Oracle supports new business model, process improvements for real estate leader Vesta

Vesta is a real estate owner, developer, and asset administrator of industrial buildings and distribution centers in Mexico. The company, which has been in business for over 20 years and public for seven, has grown rapidly via expansion and innovation.

In 2019 Vesta altered its business model as part of that growth drive. The company sold a portion of their portfolio but still provided management services for those properties. The proceeds of the sale provided financial strength and flexibility to Vesta.*

This move into property management for other owners increased Vesta’s need for standardized processes and systems to manage and report efficiently. Their clients wanted visibility and reports, which Vesta had to develop manually—a demanding and time-consuming effort.

Integrating Primavera Unifier

To improve these processes, Vesta turned to Primavera Unifier, which was integrated with its Oracle CX Sales and Oracle Cloud ERP solutions (read more about Vesta's suite of Oracle cloud applications).

Providing reports and dashboards to the clients through Primavera Unifier saved time and provided additional detail and analytics. Vesta is now using those reports and insights to manage their own properties as well.

Vesta has uncovered new information and various ways of presenting and using that information to provide better visibility to their clients and Vesta executives. They also now have a one central system to manage information on all their properties.

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“Oracle’s Primavera Unifier is like a giant LEGO set. You can build anything you can imagine.”

 -Ivan Saavedra Maufras, Project Manager, Vesta

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The system is easily accessible by all parties, regardless of location, and everyone has confidence that the tool contains the most accurate and up-to-date information available. Since Vesta provides better detail in their reporting, they can more closely control numerous aspects of their business.

For example, Vesta can identify and communicate what preventive maintenance has been done and what still needs to be completed. The company has total visibility into what maintenance is needed, planned, and completed at each property, and they use that information to intelligently predict and plan.

An essential component of the system

Throughout the implementation process, Vesta partnered with Oracle and implementation partner Gaea to define needs and compile, configure, and integrate a solution set to meet current needs and enable flexibility to take advantage of future opportunities.

In addition, by using Oracle’s Platform Integration Framework (PIF) interfaces, Vesta has seamlessly integrated essential functions such as preventive maintenance, lease management, purchasing, and invoicing. During the technology assessment process, Vesta recognized Primavera Unifier as a uniquely powerful and flexible solution.

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Some of the results Vesta has achieved using Primavera Unifier:

-    4x faster lease turnarounds through Primavera Unifier/CRM integration
-    25x better space utilization
-    78% savings in reporting
-    At least 5x faster to create reports
-    Saved 70 reporting resources (90 compared to under 20)
-    Saved three to four days each quarter on quarterly public reporting
-    Facilities management is 40% more efficient
-    Improved invoicing accuracy by 10x with the system tracking exact dates of lease renewals and rent increases
-    Reduced risk of tenant not having the appropriate insurance by 90%

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Flexibility to grow and sustain

Vesta’s leadership knew that Primavera Unifier would present opportunities to improve organizational performance and provide flexibility. But they had no idea that one of the areas of flexibility that would be tested was the ability to have its teams work from home.

In response to the COVID-19 outbreak, Vesta moved to a working from home model. The outbreak could have been a major disruption, but with the full suite of Oracle solutions Vesta had implemented, they got everyone set up to work from home within one business day. This included some workers who had never worked from home previously.

Leveraging Oracle’s cloud-based systems meant there was no sudden burden on Vesta IT or the need to buy additional servers with so many people accessing systems from home instead of from work. Vesta continued operations without missing a beat.

“Without having those systems in place, Vesta may have experienced cash flow issues,” said Ivan Saavedra Maufras, project manager for Vesta.

Everyone on the Vesta team can simply access everything they need, and business continues seamlessly. The requisitions for purchases can still be generated in Primavera Unifier.

The workflows that route items for approval can still be set up and reviewers can respond and approve to keep the process moving.

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“Without Oracle, Vesta would have needed more people, more time, and still never have the visibility or control we have today. It has been a very successful two years. The new lines of business are working well.”

- Ivan Saavedra Maufras, Project Manager, Vesta

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Purchase orders are issued through the integration with the ERP system and payments can be approved and made, enabling essential activities to continue without any interruption.

“Oracle Cloud has been really great. If we did not have the Oracle platform, we would have been in a very bad situation. Having the Oracle solutions in place has been a huge impact,” said Maufras.

In addition, due to the preventive maintenance plan and processes now in place, the amount of unexpected corrective work has decreased. This is particularly beneficial with teams working to minimize the need to go out.

What’s next?

Vesta is using their Oracle solutions to set up a Help Desk for their tenants to communicate with them. Once in place, all work orders will be created and managed through Primavera Unifier from inception.

The system will also trigger preventive maintenance activities, helping to ensure all work and communication is completed as planned.

In Vesta’s ever improving implementation, they are also looking to add a data warehouse as well as an analytics layer. Currently, Vesta creates reports based on the collected data, however, their digital transformation plans go further than this by creating the chance to leverage information to improve forecasting and projections.

”This is how IT can add real value to the company,” said Maufras. “The Oracle digital platform is the enabler of a profound transformation that encompasses a very strong technological strategy.”

Implementing a data warehouse

The next step for Vesta is to isolate the transactional configuration from being the source of information for data analysis. The company will accomplish this by implementing a data warehouse to provide the information to be used for analytics.

Vesta has already demonstrated their innovative spirit through their recent business model evolution. When I last spoke with Maufras, he was already talking about what opportunities the company might consider next—and how Oracle would help enable the changes.

“We know there are other options to pursue, and no matter what they are, we know Primavera Unifier can support them,” he said.

Watch Vesta’s brief video to learn more.

Learn more about Primavera Unifier.

Oracle Construction and Engineering, the global leader in construction management software and project portfolio management solutions, helps you connect your teams, processes, and data across the project and asset lifecycle. Drive efficiency and control in project delivery with proven solutions for project controls, construction scheduling, portfolio management, BIM/CDE, construction payment management, and more.

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*Cision PR Newswire: https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/vesta-finalizes-sales-of-property-portfolio-for-109-3-million-300844606.html