Oracle Fixed Assets -Implementation Tips and Strategies

North Central Oracle Applications Users Group

Brian Bouchard - (312) 338-5120

Introduction

DARC CorporationApplication Implementation MethodologyInstallation and UpgradeDARC ProductsTechnical ConsultingFunctional ConsultingDARC AcademyCustomer Support ServicesUser Group Affiliations

Purpose

Overview of Oracle Fixed Assets

Keys to Successful Implementation

Key Concepts

Implementation Tip

Conversion Strategies

Questions

Overview of Oracle Fixed Assets

Maintain Property & Equipment Inventory

Rule Based Depreciation

Flexible Structures (Category, Location, Asset Key, and Descriptive Flexfields)

Asset Workbench

Tax Accounting

Integration with other Oracle Applications

Keys to a Successful Implementation

Early Planning

Create Project Plan/Guidelines

Complete Participation of all Users (Include Tax Department)

Maintain Communication with other Application Teams

Define Reporting Requirements Early

Document Setup Decisions

Continuous Feedback

Key Concepts - IntegrationOracle Fixed Assets Integration

6

1

Key Concepts - Asset Category Flexfield

Group Assets according to like depreciation rules

Category flexfield serves as the holder of default rules (life, method, prorate & accounts) for each of your corporate and tax books

One segment must serve as a Major segment

Usually Tax Driven - Consult tax department when defining

Can have up to 7 segments, 30 characters each segment (recommend 2 or 3 segments)

Combination of segment values plus separators must be 30 characters or less

Key Concepts - Location Flexfield

Group assets according to Physical Location

Main function is for Property Tax as opposed to a true Asset Tracker

One segment must serve as State segment

Define structure that can be easily maintained

Can have up to 7 segments, 30 characters each segments

Key Concepts - Asset Key Flexfield

Group like assets for enhanced reporting

Specific to each implementation

No financial impact on the system

If not using, one segment required for setup (Define without validation)

Can have up to 10 segments, 30 characters each segment

Key Concepts - Key Flexfields

Plan Flexfield Structure carefully - including all your segment information (segment order, field length, dependencies)

Once you have started entering assets using a flexfield, you cannot change the flexfield

Dynamic Insertion versus Greater Control

Oracle Assets only displays a limited number of characters on its forms and reports - may wish to limit the number of segments per flexfield.

Key Concepts - System Controls

Company Name - Select a company name that will appear on all Oracle Assets reports

Automatic Asset Numbering - If converting from a legacy system, select a starting number greater than the number of legacy assets

Oldest Date Placed in Service - Required to enter the date of the oldest asset in your database

Key Concepts - Calendars

First Period - Must define all calendars from the period corresponding to the date placed in service of the oldest asset

Integration to GL - Depreciation Calendar period names must be identical to the period names you have set up in your General Ledger (May force/determine GL calendar period naming convention)

Tax Depreciation Calendar - Monthly versus Quarterly

Depreciation and Prorate Calendars

Key Concepts - Books

Oracle Assets allows the creation of multiple sets of books within a single installation

Can create multiple companies within one GL set of books, or multiple companies each with its own GL set of booksCreate Tax books for each Corporate BookDepreciation calculation

Limitation: If you have multiple sets of books, assets must be retired from one book in order to transfer to another book (Cross depreciation books)

Key Concepts - Acct Generator/Flexbuilder

Oracle Assets uses Acct Generator/Flexbuilder to general accounting flexfield combinations for journal entries

Allows you to designate a specific source for each segment in the accounting flexfield for which Oracle Assets creates a journal entry

Flexibility to create journal entries according to your requirements

Can specify to what level of detail to create journal entries for each book and account type

Key Concepts - Mass Additions Table

Create Assets from Oracle Payables using the Create Mass Additions Process

Create Asset Additions from Another Payables system

Convert Assets using the Mass Additions Interface

Create Assets from Oracle Projects using the Interface Assets Process

Conversion - Examine Existing Data

Clean data before conversion - do not load poor quality data into Oracle Fixed Assets

Are you confident your legacy system processes depreciation correctly?Yes - Load existing depreciation valuesNo - Have Oracle Assets recalculate

