Oracle Property Manager – Introduction – Overview

Introduction

The Property Management Module is designed as a property database for organisations with large property  management portfolios. This paper is to provide an overview of the module describing its features and functionality. Using this structured database users can manage space allocations within their portfolio for both employees and/or customers. Customers’ space can be charged via an interface to the Accounts Receivable package or invoices for rent can be generated and interfaced to the Accounts Payable Module.

The database will hold various types of data including, features, contacts, tenancies, lease and other documentation such as insurances, rights, obligations and milestones. The module also has the standard flexfield functionality as in other Oracle Modules for the capture of user-defined data.

Property Definition

The database of properties has an inbuilt hierarchy starting at the top by grouping properties within regions and office parks. A property is then defined as a combination of land detail and building detail. Land can be subdivided into parcels. Land details include area, conditions and features that can be recorded against each land or parcel record. The use of flexfields would allow for the recording of asset numbers, title details, etc. Building details can include address, tenure, user defined class and status. Additional details include rentable, useable and assignable area, occupancy area, features and contacts. Buildings can be further subdivided into floors, and again into offices with the same level of detail being recorded against each individual record at each level.

Assignments

Properties can be assigned to either employees or customers at any of the levels described above. With each of these assignments cost centres or GL codes can be associated for revenue or costing purposes. The facility to record Project/Task/Organisation data has also been provided. The system provides statistical information on the assignments and total occupancy at the building, floor and office levels. Query screens are provided to enquire on the assignment data at each of the levels.

Leases and Documents

Lease details and various classifications of documents can be associated with each building floor or office. The details of these documents can be recorded and may form the basis for either billing customers through Accounts Receivable or the payment of rent through Accounts Payable. Recurring invoices for either accounts Receivable or Accounts Payable can be constructed within this module and after approval, interfaced directly to the other modules. This approval can be into the future.

Detail in these screens is extensive with tabs for Detail, Contacts, Locations, Insurances, Rights, Obligations, Options, Billings and Notes. There is a facility to record milestones which will generate notifications to responsible officers so they can be notified of specific occurrences with lead times set by the user. Using the details from Lease Documents the system will generate individual entries for export to Accounts Payable and Accounts Receivable. Each entry is created as a draft and must be approved prior to export. Details of these entries are maintained in Property Manager.

Agents

The system also maintains a list of agents or contacts related to each property. These contacts can be used throughout the module. They are divided into Customers, Suppliers and Employees. Using the standard integration of Oracle Applications these contacts are maintained in their respective modules. A contact role is available for allocation throughout the Property Module.

Reports

Standard reports with the system are divided into Space, Rent, Employee, Lease and other reports. The system has some 30 standard reports including 7 RXi reports. Specific reports based on client needs will require the use of Discoverer or other reporting tool. The module also has facilities to import and export data to CAD models for space allocations and locations.

In General

The Property Management Module can be interfaced to both the Accounts Payable and Accounts Receivable modules and if required, using flexfields, linked with the Fixed Asset module. The module is not used for maintenance cost recording however, property numbers could be referenced in Accounts Payable using flexfields for the creation of a property cost reporting mechanism. Our client uses the system as a Property Register, which records all possible information about a property. Security suppliers, cleaning suppliers, landlords, insurances, renewal dates, etc can all be recorded and found quickly. The major benefit from the system is the billing of rent to customers. Our client is a Water and Power utility that rents space for communications towers on various infrastructure assets. Tracking all the rent invoices on a monthly basis was completed using spreadsheet. The Property Management Module allows for the tracking of what has or has not been billed and in conjunction with the Accounts Receivable module what has or has not been paid.