Customer Success Story
With Shareflex, the company optimises its processes, reduces paper mountains and creates flexible structures for the future.
Schmid Hausverwaltungen GmbH was facing a number of challenges that became apparent during the generational change in the company. Outdated systems, paper-based processes and fragmented data storage were complicating day-to-day operations and slowing the company’s efficiency and expansion. Documents often had to be searched for in physical files and archives, while key information was spread across a server and local computers. The need to modernise these structures became particularly apparent in the face of growing demands for digital processes and internal collaboration. This change was the starting point for a major transformation within the company.
Joining her father’s company, which he founded more than 25 years ago, marked a new beginning for Mareike Schmid, who had originally planned to open a branch of her parents’ business in Hamburg.
Schmid Hausverwaltungen, based in Singen (Baden-Württemberg), was founded in 1994 and converted into a limited liability company in 2012. The company is active in the areas of property management, rental management and commercial management and offers additional services through its subsidiary Schmid Immomanagement. Schmid Hausverwaltungen GmbH currently manages 216 properties with 3,641 residential units, some of which are located in Hamburg for historical reasons, but the majority in the Lake Constance region. The team consists of 13 employees who perform various tasks in the areas of accounting, technical administration and rent management.
But the coronavirus pandemic changed everything. Schmid and her family returned to the south of Germany. This change also meant a radical upheaval for her father’s company, where her brothers also worked. “I come from the software sector,” explains Mareike Schmid, CMO of Schmid Hausverwaltungen GmbH, “and when my father showed me the systems he was working with, I said that we urgently needed to modernise here.”
“It was all very cumbersome and outdated,” explains Schmid. The original plan was to close down in 2025. Uwe Schmid wanted to dissolve the property management company and retire. But after Corona, the youngest son, Moritz Schmid, was the first to join the company. Shortly afterwards, the older son, Patrick Schmid, followed suit. So all retirement plans were thrown overboard and a strategy for the future was developed. “So we had to ask ourselves the question: ‘What are we going to do?'” Because: “A lot was still printed.” This is still happening today because “some adjustments are simply still missing and many of the documents are subject to legal retention periods”. Furthermore: “We have a relatively large number of elderly owners who check the invoices, and it’s difficult to just send a link.”
Other obstacles made working with documents and data difficult: “Some data was stored on the server, some in the customer portal – and everyone had saved documents for themselves on their computers,” says Mareike Schmid. Even more: “We had to go down to the basement every time we needed older data. It was just too much trouble, especially when we needed data immediately on the phone to give faster and more detailed answers.”
To simplify processes, the company first introduced Casavi as a customer portal. “This gives our customers online access to all their data,” explains Mareike Schmid. However, one key component was still missing: a Document Management System (DMS) that could be adapted to the individual needs and file structures of Schmid Hausverwaltungen and connected to other software via interfaces. Schmid estimates: “I believe that, apart from tax offices and public authorities, there is hardly any other sector in which there are as many files as in property management.”
Most of the DMS solutions that Schmid Hausverwaltungen GmbH looked at turned out to be ‘too unpredictable and rigid’. As Mareike Schmid’s husband works for Portal Systems, they also considered their DMS Shareflex Documents. “We then sat down with Portal Systems to see if we could develop exactly the document management system we needed,” says Schmid. “The filing system had to match the folders we use here,” she says, citing one of the software requirements. Another: “The files should be downloadable so that we can make them available when properties are handed over.”
It was clear from the outset that an off-the-shelf DMS would not be sufficient for Schmid Hausverwaltungen. The flexibility of Portal Systems and its product Shareflex Documents made it possible to optimally support the complex file structures. “This adaptability was a decisive factor in our decision to go with Portal Systems,” recalls Mareike Schmid. “And because we use Microsoft, we now use Shareflex Documents based on Microsoft 365.”
Together with Portal Systems, Mareike Schmid then developed a digital file structure for her company and prepared it for her colleagues in an Excel spreadsheet. She then presented it to her team and said: “Look, we would start with these types of documents in these areas.” This gave everyone a chance to give feedback and tweak a few details – “Then development started”. Thanks to detailed project plans, everyone knew what needed to be done, so it only took three to four months from idea to implementation.
And were there any sticking points? “I always expect the unexpected with projects like this,” admits Mareike Schmid. “The most difficult question for us was which old files to digitise in the first place,” she recalls. For example, “in most cases no one is interested in correspondence from the 1990s, but we have to include a declaration of partition from 1993 because it is still important.” The sheer volume of documents that Schmid Hausverwaltungen has to deal with is impressive: “Imagine how many invoices you receive at home or in your company. We receive 220 copies of that.”
