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“Hoteliers Prepare For Launch Of Internet-Based Cost Management Solution”

By Elliot Markowitz

ATLANTA – A new application aimed at cost management planning for the hospitality industry is being officially unveiled this week and some hoteliers are already chomping at the bit to deploy the technology before their next big development project.

The John Hardy Group Inc. (JHG), based here, had entered into a strategic partnership with Computer Methods International Corp. (CmiC) to develop a capital expenditure planning, cost management and project monitoring software application for hotel owners and developers called JHG Solutions.

The solution us Internet-based and runs in a hosted environment with JHG working as an application service provider (ASP). Therefore there is no required at the property or corporate level and the fees are monthly subscriber based depending on property size.

One hotelier anxious to deploy the new application is Bret Smith, VP of Hotel Development Services, Carlson Hotels Worldwide, who previewed a beta copy of the application.

“We’ve been pushing The John Hardy Group towards this,” Smith told HOTEL BUSINESS. “We need to get access to real time information that is updated n a daily basis so we can make the appropriate management decisions related to a specific development or renovation,” he said.

JHJG does have proprietary software applications, which are more construction oriented, Smith said. However, this new application is specifically designed for the “owners side of the equation,” he said.

“We looked at the beta version about a month ago. We are real excited to bring it into our next renovation project,” Smith said.

The solution is underpinned by CmiC’s mPOWER enterprise financial and project management software, John Hardy, president/ CEO of JHG told HOTEL BUSINESS. MPOWER was developed entirely using Oracle’s advanced technology platform to deliver enterprise-wide, real-time decision support and information, he said. ON a project-by-project basis, the solution could cost between $1,000 and $2,500 a month depending on the size of the hotel project, he said.

“We are a development service company,” Hardy said. “We provide a variety of services and now we are coming at it from an owner’s/developer’s point of view. We are going from out normal services business, derived from the intellectual property in our core business, and delivering it through the Internet in digitized from,” he said.

Key Features Major modules in the new JHG Solutions are: capital expenditure planning, cost control management, and project implementation and monitoring. Functionally features within these modules include: alert notifications, approval workflow, drill down functionality, a legacy system interface, collaboration capabilities, audit trial comments, attachment functionality, filter and query flexibility, data consolidation functionality, customization of reports and queries, and robust user security, according to JHG.

The capabilities are particularly interesting to Smith. “What this provides is a central location for communications on the status of information on a project,” Smith said. “So as soon as a commitment is made, we can track it and monitor it to see where we are at all times with regard to the budget. The world is organized right now in real time, with immediate information available 24 by 7, and this will help us,” he said.

Carlson is currently in an acquisition mode looking to buy hotels and convert the, and is looking forward to using this new software when it begins its next project, Smith said.