Happy Holidays from all at Zavanti

We would like to take this opportunity to wish all our colleagues, clients, partners and suppliers a very Happy Christmas and we look forward to working with you all again in 2009.

Our last day of business for 2008 will be Friday 19th December. We will reopen in 2009 on Monday January 12th.

For Support during the holiday period contact 1300 302 358 (Australia) and +64 9 447 1080 (NZ) and leave a message or email support@zavanti.com and we will endeavor to get back to you ASAP.

Take Control with Zavanti Property and Construction ERP

Our pre-Christmas e-campaign for our Property and Construction ERP Solutions (above) focuses on how Zavanti Property Developer and Zavanti Construction Manager can help managers take control of their projects and move forward with confidence. This is particularily relevant with the current economic climate, as organisations look to manage risk and protect their margins.

Our Property and Construction ERP solutions have been designed to guide you through each stage of the project lifecycle. With one, centralised solution, you don't need to worry about updating spreadsheets and disparate systems - enter your data once and our toolset will do the rest, providing real-time, live information when you need it most.

Supporting your business as it grows, Zavanti will ensure that you:

• Never lose track of any part of your projects
• Deliver on-time and within budget
• Take full advantage of your resources
• Focus on the projects that generate the best ROI
• Spend less time tied up with administrative work, enabling you to focus on waht you do best

Contact us today to find out more about how we can help you gain insight, visibility and control across all your projects.

Work Smarter with Zavanti Enterprise Software

Our latest e-campaign for our Enterprise Software Solutions (above) focuses on Zavanti Portfolio Manager (Project and Portfolio Management) and Corda (Performance Dashboards).

With uncertain financial times meaning smaller budgets and leaner staff, market-leading organisations need to:

• Focus on the investments and projects that will generate the best return
• Take full advantage of resources
• Monitor and track Operational KPI's
• Manage Employee Performance
• Uncover untapped revenue
• Fully analyse data about customers, product and sales
  

Zavanti can help you achieve these goals through effective Project and Portfolio Management (PPM) and Performance Management Dashboards.

Contact us today to learn more about these enterprise solutions and how we can help you power ahead and seize new opportunities in 2009.

Zavanti feature at iTSHOWCASELIVE

Zavanti were pleased to be a part of the recent iTSHOWCASELIVE exhibition, at The Old Trafford Football Stadium in Manchester on December 3rd.

Zavanti featured along side some of the UK's leading software specialists for accounting software, CRM, ERP software, construction management, job costing, estimating software, manufacturing management, retail and hospitality systems, at the one day event.

Despite the recent down turn in the economy, with the construction and property market been one of the sectors hardest hit, the industry is still keen to move forward and implement systems that enable them to manage their projects more efficiently and effectively.

We hope to feature at the next iTSHOWCASE event in the New Year - visit iTSHOWCASE online for more information.

Inaugural Gulf States Building Awards

Organised by Building magazine and endorsed by the Emirates Green Building Council, the inaugural Gulf States Building Awards were held in Dubai on November 13. The awards highlighted the most exceptional projects across the six member states of the Gulf Cooperation Council (Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates).

Atkins was named Engineering Consultant of the Year following its work on projects such as the Bahrain World Trade Centre, while EC Harris, beat Davis Langdon and Mace to win the Construction Consultant of the Year Award.
The hotel project of the year went to Shangri La Qaryat Al Beri Hotel in Abu Dhabi, while the the infrastructure project of the year award was won by the Al Garhoud Bridge, a 14-lane road bridge in Dubai. Downtown Burj Dubai won the BIW Technologies sponsored award for best mixed-use project of the year for boasting the world’s tallest tower and world’s largest shopping centre.

For the event sponsors, such as Davis Langdon, Mace, and Leighton, the awards provided an opportunity to raise their profiles in the eyes of many of the Gulf region’s major contractors and consultants. BIW Technologies' General Manager Middle East, Asif Sharif said, "BIW's sophisticated project control platform is already widely used on major mixed use developments in Dubai. This sponsorship will have boosted recognition of the BIW brand across the Middle East region."