Map existing fields and data attributes to Oracle Assets. Include key flexfields (Asset Category, Location, Asset Key, Accounting Flexfield)

Conversion - Accounting FlexfieldUpon defining the Chart of Accounts for GL, make sure that the following Fixed Assets requirements are considered:Define Asset Accounts - Many standard reports in Fixed Assets sort by the account of each asset category

Define Clearing Accounts - Ensure that one or more clearing accounts are defined - these accounts will hold any transactions which hit the GL but not FA

Cost Center Qualifier - set the cost center qualifier in the Accounting Flexfield for Fixed Assets - Used by many standard reports

Conversion - QuestionsWhat data is being converted? (Cost vs. NBV, YTD Depreciation, Reserve, DPIS, Method, and Life)What tax data being converted? (Cost, YTD Depreciation, Reserve, DPIS, Method, and Life)What is the first period in Oracle?How will assets be converted?Electronic (SQL scripts)ADI

Conversion - Electronic Conversion

Use the Mass Additions Interface table to load assets electronically

Each asset loaded must be attached to an Asset Category, Location, Asset Key and Accounting Flexfield using Oracle internal identification numbers

Create a file from your legacy data (csv, dat, txt)

Define an Interim table in the Oracle Database

Create a SQL*Loader control file (.ctl) - tells SQL*Loader how to import data into the interim table

Conversion - Electronic Conversion Cont.

Use SQL*Loader to import the information to your interim table (if data not already in an Oracle database)

Verify the number of records in your interim table and compare to your legacy data

Verify totals for your cost and depreciation reserve

Use the interim table to convert legacy data fields to Oracle formatted fields (internal ids, dates, methods, lives, etc.) Verify that all assets have required ids

Load the FA_MASS_ADDITIONS Table from your interim table using SQL*Plus

Conversion - Electronic Conversion Cont.

Use SQL*Plus to verify that all required fields have been populated (Consult the Oracle Open Interfaces Manual)

Run the Mass Additions Status Report and the Unposted Mass Additions Report to check your data

Post your mass additions using the Post Mass Additions Process

Verify that all assets were posted. Correct any assets which did not post in the Mass Additions Prepare form and rerun Mass Additions Post

Conversion - Tax

Initial Mass Copy vs. Periodic Mass Copy - Use the Mass Copy Process to copy your assets into each tax book associated with your Corporate Book

Depreciation Reserve - Let Oracle Fixed Assets Recalculate the reserve or use SQL*Plus to update the values from your legacy data

Life, Method, Prorate - Use SQL*Plus to update the lives, methods and prorates for each asset in your tax books

Verify any updates by using the Tax Additions Report

Tip #1 - Implementation Date

Beginning of Fiscal Year (Recommended)Year-End reporting (one database versus two) Ease of Data ConversionTax ReconciliationLoad assets into the last period of the last fiscal year (i.e. Calendar year 2003, load into Dec-02)

Mid-YearTransactions from two databasesCan opt to convert from prior year-end (enter all transactions through point of implementation)

Tip #2 - Define Reporting Requirements

Examine Oracle Assets Standard Reports (Standard reports usually do not meet most companies reporting requirements)

Examine both Corporate and Tax Reports

Design reports keeping the Key Flexfields in mind (Sort, total and page break by segments within key flexfields)

Test - thoroughly test all custom reports before moving to Production

Tip #3 - Loading Values

Create Excel Macros to automate the loading of values into Oracle for system setupAsset CategoriesDepreciation & Prorate CalendarsValue Sets for Flexfield segments

Test for a few lines of data before loading a large group of values

For large value sets, transfer values in smaller batches

Tip #4 - Sizing Hardware & Database

Oracle Fixed Assets uses a tremendous amount of tablespace for storing depreciation dataImportant to properly size the following tablespaces:Application tablespace (FAD, FA_DATA or some derivative) - Houses all fixed assets tablesIndexes (FAI or FA_INDX)Rollback Segments - used to undo changes in the database when a database failure occurs FA Large Rollback Segment (Required) - Application profile option used to set rollback segment (could require up to 800 MB)

Questions