Use Atlas daily
Overview¶
Goal: Use Atlas Intelligence as a regular part of your week, asking it about an association, then following what it tells you into the module where you confirm the figure or act on it.
Audience: Account Admins, Property Managers, CFOs, Finance Managers, and Reserve Analysts who manage one or more associations in SmartProperty.
Atlas answers questions about an association in plain language, built from the reserve data already in SmartProperty. Asked once, it answers one question. Asked as part of a weekly routine, it becomes the way you check in on each association before you open the module where the work actually happens.
Setup¶
SmartProperty sets up Atlas access for each person who needs it. Without that access, "Intelligence" does not appear in your left menu. Giving one colleague access does not add it for anyone else on your team, so contact SmartProperty for each person who needs it.
Atlas answers about the one association selected in the top bar. Select the association you mean before you open Intelligence, and if you manage several associations, plan to repeat that step for each one during the week.
If your Portfolio has "Portfolio Analytics" turned on, "Portfolio Intelligence" adds a second way to ask Atlas about your associations, comparing them against each other rather than one at a time. "Portfolio Intelligence" needs its own access in addition to Atlas access on a property.
"Reserve Studies", "Financial Management", "Projects", "Maintenance", and "Reports" each need their own view or edit access. Without edit access to a module, the controls Atlas points you toward are not shown. See What Can Each User Role Do? (Role Permissions Reference) for what each role can do in each module.
How-to¶
Start the week by opening "Intelligence" for each association you manage, and ask Atlas what changed since you last checked, such as a component nearing replacement or a funding figure that moved. Atlas answers from the association selected in the top bar, so each one gets its own pass, and you come away with a short list of what needs attention this week. How do I open Atlas Intelligence, and what data does it see?
When that list includes a question about a component or the reserve study behind it, such as which components are driving a figure or how well funded the association is, open the reserve study itself and confirm the number on its own screen. You leave knowing whether the figure Atlas gave you is the one your reserve study actually shows. What a reserve study is and what it tells you
When the list includes a funding figure that does not match the plan your board approved, open "Financial Management" and correct the figure Atlas is reading from. "Expenditures by Category" then matches the "Summary of Funding Plans" for that plan. How do I make my reserve study match my approved Funding Plan?
When the list includes a replacement that is coming due, create a project for it. The work is now scheduled, and its cost is tracked against your reserves. Create a project
When the list includes upkeep that needs to happen on a schedule, log it as a maintenance task and assign who will do it. The work is now on the calendar, and whoever you assigned starts receiving reminders as it comes due. Create a maintenance task
Ahead of a board meeting, ask Atlas which figures are current for that meeting, then generate the report that documents them. You end with a document ready to print or send. Generate and export a report
If you oversee more than one association, close the week with "Portfolio Intelligence" and compare your associations against each other instead of reading each one separately. You come away with a Portfolio level view instead of a set of separate answers. How do I open Atlas Intelligence, and what data does it see?
Reference¶
Confirm before you rely on a figure¶
An answer about the wrong association, or the wrong year, reads exactly like an answer about the right one. Name the association and the year in your question, and confirm a figure on the property's own screen before it goes into a board conversation or a funding decision.
One association at a time¶
Atlas answers about the association selected in the top bar. Managing several associations means repeating the steps above, association by association, rather than asking Atlas once for all of them. "Portfolio Intelligence" is the exception: it answers about the associations in your Portfolio together.
Related articles¶
How do I open Atlas Intelligence, and what data does it see?
What a reserve study is and what it tells you
How do I make my reserve study match my approved Funding Plan?