How to automate workflows for efficient property management operations

Property managers don’t just have a lot on their plate. With their workload, they’re juggling multiple full plates while balancing on a unicycle. So let’s look at how workflow automation can clean up the chaos and reduce the workload, with the help of two well-known proptech companies.

In property management, workflow automation uses software to automate a wide range of repetitive tasks like rent collection, access control, tenant communication, lease renewals, and maintenance work order management. 

For most building managers, these constant tasks create a reactive management style. Through automation, that reactivity can be turned into proactivity by setting up processes that anticipate needs and address them by triggering the right action at the right time. Not only will this positively impact the tenant experience, it will also reduce stress for onsite teams, saving both time and operational costs in the long run.

A combination of two SaaS solutions can streamline and automate a large portion of property operations: a property management system (PMS), and a tenant experience platform. Let’s examine the options to see how this tech stack can reduce the workload, using the two well-known SaaS platforms Moderan and Spaceflow. 

Workflows to automate

• Lease administration and rent collection
• Maintenance and repairs
• Tenant relations and communication
• Vendor and contractor management
• Space planning and utilization
• Energy management and sustainability
• Security and access control

Lease administration and rent collection

Lease administration sits at the heart of property management. As it’s where operational precision meets financial accuracy. From indexing, to operating expenses, and common area maintenance (CAM), even small miscalculations can ripple across portfolios and impact revenue. That’s why automating these processes is crucial, since doing so helps ensure consistency, reduce errors, and free up time for higher-value work.

Moderan (PMS)

Moderan simplifies this by automating complex financial calculations — from utility splitting and CAM reconciliation to OpEx tracking and indexation — generating accurate rent roll data and minimizing revenue leakage. 

And when paired with Spaceflow, automation can extend beyond finance: lease data can trigger tenant onboarding and offboarding directly in the app, ensuring smooth access management and full compliance with lease terms. The result is a seamless workflow that connects financial control with tenant experience.

Spaceflow (Tenant experience platform)

As the tenant-facing portal for viewing leases, by syncing invoices from the PMS, Spaceflow supports seamless in-app payments for amenities, reducing late payments and administrative chases.  

Maintenance and repairs

In property management there are always new costs to plan for, and maintenance and repairs are among the most frequent. Classified as Operating Expenses (OPEX), they represent the recurring, day-to-day investments needed to keep buildings running and assets in good condition. A leaking pipe, a broken lock, or a malfunctioning HVAC unit may seem like small issues on their own, but together they form a major part of a property’s operating budget.

These requests are usually logged and assigned in dedicated ticketing platforms, which makes sense for task management. But because OPEX directly impacts profitability, the data can’t remain siloed in those systems. If repair costs aren’t connected to the financial view, it’s impossible to see their effect on the portfolio as a whole.

Moderan (PMS)

The solution is to integrate this information into one property portfolio management system, where every property’s full story is visible — from costs to contracts. With the right integrations, connected workflows ensure that both the financial and operational sides remain transparent, so nothing slips through the cracks.

Spaceflow (Tenant experience platform)

Spaceflow drastically cuts resolution time and OpEx with the mobile Ticketing module. It automates request submission, status updates, and staff assignment, replacing time-consuming phone calls and fragmented email chains. 

By linking the fast, user-friendly tenant communication tool (Spaceflow TenEx platform) with the accurate asset/lease context (Moderan PMS), these two SaaS solutions save OpEx, speed up time to resolution, and boost tenant satisfaction and retention.

Tenant relations and communication

Strong tenant relationships rely on clear and consistent communication, yet this is one of the most time-consuming parts of property management. From everyday updates to critical notices, managers often find themselves digging through contracts or juggling different tools just to make sure tenants have the right information. Small mistakes — a late reminder, a miscalculated adjustment — can quickly erode trust and create unnecessary disputes.

A good example is rent indexation. Traditionally, managers would review leases line by line, calculate the adjustment manually, and draft a notice for each tenant. As you can imagine, this is a repetitive process with plenty of room for error. 

Moderan (PMS)

Dedicated property management systems calculate changes directly from the lease record. This generates consistent, timely communications in one step.

By tying communication back to the lease data, property teams save time, reduce risk, and provide tenants with the confidence that every notice is accurate. The result is smoother operations and stronger tenant relationships built on reliability and transparency.

Spaceflow (Tenant experience platform)

With the tenant app, Spaceflow automates mass and targeted tenant communications via push notifications, newsfeeds, alerts, surveys, and ticketing, replacing fragmented manual email or flyer campaigns and ensuring consistent delivery of building information.