A full list of category winners, sponsors, and photos from the night are available from the Building website

Retirement Villages the next Construction Boom

At the Property Council of Australia's recent Ageing of Aquarius II Conference, Peter McMullen, National Director for Health and Aged Care Services for Jones Lang LaSalle, presented his research paper, "Is Supply Meeting Demand or Missing the Mark?"

McMullen says that Australia's rapidly ageing population has resulted in an abundance of retirement village development opportunities across the nation. "To meet this surge in demand, it is predicted that up to 140,000 new dwellings in retirement villages are needed over the next 15 years, equating to an investment of about $42 billion (in 2008 dollars) in new construction,"
he says.

He also found that Retirement Village living is also becoming more accepted as participation rates are continuing to increase. "At present, approximately 5.25 percent of the over-65 population live in retirement villages, a significant increase from the 3 to 3.5 percent benchmark from only eight or nine years ago."

At present, there are more than 500 new villages with more than 51,000 new units either proposed, approved or under construction. In existing villages, another 20,7000 new units are either proposed, approved or under construction.

McMullen believes that, "despite the current softening in market sentiment in all property classes, the long-term future of the Retirement Village industry is secure with significant opportunity for investment."

For more information, see the full article in the November Edition of "Property Australia".

More information on the Ageing of Aquarius Conference is also available via the Property Council's website - http://www.propertycouncil.com.au/retirement/

Visual Evolution 2008 a success for Corda Technologies

Corda Technologies annual four-day Visual Evolution conference brought together executive dashboard and data visualisation users, developers, prospects and partners, along with industry leaders from around the globe, including Zavanti’s own Corda Developer, Jason Marshall.

Wayne Eckerson, author of “Performance Dashboards: Measuring, Monitoring, and Managing Your Business” was the keynote speaker for the event. Wayne is also the Director of Education and Research for The Data Warehousing Institute (TDWI). Other industry expert speakers included Ron Powell, Co-founder of The Business Intelligence Network, and Peter Traynor, Editor in Chief, Dashboard Insight.

Corda’s expert Dashboard Technologists delivered presentations on CenterView™, PopChart®, OptiMap™ and Highwire™, giving best practices for all levels of users and developers. In addition, participants attended sessions to learn how to create attractive dashboards, extend the dashboard interface, transform data from data funnels, and to explore best practices in choosing Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). They also participated in round table discussions, where they had the opportunity to learn from other users and developers, as well as case studies from leading industry executives.

The Data Visualisation Lounge was a new feature this year, here attendees could practice the tips and tricks learned at the conference, see how other customers are visualising business intelligence, or work on their own dashboard projects - with the help of expert Dashboard Technologists from Corda.

“Visual Evolution continues to be a terrific success as our signature annual event,” said John Purvis, CEO and president of Corda. “The world’s best minds in data visualisation, business performance management, and performance dashboards gather together to learn about and successively refine what it means to truly manage performance.”

Click here to access the session presentations from the event

New Operational KPIs and Performance Management Report

A recent report by Aberdeen and Corda Technologies, has found that adoption of Operational Performance Management capabilities has improved customer satisfaction rates of Best-in-Class companies by more than 4.5x that of industry average companies.

The report, “Operational KPIs and Performance Management”, has revealed that Best-in-Class (BIC) companies – those performing in the top 20% of all research survey respondents – have taken multiple approaches to improving their operational performance through the establishment and management of operational key performance indicators (KPIs).

