Real estate development presents a more complex project management challenge than most, with a profound division of labor and a vast number of internal and external contributors and stakeholders. It goes without saying that effective collaboration within and among departments and consultants is crucial.

Some of our clients use site|folio to communicate and coordinate within a single department, while others have expanded their usage to encompass the entire development pipeline. All have seen huge value in having everything in one place, with tightly controlled visibility, access and collaboration. The functionality and features we offer toward that end include:

• Master scheduling
• Location, Building & Project Attribute Libraries
• Document sharing
• Virtual Workspaces
• Cost Control
• Centralized directory

Clients tell us site|folio’s master schedule has revolutionized the way they work. We have streamlined and focused our scheduling engine to reflect what matters most to retailers – milestones, tasks and dates. Our master schedule covers as much of the real estate project pipeline as you choose, broken down into phases you define.

Every internal department member and external consultant looks to a single, online source for their tasks and target dates – as well as visibility into everyone else’s. Managers have real-time oversight without holding laborious meetings to reconcile departmental schedules or dedicating resources to circulating and updating an unwieldy Excel spreadsheet. Executives have insight across their entire portfolio through personalized dashboards and reports.

At the heart of site|folio is a database for each client, deep and robust enough to capture any location, building or project attribute required. Storing all of this information in a central location unifies and, in effect, democratizes the data; anyone with permission can access it and KNOW everyone else is seeing the same thing. With site|folio, you never have to call another department to verify how many registers a store has or parking spots a location has – and other groups can rest-assured you are using accurate facts and figures.

The power of having this information centralized is fully realized when combined with site|folio’s search and reporting functionality. Intra- and inter-departmental queries can yield extremely complex and valuable insight. For example, how many registers does every store in a given region have, per square foot. Even further, when cross-referenced with our budgeting features… What is the cost per register to build in that region?

site|folio provides workspaces in a consistent, secure, and structured environment, in which to virtually gather team members and literally gather supporting documents from all internal and external business partners. These workspaces offer immediate access to the myriad information that concerns any group of people working toward a common goal: announcements and news, current standards and processes, links to relevant internal and external resources and websites, etcetera.

• Allow multiple contributors to repeatedly mark up drawings or documents using our integrated document viewer – saving you the expense of additional software or from making notes on hard copies.
• Access, view and download documents in report-form from virtually anywhere. Store and District Managers, for example, can view and print all pertinent files from their own computers – without having to purchase and install proprietary software.
• Retain every version of each document, with its author, save date/time and optional change notes tracked by site|folio. Roll back when needed, or compare versions side-by-side.
• Stay current on the status of each document with instantaneous email notification when a document is viewed, uploaded, revised, marked up or approved (within site|folio). No more wondering if contractors have viewed or accepted the latest change order.
• Tightly control access to your files (whether textual or graphical) on multiple axes, so internal stakeholders and outside parties can only view or edit information relevant to them. Each consultant’s view into site|folio is as unique and limited as you prescribe.

Build an all-in budget within site|folio rather than each department managing their own. All of your numbers are consolidated in one place, visible to all stakeholders as the project progresses and the budget evolves. Complete transparency, combined with customized meta-reporting, goes a long way toward controlling costs at the project level and across your entire portfolio.

Uniform cost control documents and correspondence – such as Change Orders and Pay Applications – governed by Smart Workflow mean every consultant clearly understands 1.) what is expected, and 2.) how to execute when partnering with your business. site|folio provides a standard set of these documents, which can be tailored to reflect your business needs and processes.

site|folio’s enterprise directory provides a single repository of all internal and external business contacts across your entire organization. Here too, we provide a baseline set of attributes, specific to real estate development and portfolio management, for you to populate – including service(s) provided and associated site|folio projects, teams or individuals. Alter or extend that set to include any data points important to you, such as performance or insurance status.

The power of having this information centralized is, again, fully realized when combined with site|folio’s search and reporting functionality. We allow searching on any combination of data points, sourced from the directory and elsewhere. Would you like a list of all electrical contractors in Washington State, who are insured and have worked with you on projects of 20,000 square feet? No problem.