1. real estate

COMPANY
case study
Largest commercial real estate firm in Northern
Europe utilizes M-Files for project management
BUSINESS
PROPERTY
MANAGEMENT
INDUSTRY
COMMERCIAL
REAL ESTATE
LOCATION
FINLAND
DEPLOYMENT
ON-PREMISE
WHY M-FILES?
DOCUMENT
CONTROL
ASSET
TRACKING
PROJECT
MANAGEMENT
Founded in 1994, Newsec is the largest specialized commercial property firm in
Northern Europe. The company manages more than 1,000 commercial properties
and provides services to most of the leading property owners, investors and
corporations in the Nordic region.
Commercial real estate is an
information-intensive business, and
numerous documents are managed for each
property, such as leases, contracts, tenant
information, building records and renewal
letters. Newsec was using internal network
file folders to manage its massive collection
of documentation, which was proving to be
inefficient and ineffective. Newsec’s staff was
spending a significant amount of time
searching for the current and correct versions
of property files and records, and the process
of ensuring the appropriate internal and
external individuals were reviewing and
approving documents was less than optimal.
In 2009, the Finland-based division of Newsec
embarked on a mission to select and deploy
an enterprise content management (ECM)
system to gain greater control over its
commercial real estate documentation and
associated processes. Newsec found a
solution that was perfect for addressing its
document management and workflow needs – M-Files.
In a short time frame, Newsec deployed M-Files in their 200-person Finland-based
office. Newsec consists of five separate business units (Capital Markets, Leasing,
Asset & Property Management, Valuation & Advisory, Corporate Solutions), and all
five groups are using M-Files.
M-Files simplifies project management, resource allocation activities
The Valuation & Advisory group at Newsec is leveraging M-Files for project
management and to improve its resource management and allocation activities. For
example, Newsec utilizes M-Files in order to allocate its staff members to different
projects, and tracks the specific workload percentage for each project an employee
is working on. This enables Newsec’s management team to quickly see and evaluate
the current workload for each person, department, and project team.
THEY SAID IT
“We do not have to
rely on extraneous
solutions, we’re able
to configure M-Files
to address several
different needs and
requirements.”
MICHAEL WILHELMSSON,
IT DIRECTOR, NEWSEC
Enhanced team resource management is just one of the benefits Newsec has
experienced with M-Files. With the ability to create relationships among projects,
properties, documents and processes in M-Files, the company has quick access and
insight into all of the documents and processes associated to each property, each
asset and each project. In addition, Newsec uses the workflow features in M-Files
for the routing of project-related documents for review and approval.
“Many of the documents we manage in M-Files require one or more staff members
to review and approve them – and this process is much more precise and efficient
now with M-Files. We’ve set up automatic notifications to alert both internal staff
and tenants when certain actions must be taken at specific times, such as for lease
renewals,” said Michael Wilhelmsson, IT Director at Newsec.
Newsec uses the permissions management capabilities in M-Files to restrict access
to certain documents to ensure only authorized individuals can access confidential
information.
“Often times, there is sensitive or confidential information included in contracts,
tenant-related files, and other commercial real estate documentation, and with
M-Files, we’re able to ensure only authorized people within our company can access
this content,” said Wilhelmsson.
M-Files provides asset management unit with insight into property status
Newsec also leverages the M-Files platform as their asset management, CRM and
ERP solution. All of Newsec’s customers, accounts, properties, contracts,
negotiations, etc. are modeled into M-Files, which serves as a centralized platform
that drives processes related to nearly every aspect of their business.
Newsec staff can access any of the company’s properties within M-Files and have
immediate access to critical information such as where it’s located, who owns it,
how many units the property has, the size of each apartment and/or office space,
who the renters/leasers are, how long each lease agreement is for, the status of the
lease renewal, and many other important aspects related to the property.
Asset management is an important M-Files use case for Newsec. There is a
mandatory information management and delivery process that must be followed for
each property Newsec sells via an investment partner, and the company can export
information about each property and publish it to the respective partner quickly and
easily with M-Files.
m-files.com
972.516.4210
358.3.3138.7500
sales@m-files.com
Newsec has established separate M-Files vaults for several of its larger investment
partners, and one such example is Pohjola Kiinteistösijoitus Oy, which is the largest
insurance and banking company in Finland that owns or manages real estate worth
an estimated €1b. Newsec has created a separate M-Files vault and dedicated
workspace for Pohjola, which includes all relevant documentation related to the real
estate assets Newsec manages on their behalf. In addition to serving as a central
repository that is accessible to both Newsec and Pohjola, the two organizations
utilize the robust workflow capabilities in M-Files to manage the review and
approval of capital expenditures.