Origin Investments is a Chicago-based private equity real estate firm specializing in multifamily housing, with over $4.3 billion in real estate deals across the US. Grace Li, Manager of Corporate Accounting, oversees operations across multiple funds and entities, managing a growing volume of financial data.
Even Excel Has Its Limits
For years, Grace and the accounting team at Origin relied solely on Excel to manage their reporting. It wasn’t perfect, but it was familiar, and they made it work. As their business grew, though, the cracks began to show.
“We were doing everything in Excel,” Grace says. “It worked, but it wasn’t efficient. It was error-prone and time-consuming.”
With multiple investment funds and corporate operations to manage, the team was juggling version tracking, manual analysis, and a maze of disconnected files.
“It was a lot of jumping around. Manually linking files, pulling from one workbook to another, making sure formulas didn’t break. And if something broke, we had to trace it back through three or four different files.”
Even small changes could cause big delays. Grace was spending more time troubleshooting and triple-checking data than actually analyzing it.
Everything changed when the firm’s controller, Priya, discovered Datarails.
“I think choosing Datarails was the greatest decision ever for our company.”
Grace Li, Manager of Corporate Accounting
Enter Datarails
With Datarails, Grace was finally able to automate manual tasks, eliminate version control issues, and simplify her reporting process.
Datarails connected their different data sources, such as Microsoft Dynamics GP, automated variance analysis, and standardized templates. All while letting the team stay in Excel. That flexibility was key.
“It changed everything. Before, reports would take three to four hours. Now it takes 20 minutes.”
Grace Li, Manager of Corporate Accounting
Instead of starting from scratch every month, they simply refresh their files and drill into the data when needed.
“We have so many reporting formats, and now we don’t have to worry about formulas breaking or redoing things from zero. We have one source of truth and everything flows from there.”
Closing with Confidence
Since adopting Datarails, Grace has seen a major shift in both how her team works and how confident they are in their numbers.
Month-end close is faster and less stressful. Reports are consistent. Errors are down. With less time spent fixing formulas, the team can focus on what matters.
“We can actually analyze our numbers instead of just compiling them. That’s been a huge win.”
Grace Li, Manager of Corporate Accounting
With more confidence in the data, they’ve been able to level up how they share it. Dashboards offer a clear, at-a-glance view that makes it easier to identify trends. The team also uses the AI-powered storyboard feature to transform that data into polished presentations for leadership, cutting down on prep time and making stakeholder updates smoother and more effective.
“I know the numbers are accurate, and I can get them out faster. It’s been a huge time saver.”
Grace Li, Manager of Corporate Accounting
That reliability has helped the team meet deadlines with fewer fixes and greater confidence across the board.
Just Getting Started
Origin has already rolled Datarails out to two of its investment funds and is now preparing to bring another one onto the platform.
Grace sees even more potential ahead. With the groundwork in place and proven results behind them, she is confident the platform will continue to grow with the business.
“Now that we have it, I can’t imagine going back.”
Grace Li, Manager of Corporate Accounting