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Did you know that your TRAMPS, o6ix or BlueBox system can send out messages as a text?  This has proved particularly popular with agents who wish to chase up residential arrears but can actually be used in a variety of ways, for example instructing a contractor on a new job.

Though this has been available for a time, we now have a preferred partner for providing the SMS service, this being mediaburst.  mediaburst are experts in this area with such clients as The Co-operative, Tesco, Morrisons and Kellogg’s.

More on mediabust here:  http://www.mediaburst.co.uk/

For more information on the automatic sending of SMS messages from our systems, saving time and money and getting the message delivered more quickly, contact us.  (Did you know that research has indicated that a user is much more likely to react to an arrears message delivered by SMS than by paper or e-mail?).

A new TRAMPS vacancy available via Witan Jardine.  They are contactable on:

13 Southampton Place, London WC1A 2AL.  020 7404 4004  www.ambition.co.uk

Client Accountant.

Location: West London

My client is one of the UK's leading Real Estate Advisory companies by turnover, they trade on the Alternative Investment Market of the London Stock Exchange. The business is one of the world's largest real estate advisory organisations with offices in over 50 countries.

The business is looking to recruit a Senior Client Accountant within their London based finance function. You will be maintaining the Property Management Database (TRAMPS), raising head-lease charges and reconciling them to demands that have been received. You will also be raising tenant demands for sublet units, working closely with surveyors, credit control, accounts payable and cashiering teams. To apply you must have experience of dealing with rent and services charge payments, budgeting and forecasting and month end management accounting. The role is both internally and externally client facing and you will regularly meet with external customers.

http://www.ambition.co.uk/job/29199-client-accountant

I am well aware that I promised to place job vacancies on our blog but these have been lacking.  This is largely because there are few jobs and plenty of candidates so many of the jobs don't get advertised before they are filled.  We have, however, noticed a march larger number of people approaching us for training on TRAMPS.  Many people are aware of how widely used it is and want to ensure that they have the skills to put themselves forward for TRAMPS jobs.

From now on we are making a more concerted effort to post vacancies on here and to ensure that they are still available at the tine of posting.

Here is the first, from Witan Jardine, a recruitment company based in London WC1:

"Position:  Accounts Manager

My client is a Property and Real Estate advisor that operates globally. The business advises Occupiers, Investors, Developers plus also a number of other stakeholders. The company has a well established and internationally recognised brand with a solid reputation for delivering excellent customer service.

As a result of an increasing workload the finance team is looking to recruit for an Accounts Manager. My client is looking for a candidate with prior experience of dealing with service charges, cash reconciliations, reporting to clients, VAT reporting and running client statements quarterly and monthly. The system the company uses is TBS Tramps and having used the financial package would help differentiate you from other candidates in the market."

More information via the link: http://www.ambition.co.uk/job/29079-accounts-manager 

Witan Jardine contact information:

Witan Jardine, 13 Southampton Place, London WC1A 2AL.  Tel: 020 7404 4004

As you know PISCES, the interoperability standard, is now OSCRE (the Open Standards Consortium for Real Estate) after its merger with the American organisation with the same objectives.  From now on I will always refer to it as OSCRE, the correct name.

Below is a press release about OSCRE's recent partnership with FIDJI, a French standards body.  This continues its momentum towards a global standard for real estate.  Read on...

PRESS RELEASE:  FOR IMMEDIATE DISTRIBUTION

OSCRE Partners with FIDJI in continued drive to establish global real estate investment standard

February 10, 2010 – OSCRE (the Open Standards Consortium for Real Estate), today announced that they will partner with French standards body FIDJI in order to combine expertise and harmonise data definitions to facilitate smooth exchange of real estate data, for increased business efficiency.  This new partnership builds on OSCRE’s recent announcements unveiling similar initiatives with Argus Software and IPD in its continued momentum towards a global standard for real estate.

A Memorandum of Understanding is currently being drawn up to formalise the relationship and detailed discussions on the harmonization of the standards will begin later this month.  A working group is planned to bring together interested FIDJI members to explore the development of a global investment real estate model.

Catherine Williams, Chief Executive of OSCRE said: “We are operating in an increasingly global market. The issues faced in France are the same as those experienced across the globe, and standards developed with only a local perspective will always be vulnerable. Partnering with an international standards organisation enables local expertise to address local needs, whilst maintaining an overall global perspective and cohesion.  It is the solution that everyone in the sector is seeking.”

Patrick de Lataillade, President of FIDJI said: "The aim of this partnership is to facilitate the real estate transactions of international asset holders and reduce transaction costs. The wide geographic distribution of real estate assets is now a fact. Enquiries have to be processed from different countries by many different people and it is therefore necessary for us to quickly integrate this aspect in the development of our standards going forward.”

Bernard Boulenguiez, Secretary General of FIDJI commented: "OSCRE is the established real estate standard in the United Kingdom and the United States. Our shared commitment to meet these new needs of the "internationalized" real estate industry has logically brought us closer together ".

