Oracle Fixed Assets Implementation Tips and Strategies

North Central Oracle Applications Users Group

Brian Bouchard - (312) 338-5120

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Purpose
Overview
Keys

Key

of Oracle Fixed Assets

to Successful Implementation

Concepts

Implementation

Conversion
Questions

Tip

Strategies

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 - Integration

Oracle Fixed Assets Integration

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
books
Create Tax books for each Corporate Book
Depreciation 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 values
No - 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 Flexfield

Upon 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 - Questions

What 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 Conversion
Tax Reconciliation
Load assets into the last period of the last fiscal
year (i.e. Calendar year 2003, load into Dec-02)

Mid-Year
Transactions from two databases
Can 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 setup
Asset Categories
Depreciation & Prorate Calendars
Value 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 data
Important to properly size the following
tablespaces:
Application

tablespace (FAD, FA_DATA or some

derivative) - Houses all fixed assets tables
Indexes (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