Property Management System

Transcription

1 Property Management System

2 3 For more information or for a demonstration of the Forté Property Management System please contact: Dylan Rawlins dylan@mapserver.co.za

3 The Importance of Property Management An estimated 80% of the functions of a Local Authority are directly related to property. Most importantly, property forms the basis of a Municipality s rating system. As such, property management and revenue management should be treated as integrated functions. The Forté Property Management System is designed to ensure that both the property and revenue management functions are correctly and accurately integrated, ensuring optimal performance. 3

4 Forté - Executive Summary The Forté is a property management system that: integrates and checks the integrity of key property-based information; provides a platform for property queries and analysis; is a management tool for General and Supplementary Valuation Rolls; provides Rates Modelling functionality on Valuation Rolls; is a management tool for Fixed Asset Registers; and provides an integrated Geographic Information System with the ability to produce thematic maps, query spatial data and run complex spatial queries. The Forté software was designed exclusively by East London-based software company DMS Consulting. As such, modifications and enhancements to the Forté software are readily available. This ensues that Forté meets the individual needs of each client. The Property Management Challenge Property information within a municipality is derived from numerous internal and external sources. This poses the biggest challenge to property management within the municipal environment. Typically, each source of property information has its own set of attributes and levels of accuracy, which is not always directly related to other sources of property information. This is especially the case for sources of property information that are outside of the municipality (eg. Deeds, Cadastre etc.) As such, a Property Management System must, as its core function, provide a means to collate all property-based information into a central, yet intelligent data repository. Equally important is the ability to ensure that the collated property-based information is accurate. 45

5 The Forté Data Integration Solution The integration of property information is the first stage of Forté s initialisation process. Our four primary sources of property information are: Accounts (Municipal Rates); Deeds; Cadastre; and Valuations. As a first step, all four of the above information sets are imported into Forté and linked through a common property identifier. This enables us to proceed with the examination of the integrity of the property information. In addition to the primary information, Forté also imports property information such as land use, zoning and the Municipal Fixed Asset Register. These secondary sources of property information provide a supporting role in the analysis of the primary information and are useful for property enquiries and thematic GIS mapping, which is built into Forté. 45

6 The Forté Data Integrity Solution Typically, there is no single, reliable source of property information that can be used as a benchmark against which to compare other sources of property information. Forté addresses this issue by automatically comparing the four primary sources of property information against each other. The anomalies, exceptions and gaps between each dataset are highlighted as high-level reports that can be: Drilled-down to a per-record level; Exported to Excel for more complex analysis; and Viewed and interrogated spatially using the built-in GIS. This provides a means to automatically verify the integrity of the property information within Forté, as well as a benchmark against which to clean the source information. Simply put, Forté aims to constantly monitor and report on the accuracy of any property information used by the Municipality. This gives the Municipality a good idea of the state of their: Accounts (Municipal Rates); Deeds; Cadastre; and Valuations. To this end, Forté has 25 analysis reports, each being tabular as well as GISbased, that provide the Municipality with a comprehensive view of the state of their property information. 67

7 The Benefits of Integrated, Clean Property Information Besides the need for good quality property information on a day-to-day basis there are numerous high-level needs that are triggered by periodic requirements for mass property-based exercises such as: General Valuations (every four years); Supplementary Valuations (annually/bi-annually); Fixed Asset Register Compilation (annually); Rates Modelling (annually). Typically these exercises involve the use of external service providers to source the required information and assimilate this information into the resultant Valuation Roll, Asset Register etc. Therefore, the accuracy of the result is reliant on the data sourced by the service provider and their technique employed in data cleaning. The establishment and maintenance of integrated, clean property information would streamline these processes to ensure that any mass 67

8 property-based exercise is conducted using a verified set of property-based information. This would infer a considerable reduction in the cost of these exercises as well as a significant improvement in their accuracy. Forté GIS In reality property within a Municipality exists on the ground and not within a property management system. However, a representation of what exists on the ground is the only means to effectively gain and maintain a picture of this reality. The basis for this is the Geographic Information System (GIS). The GIS provides Forté users with a graphic representation of the propertybased information within the municipality. However, the GIS is not restricted to simply providing a picture of the situation on the ground. It is also a powerful analysis tool that, coupled with Forté s built-in data integrity checks, provides an on the ground representation of where data issues can be found as well as the nature of those issues. Forté s GIS is deigned to be simple and user-friendly so that it can be operated by any user without the need for any understanding of spatial information. The interface includes the ability to: dynamically switch layers of information on and off; zoom in and out dynamically; set map scale; query spatial data; print to an A4 and A3 template; and A4 and A3 maps. As Forté s GIS is a fully integrated component of the system it is possible to dynamically switch between the text-based and spatial data at both an individual property level or report level at any time. 8

9 Forté Property Enquiry Searching for individual properties is a basic user-level function that is performed on a daily basis. Forté provides a built-in search engine that allows users to search for any property in the database by its erf number and, if available, its address. In addition, Forté s search engine allows users to search by owner name and only requires the user to know a portion of the owner s first, middle or surname in order to find a match. The Forté GIS can also be used to search for a property. Once located on the map, the property can then be clicked in order to view the detailed property information for that property. Each property within Forté has a Property Information page which displays the following information: 8