About OSCRE (the Open Standards Consortium for Real Estate)

OSCRE is a not-for-profit market led initiative that facilitates increased business productivity through the development and delivery of standards across the real property sector. 

OSCRE offers global leadership in delivering electronic standards for exchanging real estate information and drives standards adoption by guiding and providing a platform, methodology and resources.

OSCRE is the only global e-commerce standards body for real estate and the property sector.

The OSCRE Membership is made up of a very experienced group of real estate professionals who have dedicated many years of service to improving our industry.

Currently OSCRE is comprised of over 120 members, with approximately 30 percent of these making up the Executive Membership. Members are both commercial and residential property organizations with representation from major organizations, small to medium sized businesses, trade associations and government departments.

The consortium is funded by these members, whose valued financial and professional contributions enable the continuation of the work of OSCRE. 

For more information please visit our website at http://www.oscre.org.

About FIDJI (Inter Exchange Format Data Legal and Real Estate)

FIDJI is a common language that formalizes the exchange of qualitative and quantitative information between different stakeholders in the housing market without the need for retreatment. The association is guarantor for the promotion and development of the format. It currently brings together some forty key players in the French property market such as AEW Europe, AXA REIM, CAAM RE, CB Richard Ellis, GVIO, CUSHMAN & WAKEFIELD, Icade, IPD or BPSS.

For more information about FIDJI: http://www.format-fidji.org/

A previous blog mentioned RSS feeds and blogs.  Continuing this theme I thought it was relevant to provide a link to another document produced by Remit Consulting on the subject of social media and a description of how social networking sites such as LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter could benefit property professionals.  This was commissioned by RICS and surprisingly discovered that Aviva and Hammerson are already using Facebook in large numbers.

Apparently this has been Remit's most popular paper.  It provides a fascinating insight.  Read on...

http://www.remitconsulting.com/resources/clients/1/user/resource_255.pdf

As we have had significant snow, prompting all the schools to be closed to my children's delight, it seems the right time to wish everyone a very happy Christmas and may business continue to improve in the New Year.

An update on OSCRE.  I have mentioned before that the data interchange standard PISCES in the UK was proposing to merge with OSCRE in the States who promote the same message.  This has now happened (several weeks ago actually) providing a worldwide property and legal (and more) data interchange standard.  This is fantastic news and will provide all sorts of efficiency and cost benefits for anyone moving data about.

The increased size of OSCRE immediately makes more resources available enabling them to promote their cause much better.  In addition their new Board has been announed which includes our very own Managing Director Mick Flynn, increasing the influence Trace has on this most important standard.  Other members of the Board include influential figures from companies such as ING Real Estate, Argus Software, Cushman and Wakefield, realFoundations and IPD.

For more information on the OSCRE Board, please click here:  http://www.oscre.org/enews/MemberNewsBoardIntro1209.htm

A property company in north London has just bought the TRAMPS  property management system.  The organisation is both a property investment company, plus they manage properties on behalf of others.  Nothing unusual there you may think, but read on...

The new project is very exciting as the proprietor has investigated very thoroughly the possibility of automating as many parts of the business as possible.  Most organisations are happy to manually start off automatic processes such as rent demanding and the issuing of demands, plus debt chasing and the actual issuing of correspondence.  Once started TRAMPS will run complex process and we have designed them to minimise or eliminate any manual intervention, but most companies still expect to put a note in their diaries and kick the process off at the appropriate time.  However, our North London company will fully automate all of these areas, all of which TRAMPS is capable of but most people do not use.  The processes will run and will issue the necessary documentation whether someone is present or not.  The benefits of this are very clear.

Interestingly, the proprietor contacted many suppliers of property systems and was not successful in finding one that would automate the business sufficiently, including his incumbent supplier, a well known provider of property systems. 

For more information, please contact us.  All of this is available without any bespoke work! 

Following on from my recent news about the potential merger of PISCES and OSCRE (for more information on the PISCES standard, please see my earlier blogs) I am delighted to confirm that the merger has gone ahead.

Stephen Spooner, OSCRE Chairman said the following:

I am very pleased to announce that we have now completed the merger of PISCES and OSCRE Americas.

Retaining the name Open Standards Consortium For Real Estate (OSCRE), and our not for profit status, our unified global consortium can now fully realise the vision of maximising value in the real estate industry through open interoperability among real estate information systems; an effort founded on common business interests and internationally accepted information technology standards.

Operating as a global consortium mirrors the scope and business objectives of OSCRE members. Merging the operations and more closely integrating global standards development and adoption activities to match the increasingly global needs of the real estate industry was always a goal in PISCES and OSCRE Americas development. Now, having reached this milestone, we are eager to provide a setting where consortium members and strategic partners can gain new levels of efficiency and effectiveness....

More of this statement is available via this link:  http://web.pisces.co.uk/OSCREx/eNews/MemberNews20091120.htm

The OSCRE web site is here: http://web.pisces.co.uk/oscrex/default3.aspx

Watch this space.  More information on Trace's involvement with OSCRE will follow soon.

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