THE SOLUTION
Implementing Engrain's Unit Map Power BI Plug-in for data visualization capabilities
During the search for a visualization solution, Daniel Raphael, Brookfield Properties’ Vice President of data science, found Engrain. Engrain’s Unit Map Power BI Plug-in offered a map-based visualization of property performance data and an intuitive way to track the trends, patterns and outliers that Brookfield wanted to dial in on.
Power BI aligned with Brookfield’s needs in two key ways: Engrain was able to design custom property maps and the maps easily integrated with Brookfield’s data warehouse. Brookfield incorporated Power BI into its data model in early 2022 with an initial list of a few properties and has since expanded the property lists as maps have been developed to incorporate their full owner managed portfolio.
"Since partnering with Engrain, we’ve spent more time looking at the data and actually understanding what it’s telling us versus digging through the data and attempting to understand. We can quickly adjust and make confident decisions."
Gloria Smith
Manager, Data Visualization and Analytics
Brookfield Properties
“The integration was a significant component to our data model,” Smith said. “Integration can be a large barrier for many new technologies or products, but Engrain’s integration was seamless. Power BI is amazingly intuitive and there’s nothing else like it in the market for multifamily.”
Smith noted that a lot of demand existed for a high-caliber data visualization solution within Brookfield. The company wanted an exhaustive lens into property operations – a complete picture of community nuances that a chart or table could not display.
“We look at so much information, but looking at the data based on location within a building is something we couldn’t do before,” Smith said. “It was a very manual process to load that data, even if it was into an Excel model. Power BI gave us the ability to look at numerous data sets in near real-time and slide in all those numbers without anybody lifting a finger. We have the information readily available, whenever we want, and it’s a level of immediate insight that Brookfield didn’t previously have.”
"The integration was a significant component to our data model. Integration can be a large barrier for many new technologies or products, but Engrain’s integration was seamless. Power BI is amazingly intuitive and there’s nothing else like it in the market for multifamily.”
Gloria Smith
Manager, Data Visualization and Analytics
Brookfield Properties
THE RESULTS
Quicker, more informed data-driven decision making with real-time visual insight
Since launching Engrain’s Power BI, Brookfield can make quicker, more informed data-driven decisions with visual context that highlights complexities and nuances of each community. The level of granular detail and real-time insight from the Power BI maps paint a complete picture of what’s happening within a community.
Notably, map-based visualization has allowed Brookfield to identify missing amenities on units to increase rental revenue. It also highlights long-standing vacant hotspots, which raises attention for review so the Brookfield team can take appropriate action quickly.
“We can really see what’s actually happening at a building versus trying to sort through all the data and figure out, for example, what’s common among the units that aren’t leasing. Actually seeing those outliers allows us to recognize when we have a problem with availability or vacant units in a certain location.”
Gloria Smith
Manager, Data Visualization and Analytics
Brookfield Properties
Brookfield has maps that look at numerous facets, from amenities and availability to occupancy and days on market, and the ability to filter the maps by floor plan, floor level, unit stack, bedroom count, market rent or affordable homes. Numerous departments within Brookfield, from data science and revenue management to development, now have a much deeper understanding of location-specific influences on the trends, patterns and outliers they see.
“Engrain’s Power BI makes it so much easier to analyze the data and take a more proactive approach,” Smith said. “We’re able to address leasing challenges quicker and also better anticipate our turns and exposure. Since partnering with Engrain, we’ve spent more time looking at the data and actually understanding what it’s telling us versus digging through the data and attempting to understand. We can quickly adjust and make confident decisions. This really helps us maximize our revenue and identify those opportunities.”
