COLLABORATING AND COMMUNICATING WITH YOUR IT GROUP

HOW DO YOU SAY “PROPERTY” IN THE TECHNICAL WORLD?

Sunflower SystemsSkip Adolph, CPPM CF

Yudiann Carlo, CPPS

WHAT IS YOUR FUNCTION?

True or False:

• Management of property requires IT knowledge

• Property management activities require IT interaction

• IT should be involved in the management of property

Does Managing Property Involve IT?

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True or False:

• System management does not involve Property

• Management of IT assets involves Property

• IT management and asset management are separate functions

Does IT Management Involve Property?

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• What is a CLIN? – pronounced “Klen”

• What is SQL– pronounced “Se-quel”

• What is an example of a Government Source– pronounced “where did this come from?”

• What is a Source Table– pronounced “behind the scenes”

Property And IT Speak Different Languages?

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IT IS NOT A FOREIGN LANGUAGE

Ideal Situation

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Be specific – Be brief• Avoid “short stories”• Get to the point

Describe or show the actual result• What is happening that shouldn’t?• Where is the problem/error? • How can you reproduce it?

Describe or show the desired result• What should be happening instead?

IT Communication Checklist - Learn to Use

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Help them reproduce the problem• Ask your IT to Experience the Issue

Understanding the Cause and Solution• Let them draw a picture• Inquire about possible solutions (and LOE!)• Ask for input and recommendations

Nurture the relationship• Ask them to communicate the progress• Don’t be afraid to ask questions

Expected Outcome – Use to Teach

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DESCRIBING “PROPERTY” IN IT TERMS

• Explain to a total stranger what you do

• Be explicit while being relative

• Use terms that not only you relate to– “Acquisition” means…– “Disposition” means…– “Activity transaction” means…

Asset Life Cycle in 25 word or less!

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Define Your Property Terms

Property Term IT Definition

Assets Records With Identifiers

Acquisition Initial Date And Description

Purchase Orders Documents

Custodians People

Users People (Note Difference From System Users)

Disposition End Of Life Date And Description

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• The Audit Trail is about integrity

• A continuous roadmap from start to finish

• Disposition is a transaction based on Direction

• The end of the Audit Trail and equally critical to Acquisition at the beginning

Disposition Without Deletion

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• Integral and contiguous trail of asset events

• The electronic historical trail of asset activity

• Integrity of the audit trail is critical to Audit

• “Posting Reference” – What is that?

Audit Trail: Paper or Electronic?

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• Business Rule– Communicate the requirement “outcome” established by

the Business Rule• i.e. Annual reports of capital NBV by Organization Code(s)

• Regulatory Compliance– Communicate the requirement “outcome” established by

the Contract T&C• i.e. Monthly reports of acquisitions

“Required” Versus “Requirement”

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TRANSLATION EXERCISES

• Requirement:– I need a list of assets that I cannot get from the property

system

• Techie Translation:– I need a new report of all records that meet the following

criteria (1,2,3)– I want to see the following fields on the report (A,B,C)

Reporting

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• Requirement :– I need to know what happened to an asset 14 months ago

• Techie Translation:– Does the asset record have historical data?– If so, I need to see the historical data for the following

records (1,2,3) as of the following date (mm/dd/yyyy)

Audits

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• Requirement :– I need to get data from another system into the property

system

• Techie Translation: – I need a new interface that will import data from System X

into the property system. What is the source? What is the Target?

– If the interface already exists but stopped working: I need you to look into the existing interface process that imports data from System X into the property system

Interfaces

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• Business Rule:– The information in the system is wrong

• Techie Translation:– We need to perform data cleanup – Bonus Points: We need to perform data cleanup… to

ensure data integrity

Data Cleanup

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• Business Rule:– I have a lot of data that I do not want to enter manually

• Techie Translation:– Can we create a process for bulk data loads?– We have a big data migration coming up. Can your provide

a process to migrate the data?– We currently duplicate data entry into two systems. Can

we look into system integration?

Migrations

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How IT views Property…

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How Property views IT…

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Find a common ground...

Communication

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Be specific – Be briefDescribe or show the actual resultDescribe or show the desired resultReproduce the problemUnderstand the causes/solutionsNurture the relationshipBring Candy…

IT Pocket Guide

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Questions?