Web based IT software for property marketing service company

    The Client

Big Property Marketing (BPM) offers management consultancy, finance, marketing, pr, property marketing and photography services to estate agents and private vendors in London and the South East. Its planned core service was Property Preview, a new professional photography, floor plan and virtual tour service. The fastest such offering in London, Property Preview’s online ordering system would enable estate agents to order high level images for properties. These would be produced in an unrivalled turnaround time, meaning agents could swiftly incorporate them into marketing collateral.

    The Development Challenge

BPM needed a web-based system where clients could commission and proof images, as well as track their orders’ progress. The client’s site could link to images on the Property Preview system. Additionally, new areas of functionality needed to be explored.

Site users included the Order Co-ordinator, the Quality Co-ordinator, the Photographer, the Image Processor, the client representative, the CAD operator, and other managers and administrators as necessary. On the client side, media files would potentially be accessed by the applicant, the estate agency administration, the vendor, the reseller, site visitors, the solicitor, and other decision makers. The system therefore needed to be extremely user friendly while providing for the complete life cycle of an order.

    Why Magic Web?

This project required a skill base crossing over many programming disciplines. Magic Web Solutions (MWS) were able to provide these in the form of highly experienced developers involved in an end-to-end process. With a flexible approach, MWS also offered the enterprise acumen to think laterally and further develop the system’s strengths, adding extra functionality to open up new revenue paths.

MWS were also open to a flexible pricing strategy that perfectly suited an Internet start-up. BPM benefited from a monthly budget well below that offered by other development agencies, rising only when a certain threshold of returns from the system were achieved.

    The Result

The application fulfils the primary function of order placing and tracking. Order processing is organised through the use of order statuses. Clients are kept informed through automatic email notification. At any given moment, the whole history of the order statuses and parameters is available.

The branch structure of estate agencies with several offices can be stored within the system. Each office has staff with access rights, and these parameters are accounted for when the agency commission is calculated.

The system has an advanced role (access level) control functionality. This serves the requirements of common visitors, clients, Big Property Marketing staff, realtor agency staff and administrators. The rights management functionality supports access limitations to all system levels.

The system is constantly growing and improving its functionality. Currently, Magic Web is working on a subsystem that will allow realtor agencies to track their orders. It will also enable them to integrate the system into their own web sites.

The server part of the system is implemented on the base of the modern Java-technologies (JSP, Servlets, JDBC) and the MySQL database engine.

The initial functionality of the application has been launched after three months’ work. Big Property Marketing’s major competitors spent two years to reach a similar stage, at over double the monthly IT budget.

    Client Testimonial

Big Property Marketing’s clients are impressed by both the Property Preview service and usability of the ordering system.

"The online ordering system couldn’t have been easier and the appointment notification process is very efficient for us and our clients", writes Jonathan Robinson of Bairstow Eves.

Jay Chitnis of HJC agrees: "The quality, reliability and speed of Big Property Marketing’s Property Preview service puts it head and shoulders above any of its competitors."

Gary Salisbury of Ludlow Thompson puts it succinctly: "Using Property Preview is a 'no-brainer' for us and our clients."