The Value of Integrating your Personal Property
System with Related Business Systems
Yudiann Carlo, CPPS
Sunflower Systems
Technical Architect
Robert King
DHS, Asset & Logistics Management
Section Chief, Personal Property
National Property Management Association
Session Objectives
 Identifying business functions related to Personal
Property
 Analyzing the value of common business integrations
 Planning an Interface for your Property System
 Using the Software Development Lifecycle process to
deploy an Interface
Identify
Value
Plan
National Property Management Association
Deploy
Integration Value Proposition
 Property Management’s decentralized environment leads to
inconsistencies in procedures, data, and integrity
 Utilizing information from related
upstream and downstream business
functions is a proven manner for maturing
and standardizing procedures and data
quality.
 Business cases have demonstrated the
ROI in developing integration points
between the property system and related
business systems.
National Property Management Association
Related Business Functions
Main Property
Integrations
Other Noteworthy
Integrations
HR/Personnel
Logistics/Supply Chain
Procurement
Finance (General Ledger)
Excess Screening and
Disposition
Real Property
(Location and GLC
Coordinates)
National Property Management Association
HR/Personnel: Business Integration
 Beneficial to identify your organization’s personnel
that are Property end users and officials
 Provides contact and organization information from
the HR System and stores it in your Property System
 Establishes “Personnel” records
whose elements create
reference data, enabling the
use of LOV fields, as opposed to
free-text fields
National Property Management Association
HR/Personnel: Value of Integration
 Mitigates the need for a manual update process and additional resources
 Allows the use of email addresses to inform individuals of property-related
transactions
 Identifies custodians and users that have separated from the organization –
increasing chances of recovery and re-assignment
Personnel Record Added
or Modified in HR System
New or
Modified
Record?
Modified
HR
Record
Separated
Update the HR
Record as
“Closed” in
Property System
Update Existing
HR Record
Identify all Assets
associated with
“Closed” HR Record
New
Systematically
Create HR Record in
Property System
National Property Management Association
HR Record Elements:
• Full Name
• Telephone Number
• Email Address
• Physical Address
• Employee Type
• Title
• Start Date
• Separation Date
• Organizational Assignment
• Employee ID (Optional)
• Bade Number (Optional)
Procurement: Business Integration
 Identifies contract vehicles used to procure Property in the
Property system of record
 Establishes a skeletal record in the property system from the
contract, receiving and/or invoice document(s)
 Can be established to include the accounting code attributes
 Rules can be established based on
the type of contract as well as the
organization’s receiving function to
determine how procurement
information should be established in
the Property system
National Property Management Association
Procurement: Value of Integration
 Greatly reduces the resource hours and data entry errors associated with
the creation of an asset record
 Streamlines the accounts payable and receiving reconciliation process
Property Contract
Executed
in Procurement System
2-way or
3-way
matching
2-way
Systematically
Create Skeletal
Record in
Property System
3-way
Receiving Document or
Invoice Payment in
Procurement System
Manually
Complete and
Establish
Property Record
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Skeletal Property Record
Elements:
• Contract Number
• Contract Line
• Requisitioner / Buyer
• Acquisition Date
•Quantity Ordered / Received
• Unit Cost
• Vendor and/or Manufacturer
• ACC Elements:
• Object Class Code
• Sub-Object Class Code
• Organization
Finance: Business Integration
 Greater consistency and completeness of financial
information – Accounting Line Segments – allows the
Property system to report / integrate to the GL
 Property Systems that manage Capitalized Property
can feed the General Ledger (GL) financial
information:




Additions (Capitalization)
Modifications (Reclassifications)
Depreciation
Retirements (Write-offs)
National Property Management Association
Finance: Value of Integration
 Automates the posting of certain (rule-based) Journal Entries into the
General Ledger
 Reducing manual errors and increasing timeliness of entries
 Facilitates line-item postings, as opposed to summary-level adjustments
 Streamlines the overall periodic PP&E reconciliation process
Establish Property
Record Over
Capitalized Value in
Property System
Generate Debit and
Credit Journal
Entries
Systematically
Validate DR /
CRs
Validated
Post to
GL
Un-validated
Manually Review
and Correct Journal
Entries
National Property Management Association
ACC Financial Elements for DR /
CR Validation:
• Posting Period
• Financial Value
• Object Class Code
• Sub-Object Class Code
• Organization Code
• Program Code
• Task Code
• Fund Code
• Cost Center Code
• Budget Activity Code
Screening and Disposition:
Business Integration
 Surplus and Excess Property are required to be
screened (advertised) for reutilization across
your department / organization
 Federal Regulations and contract provisions
outline screening and reutilization
 Facilitates the screening of Property
to external organizations (e.g., other
government agencies)
 Federal agencies shall report to
their excess property to the
GSAXcess system
National Property Management Association
Screening and Disposition: Value of
Integration
 Mechanism to avoid unnecessary procurements and maximize property
already on-hand
 Allows assets available to be reutilized to be electronically advertised
 Provides descriptive details – can include pictures – to the seeking entities
Program Declares Item
Excess
*
Publish Record to an
Internal Screening
Repository
Reserved
?
