It’s hard to believe that just a few short years ago, discussion of data standards in the Commercial Real Estate industry would have left you starry-eyed. Only a small group of dedicated individuals understood that our industry could not move into a "digital" 21st century without them. The entire standards effort received a great boost last week in London when members of various international standards groups met and agreed on a number of important strategic issues.

The talks last week in London between PISCES and OSCRE are a good indication that the data standards and interoperability issues in the Commercial Real Estate industry are aggressively being addressed. This meeting, which included high-ranking officials from PISCES, OSCRE, Jones Lang LaSalle, The Data Consortium, The Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS), Sun Microsystems and Cisco Systems resulted in substantive actions regarding data standards.

Following are the main points coming from last week’s meeting:

1) OSCRE and PISCES came to a formal agreement to work under a single, global operating structure and methodology.

2) A formal OSCRE International legal entity will be launched in January 2004.

3) Establishment of a single, detailed methodology for delivering the first set of standards will be completed by June 2004.

4) Discussions will continue with other standards development bodies and Industry groups who have agreed in principal to the effort.

The meeting also produced some very finite results. The collective groups have either completed or are close to completing operations manuals, workgroup handbooks, a communications strategy and an action list for merger completion by January 2004. The fact that these groups have completed such substantive results in such a short amount of time demonstrates the momentum these organizations are taking.

Another interesting aspect of this standards initiative is the number of organizations that have already agreed in principle to strategically align with OSCRE, including CoreNet Global, NCREIF, NAREIM, PREA, The Data Consortium, The National Association of REALTORS (NAR), RICS, The British Land Registry, Investment Property Forum, Legal Software Suppliers Association and the Council of Mortgage Lenders.

In addition to these already strategically committed groups, PISCES and OSCRE have been busy meeting with many other groups and are in the process of ongoing discussions with MISMO, The Appraisal Institute, MITS, CABA, NAIOP, IFMA, BOMA, AIA, IAI and the Design Build Institute of America.

While speaking with the leaders of these organizations, one gets the sense that something that is long overdue is about to come to fruition. They realize that this is a very complex task in a very complex industry but are undaunted in their efforts. Their goal is stated most simply in OSCRE's mission statement; "OSCRE International is a not-for-profit consortium that drives the development, synthesis, and adoption of e-business standards that enable the Real Estate industry to function effectively and efficiently in the new economy."

It is so encouraging to see that our multi-trillion dollar industry is finally establishing data standards and interoperability models for a "digital" 21st century.

The standards issues in the US are taking shape on a number of fronts, further demonstrating that the concept of paperless, digital transactions could be just around the corner. Next week we will profile four organizations that have done exemplary work over the last 3-4 years on data standards. MITS, MISMO, The Appraisal Institute and The Data Consortium are all recognized as pioneers and leaders in this industry and should be applauded for their tireless efforts and substantive results.