Instead of SMATA
Weighing up SMATA? Own the strata system your managers work in.
Enterprise DNA builds your version around how your firm raises work, gets committee sign-off and runs AGM season, brings your SMATA jobs and your accounting system's roll across, and looks after it for you.
SMATA does not publish a price. Its site asks you to book a demo to discuss its plans, so what a firm pays is set in a private quote.
- check_circleYour data in a database you own
- check_circleOpen source, no lock-in
- check_circleBuilt and run by Enterprise DNA
What the plan pays for
Workflow screens over records that were already yours
SMATA describes itself as connecting to the strata business systems you already run. What the plan adds is a set of screens and apps for moving work through them.
Plans you only see after a demo
There is no price list. The site's pricing link is a contact form, and the plans are explained on a call. A firm cannot compare what it pays with what anyone else pays.
Another system beside the ledger
SMATA connects to your strata management system and sends results back into it. The trust accounting platform stays, and so does its bill. SMATA is added on top.
Contractor invoices read by someone else's software
Invoices are read, checked and posted to your strata management system by the vendor's own AI. When a result looks wrong, the logic behind it is not yours to open.
A dozen features, one package
Work orders, invoices, creditor compliance, mobile apps, documents, building profiles, messaging, time charging, reports and meetings come as one product.
Reporting built into the product
Its public pages list reporting and analytics but do not say whether you can ask your own questions of your whole portfolio.
No word on getting it back out
Every work order, invoice decision and building profile you add builds up inside SMATA. Its public pages do not say how a firm takes that history with it when it leaves.
What your firm runs instead
Every job, vote and deadline in one place you can ask
Work orders
Raised, approved, done and billed, in one record
A common property job moves from raised to approved, booked, done and invoiced, and each step carries its date, the scheme and the contractor, so the portfolio can be questioned as a whole.
- check Every open job across every scheme, oldest first, with the committee it is waiting on
- check Work over the delegated limit cannot be issued until the committee's resolution is on file
- check Jobs that were finished but never invoiced come up on their own
- check Which schemes raise the most work, asked in one sentence instead of a report request
Committees
Approvals that stand up later
Each committee's chair, members and spending limit sit beside the work it signs off, so a decision can be traced back to the person and the resolution behind it.
- check Who chairs each scheme, who sits, and the spending limit delegated to each committee
- check Approvals and refusals recorded with their resolution reference
- check A short note to a chairperson drafted from their own scheme's position, for a person to send
- check Committees sitting on approvals longest, ranked across the whole portfolio
Deadlines
AGMs, arrears and insurance on the clock
The dates a strata firm gets judged on are checked against the record, with each rule naming the law it comes from.
- check Every scheme against the AGM deadline, with whether the notice actually went out in time
- check Arrears up a dated ladder, with the missing step shown for each lot
- check Insurance expiry and the age of the valuation behind each sum insured
- check The disclosure clock on every sale, oldest first
Ownership
Records, paperwork and rules that belong to the firm
Plain records in a database you control, documents printed from them in your colours, and rules you change by describing the change. Client money stays in the accounting system that holds it.
- check Levy notices, arrears letters, meeting notices and scheme summaries under your own name
- check Read-only pages for the week and the portfolio, with no server to keep
- check Bring in the roll from StrataMax, PropertyIQ or Strata Master, with a test run first
- check A new field, a new step or a new check, added by asking for it
Make it yours
Design your own SMATA replacement
Everything starts from the open-source base. Then it gets your name, the parts you run, your rules and your data from SMATA. Try it here, and we build the real one.
2. What it runs
3. Make it fit
4. Your colour
Answered from your own database
Good morning. Here is what needs you today.
We build it from the open-source base, bring your SMATA data across and run it for you.
Switching
How to switch from SMATA
A move usually involves getting your records into a spreadsheet, mapping SMATA’s columns, checking the imported data and running both systems side by side before you switch.
- 1
Request your SMATA records
SMATA’s public pages do not describe an export process. Ask SMATA for your work orders, contractors and building records as a spreadsheet, and export what your account allows, usually CSV or Excel. Check with SMATA about the available export options and which history you can include. Your trust accounting system stays in place for levy receipting, creditor payments and the audit file.
- 2
Load a test import
The system can import a plain CSV, but a SMATA export has its own columns. Start with a test run so you can see what maps and what does not before loading the records for real. You can ask Claude Code to map the columns, or Enterprise DNA can do that as part of the move. The roll import is for your schemes, lots and owners.