10 The current and historical values; Land use; Zoning; Deeds property information; Deeds owner information, current and historical; Billing information; A small map of the property with satellite/aerial photography; A photo of the property; A sketch of the improvements for the property; Any Data Collection information from a General Valuation; and A Survey General Diagram or General Plan. In addition, the Property Information Page allows the user to Analyse the Neighbourhood in terms of valuations and sales. This is a dynamic system that automatically checks the surrounding neighbourhood s property values and sales and reports on them both in tabular and spatial format. This function is useful when assessing the values of properties for General and Supplementary Valuations. In addition, a user can analyse the data integrity of the property which automatically reports on any data related issues that may affect the accuracy of the property under inspection. Forté Valuations The periodic need to conduct General and Supplementary Valuations is a relatively new burden placed upon Municipalities. However, with Forté s approach to property management this exercise is streamlined. Forté is designed to produce and manage General and Supplementary Valuation Rolls, in the legal format as prescribed by the Municipal Property Rates Act 6 of 2004, by automatically integrating the deeds, financial, 10 11

11 cadastral and valuations data. The resultant roll is thereby automatically generated with the most up to date ownership, billing, and cadastral information in the Forté system. In addition, valuation history is maintained so that the changes in valuation for each property can be tracked and historical valuation rolls can be stored electronically. The current value for each property is maintained in what is referred to as the Consolidated Valuation Roll. It is against this Roll that the analysis of Gaps and other data integrity reports are run. Any Valuation Roll, current or historical, is visible as a report in Forté at any time as well as the Consolidated Valuation Roll, which is also available 10 11

12 spatially in the GIS. Another feature of Forté is to intelligently manage Supplementary Valuations. A Supplementary Valuation is undertaken at the discretion of the Municipal Valuer. Usually it is undertaken in order to update the values on properties that have been sold, subdivided or consolidated or to rectify errors in previous rolls. Forté automatically adds any property that has been sold or has undergone a registered subdivision or consolidation to the next Supplementary Valuation. Each automatic entry to the Valuation includes a note explaining the reason for it being added. Users also have the ability to manually add properties to the Supplementary Valuation, with a note explaining the reason for it being added. Once the list of properties in Supplementary Valuation reaches a certain size, as decided by the Municipality, the next Supplementary Valuation can be undertaken either internally or using external service providers. Each property in the Supplementary Valuation must then receive a value and rates category (and optionally a DCF, Sketch, Photo etc) before it can be formalised. Once the required information has been included, Forté automatically produces the new roll and adjusts the Consolidated Roll and Rates Model accordingly. This fully integrated process maintains an audit trail of valuation information and ensures that any Supplementary Valuations are correctly quantified thus streamlining the process and providing a more accurate result. Forté Rates Modelling The final product of a valuation process is the calculation and levying of rates. In order to calculate rates from values it is first necessary to determine rating 12 13

13 tariffs for each rating category. This is the Rates Modelling process. The Forté Rates Modelling Tool operates on the Consolidated Valuation Roll and therefore always reflects the current rates and values. This Tool is automatically populated by the rates categories in the Consolidated Valuation Roll along with the respective property numbers and valuation totals. This Tool then allows the user to adjust each rates category with respect to the: predicted changes in market values from Objections (as a percentage of value); exemptions in market value from rating (as either a percentage of value or rand value); phasing in of rates for new accounts (as a percentage of rates per annum); and ratio against the residential tariff. Changes to the Rates Model are immediate and the results show the total rates that will be generated from each rating tariff as well as the final tariffs and total predicted Rated Revenue. If a fixed asset register is available within Forté, the Rates Modelling Tool automatically includes the option to exclude municipal owned property from the Rates Model. Forté Fixed Asset Register A Municipal Fixed Asset Register is a legal requirement of a Municipality s annual financial statements each year. Unfortunately, the Fixed Asset Register does not simply involve selecting any municipal owned property from the Valuation Roll. Each municipal owned property needs to be identified. Forté allows for the inclusion of municipal properties through a number of ownership/tenure 12 13

14 types: Ownership in the name of the municipality (or any historical name of the municipality); Ownership by means of vestment with the municipality; and Ownership by means of statutory declaration. It is also necessary to identify any buildings located on any property owned by the municipality through any of the above forms of tenure. Each building requires a description and its own value. In addition, buildings must be categorised as either Administrative or Investment Assets, each category being handled differently in the financial statements. Forté provides a means to manage the above mentioned information and to produce the Fixed Asset Register for inclusion in the year end financial statements. Demonstration For more information or for a demonstration of the Forté Property Management System please contact: Dylan Rawlins dylan@mapserver.co.za 14 15

15 14 15

16 For more information or for a demonstration of the Forté Property Management System please contact: Dylan Rawlins dylan@mapserver.co.za