require multiple steps to complete. Assign users to specific items on the checklist, and they’ll be notified when it’s time for their step in the process. For repeatable service issues/steps, you also have the ability to create templates that pre-populate the same process to help save even more time and ensure nothing falls through the cracks.

Automate Accounting Steps

The accounting side of Rent Manager has received some exciting updates as well. Chances are you’ve been using Memorized Journals to represent the journal items that you make every month. Rent Manager has taken this process one step further with Recurring Journals. Different from Memorized Journals, where you still manually logged into the system and posted the journal, Recurring Journals allow you to automate this step! We’ve also made additions to the Reporting features in this area, with the new ability to make Period Adjustment Entries and exclude certain information from financial statements and reports. For example, if you depreciated your buildings more than the IRS would have, you’d need to adjust that back for tax purposes. However, you don’t want the adjustment included in your books. By selecting the Period Adjustment option, you can elect to exclude these adjustments from financial reports. This feature gives you the ability to include this information when you need it and exclude it when you don’t.

Sharing (Filters) is Caring!

Have you created a variety of custom filters to help sift and sort through information? Don’t keep them to yourself—share them! You can now save any of your custom filters and share them among other users in your system. For example, say that you want your staff to have the ability to quickly view all tenants with a balance due over 5 days old. Simply go to System Filters in the Setup dropdown to select the criteria, assign the filter to specific users, and voila! You’ll save time and reduce errors with predetermined criteria set consistently across your staff.

But, Wait… There’s More!

Check out Rent Manager University for the “ICYMI – Releases Q3 & Q4 2018” webinar to learn more about these latest features, and be sure to join us every Thursday at 2:00 PM ET for our weekly webinars.

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