Production Console

Overview

Across the Engel & Völkers Americas network, deal reporting was a manual, fragmented process — advisors tracked transactions across disconnected systems and most maintained parallel spreadsheets just to keep up. There was no single source of truth for operations, finance, or transaction management. MLS data that could auto-populate deal details was being re-entered by hand. Commission calculations for complex deal types required separate spreadsheets. And when submissions failed, advisors had no idea what went wrong — they had to search the form themselves to find the error.

Goal: Build a unified deal management platform that brings all transaction types — sales, rentals, property management, and referrals — into one structured, MLS-integrated system that eliminates manual re-entry, handles complex deal structures accurately, and gives the network real-time visibility into deal pipeline and performance.

Approach

• Conducted interviews with 9 advisors and shop leaders to map where the old system broke down — surfacing consistent patterns around manual data re-entry, broken referral tracking, and the gap between what MLS already knew and what users had to type in themselves
• Mapped the full range of deal types and their distinct data requirements — sales with buyer/seller sides, rentals with multi-year lease structures, property management agreements, and cross-market referrals each have different workflows and edge cases that a single interface had to handle predictably
• Prioritized MLS integration as the foundation: if listing data already exists in MLS, it should auto-populate — commission details, sq footage, listing agent — rather than forcing advisors to re-enter data they didn't originate
• Designed for four distinct user groups — License Partners submitting deals, Operations overseeing compliance, Transaction Management tracking pipeline, and Finance monitoring reporting accuracy — each with different views and needs from the same underlying data

Solution

Streamlined Deal Submission

Interviews consistently flagged deal entry as the sharpest point of friction — advisors were manually re-entering data MLS already had, commission fields broke tab order, and errors only surfaced after full submission. These findings shaped the requirements for a redesigned deal submission flow.

Complex Deal Structures

Research surfaced how poorly the system handled edge cases in complex deal types. Double-sided deals and split commissions required manual spreadsheet back-calculation. A key finding that came directly from interviews: commercial lease deals were capturing monthly rent rather than total contract value — meaning a 5-year $10k/month lease was recording as $10K instead of $120K, significantly distorting volume and GCI figures.

Referral Workflow

Referrals emerged consistently across interviews as one of the most broken workflows in the old system — fields were unclear, required information wasn't available at the point of entry, and cross-market referrals regularly fell through the cracks. This research directly informed the requirements for the redesigned referral flow.

Performance Analysis

A reporting layer that gives operations, finance, and leadership a real-time view of deal volume and pipeline status across all shops. The snapshot dashboard surfaces where deals stand — ready to report, pending, or reported — alongside advisor-level performance breakdowns and trend data, replacing the manual end-of-week spreadsheet reconciliation advisors had been doing on their own.

Impact

• Launched in beta in March 2026 with 4,960 deals reported to date — currently live for half of all Engel & Völkers shops, with remaining shops being onboarded on a rolling basis
• The previous system (Deals) had no usage tracking, making a direct before/after comparison impossible — but qualitative signals from beta are strong, and a structured survey is planned once the full network has access
• Early beta feedback consistently highlighted usability and time savings: "Production is very intuitive and this is going to save me so much time" — Beta user, Gestalt Group
• "Very easy to use, all transactions are in the feed, easy to give the date to push down the list... this will save time and a big improvement" — Beta user, Barrie Shop
• Established a single source of truth for deal data across operations, transaction management, and finance — replacing disconnected manual tracking

Reflection

Designing internal tooling at this scale required balancing the needs of very different user groups — advisors who need speed and clarity at the point of submission, and operations or finance teams who need confidence in the data on the backend. The biggest design challenge was making a wide range of deal types feel consistent and predictable without oversimplifying the distinct fields and rules each type requires. Beta feedback confirmed the approach was working, but also surfaced edge cases — referral handling and buy-side listings in particular — that required ongoing iteration. This project reinforced that internal tools deserve the same design rigor as consumer products; the complexity of the work doesn't disappear just because the audience is internal.