Control
Evidence, approvals and a record of why.
Owners of self-storage businesses rarely lack data. They lack a way to see, without phoning each site, which promises are being kept and which are not. Control shows the exceptions, puts decisions in front of the right person, and keeps the record of who did what and why.
01Exceptions
See what is wrong, not everything that happened.
An exception is raised when reality and the rules disagree. It carries the evidence — both values, the time, the likely cause — and is routed to someone with the authority to resolve it.
- Work overdue beyond its escalation point
- Work closed without the evidence its control requires
- A rate in the PMS that differs from the approved rate
- A writeback the PMS rejected or never confirmed
- An issue affecting a unit that is being sold
- A decision on site that needs a director's review
02Approvals and audit
Nothing important changes without a name against it.
Price changes, rent reviews and other consequential actions wait for a person with the right authority. The approval, its note, the writeback and the check that followed are one continuous record.
The same is true of everyday work. Outcomes, overrides and automatic changes are all recorded with who, when and the rule or reason behind them, so a question in six months — why was this customer not chased? — has an answer.
03Roles and authority
Authority follows the role, and the director sets it.
StowOS has four roles. What each can see and do is configuration, held per organisation and adjustable by a director without a developer. The defaults look like this.
| Capability | Director | Manager | Staff | Maintenance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Work leads and record outcomes | Allowed | Allowed | Allowed | Not allowed |
| Complete checks and jobs, attach evidence | Allowed | Allowed | Allowed | Allowed |
| Log site events and raise issues | Allowed | Allowed | Allowed | Allowed |
| Approve price changes and rent reviews | Allowed | Allowed | Not allowed | Not allowed |
| Screen decisions made on site | Allowed | Allowed | Not allowed | Not allowed |
| Change who can see and do what | Allowed | Not allowed | Not allowed | Not allowed |
04Decisions and precedent
Judgement made on site becomes guidance for next time.
- 01
Recorded
A member of staff makes a call on the spot — waiving a fee, extending access, handling a complaint — and records the situation, the decision and the reason.
- 02
Screened
A director or manager reviews it afterwards: endorse it, correct it, or mark it as the way to handle it in future.
- 03
Reused
Endorsed decisions become guidance. The next person facing the same situation finds the precedent before they decide.
This is how a business stops depending on what particular people remember. The judgement stays; it just stops leaving with them.
05Portfolio
Every site on one page, measured the same way.
For operators with more than one site — indoor, container or hybrid — the same controls and the same exceptions roll up into one view. Where work is overdue, where evidence is missing and where exceptions are open is visible without waiting for each manager’s report.
Sites can share rules or differ where they genuinely differ, such as opening hours or container-only checks.
See your business the way a good auditor would.
In a walkthrough we look at how approvals, evidence and oversight work across your sites today, and show you what Control would surface in the first week.