Intuit Real Estate Solutions (IRES, formerly MRI) has always been recognized for offering some of the most flexible and customizable property software solutions in the real estate industry. But who knew the systems were supple enough to let a client throw a lasso around its cattle-management requirements?

That's just what Robson Properties of Claremore, Oklahoma did, taking full advantage of the Application Tool Kit module to create software that was truly "Right for My Business." The uniqueness of the application, as well as its adroit use of the Tool Kit module, earned Robson Properties an award at the 2002 International User Conference, which offers educational workshops to users on various IRES software products.

Counting when the cows come home

Robson, which manages 1.35 million square feet of retail and shopping center space throughout the Midwest, also manages investments in oil, gas and livestock.

Though real estate is Robson's main business, the livestock holdings aren't small. Robson has four ranches (totaling approximately 21,000 acres of land) in Oklahoma, which support approximately 5,700 head of cattle per year.

It was the management of the cattle that was a concern to Robson. Previously, the investments were managed separately with information from different databases. The cattle were managed using Microsoft Excel spreadsheets. There wasn't a software program that would manage both cattle and retail properties, so Robson created its own, with the help of IRES' MRI Commercial system.

"The owner wanted all of his data on one report, and we decided to merge the cattle data into MRI Commercial with the existing building and lease structure of the application tables," said Tami Rosson, Robson's System Administrator.

Robson said that with the Application Tool Kit, it was fairly easy to create a table and structure with new views, menus and reports that would track data related to cattle weight, price per head of cattle, amount of feed, and inventory of cattle. Robson modified reports that are typically used to calculate price per square foot and tenant move-ins to assess price per cattle lot and the buying and selling of new cattle.

"Using MRI Commercial to manage the cattle eliminated wasted time with duplicate data entry," Rosson said. The Robson Chief Financial Officer, she added, can now use accurate cattle head and weight information on company financial reports, accessing all the information needed from one user-friendly interface screen.

Conference workshops an inspiration

For Rosson's efforts, IRES awarded her and Robson Properties the "2002 MRI Right for my Business Application" award at IRES' 2002 International User Conference. Criteria for selection included the uniqueness of the business challenge and its solution, the benefit to the organization, and proficiency in using the Application Tool Kit.

It was somewhat fitting that Rosson was recognized at the International User Conference, since she credited the in-depth workshops at previous conferences as her inspiration for beginning the cattle-management project.

"I have been to six previous conferences and from those classes and workshops, I became competent using the Application Tool Kit," Rosson said. "From my notes and the conference handouts, I was able to modify MRI Commercial to my needs."

From beginning to end, the project took only five months to complete according to Rosson. She changed and added numerous fields and views that tracked everything involved in cattle from calculating pay weight to tracking dead cattle. Rosson said the flexibility in MRI Commercial and the power of the Application Tool Kit module drastically improved the efficiency at Robson.

"The person who programmed and input the cattle information retired and because of the new fields in MRI Commercial, we had no need to replace her," Rosson said. "Because of the flexibility in this product, we've been able to save both time and money."

Other winners

The second and third place winners were Peel Holdings of the United Kingdom and Tishman Speyer Properties of New York City respectively. Peel Holdings was concerned that their property managers were having trouble extracting current and historical data. To address the issue, the firm implemented a system that streamlined recovery/service charge data and included and invoice reference number for each new invoice created. New screen views and reports were added to make viewing the data more user-friendly.

"We now have easy access to recovery/service charge data," explained Philip Doyle, Information Technology Manager at the company. "One of the best results is that we now have all accounts payable invoices scanned and accessible from within the IRES' application."

At Tishman Speyer, the collection of delinquent charges is critical to the company's project managers. However, with the multitude of individual leases managed, many of which include special provisions, that task was easier said than done. Thanks to the Application Tool Kit, the company was able to create a new application to track arrearages with respect to special circumstances.

"We now have a much more efficient collection process," said Larry Schachter, Director of Information Technology. "Today, we're able to create reports that enable property managers to focus on collections instead of software, while also keeping upper management informed of collection activity."

For more information about the Application Tool Kit, please call Amanda Briggs at 800-321-8770, ext. 56536.

To obtain additional details about the MRI International User Conference, e-mail CL_userconference@Intuit.com.