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Update on BEN Assets: Penn’s New Property Management System
January 22, 2008, Volume 54, No. 18

This spring, the Division of Finance (DOF), in partnership with Information Systems and Computing (ISC), is planning to launch BEN Assets, a new asset management system to replace the existing Property Management system. University-owned property, plant, and equipment, assets valued at $5000 and up will be recorded and tracked in the new asset management system.

BEN Assets will be a new module within BEN Financials, the University’s core business system, and will be tightly integrated with the existing modules: BEN Buys (Purchasing), BEN Pays (Accounts Payable), and BEN Balances (General Ledger). For example, property management information from BEN Buys requisitions will be transferred automatically into BEN Assets at the same time the invoice data is imported from accounts payable. This integration expedites the entire asset creation process, drastically reducing the time it takes for an asset to be created.

Additionally, new reporting capabilities to facilitate asset management in Schools and Centers have been developed. A new Assets collection in the Data Warehouse will enable the creation of custom reports, and standard “canned” reports will be available via BEN Reports and Business Objects.

The BEN Assets and Data Warehouse collection implementation schedule is as follows:

March 2008: 

• The new Assets collection in the Data Warehouse, along with the BEN Assets reports in BEN Reports, will be made available to Schools/Centers.

• The legacy Property Management system will be available in “view” mode only to Schools/Centers, for reference purposes.

• BEN Assets online application will be implemented within the Property Management Group (PMG).

• BEN Assets training will be conducted for current School/Center users

• A new required field–Primary Asset Number–has been added to the list of property management information when purchasing a component of an existing asset. Buyers (PO Managers and Requisitioners) will be required to obtain a primary asset number from the Property Management Group prior to making the purchase.

• There will be a change in the object codes that require additional property management information to be collected when acquiring an asset within BEN Buys.

 

Current
NEW Effective
March 3, 2008

Moveable Equipment

1830-1832

1870-1872

Collectibles

1850-1852

1874

Equipment in Process

1834

1877

April 2008:

• BEN Assets online application will be available to existing School/Center users of the current Property Management system.

• BEN Assets training will be conducted on a regular schedule for new users.

The training schedule for BEN Assets and the instructions for gaining access to the Assets Data Warehouse collection are being finalized. This information will be communicated to BEN Financials users and property administrators in the coming weeks.

As the implementation approaches, information about BEN Assets will be posted on the VP Finance website at: www.finance.upenn.edu/comptroller/accounting/property/.

Additionally, the information will be sent directly to the University staff who are currently  involved with asset management. If you have any questions or concerns, please e-mail BENassets@pobox.upenn.edu.
–BEN Assets Team

Almanac - January 22, 2008, Volume 54, No. 18