Urgent - Crystal in RealPage(OneSite)/Yardi

Hi Folks,
I am interested to know how Crystal reports tie in to RealPage Property Management Software/Onesite and in Yardi. And one more question along the same lines is what is the back end database used for these applications Realpage and Yardi. Obviously I am new to this and any help appreciated.
Thanks
Mark

I am not sure I fully understand the question. In theory, you can use crystal reports with both systems. Both run SQLServer and/or Oracle databases. The issue is getting an ODBC connection to the database. Since OneSite is a SaaS / hosted solution you'll need to license the RealPage Cloud Connector which is nothing more than a special ODBC driver that allows connection to the underlying ODS.

In the case of Yardi, it depends. If data is hosted locally then you'll need a connection to the DB. If hosted elsewhere you'll need VPN access which might be a challenge.

Dirk,
Firstly, thanks a bunch for giving the earlier info.

Is there a way we can customize the out-of-box reports which are provided with the Realpage Onesite system? Sorry another basic question. Is Crystal reports given with Realpage onesite or like any other software we have to buy and license it and use it connecting to the Realpage hosted database (through the special ODBC connection)?

I am assuming its the second one.

Once we develop the Crystal reports, is there a way we can add it to the out-of-box reports on to our Company Realpage onesite login or we may have to use crystal enterprise to distribute the customized reports?
Thanks again.

I don't think you will have any luck connecting Crystal to OneSite. Unless RealPage has changed their policy they do not allow you to use ODBC to their hosted database. They do use MS SQL, but as far as I know they will not allow you the access you would need. Contact customer support to be certain.

RealPage does sell a reporting tool/ package but you will pay a fee for it and, I think, the access it not real time. Not that thst is usually much of an issue as you typically would report off a snapshot of your data taken at night.

Yardi is different, assuming you host the database. If you do, then Crystal can be used to report off the database which will be either Oracle or MS SQL. Given the choice, IMO you are better off going with SQL as Yardi develops first on that platform and later to Oracle.

Feel free to contact me if you have any specific questions on the systems.

Don
www.dbrw.com

Don,

We do allow connection to the UDS/ODS data via a new tool we call the RealPage Cloud Connector. It is essentially a specialized ODBC driver that connects to the hosted data via the internet using your reporting tool of choice (Access, Crystal, Excel). Another option is our Excel Add-In which allows direct connection to the databases.

Karma,
We do not currently allow customization of the canned reports in OneSite although this is a planned enhancement for 2010. Also, we do not include a license to Crystal Reports as part of the application. AFAIK there isn't currently a way to add your own reports into the OneSite UI. For better answers on all of these questions please contact mike.rusaw _at_ realpage.com. He runs our reporting group and can let you know is currently and will be possible. This is an area of focus for 2010.

Dirk

Adding to Dirk's note to Karma, while you cannot add custom reports into the OneSite UI, you can use the Real Page product called Central Reporting. Most (if not all?) data elements are available to create a custom report. For instance, my firm uses this product to produce a Weekly Operations Performance Summary. This pulls each site's data into one report which summarizes and tracks everything from leasing and occupancy performance to collections to delinquency to outstanding service requests.

Their can be some lag in the data if a site is not faithfully advancing their property date in the system. This is easy enough to manage though.

Another solution is to use the OneSite "Canned" reports by generating the reports in excel and creating Macros that grab the specific data necessary to generate the desire portfolio reports. This method requires the Site Data Exchange tool that allows bulk generation of groups of reports. Each of the report groups can be pulled per the parameters needed. There is time investment on the front end to build the macros, but this method ensures that all the data matches exactly with the OneSite Community Reports. As a result there is no lag time issue as group reports can be pulled on demand when all properties have been forwarded to the reporting date.

Mark,

I actually deal with both PMS on a weekly basis being a consultant and USER of both...Having done development and custom reporting in BOTH enviroments i can tell you i haven't seen a connection to Realpage for Crystal (and i doubt you will with the purchase of Evergreen), as i had talked with Real Page about a few months ago. They offer they offer a very basic reporting tool, which is pretty much useless...even simple reports are pretty messy to create, with VERY little customization...they have no BARE BONES coding involved, so no ground up reporting, just dealing with their cumbersome tool.

yardi has full integration with Crystal, and actually it doesn't matter if you're ASP or self-hosted you can still have COMPLETE access to developing reports, either thru your own version of crystal (self-hosted) or thru Citrix to your data farm at Yardi (ASP)...much better solution from a custom reporting...they also offer a useless tool (AdHoc) but the ability to write scripts/reports from scratch.

Yardi just offers more in this aspect, they offer you the tools, knowledge, and ability to customize, which to me from a developers stand point is paramount. You want canned everything go RealPage, you want something you can tailor to your needs, go Yardi...

Email me if you have any specific questions, or you'd like to continue the discussion.

[email protected]

Thanks,

Mike

To confirm as a member of the RealPage team; the RealPage Cloud Connector is a new option which in fact provides a direct ODBC connection to the UDS/ODS reporting data store using Crystal or a reporting tool of your choice.

Feel free to contact me directly for more information. dirk _at_ realpage.com

Hi folks,
Thanks a million for all the given help, I really appreciate it!