The report found that the areas for operational performance upon which Best-in-Class companies are more likely to focus their efforts are:

Customer performance - Including metrics for customer satisfaction, customer issue resolution speed, customer issue resolution accuracy, and customer retention rate

Service performance - Including metrics for first call resolution rate, service renewal rate, rate of compliance to SLAs, delivery performance to customer, and product return rate

Sales operations - Including metrics for new pipeline accounts identified, meetings secured, conversion of inquiries to leads, average call closure time, and dials completed per hour, shift, and day

Financial operations - Including metrics for price to purchase order accuracy, purchase order fulfillment ratio, quantity earned (revenue can be recognised), forecast to plan ratio, and total closed contracts

Click here to access the full report

Loans a developing problem for construction industry

By Anthony Klan, The Australian (October 10th)

This recent article highlights the issues that developers and builders are facing as they attempt to borrow money during the current financial crisis.

Monarch Investment’s Chief Executive, Peter Icklow advised that, "The whole process of getting finance is now taking twice or three times as long as it was before the credit crisis".

He added that, borrowing problems were exacerbated for developers because the confluence of falling property prices and high taxes meant many projects were now unviable, forcing many developers out of the market, and intensifying the housing shortage.

Chief Executive of the Master Builders Association, Wilhelm Harnisch, said many builder members were also being turned away by lenders.

"Even some of our biggest building members, despite having been major clients of the major banks for many years, are now being told there is just not enough money to go around," Harnisch explained.

To read the full article click here

Are you getting immediate value from your ERP system?

ERP systems are designed to integrate business information and processes within an organisation, facilitating real-time planning and management. However, despite their power, the software doesn’t always deliver.

Linda L. Briggs in association with TDWI (The Data Warehousing Institute™) talks with Jim Heatherington, managing director of Cutwater, a provider of decision support software for mid-market distributors and manufacturers, about why so many businesses have trouble getting real value from their ERP systems, and offers some possible solutions.

Read the full article online here

Zavanti August Newsletter

Our latest Zavanti Connection enewsletter is now available online.

In this edition read about the recent Property Council Congress, which we were pleased to be a part of, the latest release of Corda CentreView 3.1, our new resellers in the UK and our membership of the Master Builder's Association (MBA).

Click Here to read online

Time for an Accounting System Overhaul?

In a recent IT Showcase News article, two leading UK Construction Software providers, RedSky IT and EasyBuild, presented their opinions as to why companies in the building and property development sector should look into an accounting system overhaul. We believe this is a significant issue considering today’s volatile economic climate, which is forcing many organisations to look at managing and tracking their business processes and costs more effectively.

Like RedSky IT and EasyBuild, we at Zavanti have found that most organisations usually have a core accounts system, which runs the ledgers and payroll, captures contract costs and maybe handles purchase order processing. In addition, they often have several other standalone systems providing Feasibility Analysis, Estimating and Valuations, as well as numerous Excel Spreadsheets.

However, more and more companies are coming to realise that using several different systems patched together is not the way forward. These organisations and are now looking at making the move to integrated systems which cover the complete construction and development lifecycle; from Feasibility and Estimating, through to Subcontract Tendering and Management, Purchase Orders, and Stock and Sales Management, as well as traditional backend Financials and Payroll.

There are many benefits to be gained from moving to a complete end-to-end business solution, which pulls the traditional banks of data that exist in separate departments together, from better decision making, increased operational efficiency and resource utilisation. A clear return on investment will also be achieved from a reduction in overheads and support fees.

EasyBuild advise that success can bring its own challenges. As you become established and your order book grows you need to know that you don’t have to worry about managing your accounts and that you can still maintain control and access to your key business information.

In addition, with tougher rules around financial compliance the connection between technology and business has never been stronger or more important. Integrated financial software systems are bringing greater levels of control and automation and audit ability to business processes.

EasyBuild argue that standard accounting systems have never been good at monitoring the leading operational indicators that drive profit. For this reason an industry specific solution that is aligned to these indicators should be considered to get the maximum benefit from your investment. Accurate financial information is critical to the decision making process and without the aid of a robust financial software system this is difficult to achieve.

Both RedSkyIT and EasyBuild conclude that technology is here to stay and businesses large and small should use it to their advantage. If you are a company with public sector or large corporate organisations as customers, the need to change is more significant as you could potentially be excluded from their supplier’s lists due to an inability to do business electronically.

