The new EG Optimaze lease management module is now more flexible
LUT University is a community of approximately 1,400 employees, with campuses located in Lappeenranta and Lahti. Together, LUT University and LAB University of Applied Sciences form LUT Universities, which is an international high-quality, experimental, and energetic higher education community. At the end of 2023, LUT was among the first of our customers to transition from the old EG Optimaze lease management module to the new one (Lease).
EG Optimaze is a comprehensive space management solution for real estate and facility managers, covering property information, spaces, costs, consumption, services, and resources. Property owners can also use EG Optimaze to manage leases, tenant selections, contract parties, and billing.
With lease management, it is possible to manage rental properties, parties, and lease agreements, as well as integrate lease information into graphical space management. Additionally, rent adjustment letters and rent billing data can be easily generated and forwarded to accounts receivable.
LUT University has been using the EG Optimaze software since 2016, and in November 2023, the opportunity arose to be among the first to pilot the new lease management module.
At LUT, we are generally always at the forefront of trying out new things. We were part of the group of Lease test users, providing user experiences for the system. During this process, we saw the advanced features and benefits of Lease compared to the old software. It was clear to us that we would transition to using the new tool as soon as possible.Tony Vesterinen, Facility Manager, Learning and Facility Services, LUT University
Lease management serves both landlords in external leasing and tenants in internal leasing. The tool reduces manual work, human errors, and automates manual processes. It facilitates the handling of leases throughout their entire lifecycle and enhances the management of both available and leased spaces.
"The lease agreement between LUT and LAB is, naturally, in EG Optimaze Lease. It sets out the main guidelines and principles of leasing. The division of spaces between organizations is maintained in floor plans. EG Optimaze helps with cost allocation, as much of the billing cost data can be directly obtained from EG Optimaze reports," says Vesterinen.
"LUT University's Learning and Facility Services encompass the group's library, information management, and facility services. So, in addition to spaces, we are responsible for information retrieval, management, and security at both the physical and digital levels. The group's spaces are increasingly viewed as a single entity and are utilized across different levels. We have had a shared library since 2011 when the university of applied sciences joined the Skinnarila campus next to the university. We rent spaces to each other, either entirely or with shared rental responsibility. In addition, teaching spaces are used interchangeably when our own spaces are not sufficient. Also, a significant portion of meeting rooms are available for both institutions' staff and students," Vesterinen continues.
Currently, LUT has a total of 98,000 square meters, 23 buildings, and 118 lease agreements in the EG Optimaze software. The transition was intended to be done as a migration to ensure historical data would also be transferred. In the process, 97 of the 115 agreements were successfully migrated, and a lot was learned along the way.
"I had an optimistic view that all agreements would transfer to the new system with the push of a button. However, this did not happen. There were many changes made over the years in our agreements, some of which could not be automatically reconstructed into the original comprehensive agreements. For example, there were changes in scope, and different time periods had areas with the same name in the old system. This was likely the most significant reason why not all agreements' index terms matched the correct period and rental area during the migration. The majority of the problems were clearly related to maintenance rents", Vesterinen explains when asked about potential challenges during the migration.
"In practice, every agreement that did not match the rent in the old system had to be reviewed step by step, comparing the rental periods, scope information, and index terms. It helped significantly that rental areas could be renamed and thereby linked correctly to the right information," Vesterinen adds.
The benefits of the new system
"Lease management has become more flexible, and Lease has clearly been able to resolve the limitations of the old system. One good example is the shared spaces between LUT and LAB, where each has its own lease agreement. Lease allows for the smooth handling of agreements that apply to the same space across two different organizations," Vesterinen lists.
"Creating a contract is also straightforward. I like that the rent amount is visible at the draft stage, which allows me to ensure that all factors affecting the rent are included in the contract. The graphical representation of rent development is an excellent feature that greatly helped in resolving post-migration issues.
Previously, I wanted the ability to add scheduled alerts to the system, and the 'events feature' in Lease met this need. I also see the definition of attachment types as a positive development, as long as filtering options are added. If I were to do something differently, I would consider more carefully the timing of the transition to the new system and allocate sufficient resources to ensure that our operations are not too disrupted or endangered during the system change," Vesterinen concludes.
Image Source: LUT Lappeenranta Campus © Teemu Leinonen and Toni Jaatinen
LUT University
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We are a community where curious people inspire curious people. The curious dive deep into their passion, and develop their thinking daily. Without curiosity, we cannot change the world. A curious person experiments, fails, and succeeds faster than others. We address global challenges that matter and that others may consider impossible to solve. We do things differently. We look at things from unexpected perspectives, we question, and we search for solutions. Clean energy, water and air are life-giving resources for which we seek new solutions with our expertise in technology, business and social sciences. We help society and businesses in their sustainable renewal. Our campuses are located in Lappeenranta and Lahti, but our state of mind can be achieved anywhere. We have served as a forerunner – combining technology and business – ever since our inception in 1969. Our international community is comprised of 8 000 students and experts engaged in scientific research and academic education.
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