By integrating the two solutions, you set up a consistent sync of tenant data to make sure the right message reaches the right person at the right time without wasting time managing lists and liability.

Vendor and contractor management

Vendors and contractors play a crucial role in property management, encompassing anything from routine cleaning to major renovations. Their costs can fall under either OPEX or CAPEX, depending on whether the work is part of daily upkeep or a long-term investment. In both cases, clear tracking is essential. Yet too often, contracts, invoices, and approvals are scattered across email chains and filing systems, making it difficult to see the full financial picture.

When this information is disconnected, managers risk missed deadlines, lost documents, or an incomplete view of portfolio spending. The solution is to bring everything back into the portfolio management system, where expenses, agreements, and timelines are visible in one place.

Moderan (PMS)

Centralizing this information within a portfolio management system helps teams stay ahead of renewals, track compliance, and manage budgets with confidence. 

For instance, in Moderan,contracts and related documents can be stored centrally, under Service Contracts. Here contracts are linked directly to their properties, and include a place to set reminders for key dates such as renewals. This ensures proactive management, compliance, and a complete financial story for every asset.

Moderan also supports seamless financial workflows for vendor payments by integrating with existing accounting platforms. Together, these tools enable proactive management, ensure compliance, and provide a complete financial story for every asset.

Spaceflow (Tenant experience platform)

Spaceflow automates the service delivery layer by allowing tenants to access and pay for curated services (e.g., dry cleaning, fitness classes) directly in the app, creating new revenue streams. On the admin side, vendor management is seamlessly synced and accessible in one user-friendly console for easy coordination.

Space planning and utilization

Every square meter of a property represents potential value, but only if it’s being used effectively. Empty offices, underutilized meeting rooms, or poorly balanced layouts can quietly drain resources and reduce tenant satisfaction.

Traditionally, space planning relied on assumptions or manual checks, but today’s automated data collection offers a far clearer picture. 

Moderan (PMS)

For example, with Moderan, these insights don’t stand alone. Instead, they connect directly to lease and portfolio data. This makes it easier to align space usage with rental agreements, adjust layouts, and plan proactively. The result is a portfolio where utilization is not just monitored but actively contributes to tenant retention, as well as long-term asset value.

Spaceflow (Tenant experience platform)

Spaceflow reduces staff intervention by automating resource booking for effective utilization of amenities and flexible spaces. Its analytics provide hard data on space utilization, showing which assets are performing and which are underutilized.

Energy management and sustainability

Sustainability targets are no longer optional, but the way property owners reach them depends on having flexible systems in place. Energy usage varies across buildings, tenants, and lease structures, so tracking it in a rigid or manual way quickly becomes a burden. 

As more software integrates ESG and renewable features, it has increasingly become easier to stay compliant. More and more features are available to log and analyze consumption, benchmark performance, and generate ESG reports quickly. 

Moderan (PMS)

By capturing both tenant and landlord data in one place, managers can adapt to different regulatory frameworks, give tenants visibility into their own footprint, and demonstrate progress to investors. Flexible energy workflows turn sustainability from a compliance challenge into a value driver.

Spaceflow (Tenant experience platform)

With Smart Metering integrations to track and visualize consumption data in real-time for both tenants and operators, Spaceflow helps drive behavior changes and supports compliance with ESG goals.

By linking the third-party metering data with Moderan's calculation engine, operators can ensure that utility usage is accurately recovered from tenants, avoiding operational losses and making sustainability financially traceable.

Security and access control

Property management security is about more than locked doors, it’s also about making sure the right people have the right access. Whether that’s physical spaces or sensitive lease data.

Moderan (PMS)

With dedicated software and its automated workflows, access credentials are based on your own terms. This keeps lease and portfolio data secure with controlled permissions. Together, access control and data security build trust for tenants, owners, and investors alike.

Spaceflow (Tenant experience platform)

Combining automated Visitor Management with a mobile-based access control system for tenants, Spaceflow eliminates the OpEx associated with lost key cards and manual reception check-ins.

Access permissions and mobile keys in Spaceflow can be automatically granted and revoked based on the lease dates in Moderan. This is a critical workflow automation that minimizes security risk and removes a tedious, recurring manual task for administrators.

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By adopting an integrated approach to fully leverage property technology, you can create a reliable, transparent, and scalable system that directly addresses the core challenges of modern property management and operations. The result is a more efficient team, a superior tenant experience, and a definitive reduction in OpEx.

This article was written in collaboration with Moderan.