Case Study 06: HomeNest Property Group — Scenario Paper
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Practice Information
Difficulty: Intermediate Domain weights: D1 System Arch: HEAVY | D2 Security: HEAVY | D3 Data: MEDIUM | D4 Solution: MEDIUM | D5 Integration: HEAVY | D6 Dev Lifecycle: MEDIUM | D7 Communication: MEDIUM Designed for 180-minute prep window
Before You Start
Print this scenario. Read it twice using the Two-Pass Reading Method — once for understanding, once to extract implicit requirements. Build all 9 artifacts within the 180-minute window.
Project Overview
HomeNest Property Group (HNPG) is a commercial and residential property management company headquartered in Austin, Texas. Founded in 2011, HNPG manages a growing portfolio of residential apartments, single-family rentals, retail centers, and office buildings across the southern and western United States.
Company profile:
| Attribute | Detail |
|---|---|
| Industry | Real Estate / Property Management / PropTech |
| Employees | 950 (corporate, leasing agents, property managers, regional directors) |
| Managed properties | 12,000 (8,000 residential units, 4,000 commercial spaces) |
| Active tenants | 45,000 |
| Property owners/investors | 300 |
| Annual revenue | $280M (management fees, leasing commissions, maintenance markup) |
| States of operation | TX, AZ, CO, NV, CA, FL |
| Recent acquisition | FixRight Facilities (200 employees, 150 field technicians, facilities maintenance) |
The VP of Technology has secured a $3.8M, 18-month program to consolidate tenant management, owner reporting, and maintenance operations onto a unified Salesforce platform — replacing the current PHP portal, integrating the acquired FixRight company, and enabling smart building capabilities.
CEO (Diana Reeves): “Every vacant day costs our owners money. We need a system that treats lease lifecycle, maintenance turnaround, and owner satisfaction as one connected process — not three separate silos.”
VP of Technology (Raj Mehta): “We have a custom PHP portal that is becoming unmaintainable. Our maintenance team just joined via acquisition and they have their own Salesforce org. I need a unified platform, not more duct tape.”
VP of Property Management (Carlos Vega): “My regional managers need to see everything in their territory — occupancy, rent collection, open maintenance tickets — but they absolutely cannot see properties outside their region.”
FixRight GM (Tanya Brooks): “Our technicians are in the field all day, many at properties with no cell reception in basements and parking garages. They need to complete work orders offline and sync when they have signal.”
Current State
HomeNest Systems
| System | Purpose | Key Details |
|---|---|---|
| Yardi Voyager | Property management (system of record) | Lease management, rent roll, CAM reconciliation, 12K properties, 45K tenants |
| QuickBooks Enterprise | Accounting | AP/AR, owner distributions, property-level P&L |
| Custom PHP portal | Tenant self-service | Maintenance requests, lease viewing, payment links; built 2016, single developer maintains it |
| Stripe | Payment processing | Tenant rent payments, ACH and card; $185M processed annually |
| TransUnion SmartMove | Tenant screening | Background and credit checks during lease application |
| IoT platform (Particle) | Smart building | 2,400 smart locks, 1,800 HVAC sensors, 600 water leak detectors across 120 “smart” properties |
| Google Workspace | Email and collaboration | All 950 employees |
The PHP portal handles 1,200 maintenance requests/month and serves 45,000 tenants. It has no mobile app, no real-time status updates, and a 40% tenant satisfaction score on maintenance communication. Average maintenance request resolution: 6.2 days.
FixRight Facilities (Acquired Company)
200 employees including 150 field technicians serving commercial properties. Previously a standalone maintenance contractor; now a wholly-owned HNPG subsidiary.
| System | Purpose | Key Details |
|---|---|---|
| Salesforce org | Service Cloud | 150 technician users, 5,000 accounts, work order management, basic scheduling |
| FieldConnect | Field dispatch | Third-party scheduling tool integrated with their Salesforce |
| ServiceTitan (historical) | Legacy job tracking | Decommissioned 2024, but 3 years of historical job data in SQL Server backup |
FixRight’s Salesforce org: Service Cloud with 22 custom objects, 180 custom fields, 8 Apex triggers, 45 Flows. Work Order is the primary object with custom fields for job type, property access instructions, tenant contact, and completion photos. 150 technicians use Salesforce mobile with mixed iOS/Android devices (company-provided tablets and personal phones).
