Web-Based Application Suite Offers Full Lifecycle Product for Retail and Corporate Real Estate Portfolio Management.

National Facilities Group, Inc. (NFG) and Lucernex, Inc. (LX), two leading real estate software development and consulting firms, announce the availability of an integrated product suite that provides an end-to-end solution for managing activities which span the entire real estate lifecycle. The product was demonstrated in September to a group of over 100 real estate professionals attending NFG’s annual user group conference. According to Ken Brown, NFG’s President & CEO, “Reaction to the joint venture has been even better than we could have anticipated. Obviously, there is great demand for a product like this and with our friends at Lucernex, we expect to lead the industry in providing a full lifecycle product”. Lucernex Chairman, Mike Nuzum concurs saying, “The management team at Lucernex and NFG bring together over 150 years experience in retail real estate. Our solution is based on existing products that are in use today by thousands of users at leading companies”.

Working in “stealth mode” for the past six months, the two companies successfully integrated NFG’s SLIM (Strategic Lease Information Management) and LX’s Rollout Manager software applications into a product suite that provides a single process addressing Program Management, Market Strategy, Site Identification, Site Acquisition, Design, Construction, Space Planning, Maintenance & Repairs, Lease Administration and Property Management. A key feature of the integrated product suite is its support for existing third-party tools. This “best of breed” approach leverages the unique strengths of industry standard technologies including Thompson’s AnySite for demographic/analytics, MapInfo for mapping/GIS, MS Project or Primavera for project scheduling, AutoCad for space planning and Crystal Reports for enterprise reporting. Other common technologies include Document Management, Workflow Management, Date Ticklers/Alerts and Contact Management.

The integrated product suite facilitates process improvement and enhances communication by making data accessible for all parties including Corporate Executives, Project Managers, Lease Administrators and Service Providers. A “digital dashboard” created with Java (J2EE) provides the workflow “hub” for keeping track of all of the components of Rollout Manager and SLIM. The dashboard enforces accountability for quality performance and on-time task completion by automatically escalating alerts to the appropriate level when action is not taken within the set timeframe. The dashboard is highly user configurable and provides real time access to a common calendar, date ticklers, alerts for critical issues, and access to sites, facilities, projects and leases. Other key benefits of the integrated product suite include sophisticated lease auditing and compliance checking to prevent overpayments, improved collection of rent from sub-tenants and automated CPI and percentage rent calculations.

The integrated suite offers full enterprise level reporting and can seamlessly integrate with Oracle Financials, SAP, JD Edwards, Lawson and PeopleSoft. Standard interfaces include Sales, G/L, A/P and A/R. The integrated suite is available now and can be delivered as a standalone application or as an ASP to minimize MIS/IT resources needed for deployment.