On May 12 and May 19, 2021 we hosted the "Asset Management: Manual Capitalization Process Enhancement" and "Asset Management: Express Capitalization Process Enhancement" trainings. The audience of the trainings are Asset Management users.
Please see the attachments for the presentation decks.
Session 1
In 60 minutes, participants:
- Learned how to follow the Manual Capitalization process
- Previewed the new enhancement for including or excluding a user-defined range of General Ledger (GL) accounts
Recording
- You can find the recording under the course code CON0AM201 and title Manual Capitalization Process Enhancement Training.
Session 2
In 60 minutes, participants learned how to:
- Follow the Express Capitalization process
- Take advantage of the new enhancement for specifying a user-defined range of dates on the Express Capitalization run control
- Use the new enhancement for including or excluding a user-defined range of GL accounts
Recording
- You can find the recording under the course code CON0AM202 and title Express Capitalization.
Q&A
1. Q: Is the filter for accounts option currently in production, not live?
A: Yes, the GL account range option is available in production now.
2. Q: Is the manual capitalization process for construction projects only? We have equipment purchased but not in service yet until the next fiscal year. Should we follow this process? Also, we use one project to purchase more than one IT related asset.
A: It is intended for construction projects; however, you could theoretically use it for equipment if each piece of equipment is in a separate activity and was cost collected into project costing. Please contact Kally Ip (kally.ip@sfgov.org) for the recommended capitalization process.
3. Q: What other chartfields can we filter?
A: There are 152 fields available to filter on, including Fund Code, Department, Authority, and Agency Use. If needed, please contact Kally Ip (kally.ip@sfgov.org) or Rob Conner (robert.conner@sfgov.org) with more details about your question so we can help.
4. Q: How do we assign the assets for a manual department when the assets were not entered in the AM module but entered in the input form?
A: Continue to use the input form and submit it to the Controller's Office. The Controller's Office will handle it for you. If you want to try a different process, please email Kally Ip (kally.ip@sfgov.org) directly.
5. Q: If the asset has two project codes, do I need to run "Send to Asset Management" twice?
A: With Manual Capitalization, yes. With Express Capitalization, no. You can create an umbrella project or “program” that the projects can inherit from on its Asset Integration Rules tab. This allows us to create an Express Asset Definition for each project, both pointing to the same asset.
6. Q: Can PC predetermine the eligible project costs so we don't have to exclude the account code range for each project?
A: It already does this, as project costs are included based on a transactions’ analysis type. The expense analysis type, GLE, should only be assigned to transactions with GL account 5%, however it is possible for users to select GLE for non-expense accounts. Therefore, it is recommended to run FSP_GLAM_PROJ_NON_EXPENSE_ACCT to detect any transactions with non-expense accounts before capitalization or specify a range of GL accounts to exclude.
7. Q: If we don't enter the account codes exclusion, will the revenue amount be added/deducted from the project cost?
A: Please contact Kally Ip (kally.ip@sfgov.org) or Rob Conner (robert.conner@sfgov.org) with more details about your question so we can help.
8. Q: Can the system set up Auto Excluding for account codes from 10000 to 49999 for all assets?
A: With manual Capitalization, you must define the filter for each project. However, with Express Capitalization you can set up the filter one time and use it for all your assets. You can also set up more than one filter if you need different filters for different projects.
9. Q: Can expenditure abatements processed in AR be pushed to assets during the capitalization process?
A: No. Transactions from AR must be entered manually as adjustments to the asset. As an alternative to entering them in AR, they could be entered as an adjusting voucher in AP, which would then flow into Project Costing and to the asset.
10. Q: For a manual department, how do we update the in-service dates from a prior year if it was not available at that time, or if other information like location, serial number, etc was left out? The ones that didn't have the in-service dates are not shown in the Asset Information List.
A: Please contact Kally Ip (kally.ip@sfgov.org) for instructions on how we can help with this.
11. Q: What does “express” mean?
A: Oracle calls it “express” capitalization because it consolidates the manual tasks of manual capitalization, thus requiring less steps to push project costs to AM. Once you’ve configured a project for express capitalization, it just happens. Each time the process is run, any new project transactions that meet your filter criteria and are within the accounting date range on the run control will be pushed to AM. Hundreds of projects can be pushed at the same time using this process.
12. Q: Is there accounting date in the filter?
A: No, because of the way the express capitalization process is designed, it is not technically feasible to put the accounting date range in the filter. Also, this would require updating the filter(s) at least annually.
