Description
Unit Connect is an online property management software developed for entrepreneurs from the US. This solution is designed to help commercial and residential property managers, as well as landlords, to facilitate the management of their properties and promote their business development.
Back Story
Unit Connect got its start as an alternative to existing real estate software, which is oversaturated with functionalities yet is still unable cope with the complexities of property management. Such software, according to customer opinion, can’t handle the complexity of professional property management.
As such, our clients decided to develop their own back-to-basics real estate software; they have put the following principles into the concept of their solution:
Challenges
Our clients had been using a simple solution since 2007, however, not all of the required features had been implemented, and it was running on outdated technologies. This wasn’t convenient, particularly because the clients wanted to further develop their software and extend functionality. Additionally, it was necessary to change the development approach in order to implement a specific payment system that supports the creation of recurring payments.
- Update technologies to increase website performance and extend its functionality
- Implement payment system to make it more agile and convenient for users
Renovation of Technologies
Since Unit Connect was developed using outdated technologies, we had to, point by point, update technologies. It is crucial to do in a way that prevents a violation of the complex logic of the website. In order to do this, it was necessary to change the development approach.
Some areas where performance was affected were migrated to Dapper -it was also agreed that all new features would be created directly on Dapper, instead of using the already implemented data repositories running on EntityFramework or Linq2Sql. This significantly increases productivity, as well as simplifies support and updates.
We also replaced .asmx Web Service with ASP.NET Web API, to facilitate the further support and maintenance of the website. This decision was also made due to the need to apply some functions that would be more expensive to introduce using WebServices, and would limit our ability to properly redesign the system.
Specific Payment System
A payment system for one-time payments had already been implemented in Unit Connect. However, the client wanted users to be able to create recurring payments by specifying a particular day of each month the payment would be repeated. In addition, it was necessary to allow customers to specify a date for one-off payments.
View and manage Tenant Invoices for specific property and billing cycle
Find bills quickly and conveniently by bill number and account number
Print Bills quickly for specific property(ies) and/or Tenants
Create new bills and close previous month
After examining their current system, it became clear that it was not suitable for this purpose. When the payment system was developed, it didn't have the potential for further expansion. Considering the fact that this system was linked to different parts of the service, making any changes could have led to the failure of the entire system.
After some discussion, we solved the problem by taking the existing payment system down and developing it from scratch, being mindful of all expectations, as well as problems that arose in the previous version of the system. We updated all the places where the payment system interacted with the rest of the service, laying the possibility to expand in the future.
Technologies
Backend
- ASP.NET Web Forms
- ASP.NET Web API
- ASP.NET MVC/API
Data Storage
- MS SQL Server
- MS SQL Reports Server
- Mongo DB
- Dapper
- Entity Framework
- LINQ To SQL
Frontend
- jQuery
- jQuery Plugins
- AngularJS
- AngularJS Bootstrap
Other
- Stripe.Net (Payments)
- Forte.Net (ACH Payments)
- Hangfire
- Segment
- Elasticsearch
- TableDependency
Scope of Work
The Result
Nowadays, Unit Connect is used actively on a daily basis by more than 1,000 companies. Their clients note that this is the most centralised and user-friendly software among real estate solutions. Additionally, it allows clients to save over 25 % of their operating costs by transforming businesses into paperless offices.
The modern technologies used in Unit Connect aim to ensure the website continues its high performance, as well as make it easy to maintain. When re-coding the system, we took into account the possibility to raise system’s potential, no matter how complicated the client’s requirements might be.
