When was the PRA System released?
The original DOS system was released in 1989 and the Internet version was released in 2007.
Who benefits from using PRA?
Reserve Study Providers, Property Management Companies (wholly owned and timeshare/vacation ownership), individual associations, CPAs, Real Estate Developers, Insurance Valuation Adjusters, Schools, Churches; basically, any entity that is trying to project future costs for maintaining real and personal property.
What are the main differences between PRA and other reserve study software’s?
PRA's core calculations are done on a monthly basis which allows for tracking individual financial instruments and is the only system that has received a Quality Assurance Evaluation from a Certified Public Accounting firm.
How best to handle accounts/properties? By management, co/locations?
In the PRA Master System, you can setup Sites which would hold multiple properties. A Site could represent different management companies, multiple locations, etc.
If I export a report to excel, can I import?
Yes, export also, update worksheet, import back in.
Is there a questionnaire of all inputs needed to use as a worksheet?
When you download the blank worksheet the field names will be at the top for Description, Category, etc. There is also PRA worksheets that can be printed for with current data and placed on a clip board to gather data. This will be mute when we have the system working on tablets and iPads.
Is it possible to segregate items by source? I'd like to keep PRA items and create our own. Separate lists in PRA?
If I understand what you are asking, you can currently segregate items by Category and we will be probably adding a sub-category. You can sort and print in every combination.
Can I set defaults for Property Criteria Definitions? Other norms for typical client type?
Users currently cannot set overall Property Criteria Definitions. This is a one-time set up for a property and depending on what is trying to be accomplished, a basic setup could only a few minutes.
Can PRA create a study update easily?
We have one client boasting he can do an update in 12 minutes. I am going to say if you are rolling the analysis date forwards, adjusting the items that need to be rescheduled, finalizing financial analysis, producing the final report with auto table of contents and page numbering, if it takes more than hour you are probably not taking advantage of the system. The money is in the updates.
Can I email questions? How long for support? Support for business method and practice questions?
It is unlimited support. After a user gets through their 1st and 2nd report, we barely hear from them. We have two users that have three analysts each and they did over 600 reports each last year.
Anyone using PRA on a tablet? Known issues?
We are set up to do and have addressed the issues it but it isn’t going to be immediate. PRA is always in active development. There is no one else out there actively developing or updating what they are offering.
Where is data stored? How backed up? Who owns?
We use Google Cloud Platform. All our servers are Windows Server 2008. We host our own SQL Server with a central database. We have an option to host a complete individual system on a private server with VPN access.
What exactly is "component at fund balance at 6/30/2010" page 35 of sample report?
This is the AICPA report from their Audit and Accounting Guide for Common Interest Realty Association. This report is required in the association’s annual audit. This is their format. This sample report has analysis date is July 1, 2010, 6/30/2010 would represent the balance as of end of the previous year and the beginning balance as July 1, 2010.
How do you report % funded on date of study?
PRA has reports that do as of the analysis date and project forwards on an annual basis up to 40 years.
What is adjusted contribution schedule?
This is a timeshare feature where maintenance fee billings go out let’s say December. You can tell the system when will these fees be deposited, i.e. 50% received in January, 25% received in February, etc. This gives a more accurate calculation of interest earned based on when the cash is deposited on a monthly basis. Also, if maintenance fees are not monthly, they could be quarterly, semi-annual, etc.
What are deferred expenditures and how to use?
The opposite of loan/special assessment. Can enter expenditures on a monthly basis which will show up in the expenditure column of the cash flows, i.e. could be a loan payment, one time expenditure, etc.
Why 51-week year in property criteria?
Timeshare ownership. Contributions can be calculated on wholly owned, number of weeks, points, unit percentage or entitlements.
What is Manager/archive used for?
Every time you save your data in the Work Area you can name the database which can be retrieved in the future.
Can I edit wps files outside of PRA? Where are they?
All PRA reports can be exported MS Word as an RTF file, edited, saved. Also export to PDF or Excel csv.
Are ownership percentages required? Can you ignore that and have the study just average per unit?
No ownership selections are required in PRA Project Definition. You can have proportional or fixed based on model types.
Are plat or model floor plans required? Can you ignore those?
Yes, it is primarily a suggestion when doing timeshare.
Are investments required? Can you only add one interest rate for reserve funds?
No, just put in overall interest rate.
If any of these are left out will it affect the look of the report or anything like that?
No
Can we make parts of the database available to our clients?
You own your data. You can do what every you want with it.
On page 14 of sample reserve report the balance goes to near 10 million. This is a bit unrealistic. Can you stop this from happening?
You have complete control of the financial plan with the features in Global Parameters.
When/what is future cost on page 8, 32 of the sample report?
Current cost as of analysis date has inflation applied to it calculate the future cost.
Is it possible to adjust colors, shapes on tables like % funded, on page 46 of the sample report?
Complete flexibility with different types of charts, i.e. line chart one dimensional with bar type to select, colors.
