RioCan Real Estate integrates data streams into 1 powerful workflow management system

RioCan is one of Canada’s biggest real estate investment firms. The organization has built a reputation around the development of commercial real estate within the Canadian market. Through proper research, strategy and entrepreneurship, it is RioCan’s ambition to create vibrant community spaces for their tenants to live and work in.

An outdated workflow management process that was time-consuming

For big organizations like RioCan, it is often difficult to manage their internal workflows in an efficient way. The so-called ‘lead-to-lease’ trajectory is a process in which a lot of information has to be gathered and stored in the right place. This had major effects on RioCan’s lead time: on average, it took about 24 days before a rental agreement could be officially approved. This time-consuming process had potential renters having to wait longer than necessary before they could occupy their new homes or workspaces. Something that also had a direct effect on the revenue streams of RioCan. Therefore, it didn’t come as a surprise that RioCan was looking for a way to cut back the time it took between the first viewing and signing the rental agreement.

A solution that could be easily integrated into RioCan’s ERP-system

To design this new approval flow, RioCan sought the help of fizor. After a thorough analysis of their current work processes, the fizor. team was able to deliver a new workflow management system in a very short time. The goal of this system was to fully automate the workflow processes wherever that was possible. Above all, the system needed to be integrated perfectly with the existing ERP-system that RioCan was using: Oracle JP Edwards E1. 

During the development stage of the application, the fizor. team made sure that all contact information and relevant data would be directly retrieved from RioCan’s core system, in order to prevent the duplication of data and fragmented data within the system. The application was designed in a way that RioCan’s project- and portfolio managers could easily supplement the existing data while their potential renters would already be able to view, negotiate over and eventually sign their rental contract. All these workflows were now digitized and manageable in 1 easy-to-use platform.

A workflow management system for lightning-fast rental contracts

As soon as a rental candidate applies for a viewing, his or her application is sent to RioCan’s internal approval flow. The system automatically ensures that a prototype of the lease contract is sent to the proper authorities while pending for approval. 

Because the system applies real-time updates thanks to the connection to the JD Edwards E1 core system, all throughout the process cycle, staff members of RioCan have access to a transparent and reliable source of information for creating reports and making prognoses. Drastically shortening the ‘lead-to-lease’ duration has had a big impact on the portfolio managers of RioCan, as the average approval time was brought back from 24 days to just 1 week.