13. Q: Why do we have to choose and pick accounts? Do we not have a citywide set of accounts for fixed asset?
A: Transactions are pushed to AM based on Analysis Type, which must be included in the filter. These are ACT, PAY, GLE, MND, and MNR, for AP, payroll, GL expense accounts, manual distributions, and reversed manual distributions, respectively. Sometimes transactions with balance sheet GL accounts, such as 100005 or other balance sheet accounts may come in from AP and be assigned an Analysis Type of ACT. Sometimes people enter an incorrect Analysis Type on journal lines. Defining a range of GL accounts allows departments to exclude transactions with accounts that should not be pushed.
14. Q: What does “In Service Date” mean? What happens if we don’t know the In-Service Date yet?
A: The In-Service Date is a critical piece of information that the system uses to calculate depreciation. It will first look at the In-Service date and then the Transaction Date in determining when depreciation should begin for a given cost row. Projects that are pushed to AM are typically construction in progress, so we won’t have the real In-Service date just yet. AOSD’s suggestion is to make the In-Service date the same as the Transaction Date of when you first set up the CIP project. Once the project is substantially complete and you have that date, but before you recategorize the project, we can update the In-Service date. That will be when the depreciation should start because when it is CIP, it is not depreciable. Please contact kally.ip@sfgov.org for more information.
15. Q: Do we need to change the Transaction date and Accounting date every year ?
16. Q: Do we need to change the date range each year?
A: No, AOSD will take care of this.
17. Q: What's the difference between the transaction date (was changed to 5/1/21) and accounting date (5/18/21)?
A: The transaction date is critical to correctly calculating when a cost row begins depreciating. The accounting date is when the transaction is booked to the GL. The transaction date can also be in a previous closed period, while the accounting date must be in an open period.
18. Q: What happens if we put a different accounting date in Define Asset (for example to use 5/1/21), and in date range we use end date 6/30/21. Will the system capture all transactions by 6/30/21?
A: The accounting date used in Define Asset is not related to the accounting date range used to capture project transactions – they are independent. The accounting date in Define Asset is the accounting date that will appear on the asset cost row and will be the GL date of the generated GL journal. The accounting date range in the run control looks at the accounting date of the transactions in project costing.
19. Q: Is this process only good for new projects that have never been linked before? If the project costs were "Express" linked and there are additional project costs posted later, can we still use the "Express"?
A: Yes and yes. As long as a project has not been previously pushed using manual capitalization, it is eligible for express capitalization. Once a project’s transactions are capitalized with the express method, later transactions will be automatically pushed from project costing – as long as they meet your defined filter criteria – each time AOSD runs the express capitalization process and for as long as the project remains configured for express capitalization.
20. Q: Is the asset filter criteria setup one-time or annually? Does the department or CON run the express capitalization process?
A: The filter criteria is set up one time but can be updated as needed if a department’s business rules change. CON will run the express capitalization process.
21. Q: Is express capitalization only available for new projects, not existing projects?
A: Yes, though an existing project can be configured for express capitalization as long as it has not been previously pushed using the manual process.
22. Q: How often does AOSD run this process?
A: The plan is to run it quarterly, but it can be done more often or even on request depending on the time of year. Please contact kally.ip@sfgov.org with any questions or suggestions.
23: Q: If our depreciation policy is to depreciate a year after service date, what date do we use for transaction date?
A: The In-Service and Transaction Dates can be the same, just use the Following Year depreciation convention.
24. Q: Can we use this process to capitalize completed assets instead of CIP?
A: Yes, if the asset is substantially complete it can be pushed using a non-CIP Profile ID such as a building or infrastructure Profile ID.
25. Q: If the run control range ended 6/30/20, are the accrual FM13 JE transactions included?
A: Yes. As long as the accounting date is in the current fiscal year, it will include period 13 transactions.
26. Q: If we will push additional costs for assets that have been depreciated, should we use a transaction date as early as 6/30/2017 to make sure the depreciation calculation is running properly?
A: Please contact kally.ip@sfgov.org to provide more details about this situation.
27. Q: If we need to recategorize an asset from CIP to building, we have to wait for AOSD to run the process, correct?
A: Yes, and make sure all costs are pushed before you recategorize the asset.
28. Q: How does the system handle Category in a situation where a pushed asset has already been recategorized (say, to Building) but the Asset Definition still has a blank or CIP category when they push a second year?
A: The category in the Asset Definition will be ignored. Transactions will be assigned the same category (i.e. Building) as the recategorized asset cost rows.