Operational property planning in the real estate industry
with alstria
The alstria office REIT-PLC previously used Excel datasheets for operational planning: There was a separate Excel template for each of the more than 100 real estate properties, which was manually filled with the planning inputs. In addition, access to master data (e.g. portfolio contracts, vacancies), which serve as basic information for the planners, was only possible through exports from the previous systems. The enormous manual effort in Excel led to a high error rate, and combining and evaluating the data of all properties was enormously time-consuming.
As a REIT (Real Estate Investment Trust), alstria is also subject to strict regulations in planning and reporting – the Controlling department therefore discussed the introduction of a modern BI solution. To support the project, alstria engaged external consultants (PwC). Together they developed an initial catalogue of requirements and began the selection process. In the process, the software board with bdg as implementation partner was compelling – the decisive factors were the software’s possibilities in the area of self-service BI, its flexibility and speed of evaluation as well as bdg’s references from successfully completed projects in the housing industry.
With the introduction of Board, we have a much more efficient and transparent building planning process. The manual effort and thus the susceptibility to errors are reduced to a minimum, which results in a high-quality reporting structure. Due to automated planning steps and the dynamic creation of analyses, the time required is very low and the tool has a high level of acceptance among colleagues in the operational area.
The primary goal of the project was to completely replace Excel as a planning tool with a solution in Board in order to reduce the manual effort and error-prone media breaks to a minimum and to generally simplify the work of the operative planners. The reporting for the areas of letting assumptions, action planning and P&L was also to be made more dynamic and clearer. The planning of letting assumptions (extended and new tenancy agreements), the necessary construction measures (refurbishment, modernisation, maintenance) with the associated costs and the associated data from contracts were first to be collected and then integrated at a higher level. The next objective was to map all data in a profit and loss account and to prepare it for financial analysis for each property.
And find out all about the highlights:
Five input templates replace over one hundred Excel datasheets
Improved quality of planning, reporting and analysis with a significant reduction in time expenditure
Cooperative collaboration and high commitment to the success of the project
alstria office REIT-PLC is a German public limited company with its registered office in Hamburg. The company has been operating under the legal form of a REIT (Real Estate Investment Trust) since 2007 and was the first PLC of its kind in Germany. alstria owns and manages a high-quality portfolio of office properties in major German office centres. As a long-term oriented company, alstria manages the properties over their entire life cycle: from acquisition to leasing, ongoing management, modernisation and possible sale. A detailed concept is developed for each individual building, and modernising the properties is an essential part of the business model in order to create consistent value.
| Industry | Region | Application | Number of users |
|---|---|---|---|
| Real Estate | Hamburg, Germany | Controlling/Real Estate Operations | 90 |
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