No
Publish to
External
Screening System
(e.g.. GSAXcess)
Yes
Transfer Record to
Reserving Entity
National Property Management Association
Screening Elements:
• Object & Sub-Object Class
Codes
• Condition Code
• Organization’s Full Address
• Asset Location’s Full Address
• Manufacturer
• Manufactured/Acquisition Date
• Make
• Model
Note: Source system should
provide requirements for
interfacing records
Planning an Interface
for your Property System
 Getting Started
 Identifying Scope
 Identifying Key Players
 Coming up with a plan
 Software Development Life Cycle
 What is it?
 Overview of the main six steps
 How can I use it for my Property
System?
National Property Management Association
Getting Started





Identify your project scope
Identify your key stakeholders
Create a Project Plan
Kick-off your project
Apply the Software
Development Life Cycle
National Property Management Association
Software Development Lifecycle
 What is the Software
Development Lifecycle?
 What kind of projects does
it apply to?
 Why is it important?
 How can I apply it to my
property system?
National Property Management Association
Step 1: Requirements and
Analysis
Step
Description
Sample Tasks
Requirements
and Analysis
• During this stage, the problem is
defined so that a clear
understanding can be gained of
what the system should do.
• For example, how input is
obtained, how output is displayed,
and what controls are available to
the user.
• Requirements Document
• Requirements Matrix
• Use Cases
• System Communication
Diagrams
National Property Management Association
Step 2: Design
Step
Description
Sample Tasks
Design
• In this stage, a solution to the
problem is designed by defining a
logical sequence of steps that will
achieve each of the previously
identified requirements.
• The user interface will also be
designed during this stage.
• It should be determined how input
is obtained, how output is displayed,
and what controls are available to
the user.
•
•
•
•
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Design Document
Screen Mockups
DB Object Model
Sequence Diagrams
Step 3: Development
Step
Description
Development
and Coding
• This stage is where the design is
• Code
translated into a system or program. • Installation Instructions
• You want to keep a balance
between quality, time, flexibility,
reusability, future addition of features
and/or functionality etc.
National Property Management Association
Sample Tasks
Step 4: Testing
Step
Description
Sample Tasks
Testing
• The testing stage is concerned
with the validation and verification of
the system. The aim of software
testing is to find any errors (or
"bugs") in the system and eliminate
those errors.
• Each testing scenario should
relate to a requirement and each
requirement should have at least
one matching test scenario.
• Testing Scenarios
• Test Scripts
• Test Results
• User Acceptance Testing
Certificate
National Property Management Association
Step 5: Implementation
Step
Description
Implementation • This stage involves packaging
everything together with all relevant
documentation in a suitable format
for distribution.
• It ensures that everything is
successfully deployed and rolled out
to the users.
• Any change management and/or
training activities should be planned
around this step.
National Property Management Association
Sample Tasks
• Cutover Checklist
• User Guide
• Training Materials
• Communications Plan
• Change Management
Plan
Step 6: Maintenance
Step
Description
Sample Tasks
Maintenance
and Support
• Once the system has been
implemented it will be necessary to
monitor the performance of the
system over a certain period of time
to ensure that it is behaving as
expected.
• The system will also have to be
maintained, and parts of it will need
to be upgraded from time to time to
handle evolving user needs or to
cope with new requirements.
• Logs
• Maintenance Tickets
National Property Management Association
Conclusion
Identify
Value
Plan
Implement
National Property Management Association
Questions and Feedback?
Robert King
Yudiann Carlo
Section Chief, Personal Property
Asset and Logistics Management
Department of Homeland Security
Office of Chief Administrative Officer
Robert.King@hq.dhs.gov
202-536-9955
Technical Architect
Sunflower Systems
ycarlo@sunflowersystems.com
703-508-1230
National Property Management Association