Management Software is designed for hospitality industry.
Share:
Press Release Summary:
Delivered over Internet as Software as a Service (SaaS) model, Capital Projects Management Suite facilitates management of multi-property hotel renovation projects. Hosted application manages renovation timelines and purchase order scheduling; tracks furniture, fixture, and equipment budget; enforces brand standards; and monitors compliance with renovation schedule. Solution integrates complex project management features with procurement capabilities.
Original Press Release:
Birch Street Launches Hospitality Industry's First Capital Projects Management Suite
NEWPORT BEACH, Calif., Feb. 21 - Birch Street Systems, a leading provider of e-Procurement and back office automation solutions to the hospitality industry, today announced their Capital Projects Management Suite (CPMS), the industry's first comprehensive solution for the management of multi-property hotel renovation projects.
According to Lodging Econometrics (LE), the global authority for hotel real estate, the U.S. construction pipeline reached record levels in 2006 surpassing previous highs set in 1999. In its 2006 year-end report, LE reported that the construction pipeline contained 3,748 new construction projects being actively pursued by developers - translating to 511,056 new guestrooms. LE forecasts that upscale openings will jump to 207 hotels in 2007 and the 2008 forecast calls for an additional 23 percent increase.
At a time of steady growth and while operating and construction costs continue to be monitored closely, Birch Street is arming hotel owners with a hosted multi-property application that manages renovation timelines and purchase order scheduling, tracks the furniture, fixture and equipment (FF&E) budget, enforces brand standards and monitors compliance with the renovation schedule.
"Hotel renovations, refurbishments and new construction are highly complex and multi-threaded," said Doug Sanborn, president and CEO of Birch Street Systems. "These types of projects consist of dozens of sub-projects and involve the purchase of hundreds of products and services, all while managing complex timelines. By combining project management with procurement on a portfolio-wide platform, we can provide highly reliable project tracking information because each project benchmark is tied to underlying purchasing activity. Today, many of these projects are being managed manually with unreliable tracking data which translates into missed timetables and blown budgets."
Founded in 2001, Birch Street has leveraged its expertise in hospitality-based e-procurement to introduce a solution that integrates complex project management features with procurement in a hosted, multi-property software application. Birch Street's CPMS empowers hotel owners and operators with the ability to establish and manage the project timeline across a large portfolio of properties and manage purchasing and order scheduling. Project status can be tracked by matching product lead times to the project timeline, expenditures are tracked against the capital budget and the entire project can be viewed in real-time through the CPMS dashboard.
"Our e-Procurement Application Suite is used by some of the biggest brand names in the hotel industry," added Sanborn. "Our customers have realized the value in an automated e-Procurement solution for food and beverage and have asked us to extend that capability to the procurement of materials for huge renovation and development projects. We've layered in budget tracking, project management functionality and workflow analysis on top and have a unique solution that addresses a real pain point for our customers."
Immediate and tangible benefits that can be realized after implementing the CPMS include:
o Enhanced project tracking and on-time completion
o Brand standards are enforced
o Warehousing costs reduced
o Purchasing errors reduced
o Manpower requirements lowered
Birch Street delivers the CPMS over the Internet, using the "Software as a Service" (SaaS) model, which reduces the total cost of ownership compared with the traditional method of buying and maintaining enterprise software. Today, over 1,000 hotels and over 11,000 registered users rely on Birch Street's e-Procurement Application Suite. With over 35,000 suppliers, Birch Street operates the most comprehensive e-Procurement solution in the hospitality industry.
The Birch Street CPMS is available in the second quarter of 2007. For more information please visit www.BirchStreetSystems.com or call (949) 567-7100.
About Birch Street
Birch Street Systems, Inc. is a leading provider of e-Procurement solutions to hospitality and restaurant groups. The company's e-Procurement system is a suite of web-based applications designed to help hospitality organizations leverage their collective buying power, automate back-office processes and tighten financial controls. More than 1,000 hotels are now using the Birch Street solution, including Marcus Hotels and Resorts, Interstate Hotels and Resorts, the Waldorf, the Chicago Hilton, the Fontainebleau, and the Hilton Hawaiian Village. For more information, visit www.BirchStreetSystems.com.
CONTACT: Bob Menzies of Lages & Associates, +1-949-453-8080, bob@lages.com, for Birch Street Systems, Inc.
