Quanah Simplifies Multi-State Hotel Developments with Doc Mgmt Tool

In 2004, Dallas-based Quanah Properties, LP entered into an exclusive agreement to develop and own 74 Value Place extended-stay hotels. As work got under way, Quanah's main operation in Dallas, as well as survey groups in California, New Mexico and Florida began to simultaneously select and acquire property sites in each state. Quickly, Quanah was faced with the challenge of streamlining its development process and keeping track of the wide array of paperwork that needed to be shared between its real estate and entitlement departments in each location.

Without any electronic means of storing these documents, Quanah ended up with an avalanche of FedEx shipments, faxes and emails; this proved to be challenging when trying to stay focused on the most current version of a document. This confusion required Quanah to place a large number of phone calls back and forth in an effort to track down papers or missing information, which decreased productivity in both departments. Quanah desperately needed a place to house all of their files electronically that would: 1.) allow staff to monitor who had last modified or replaced a document, and 2.) would notify everyone when a document had been changed.

After evaluating several technology solutions available on the real estate market, Quanah selected Lx IWMS, the Integrated Workplace Management System from Lucernex Technologies. Although originally designed for the retail industry, Lucernex was able to tailor their product to meet the needs of the hospitality sector. The largest deciding factor in choosing Lx IWMS was that it was a completely Web-based solution that required no standard operating system or software/hardware installations, allowing Quanah's staff to easily access it on all of their various computer systems in all locations.

Quanah's implementation of Lx IWMS took about six months as Lucernex staff met with each of Quanah's departments and configured the solution to meet their specific needs. Numerous training sessions were held to teach the new system to all of Quanah's employees.

Using Lucernex's technology has reduced stress on Quanah's staff due to its ability to alert users of important upcoming deadlines and potential critical issues. The solution's built-in alarm system gives everyone piece of mind knowing that nothing will slip through the cracks and lead to a potentially costly delay in the opening of a location. Staff productivity has improved because now that everything is visible to all users within the Lx IWMS program, everyone is more accountable for their work, which results in a faster turnaround time on projects.