How to set up property management software?

Choose your property management platform and follow its installation steps, whether cloud-based or on-premises. Create an admin account and enable any integrations your brokerage already uses (accounting, maintenance CRM). If you plan to capture tenant inquiries directly from your website, install Chatref’s widget now. Its onboarding wizard will walk you through connecting your knowledge base so the AI can answer common move-in and maintenance questions from day one.

Define your property types, unit statuses, and lease term defaults. Set up custom fields for rent collection, pet policies, and amenity tracking. Create email and document templates for lease agreements, notices, and welcome letters. Assign role-based permissions for leasing agents, accounting, and maintenance staff. Use Chatref’s custom-actions to automate repetitive tasks, like sending a standard lease document PDF when a prospect asks, “What are the move-in costs?”

Hold a kickoff training session to show the team how to log units, record payments, and manage work orders. Walk through the tenant lifecycle in the software from application to renewal. Make the onboarding steps stick by having each agent complete a checklist: add a test property, process a fake payment, and respond to a mock tenant chat using the shared-inbox. With Chatref, your team can monitor those tenant chats in real time and jump in only when the AI needs a human touch, reducing the learning curve for new staff.

Connect your property management software to your website’s contact and application forms. When a prospective tenant asks about availability, Chatref’s lead-capture can collect name, email, and preferred move-in date, then send that lead directly to your CRM. For current tenants, the chatbot answers late-night lockbox or rent questions while the shared-inbox keeps property managers in the loop. Tailor dashboards to show conversion rates from chat leads and track response times.

What data should I migrate first?

Start with active tenants and owners, current leases, and open work orders. Then migrate historical payment records and property details. This order keeps day-to-day operations uninterrupted while you validate the software’s performance.

How to invite team members?

In your property management software’s user management section, enter each team member’s email and assign a role (admin, leasing agent, maintenance, etc.). They will receive an invitation link. For Chatref, invite support agents to the shared inbox from the workspace settings so everyone can view and respond to tenant conversations.

Can I customize the dashboard?

Yes, most property management platforms let you rearrange widgets, choose key metrics like outstanding rent or vacancy rate, and save multiple dashboard views. Customize one for daily operations, one for financial reporting, and one that highlights Chatref lead-capture stats and common chat topics.

How to set up automated reports?

Navigate to the reports section, select a metric (e.g., rent roll, delinquency, maintenance turnaround), and set a schedule for daily, weekly, or monthly delivery to specific emails. Pair this with Chatref’s custom-actions to trigger a summary report into the shared inbox whenever a lease is renewed or a major maintenance ticket is closed.