End of financial year stress?

The end of the financial year is a tough time, but the Zavanti Support Team is here to make it easier for you!

For our Zavanti ERP clients in the Property and Construction industry, we have complied a list of end of year frequently asked questions (EOY FAQs) to ensure that you have the answers you need when you need them.

How do I open the next year? How do I set up Fringe Benefits Tax? Printing Group Certificates? Zavanti EOY FAQs have it covered!

In addition, the 2008/9 Tax Tables are available to download for our clients who have a current support maintenance agreement - contact support on 1300 302 358 for further details.

Zavanti Connection - June

Hi there,

As we draw to the close of another financial year we look at how the year has gone and what we can look forward to next year.

For everyone, the Australian and global economic woes, evidenced in the oil price spiral and interest rate rises, have put pressure on all businesses and at best have dampened our outlooks for next year. However, we would like to present some positive statements for the coming year.

Going forward, we have plans for further software enhancements. We hope to bring out a new version of Zavanti ERP with a complete new look and feel in the final quarter of this calendar year.

We continue to look for other ways to add value for our clients and in this newsletter we announce two such actions, our new Property Sales Manager solution and our agreement to sell Corda’s performance dashboard products - read more about these products below.

Click here to access our Zavanti Connection newsletter online.

All the best for the new Financial Year.

Ian Plater
Chairman

Zavanti RSS Feeds

Hi there,

We have created a RSS news feed on our site, which currently has some recent news headlines from our website. RSS is a huge trend in getting short sharp news messages across to people who do not want to visit a website on a regular basis.

With an RSS feed, you can now receive and view news updates in MS Outlook, Internet Explorer or the latest Vista desktop gadgets. You will notice the RSS logo on the top right of our homepage, clicking on this link allows you to subscribe to our news feed. Alternatively click here to subscribe and add the Zavanti RSS feed to your Internet Explorer.

To add to your Outlook RSS News Feeds, right-click RSS Feeds in left hand tree of Outlook and click ‘Add a new RSS Feed’.

Zavanti eNews - March/April

Hi there,

2008 has started as a busy year for the team at Zavanti. Whilst we are all watching the global economic environment, especially as it continues to impact our key business sector – Property, we are also aggressively looking to the future.

We’ve commenced marketing in the UK and released our ERP solutions in New Zealand. We are also in negotiations to expand into the Middle East and India, with the USA as the next area of opportunity. We’ve just released our latest upgrade and continue to work on new developments. All of this moves us closer to our goal of being the preeminent supplier of technology solutions to the property sector globally.

None of this could happen without our existing and new clients – welcome to new clients Maidment Development (ERP); Department of Corrective Services, WA (Portfolio Manager); Aboriginal Justice Agreement, WA (Portfolio Manager).

Our ongoing relationship with the property industry has continued with our recent participation at the Urban Development Institute of Australia (UDIA) Annual Congress in Melbourne.

Ian Plater
Chairman

Read our full newsletter here

UDIA National Congress 2008

We are pleased to announce our participation at the Urban Development Institute of Australia (UDIA) National Congress at the Crown Towers Resort, March 3 - 6. Entitled “One World, One Community”, the Congress will be focusing on the major issues facing the UDIA as an international community as well as the major issues facing the development industry as a whole.

Key speakers include Sahba Abedian (Sunland Group, Managing Director), Prof Rob Adams (Director Design and Urban Environment for the City of Melbourne) and Dr Edward Blakely (Director of the Planning Research Centre at the University of Sydney).

We will be showcasing our comprehensive range of property development and construction management software solutions, as well as officially launching our latest Zavanti Property Developer suite with Feasibility integration.

If you are attending the event, drop by Stand 23 to learn more about our solutions and how they are being used to deliver dollar benefits to today’s property developers and construction organisations.

For more information on the event itself visit http://www.udiacongress.com.au/