Now is not the time to be marketing real estate software systems that require new users to spend days — even hours — in training. Most corporate real estate executives can find their way around a keyboard and application option menu. But systems that take users away from their core mission, which is managing real estate assets, will have a limited tenure at most corporations.

To their credit, most vendors now recognize that their customers in the commercial real estate management world feel their days are spread too thin. This is particularly true of those corporate real estate executives who are familiarizing themselves with the information technology, human resources and financial functions of their organizations so as to play a role in the corporate infrastructure resources management world now unfolding. New versions of several software programs on the market include an increasingly important user-friendly attribute, which customers can take more seriously than the so-called user-friendly programs of yesteryear.

Version 5.0 of the LseMod real estate transaction analysis system, released in late 1998, is a case in point. The system requires virtually no time on a learning curve, although familiarity with the Microsoft Excel spreadsheet format is helpful, maintains James R. Duport, president of Lease Cost Solutions, Sunnyvale, Calif., and developer of the program. “It’s designed to be not only easy, but fast,” says Duport, who as manager of real estate at Amdahl Corp. (also based in Sunnyvale) knows a thing or two about the value of time during the day. Duport developed LseMod (pronounced “Lease Mod”) in 1989 for internal use at Amdahl. More recently, he rewrote the program in the Excel environment and markets it in his spare time. Amdahl is one of dozens of companies on Duport’s client list.

LseMod’s purpose is to help managers understand the bigger picture where real estate transactions are concerned. It helps users gain a better appreciation of infrastructure costs associated with transactions and compare transaction scenarios involving multiple sites. “LseMod lets users make an informed decision, to know how much more it costs to go a certain route,” says Duport, who has compared as many as 13 properties at a time using the system; LseMod will compare up to 100 properties at a time.

“We’ve added a tool bar [in version 5.0] that lets users navigate very quickly between pages of information and applications,” says Duport. “The biggest fundamental function I added was wizards, which walk you through the program step by step.” Wizards are message boxes that pop up and explain what to do at certain points in the application and take the user to appropriate areas of the program for analysis. The first wizard, for instance, says to save the program with a new file name.

“Feedback from clients on the wizards has been very positive,” says Duport. Clients like the fact that after not using LseMod for several weeks or months they can operate it without spending time relearning it. “The wizards remind you how to use the program,” Duport adds.

Duport says another reason clients view LseMod favorably is because it’s written from a corporate perspective, not a programmer’s perspective. The software presents reports in ways corporate end users are accustomed to viewing them. Cash flow and P&L figures appear the way the chief financial officers want them to appear. “It’s intended for anyone to use, including the executive in charge of real estate as well as other functions, in the case of smaller organizations,” Duport relates. (Also see www.lsemod.com)

SLIMming Down

Likewise, new users of SLIM32 — a new, 32-bit version of Strategic Lease Information Management, a portfolio administration system from National Facilities Group (NFG), Chicago — will spend relatively little time acquainting themselves with the program, asserts Tim Henry, NFG’s Director of Sales and Marketing. SLIM, too, was written from a user’s perspective, so new and existing users alike can readily understand the reports and how to create them.

Much of SLIM’s capabilities revolve around executive-level reports that the program generates based on information stored in internal databases. The program’s ease of use lies in users’ ability to generate standard, customized, recurring or ad hoc reports at will. NFG sets up executive-level users’ desktop application with icons for regularly recurring reports. Clicking on the icon generates the report at the users’ PC. The challenge is simply to ensure that the underlying data is current and accurate.

A report-scheduler feature tells SLIM32 to generate and distribute to a list of recipients a given report on a specific day in the month, quarter, year and so forth. “The system automatically generates reports and exports them from the database in either HTML or e-mail output for delivery via the Internet or to a mailbox or a printer,” says Henry. “Wherever the system can be responsible for memory and generating reports, you don’t even need to know how to work the system to get the information from it. That’s made a difference, because it’s not cost-effective for the people actually doing the work to invest the time needed to become proficient in the use of the database.”

Henry estimates that within two days, most new users would be proficient in the use of SLIM32, provided installation and implementation of the system at the client site is complete. More information on the product can be found on the Internet at www.nfgslim.com     SS