FixRight currently serves external commercial clients. Post-acquisition, they will transition to exclusively serving HNPG properties over 12 months while honoring existing contracts.
Business Requirements
Tenant Experience (Req 1-5)
- Self-service portal for 45,000 tenants: submit maintenance requests, view lease details, see payment history, and communicate with property management
- Mobile-responsive portal experience — 72% of tenants access via smartphone
- Real-time maintenance status tracking with automated notifications at each stage (received, assigned, scheduled, in-progress, completed)
- Tenants see only their own unit, lease, and maintenance history — never another tenant’s data
- Maintenance request satisfaction survey automatically sent after each completed work order
Owner/Investor Portal (Req 6-9)
- Self-service portal for 300 property owners: view portfolio performance, occupancy rates, financial summaries, and maintenance costs
- Owners see only their own properties and associated tenants/financials — never another owner’s portfolio
- Monthly owner statement generation with property-level P&L, rent collection rates, and maintenance expense breakdown
- Owner approval workflow for maintenance expenditures exceeding a configurable threshold per property (typically $2,500-$5,000)
Maintenance & Field Service (Req 10-16)
- Unified work order management for all 12,000 properties — both residential and commercial
- Dispatch and schedule 150 field technicians with route optimization based on property location and technician skills
- Technicians complete work orders on mobile devices with photo capture, parts used, time tracking, and tenant signature
- Full offline capability for technicians in basements, parking garages, and areas without cell reception — sync when connectivity returns
- Preventive maintenance scheduling: recurring work orders for HVAC inspections, fire safety checks, elevator service, pool maintenance (varies by property type)
- Emergency maintenance escalation: water leaks, gas leaks, lockouts, HVAC failures in extreme weather trigger immediate dispatch and owner notification
- Track technician certifications (HVAC, electrical, plumbing licenses) and auto-assign based on job requirements and valid certifications
Smart Building / IoT (Req 17-19)
- Smart lock events (entry/exit) visible on property and unit records for 2,400 locks
- HVAC sensor alerts trigger preventive maintenance work orders when readings indicate potential failure
- Water leak sensor alerts trigger emergency work orders with immediate technician dispatch
Property & Lease Management (Req 20-23)
- Property hierarchy: Owner > Property > Building > Unit with roll-up occupancy and financial metrics
- Lease lifecycle tracking from application through screening, approval, move-in, renewal, and move-out
- 60-day lease expiry alerts with automated renewal workflow
- Vacancy tracking with days-on-market metrics and leasing agent performance dashboards
Reporting (Req 24-27)
- Regional manager dashboard: occupancy rates, rent collection, maintenance backlog, tenant satisfaction by territory
- Owner dashboard: portfolio ROI, property-level P&L, maintenance spend vs. budget, occupancy trends
- Maintenance operations dashboard: technician utilization, average resolution time, SLA compliance, emergency response times
- Executive dashboard: company-wide occupancy, revenue per unit, maintenance cost per unit, tenant retention rates
Security & Access (Req 28-32)
- Tenants see only their unit and associated data — no visibility into other units, tenants, or owner information
- Owners see only properties they own — no visibility into other owners’ portfolios or unrelated tenants
- Regional managers see all properties, tenants, and maintenance within their territory — no cross-region access
- Maintenance technicians see only properties and work orders assigned to them — not lease terms or financial data
- Leasing agents see properties and applications within their assigned properties — not owner financials
External Systems and Integration Volumes
| System | Function | Protocol | Volume |
|---|---|---|---|
| Yardi Voyager | Lease, rent roll, tenant, property data (system of record) | REST API + SOAP | 15,000 daily sync events |
