Developing Property Management Procedures

Glenda Steffenhagen, CPPM, CF

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

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.

General Steps in Procedure Development

• Define scope• Develop flowchart, if needed• Document (write) steps• Responsible person test steps• Outside person test steps• Refine• Publish

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?

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

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?

Flowchart Styles• Sequential

• By Responsible area

Verify Shipment

DocumentDamage

Quality Inspection

Verify Shipment

DocumentDamage

Quality Inspection

Receiving

Quality

Transportation

EstablishRecord

Deliver toStores

EstablishRecord

Deliver toStores

General Rules• Do not use names

– Use department or position name

• Keep steps short– Do not write paragraph narratives

Who is Joe Blow?

I think his

name was

on a

document

from 1995

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”

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

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?

General Procedures

• May list end results or outcomes• Can be developed from flowchart

– Suggested format:• Outline Form

– Arrangement:• Sequential• By Responsible area

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

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.

Appendixes or Appendices• Definitions

• Acronyms

• Memorandum of Agreements

• Forms

• Reference Materials

• Flow charts

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

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

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