- 3
Review what did not map
Read the test results and check the records that map and those that do not. Compare a sample of schemes, building records, work orders and contractors with SMATA, and confirm the information you need is present and attached to the right records. Resolve gaps or mismatches before you rely on the new database. Do not assume a record is complete just because it imported.
- 4
Run both systems together
Keep SMATA running while you use the new database for a short period. Compare the work orders, contractor jobs, building records and other information you are moving, and check that your team can find and maintain the records it needs. Keep levy receipting, creditor payments and the audit file in your existing trust accounting system, as the new database does not handle those.
- 5
Switch off SMATA
Once you have checked the imported records and are comfortable working in the new database, stop using SMATA for the records you have moved. Keep the trust accounting platform in place for client money and the audit file. The new system is a database and Claude Code, so make sure your team is ready to work with it before you close off its day-to-day use.
Where the real effort goes
The real work is usually mapping SMATA’s columns to your records, deciding which history to bring across and matching the system to your own fields and rules. The public information does not specify SMATA’s export options, so confirm those with SMATA first. If Enterprise DNA runs the installation for you, it handles the mapping and setup as part of that work.
Not ready for a call?
Get your SMATA switch plan by email
We will send you the step-by-step plan for moving your business off SMATA, what the move really involves, and how we would do it for you.
Sent. Check your inbox.
Your SMATA switch plan is on its way.
Rather talk it through? Book a call arrow_forwardTwo ways to run it
Set it up yourself, or have it built and run for you
Open source
Run it yourself
Free
- 1 Clone the repo from GitHub
- 2 npm run demo, then open the folder in Claude Code
- 3 Type /maintenance, then /attention
- 4 Run /import with your accounting system's roll and point it at your own database
Omni by Enterprise DNA
Have Enterprise DNA build and run it
One setup fee, then a monthly retainer
- check We bring your SMATA work orders and contractor records across, mapped to your schemes and lots
- check We connect it to your inboxes and the accounting system that keeps the trust ledger
- check We add what your firm relies on in SMATA, like contractor insurance checks or invoice reading, built your way
- check It runs inside Omni, our managed Command Center, beside the rest of your business
Questions
Instead of SMATA, answered
Does this replace our trust accounting system as well? expand_more
No. SMATA posts to that system rather than replacing it. Levy receipting, creditor payments and the audit file stay in the system that holds client money today. The free version keeps a levy ledger as a record, so the arrears list adds up, but it never touches a bank account. What moves into your own database is everything around the money: work orders, contractor jobs, committee approvals, meetings, arrears steps, insurance, disclosures and the compliance register.
SMATA reads our contractor invoices for us. What happens to that? expand_more
The free version records each job's invoice against the work and shows work that was done but never billed. It does not scan invoice files. If invoice reading is part of how your firm runs, Enterprise DNA builds it into your version, with the matching rules written down where you can read and change them, and the result passed to your accounting system the way you choose.
Can we get our history out of SMATA? expand_more
SMATA's public pages do not describe an export, so start by asking them for your work orders, contractors and building records as a spreadsheet. The free version imports the roll from StrataMax, PropertyIQ or Strata Master, which is where your lots and owners live anyway. A SMATA export has its own columns: mapping it is part of what Enterprise DNA does, or you can ask Claude Code to map it and do a test run first.
We use SMATA's mobile app. What do they use instead? expand_more
The free version is the manager's side and has no app. Owners still get what they need from you: correct levy notices, meeting notices with a real agenda, and answers when they ring. If an owner or contractor app matters to your firm, Enterprise DNA builds one into your version over the same database, so it shows your records rather than a copy.
We manage in New South Wales. Do the rules fit? expand_more
The shipped checks cite New Zealand's Unit Titles Act, and the NSW and Queensland strata laws are mapped in the same file at a high level. The rules are data you edit, not software you wait on: describe your state's notice periods and deadlines and the checks change to match. Enterprise DNA writes them for your jurisdiction as part of your version. It is your rule book run against your records, not legal advice.
See what your strata firm would own instead
30 minutes with Sam. We go through what you pay for SMATA and the system beside it, which parts your managers use every week, and what your own version would look like. If it fits, we build and run it. If not, the free version is yours to keep.
Body Corporate for Claude Code is free and open source, published by Enterprise DNA.
Done paying for SMATA?
Get your version built