Every facility management team faces the same frustrations. Vendors with multiple remittance addresses require duplicate records. Capital assets are tracked in Excel spreadsheets. Inspections are done on paper because the system isn't mobile-friendly. These aren't unique problems; they're industry-wide pain points with proven solutions.
After hundreds of facility management implementations, we've compiled the most frequently asked questions from property teams. If you're struggling with any of these, you're not alone, and there are answers.
Q: We have vendors with multiple departments requiring different payment addresses. Do we really need separate vendor records for each?
A: No. Modern property management systems, such as Yardi, offer "Remittance Vendor" features that allow a single parent vendor to have multiple remittance addresses. When entering an invoice, you select the appropriate address. This eliminates duplicate vendor records across municipalities and utilities, reducing errors and simplifying vendor management.
Q: Our vendors never know when POs are approved. We email them manually every time. Is there a better way?
A: Absolutely. Automated PO notifications can be configured to trigger immediately upon workflow approval. The vendor receives an email with the PO attached as a PDF no manual intervention required. This accelerates procurement and ensures vendors can begin work without delay.
Q: We can't find our service contracts when we need them. Is there really no way to search for them?
A: Service contracts typically do have record IDs; the issue is usually inconsistent naming conventions. When contracts are named differently by different staff members, searching becomes impossible. The solution is to establish strict naming conventions validated by workflow rules. Once implemented, finding any contract takes seconds instead of hours.
Q: Our capital assets are tracked in Excel. How do we connect equipment history to maintenance records?
A: This is one of the most common pain points in facility management. The solution is a centralized Capital Catalog within your property management system. Assets are stored in the database, linked directly to work orders, and available for lifecycle forecasting. When a work order is created for an HVAC unit, you can view its full repair history. When planning capital expenditures, you have actual data instead of guesswork.
Q: We need to track property-level risks like flood zones or environmental hazards. Where does this information go?
A: Property Attributes fields can store isolated risk data on the property record itself. Configure drop-down fields for "Flood Zone," "Seismic Risk," or any other risk category relevant to your portfolio. This enables portfolio-wide reporting on risk exposure, invaluable for insurance, due diligence, and capital planning.
Q: Different staff members name assets differently. How do we get consistent data?
A: System-driven naming conventions with validation rules eliminate this problem. Instead of free-text entry where one person enters "AC Unit" and another enters "HVAC-1," the system enforces standardized naming. This seems minor until you try to run a report on all HVAC equipment and discover your data is unusable.
Q: Our inspection process involves printing sheets, taking notes, and then entering data later. Can we do this on mobile?
A: Yes—and you should. Mobile inspection apps enable real-time data entry on-site, eliminating double-entry and ensuring nothing is lost between the property visit and the office. Inspectors capture photos, check items, and add notes directly in the system. The data is immediately available for reporting.
Q: We set up a planned maintenance schedule incorrectly. Now we can't edit it without deleting everything?
A: This is a common frustration with preventive maintenance modules. The solution is to ensure your system is configured to allow PPM edits without requiring a complete recreation. This should be addressed during implementation. If you're experiencing this limitation, it may be a configuration issue rather than a system constraint.
Q: We can't see which Purchase Orders are tied to which Work Orders without clicking into each one individually.
A: This is a reporting configuration issue. Adding columns to existing analytics or creating custom reports that link POs to Work Orders solves the problem. You should be able to see these relationships at a glance, not through manual investigation.
Q: Should we implement a vendor portal for invoice submission?
A: Vendor portals sound good in theory, but often suffer from low adoption. Vendors prefer their existing processes. Before investing in portal implementation, assess whether your vendors will actually use it. Many organizations find that email-based processes, combined with OCR, deliver better results with less friction.
Assetsoft specializes in implementing facility management systems across Yardi, MRI, and integrated platforms. If these pain points sound familiar, we've likely solved them before. Contact us at www.assetsoft.biz
