d2o ‘ìdeadline 2 online’ continues its rollout to Benchmark Hospitality International of d2o’s flagship PMI product according to a press release from d2o North America.æ PMI eliminates the stress of daily weekly and monthly reporting deadlines by improving delivery of performance information. æThe web-based Performance Management Intelligence (PMI) suite enables hotel and resort department heads to intelligently manage their daily costs in approximately five minutes a day.æ d2o is a leading hospitality industry innovator in integrated software solutions.æ Please click here to view a 10-minute PMI demo http://www.d2o.biz/pmi_demo.
With more than 25 properties and exacting standards Benchmark had a daunting wish list when it began looking for a management and performance optimisation solution.æ The company wanted a product that tied together each property’s occupancy and departmental revenue forecasting with daily resource management functions including calculating food costs across all properties and for every department.æ The company selected the PMI system after testing it in two properties and expects to implement it in all full-service hotels by Thanksgiving 2010.
‘ìWe did not find another system that integrates the three essential management disciplines we needed’ says Benchmark CFO Dennis Blyshak.æ ‘ìPMI combines occupancy and revenue forecasting labour productivity management and food costing by day in one package.æ At the executive level the system rolls up all properties into one report that is updated daily.æ At the property level each department head receives a graphic view of how they are performing against plan and forecast.æ This management intelligence gives them tools to think like a CFO and manage resources based on clear profitability goals.’
The system gives Benchmark a rolling forecast of group demand and pick-up that is updated daily and influences other variables such as purchasing.æ Blyshak noted that when an operator accurately forecasts each guest segment’s daily pick-up it can optimize labor scheduling for housekeeping and other departments and be more profitable.
‘ÖCockpit’ Control of Revenue Optimization
The heart of Benchmark’s PMI is the ‘ìcockpit’ a data display for each department that managers consult and update daily.æ This management report-card system displays daily revenue reporting of actual departmental sales occupancy and budget forecasting data for the next 500 days.æ The system incorporates this data into the cockpit’s graphic display so managers can compare actual and projected resource consumption (staff and food) and adjust to reflect accurate rolling forecasts.
The property GM and department heads have access to all cockpit displays.æ This approach encourages managers to compare their performance and see how their operations affect the entire property.æ This also enables managers to benchmark performance between similar departments across all properties. Since PMI is web-based secure data is available to Benchmark’s remote managers from any browser.
Blyshak said PMI’s ‘Öreal power’ is its ability to combine accurate rolling forecasts with labour management to enable optimised staff scheduling. PMI also supports standardisation of Benchmark’s general ledger and market segments.
PMI’s visual graphing of departmental performance supports more efficient management at all levels.æ ‘ìCorporate executives appreciate the ability to view data from multiple properties’ says Blyshak.æ ‘ìWith department heads reviewing their data each morning everyone is aware of how he or she is doing and able to view all other departments. Managers see who has and has not checked in to update the system which adds accountability.’
An integral part of PMI is PMI Planning an integrated profit and loss budgeting and forecasting tool that goes beyond traditional monthly forecasting and yearly budgeting. Departments do not have to make a budget or forecast with PMI Planning because the module ensures the daily management at departmental level is linked with the P/L budget and forecast.
Disclosure: d2o is a valuable partner for HSMAI in Europe.
