Development of CRE data systems : A case study for heterogeneous property portfolios

Abstract

Corporate real estate management (CREM) has evolved over the past few years, adjusting to the requirements of globalisation. The requirements for the management of corporate real estate (CRE) vary from company to company according to the real estate portfolio to be managed, the asset classes involved, their regional distribution, the scope of management and the level of vertical integration of the CREM organisation. This also dictates the type and scope of real estate management and the management systems to be used. Just as the objectives of CREM in the company must be derived from the objectives of the core business, real estate management and data systems must be derived from the CREM objectives. These will change along with the level of maturity of the CREM organisation. The CRE manager should therefore first determine the status quo of their situation in the company and then define immediate short-term targets and a long-term vision. Based on this, it is advisable to develop the system landscape incrementally. In designing the system, the focus must first be on the required output. This is the basis for the definition of the input variables. It is strongly recommended, however, to keep the number of input variables to be maintained small so that they can be kept up to date with reasonable effort. As a result, this paper first emphasises the specifics of CRE in contrast to the traditional real estate industry. Thereafter, it demonstrates the progress of the step-wise development of the CREM system over a period of almost 20 years. A long-term case study shows the alignment of the development of the management system alongside the development of the CRE organisation, commencing with the challenges of data collection and maintenance, the subsequent setting up of a strategic property database, the integration of rather tactical tasks, up to the ultimate goal of establishing an integrated real estate management system for an internationally operating corporation with a complex and heterogeneous industrial real estate portfolio.