Report-Ready in Two Hours: Carrollton’s New Reality with Datarails

Carrollton Development Group is a family-owned real estate company with over 1 million square feet under management. Based in Maryland, they acquire and develop high-quality real estate properties across the US. At the financial helm is CFO Andy Austin, who brings a hands-on and tech-forward approach to managing and scaling operations.

Redefining Reporting

When Andy Austin stepped into his role over a year ago, one of his first priorities was a major upgrade to the company’s reporting capabilities. The existing tools didn’t hit the mark. He knew he needed to move beyond the limitations of traditional accounting systems and modernize. 

“You might as well be back in the 1980s”, he said, describing the built-in reports most systems offer. “You can’t combine systems or do anything board-level without hours of work.”

Having implemented Datarails at his previous company,  “I knew right away I needed it here,” he adds.

With a finance team of just two people, Andy needed a system that could simplify reporting, improve accuracy, and handle increasing complexity as the business grows.

A Tried and True Solution

Andy implemented Datarails himself, building a connected model that refreshes daily and consolidates data from the general ledger, budgets, forecasts, leasing activity, and the company’s real estate investment performance. Even with multiple data sources and custom logic, the system remains easy to navigate and maintain. Datarails has become his one source of truth.

With Datarails, I’m able to do the work of a five-person team with just two. We hit refresh, print to PDF, and send it out.

Andy AustinCFO

One of his favorite capabilities is the ability to combine data from across the business — accounting systems, leasing platforms, investment accounts, even treasury rates — into a single, comprehensive report.

“If it’s a metric, you can do it in Datarails.” The flexibility has been critical as Carrollton works with several third-party property managers, each with its own chart of accounts. “I can map all of them and produce a single, consistent report. Without Datarails, that would be incredibly painful.”

The Payoff: From 4 days of work to 2 hours

Datarails has transformed both efficiency and impact for Carrollton’s small team. Reports that once took three or four days of work now take only two hours. Dashboards and automated reporting have replaced the time-consuming manual compilation, reducing the risk of errors and freeing up time for deeper strategic work.

It’s not just faster – it’s smarter. We don’t have to reinvent the wheel every month.

Andy is now spending more time analyzing the company’s real estate investment performance and advising the business, work that previously sat with external analysts. “I finally get to do the investment advising I studied for. Not just crunching numbers, but drawing insights from them.”

Accuracy has also improved. Andy built checks and balances directly into his models which flag discrepancies in real-time. “I know the data is right, and I know where it came from. That gives me confidence when I’m sending reports to investors or banks.”

And while Carrollton’s headcount remains small, Andy feels ready to scale.

You don’t need more people – you just need smart people using Datarails.

Next Up: Datarails Cash

Carrollton is continuously evolving its financial operations, and Andy is excited about what’s ahead. As the business grows and reporting becomes more complex, he’s eyeing new products like Datarails Cash, which connects directly to the company’s different bank accounts to enhance cash management and automate reporting, positioning, and forecasting.

“I saw Datarails Cash, that’s definitely something I’m excited about.”

Andy sees long-term potential in what he’s built with Datarails, and knows it will continue to deliver as the business scales.

It just works. As we grow, that kind of reliability is invaluable.

Andy AustinCFO