Real-Time Insights Powered Through Centralized Business Intelligence

Client’s Challenge:

Al Rafay Consulting partnered with their client, in the commercial real estate industry, as they were experiencing challenges handling all their organization’s data that was stored in a variety of different spreadsheets and data sources. Without a proper solution, the client dealt with operational inefficiencies, late decision-making, and lost opportunities caused by the difficulty managing data on their occupancy rates, rental performance indicators, upcoming lease expiration dates, etc. In addition, when the data was extracted, it was raw and not easily merged with their different data sources. The absence of a centralized and automated system made it difficult to effectively track business performance. To solve these challenges, the client turned to Al Rafay Consulting to help build a custom solution. 

Client’s Goals and ARC’s Solution:

The client’s objective was to adopt a new system to manage real-time data from all their different data sources, including MRI, BPC, SAP, Nexus Payables, and Microsoft SharePoint. Their requirements also included access to their advanced, automated data analytics through interactive dashboards and reports to easily identify patterns, trends, and areas of opportunity for the business. Through this, they wanted to be able to effectively manage their real estate portfolio, as they would be provided with a holistic view of their portfolio’s performance, for the first time. It was also important to the client that the system enhanced their collaboration, leading to more productive discussions and decision-making. Instead of handling disjointed, outdated, spreadsheets, the goal was to create a sophisticated Business Intelligence (BI) system to provide real-time data insights for effective decision-making, through automated dashboards and custom data visualization. 

Al Rafay Consulting gained access to all the data sources their client wanted integrated to their new BI system, such as MRI and Nexus, and became experts in how these data sources worked. They then began to work on their BI solution, powered by Azure and PowerBI, and cleaned and transformed all the required data into a unified, automated platform. Through robust, interactive dashboards, data refreshes every four hours, and embedded KPIs, the client now has real-time insights into key metrics such as lease expirations, rental revenue, and occupancy trends. ARC’s custom solution has brought enhanced operational efficiency, simplified reporting, and established a scalable infrastructure to facilitate future growth and strategic development.

Results & Summary

Al Rafay Consulting successfully implemented their robust BI solution through deeply analyzing their clients’ needs and long-term goals, while using their expertise to automate their data management challenges. With 12+ BI dashboards, a minimum of 20 hours a week are saved from data gathering, data calculations, manual report building, manual visualizations and correspondence which now have been automated. In addition to time-savings, their client saves ~$104,000 per year, with ARC’s solution. 

From the discovery phase through post-implementation support, Al Rafay Consulting worked extensively with their client to optimize and streamline their real estate data management processes. The solutions features, including interactive dashboards and real-time, holistic data empowers collaboration and decision-making for all users. The improved visibility into their data not only improved their operational efficiency but also supports their overall growth and opportunities to capitalize on market opportunities.