MRI Software Implementation Multi-Country

The Client

An international real estate development company that was established in 1997 and is both a developer and manager with over 50 projects, totalling over 2.5 million square meters (approx. 27 million sq. ft.) of real estate. It has developed a wide range of properties, including office, industrial, retail, and entertainment, as well as build-to-suit projects.

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The Brief

Having outgrown an Excel database containing lease, building and property information used with a local invoicing system, the client selected MRI Software to streamline and automate their property management business. Their migration to MRI for their growing commercial portfolio across 10 European countries was to first implement Poland followed by Romania (an uncharted country for MRI). Development started on some functionality that was needed but it soon became obvious that Functional Consultancy was required to guide and speed up the development process. TopUp Consultants were able to demonstrate their knowledge having implemented MRI Software into many European countries and satisfied AIG/Lincoln that they had a thorough understanding of different accounting compliances across Europe. The client tasked TopUp to deliver the migration and implementation of MRI for both countries.

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Challenges

“The EMEA region represents the most diversified range of accounting procedures in the world. Therefore, it’s critical to our business that our Functional Consultants have the cross cultural expertise and transfer (to the client) their knowledge of the systems we develop." Kyri Striftombolas, MD of TopUp Consultants

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New country implementations of MRI Software always require the specialist knowledge of an experienced Functional Consultant. TopUp’s Functional Consultants provide their understanding of the software and apply their knowledge against each country’s specific regulations. This enables the necessary customisations for each country and the system to be built to the client’s specifications. TopUp’s functional role is always critical in any country implementation and their expertise was particularly valuable for Romania as it was the first time MRI had ever been customised to their accounting regulations and procedures. TopUp’s Functional Consultancy services are extensive. They include technical project management and the close cooperation with the developer to ensure the customisation captures the required business requirements and the construction of the built environment

The primary challenge of the Functional Consultant is the ‘requirements gathering’ from local users; inherently difficult if not properly structured. Having gained a great deal of past implementation experience TopUp’s Functional Consultants organised workshops with each team that would use the software, to understand their specific needs for both legal requirements and nice-to-haves. The ‘requirements gathering’ process is both exhaustive and detailed but enabled a greater understanding of the client's required structure. The requirements were documented detailing the macro level of systems integration to the micro level of construction detail as well as its look and overall functionality.

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The Result

Both Poland and Romania were successfully implemented, one after each other. In both countries systems; after the migration of historical data TopUp Consultants were on site following a structured procedure to sign off. User Acceptance Training (UAT) was followed by training and a parallel run until the system was live along with support to ensure system stability.

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Experience From The Project

Functional Consultancy is critical to each country’s implementation to ensure the system is fully legally compliant which Kyri Striftombolas, MD at TopUp, summarises;

“The best way to define a Functional Consultant is someone who brings order to a non-built environment. Their detailed scoping and exhaustive testing ensures all customisations work efficiently and are delivered on time”. On the after effect of the project, Kyri said, “It is so rewarding to have notched up another new country– it eases the path for future implementations. But for now TopUp are looking forward to a successful partnership with AIG/Lincoln and assisting them with their remaining countries”.

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Customer Comment

“We have been working with TopUp Consultants for the implementations of MRI in Poland and Romania, which have been successful. As a result, we are now commencing the initial stages of rollouts in our other regions. We have found TopUp to be professional, responsible and easy to work with. Based on the interaction we have had with other consultants in the market, [TopUp's] level of knowledge of MRI is unsurpassed. We recommend TopUp without hesitation and plan to continue to work with them to assist us both on implementation and follow-up support services throughout our CEE portfolio”.

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