Developing Property Management Procedures

1. Developing Property Management Procedures Glenda Steffenhagen, CPPM, CF

2. Definitions • Policy: • A plan or course of action, as of a government, political party, or business, intended to influence and determine decisions, actions, and other matters: American foreign policy; the company's personnel policy. West’s Encyclopedia of American Law (Full Article) from Answers.com 4/15/09 • Generally passive voice using will, shall or must. • Tells who, what, where, when and possibly why • Does not tell how

3. Definitions • Procedure: • A procedure is a specified series of actions, acts or operations which have to be executed in the same manner in order to always obtain the same result under the same circumstances. • To document these series of actions into a document is the development of a procedure. • A written Procedure will indicate a sequence of activities, tasks, steps, decisions, calculations and processes, that when undertaken in the sequence laid down produces the described result, product or outcome. • Uses active, imperative voice. • Does not tell why.

4. General Steps in Procedure Development • Define scope • Develop flowchart, if needed • Document (write) steps • Responsible person test steps • Outside person test steps • Refine • Publish

5. Define Scope • Determine layout of manual or procedures • Life cycle of property • Various activities • By work group • Possible layouts • General to specific • Sequential • What is audience?

6. Developing Flowcharts • Initial start – brain storm, walk existing process • Use sticky notes or whiteboard • Normally yes or no decision, but initially can be any type of question • Flowcharts can loop back and forth • Need to consider all of the exceptions • Good tool for discovering weaknesses in process

7. Developing Flowcharts – Example steps • General receiving process • Verify the shipment and accept from the carrier • Open packages • Bring property on record and deliver to end user • Additional steps/questions • Document apparent damage • Document internal damage • What if there are discrepancies between the packing slip and the contents?

8. Flowchart Styles • Sequential • By Responsible area Verify Shipment Document Damage Quality Inspection Establish Record Deliver to Stores Verify Shipment Document Damage Establish Record Receiving Quality Inspection Quality Deliver to Stores Transportation

9. General Rules I think his name was on a document from 1995 • Do not use names • Use department or position name • Keep steps short • Do not write paragraph narratives Who is Joe Blow?

10. General Rules • Be consistent in nomenclature • Use same terminology in procedure that user will see in process • Make all references to an item or step the same • Use illustrations as much as practical – • “A picture says a thousand words”

11. General Rules • Make it easy to understand • Avoid words ending in “ion” • Use active tense/action words • Access xxx program or system • Create • Update • Review • Receive • Enter

12. General Rules • Spell acronyms out the first time they are used • Place conditions at beginning of step • Include for each step • Who performs action? • What action is to be performed? • How is action performed?

13. General Procedures • May list end results or outcomes • Can be developed from flowchart • Suggested format: • Outline Form • Arrangement: • Sequential • By Responsible area

14. Detailed Procedures • Desktop procedures • More detailed on steps to be taken. • Example: General procedures • At contract closeout, all property will be dispositioned per government direction. • Desktop procedures • At contract closeout the following steps will be taken. • Review all systems for residual property • If property exists, screen internally • Request transfer for property or submit for plant clearance

15. Detailed Procedures • Normally a frequent process by an individual • Write steps as you perform process • When writing steps determine who will be using procedure… • Will user be familiar with systems and references within the steps? • When complete, try to perform action yourself and then have another employee process the task with the steps you have written.

16. Appendixes or Appendices • Definitions • Acronyms • Memorandum of Agreements • Forms • Reference Materials • Flow charts

17. Wrapping Up • Now that the procedures are written, double check that the procedures produce outcomes as defined by: • The FAR clauses • Corporate/Entity policies • Any applicable regulations

18. Summary • Definitions • Policy vs General Procedure vs Detailed Procedures • General steps in procedure development • Scope, flowchart, write steps, test yourself, someone else test, refine, publish • Test procedures against desired corporate/entity/regulatory outcomes

19. Wrapping Up • This is a high level summary of the class offered by NPMA • The class includes • Practice exercises • Examples • More in-depth discussions of procedure scopes, writing styles and writing suggestions • Various format presentations with the pros and cons • Discussion of the “RASI” (Responsible/Accountable/Support/Information) Chart • How to write procedures for computer processes • Detailed discussion of the FAR outcomes