financial transactions involved with property sales. She keeps a record of both incoming (rent, bond, etc.) and outgoing (payments to owners, maintenance, etc.). She also generates receipts and...

financial transactions involved with property sales. She keeps a record of both incoming (rent, bond, etc.) and outgoing (payments to owners, maintenance, etc.). She also generates receipts and records of payment. A record of payment of rent and bond monies is stored in a spreadsheet. They are simply added as they come in so usually they are in date order but occasionally, when a backlog occurs they may be entered out of order.
The agency has a number of dealings with the Residential Tenancy Tribunal in the case of disputes between the tenant and the agency. When a tenant defaults on the rent, the owner is notified and if the default is not rectified, the owner may give permission for an order to be initiated against the tenant at the Tribunal. There are also occasions when maintenance must be carried out on properties. Except in emergency situations the approval of the owner must be obtained for such work. Usually the cost of maintenance is charged against the owner although sometimes it may be charged against the tenant and from time to time this can result in disputes.
The data gathered by the agency is stored in a variety of media throughout the office and a variety of means are used to convert this data to information. Data on rental payments is entered into the spreadsheet that enables easy financial manipulation and generation of relevant graphics for reports. Data on properties is stored on the Website where it is easily accessible by staff and customers both local and remote.
Data on property owners is kept in a file in a filing cabinet stored in alphabetical order of owner surname. Owners are regularly sent monthly rent cheques. Some owners own many properties in which case they are sent one cheque for each property.
You have been employed to analyse the current system and solve a number of problems by automating the relevant parts of the Property Rental system.


Problem 1
The Agency has received complaints about its online system from potential renters, both individual and institutional. This problem is aggravated by the fact that the information available in hard copy form (bulk listings) is compiled from the same electronic source that displays rental information on the Web. Not only has this resulted in additional work for staff but also, there is the risk that if people are unable to find what they want as quickly as possible (perhaps in one or two clicks) they might take their business elsewhere. While aware of the general problem, the Agency needs to understand its wider dimensions and implications. To this end it proposes to hire a consultant.
Problem 2
At the moment payments are entered on the payment spreadsheet as they come in, but several problems arise from the list being in date order. For example:
Problem 3
Currently there is a problem in keeping property owners up to date with the progress of rental payments due on their properties. Monthly rental cheques are created for each property, then mailed to the owners, but this is complicated by factors such as people owning multiple properties and instances of non-payment of rent. This creates extra work for the agency and often results in property owners being poorly informed and dissatisfied with the service.
Problems 4
When a tenant defaults on rent, they and the owner must be notified. If the default is not rectified the owner will give permission for an order to be initiated against the tenant at the tribunal. At present the progress from default to either rectification or eviction is done manually on paper and problems arise, particularly when a staff member following a case takes leave.
Problems 5
Maintenance activities on properties may result from:
• Emergencies, where the problem is fixed immediately and the owner informed later and sent an account from the tradesman.
• Damage caused by tenant action which is noted at the end of a rental and charged against the tenant’s bond.
• Fair ‘wear and tear’ which noted at the end of a tenancy and is charged against the owner after owner authorization.
• Non-emergencies reported as a problem by the tenants and which is authorized in time by the owner.