Most property tax teams are working with 100s of 1000s of data points and records, including appeal and payment deadlines, tax documents, and financial data. Given that property tax management is data heavy, having tools to manage and manipulate data in bulk can save time and reduce the risk of errors being introduced. Without tools to manage data in bulk, companies must instead update data record by record.  

Clearly there are benefits to working with data in bulk. But what data management tools are most beneficial for property tax teams working with large volumes of data?

Three Areas You Should be Using Bulk Data Management

A few key areas where bulk data management tools can most help property tax teams include:  

• Adding new records or updating existing ones across a segment of your portfolio
• Exporting particular data from a central repository into various formats, such as Excel, CSV or PDF
• Rolling data over from one year to the next as part of a workflow (i.e. For forecasting and budgeting processes)  

If you find yourself regularly executing these functions, you’ll know that these actions can’t be completed in spreadsheets. However, software can help you execute these actions quickly. itamlink, for instance, has a built-in data manager, which lets you run bulk actions on your data. In the section below, we’ll explain how these can benefit your processes.  

1. Add new records or update existing ones across a segment of your portfolio

If you’re managing a multi-property portfolio, you’ll be regularly updating and adding new records. Having the ability to update records en masse can significantly speed up your process.  

For instance, imagine there’s a tax rate change for a jurisdiction in which you own or occupy properties. You’ll need to update your projections and records accordingly. But managing your data record by record would require updating hundreds of records individually.  

With bulk data management tools like itamlink’s Data Manager, the system can return all the tax records in the specified jurisdiction at your request. Then, the new rate can be inserted, simultaneously updating all the required records automatically.

During this process, filters can also come in handy. Filters allow you to select records based on a set of specified attributes. For example, if a new Property Manager is hired for a segment of your portfolio, updating the contact information for each property, record by record, would be time-consuming and tedious. Using filters, you can instead view all records for a specific division or group and easily plug in the new property manager into the necessary records.

2. Export particular data from your central repository into various formats, such as Excel, CSV or PDF

Bulk exports can save you a ton of time when working with real estate tax data. For instance, data exports are a useful tool when selling properties in your portfolio. To complete a sale, closing documents, such as historical assessment notices and tax documents must be provided.  

Having to search for all the documents manually can be a tiresome task. Using filters and bulk-export, you can easily find the necessary data, export it, and share it with the relevant stakeholders.  

3. Roll over data from one year to the next as part of a workflow

During forecasting and budgeting, you’ll likely need a quick way to pull all recent values and rates from the previous tax year. This data acts as the starting values for your forecasting and budgeting calculations for the upcoming year. But data for your projections is granular and nuanced, and trying to gather all of that data for new projections is a massive undertaking (and sometimes not even possible).  

Tools that allow you to copy data in bulk, across multiple years, can streamline the process of extracting necessary data and rolling it over for projections for the upcoming year. It’s important to note, however, that having centralized data is necessary for this type of action to occur.  

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How Does Bulk Data Management Benefit Your Business?

Properly using bulk data management can provide your business with many advantages, which we’ll break down below.

1. Consistent, unified, and accurate data

Managing your data in bulk ensures that relevant records are updated at the same time, in real time, without records getting lost or missed. What’s more, it also ensures that consistent formatting and rules are applied to all your data. For example, an updated contact’s name and phone number would be punched in accurately on each record, retaining the same format throughout all records. This makes it easier to find and analyze data later.  

2. More accurate projections

Making sure you have comprehensive, accurate data is necessary to create accurate projections for the upcoming year. But the granular detail required for accurate projections isn’t always possible in spreadsheets. What’s more, certain actions can be time-consuming and slow, like updating projections when you receive new data from the jurisdiction.  

If you use a system like itamlink, you can leverage built-in forecast and budgeting tools to complete projections. Rollovers can be automated, giving you accurate, granular data for next year’s forecasts. What’s more, being able to update all projections at once when certain values change – such as a jurisdiction’s tax rate – helps with efficiency and preserves data consistency.

3. More efficient property tax processes overall

Lastly, bulk data management contributes to your business’ overall efficiency. Being able to export all relevant records at once, update records across an entire segment of your portfolio, or bulk-add new records into the system can significantly speed up processes.  

The ability to add, update, and export data with a few clicks instead of hundreds (or thousands) helps property tax teams focus on higher-impact tasks. You’re able to achieve the same results – if not better, because the chance of error is reduced - without having to go through your data record by record.  

Adopting a data management strategy and tools that allow for bulk manipulation of data can save businesses a lot of time and improve the accuracy of projections. With bulk data management tools, the same results that once took 100s of steps can now be completed in just a few clicks.