| QuickBooks Enterprise | AP/AR, owner distributions, financial reporting | REST API (QB Online migration planned) | 3,000 transactions/day |
| Stripe | Rent payments, application fees | REST webhooks | 8,000 payment events/day |
| TransUnion SmartMove | Background/credit checks | REST API | 200 screenings/day |
| Particle IoT | Smart locks, HVAC sensors, water leak detectors | REST webhooks + MQTT | 45,000 sensor events/day |
| Google Workspace | Identity, email, calendar | SAML + Directory API | 950 users |
| Twilio | SMS notifications (maintenance updates, payment reminders) | REST API | 5,000 SMS/day |
| DocuSign | Lease signing | REST API | 400 envelopes/day |
Constraints
- Yardi Voyager remains the system of record for all lease and financial data — Salesforce complements but does not replace Yardi
- FixRight’s existing external client contracts must be honored for 12 months; their Salesforce org cannot be shut down until those contracts expire
- The PHP portal must remain operational until the new tenant portal is fully launched and validated (parallel run required)
- Stripe integration cannot change — all payment processing flows through Stripe
- Budget: $3.8M total over 18 months (no contingency beyond 10%)
- 150 field technicians use mixed devices (iOS tablets, Android phones) — solution must support both platforms
- Smart building IoT covers only 120 of 12,000 properties currently; the solution must scale as more properties add sensors
Stakeholders
| Role | Name | Key Concern |
|---|---|---|
| CEO | Diana Reeves | Reducing vacancy rates, owner retention |
| VP Technology | Raj Mehta | Platform consolidation, eliminating PHP portal |
| VP Property Management | Carlos Vega | Regional visibility, lease lifecycle |
| VP Finance | Michelle Park | Owner reporting accuracy, financial reconciliation |
| FixRight GM | Tanya Brooks | Technician productivity, offline capability |
| Director of Leasing | James Otero | Application-to-move-in speed, agent dashboards |
| Head of Smart Building | Wei Lin | IoT scalability, sensor-to-action automation |
Budget and Timeline
| Item | Budget | Timeline |
|---|---|---|
| Phase 1: Core platform + Field Service | $1.6M | Months 1-7 |
| Phase 2: Tenant portal + owner portal | $1.2M | Months 5-12 |
| Phase 3: Smart building + analytics | $0.6M | Months 10-16 |
| Contingency (10%) | $0.4M | As needed |
| Total | $3.8M | 18 months |
IT staff: 12 internal (3 Salesforce admins, 4 developers, 2 integration specialists, 3 IT ops). SI partner: mid-size Salesforce consulting firm with 10-person team. FixRight IT: 2 people (both retained).
Known Risks
- Multi-org decision: FixRight’s Salesforce org must coexist for 12 months; migrating 150 technician users to the main org while maintaining external client access
- Portal scale: 45,000 tenant logins — volume exceeds typical Experience Cloud deployments
- Sharing complexity: Five distinct user populations (tenants, owners, regional managers, technicians, leasing agents) with non-overlapping visibility requirements
- Offline field service: Technicians in areas with zero connectivity need full work order completion capability
- Yardi dependency: Salesforce must stay synchronized with Yardi as the source of truth without creating conflicting records
- IoT growth: 120 smart properties today, but potentially 2,000+ within 3 years
Deliverables
Present all 9 CTA solution artifacts in 30 minutes + 30-minute Q&A:
- System Landscape
- Data Model / ERD
- Role Hierarchy & Sharing Model
- Integration Architecture
- Identity & SSO
- Data Migration Strategy
- Governance Framework
- Environment Strategy
- Phased Delivery Roadmap
Board Strategy
This scenario has five distinct user populations with sharply different visibility needs. The sharing model and portal architecture are your make-or-break decisions. Nail those, then address the multi-org coexistence and field service offline requirements.
Key Implicit Requirements
The multi-org coexistence (12-month overlap), five-population sharing model, dual-portal architecture (tenant vs. owner), Yardi as system-of-record (not replacement), and offline field service for 150 technicians are the architectural pressure points. The IoT component is growing but currently limited to 120 properties — design for scale without over-engineering today.