October, 2009

In the past I have mentioned the PISCES standard on this blog.

PISCES is a data exchange standard for the property and legal markets that will enable data to be passed from one PISCES compliant system to another.  This vastly simplifies the old way of importing data which used to be very time consuming.  And if your lawyer also uses a PISCES compliant system, they new leases could be exported and passed into your property system as a new property and lease record. Without further manipulation. Quick, easy, accurate.

OSCRE is the American standard and PISCES and OSCRE have been working together for a time.  PISCES and OSCRE Americas have fomed a joint taskforce to consider a merger.  It is reported that initial talks have been constructive with a merger now expected to take place in early January 2010.

Links:

www.pisces.co.uk

www.oscre.org

Just a quick reminder that the User Conference is now less than two weeks away (Tuesday 3rd November).  If you would like to attend, please contact your Account Manager on 020 7825 1000

Another article from Remit Consulting.  This article discusses some issues to be considered when implementing a property system that is to manage a portfolio that is in more than one country.

Interestingly, our systems do answer many of the issues raised.  For more information please contact us.

To visit the article, click here.

http://www.remitconsulting.com/resources/clients/1/user/resource_44.pdf

To view our brochures on cross border management, follow the links below:

http://www.tracesolutions.co.uk/files/additional/overview_banners/Tramps_CB_Data_Sheet_001.pdf  - for TRAMPS (for managing agents)

http://www.tracesolutions.co.uk/files/additional/overview_banners/BlueBox_CB.pdf - for BlueBox (for investors)

http://www.tracesolutions.co.uk/files/additional/overview_banners/o6ix_Cross_Border.pdf - for o6ix (for corporate occupiers)

Or visit the 'info centres' on ou web site

I think all of us occasionally ponder technology and what is can do for us.  It was not long ago that I wondered what Facebook was all about and asking how it differs from Bebo.  Then of course we have Twitter (and the posts on Twitter called, amusingly, tweets).

Therefore we will from time to time add some technology articles here.  The tone of the articles will be to explain some of these new fangled things and, more importantly, how we can use it to our benefit in the real world.

The link below is to an article written by REMIT Consulting.  REMIT are one of the most respected consultants in the property management world.

http://www.remitconsulting.com/resources/clients/1/user/resource_185.pdf

Today we launched our advertising campaignfor BlueBox, our property management system designed for property investors.

To see the advert click on the following link...

http://www.schoolground.co.uk/basecamp/siv/email/011009-MM/index.html?utm_source=Investors+Oct09&utm_campaign=ff1951ce3f-email0210&utm_medium=email

A short time ago we sent out an e-mail campaign for TRAMPS, our system for managing agents.  The mailer provided links to further information on our web site.  To see our mailer, click here...

http://www.schoolground.co.uk/basecamp/siv/trace/emails/trampsjuly09/index.html?utm_source=Managing+Agents+July+2009&utm_campaign=95533a17d9-TRAMPS0709&utm_medium=email

TRAMPS, BlueBox and o6ix, are now compliant with latest version of the PISCES standard, called PIE.

Don’t know what the PISCES standard is?  Let me explain....

PISCES is a not-for-profit organisation that is setting electronic standards for the property and legal industries.  This means that you will be able to send data from one compliant system to another without the need for re-keying, with all the associated time and errors that this can incur.  And it’s much easier than the traditional way of exporting from one system, ensuring that the data is then mapped to the correct field in the destination system and also making sure that the format of each column is correct.

If you transfer data frequently there are many benefits to PISCES.  If the systems that you are exporting from and to are PISCES compliant systems, the data really will import directly without any manipulation.  Or when your lawyer drafted a new lease he (or she) can simply export a file that can be imported to your property system.  This will create a new property record, new lease, new landlord etc.

There are different standards for different purposes.  The latest standard, PIE (Portfolio Information Exchange) is now here and this will enable portfolios to be exchanged between systems.  The accuracy and time saving benefits to anyone who regularly takes on new portfolios can be huge.

The PISCES standard has been adopted by several of the main property management system suppliers and the momentum that has been created by this has made most of the rest start to follow suit.  It may be worth asking your supplier whether your current property system is PISCES compliant.

For more information on PISCES go to www.pisces.co.uk