“It doesn’t really matter whether these documents arrive by post or digitally,” she explains, ticking off a list: “We receive contracts, we receive documents for correspondence, we receive documents from lawyers, from government agencies, from service providers, from tradesmen, from insurance companies – we just have a huge volume of documents for each property.” “When there is a change of ownership, there are even more than usual, and for some properties we also have to add the documents relating to the tenants,” says Schmid, describing the situation. Much of this information also has to be stored in paper form. “It would be nice to be able to solve this in a less bureaucratic way and just say ‘get rid of it’. But it’s not that simple, we always have to pass resolutions to be able to dispose of anything at all.”
Schmid Hausverwaltungen has been using Shareflex Documents since 2021. Mareike Schmid describes the most important changes: “We no longer have to search for documents in folders, which saves us a lot of time.” And:
“Instead of sending a lot of documents to the owners by post, we upload them to the DMS and can share them with the owners via an interface in the customer portal.”
Not having to do this by post is a huge simplification. “If you have a building with 100 units, you usually have to send a protocol at least 100 times. That costs a lot of time, money, paper, toner and postage.”
Regarding the introduction and acceptance of the new software, Mareike Schmid says: “My father has always been looking for new solutions, he is very open-minded when it comes to digital solutions and modernisation.” The employees, she explains, are also on board. “However, the fact that we have converted a large number of processes during this time makes it more difficult.” The company’s age structure, from the very young to the very old, is also a factor. “The younger people are always quicker when it comes to software,” says Schmid, “but acceptance increased even more when you could quickly search for documents in the DMS instead of having to go down to the basement.” The advantages quickly became apparent.
Shareflex® Documents
With Shareflex Documents you get a tailor-made solution for process and document management with SharePoint and Microsoft 365.
“Of course you still spend time scanning and filing, but if you can find these things more quickly instead of having to search through folders, it naturally takes less time to accept them.” Everything is easier to find, and the documents are linked to each other. Looking to the future, she says: “At some point, after digital invoice processing, we want to do automated invoice verification and automated bank statement processing online.” At that point, bookings, bank statements and invoices will be automatically attached to the relevant documents. “Then,” concludes Schmid, “everything will fall into place.”
All 13 employees at Schmid Hausverwaltungen now use the DMS Shareflex Documents. Portal Systems took care of the software training and at the same time adapted some points that were still causing problems. In addition to the DMS software, the company also opted for the digital contract management tool Shareflex Contract. “However, we have put this on hold for the time being,” says Mareike Schmid.
“We will have to use contract management a lot more in the future because it makes a lot of sense for us,” she says. “We simply have so many contracts that it’s impossible to keep track of them all.” She adds: “There are insurance contracts, caretaker contracts and other contracts for each property.” There are legionella tests, for example, that have to be ordered over and over again. And there are electricity and gas contracts that expire at some point. “We are still a bit sloppy with the digital side of all this. We need to work on that.”
Schmid Hausverwaltungen plans to continue working with Portal Systems. Mareike Schmid explains: “We will continue to develop Shareflex Documents internally, but we still need to make some adjustments.” She continues: “At the moment we receive digital bank statements from the bank accounts and invoices are read automatically. This data is then sent to the ERP for payment.”
The goal: “Ideally, at the end of the reconciliation, the property, the bank and the date are already included.” All this is needed for the statements, which are currently still printed and filed. “The next big step is for these to be automatically allocated, so we only have to download them when we need them.”
“There are a lot of companies and property owners’ associations who say, ‘Couldn’t you do this online?’ And it’s working quite well now,” says Mareike Schmid, describing the current situation. “Simply downloading the data works, but the account statements are currently still missing. I think that will eliminate another huge pile of paper.”
Mareike Schmid sees the flexibility of the solution as the last really big advantage of Shareflex: “Digitalisation and the move to software in the cloud are simply an advantage, because we can work anywhere in the world.” You also have to think about finding employees in the future, which is becoming increasingly difficult. “The more flexible you can be, the easier it is to recruit young mothers or fathers who can work flexibly from home when their child is ill. But the whole family also works more or less when they are on holiday. As a property manager, you never really have a weekend or a holiday.” Schmid concludes: “I think Shareflex is a great and flexible solution for the future.”
Patrick Carl
Chief Sales Officer
Email: info[at]portalsystems.de
This post is also available in: German