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7 Tools within Pilera to Enhance Your Vendor Management

Do you handle a wide array of vendor information, but need a more efficient way to organize them and gain important insights?  As you juggle a variety of maintenance projects this spring, we share 7 tools in Pilera that can help you efficiently manage the wealth of vendor information you hold.  Specifically, with these tools, you’ll be able to better record vendor information, categorize them, link them to communities they’re approved to work in, and rate them.

1) Data management

Tracking vendor information is essential so that you can effectively handle maintenance projects for your communities while saving time and managing cost.  In Pilera’s vendor management platform, you can keep a record of contact information, billing and physical addresses, documentation information such as Form 1099 and W9’s, staff names and contact information, notes about the vendor, and insurance expiration dates.  Specifically, you can track insurance expiration dates and amounts for your vendor’s workers compensation, general liability, and auto liability.

Track vendor information in Pilera such as insurance expiration.

2) Categories

Assigning each vendor to a category helps you to better organize vendor information and filter upon it to get access to the data quickly.  Additionally, when you create work order tickets, you can assign vendors according to the category you selected. There are 30 categories to which managers can add vendors to, including building repair, custodial, engineering, equipment, landscaping, mobile entry, painting, snow removal, water removal, and more.  

Add vendors to categories in Pilera.

3) Linked Communities

The linked community feature in Pilera’s vendor management application provides managers and staff with a quick way to associate vendors to multiple communities at once.  To use this feature, simply click on the vendor and in the right-hand panel, click on “Linked Communities”. Then select all the applicable communities and click “Review and Save”.

4) Vendor Sets

Vendor sets is a powerful way to categorize multiple vendors that share a common attribute and can then be linked to a community.  Let’s say that your company oversees different housing types that include HOA’s, apartments, condominiums, high rise residential buildings, and student housing.  You can then create a new vendor set for each type of housing and add vendors to that set. Vendor sets give you the flexibility to group vendors according to your company’s workflow or process.  You can also organize vendors into geographic location or other larger maintenance categories.

How to create a vendor set:

In the vendor management app, click on “Sets”.  Add a name, description, and then edit the vendor set to include the vendors that belong to it.  Navigate to the “Communities” tab and click on the community. In the right-hand panel, click on “Apply Vendor Set” and then select the set.  

Create vendor sets in Pilera.

5) Search vendors and communities

Pilera’s vendor management system can help you to track information quickly with its strong search capabilities.  In the search bar at the top, you’ll be able to search for communities, vendors, as well as partial text that you may have added in the vendor’s notes.   

6) Vendor ratings

Rating each vendor ensures that your staff is sending the right person for the job.  As you click on each vendor record, you will see a five-point rating scale where you can rate the vendor. Additionally, you can set “preferred” vendors in each community so that your staff is aware of which vendors they need to use.     

Vendor ratings

7) Vendor report

The vendor report helps managers to gain a high-level insight on current vendor information and certificate of insurance expirations.  Managers can download a Microsoft Excel report of all vendor information at any time. The vendor report consists of two tabs. In the first tab, managers will find a list of all vendors working for the company, their contact information, notes, and categories they have been assigned to.  The second tab displays a list of all vendors whose insurance has expired or will be expiring in the next 90 days.

Vendor report

Pilera’s vendor management tools are built to support a community or property management company’s vendor relations and increase staff productivity.  Insight into vendor performance/insurance expirations, access to important information in one central location, and the ability to organize vendors better across multiple communities are some of the most important use cases for community and property managers.  Additionally, through these tools, managers and staff will be better positioned to maintain vendor relations and provide quality customer support for their clients.