by Brianna Crandall — November 16, 2012—Workgroup members of OSCRE International, the Open Standards Consortium for Real Estate, have announced publication of the Occupancy Cost Exchange Standard V3.0. This enhanced version will optimize data input required to share the cost of occupancy with multiple parties by ensuring global consistency in data definitions. Adhering to the standard is expected to increase data accuracy and quality, ultimately leading to an increased ease of reporting to stakeholders.
Support for the enhancement of the Occupancy Cost Exchange Standard reflects the trend of business collaboration and the need to share real estate data more frequently with internal clients and stakeholders, regulators, and outsourced service providers. Enhancement to this OSCRE standard will facilitate systems to exchange data without the need for manual intervention or expensive transfer processes. The process is accomplished through the creation of a common language, linked to robust definitions (including BOMA, EN European Standard, IFMA and IPD). Because the costs of developing infrastructure will be shared, the upfront implementation cost to expand the user community should be reduced, says OSCRE.
Occupiers, service providers, and benchmarking organizations continue to face the challenge of sharing data on costs of occupancy, notes OSCRE. In an environment where numerous software products are used for specific applications, the ability to exchange information efficiently is a driving factor in highlighting the value that real estate software tools bring to a business. Moving the exchange of benchmarking data from spreadsheets to integrated software applications is much more efficient and expands the participation and value gained from benchmarking with other organizations, adds the organization.
By using the Occupancy Cost Exchange Standard, organizations should expect to see an improvement to accuracy and reliability of the data, and a reduction on the time required to exchange information between stakeholders. OSCRE now welcomes organizations to adopt and implement this standard.
OSCRE expressed appreciation and congratulations to the co-chairs, Glenn Corney of Investment Property Databank (IPD) and Ted Eedson, consultant to Public Works and Government Services Canada (PWGSC), as well as all participants, including representatives from FM BENCHMARKING (see their FMLink ad), Building Owners and Managers Association International (BOMA), Manhattan Software Inc., Cushman & Wakefield, Visible Performance Systems Ltd., RSP i-SPACE, EBUSINESS STRATEGIES LLC, and Virtual Premise.
