Judy WindleSunflower Systems
How to Clean Up Your Property Data: From Plan
to Execution
Purpose
To describe how to address data cleanup challenges
To present steps required to effectively plan and clean up property data
To review an Asset Catalog example
To describe how to maintain clean, consistent data
Overview
Understand how to achieve the following cleanup steps:
Address the challenge Create a plan Execute and Manage Maintain policies and procedures
Keeping data accurate, consistent and reportable is the key to success!!
Address the Challenge
Begin with the following suggested questions:
Is there one, centralized office driving polices, procedures and guidance on how to manage and track property?
Do the property managers and custodians understand the importance of entering clean, precise data into a property management system? Are they motivated?
What are the weaknesses of your property management system?
Address the Challenge
“If you take care of the small things, the big things will
take care of themselves.”
Lets focus on the weaknesses…
Step 1: Recognize the need for data cleanup
Step 2: Understand the importance of a cleanup effort
Step 3: Identify the cause behind the inconsistencies
Create a Plan
Step 1: Assign one, centralized office or person to lead the cleanup effort
Step 2: Establish uniform naming conventions This will drive consistency and accuracy
Step 3: Develop training and education processes Train and re-train users on how to use the system
properly Educate users on the new or updated naming conventions Plan weekly, for example, meetings with system users to
discuss concerns, questions, ideas, etc.
Create a Plan cont.
Step 4: Prepare to analyze the data Assign resources Understand the amount of data you may have to clean up Plan how to organize the data
Step 5: Define the scope Determine the number of users that need to be trained
on the system and educated on the new naming conventions
Decide what problem area (s) you want to focus on (if not all)
Define a timeframe
Create a Plan cont.
Step 6: Document…Document…Document Document the following:
The centralized office or person leading the effort
Naming convention (s) or guidance (e.g. ASTM standards)
Training and education processes and manuals Determine where the manuals can be found Determine who will train and what users (in
general) Training schedules Weekly meeting platform
Create a Plan cont.
Document cont. Scope involved to implement the cleanup
Why conduct a cleanup effortWhat problem areas and how much [data]The amount of time expectedAnticipated risks and assumptions
ApproachWho is carrying out the effort How to analyze the dataHow to execute the cleanup process
Maintenance StrategyHow to keep data intactWho will update all of the above
Execute: The Cleanup
Step 1: Complete all steps in the “Create a Plan” phase
Step 2: Once the plan is documented, start to train and educate users as the cleanup effort begins
Step 3: Analyze the data If limited resources are available, focus on one problem
area at a time Assuming a technical resource is available, multiple
queries should be run organizing data into categories (e.g. asset catalog, accountability, locations, etc.)
Execute: The Cleanup cont.
Step 4: Execute the cleanup Once all categories are organized and broken down
into elements or levels, it is time to clean up
Key steps to follow: Eliminate duplicate entries Correct misspellings Adjust entries to reflect new naming convention Map asset records to correct entries
Execute: The Cleanup cont.
Step 5: Wrap up!
Re-run all queries Review categories along with each level Make adjustments and correct
discrepancies Repeat until desired outcome is achieved
Asset Catalog
Cleanup category example: Asset Catalog
What is an asset catalog?
The metadata below are suggestions and are not limited to the
following:
Core data elements: Manufacturer Model Number Model Name Description
Asset Catalog
Additional data elements to consider:
Federal Supply Classification (FSC)
Part number
Stock Number
Unit of measure
Asset Catalog
Asset Catalog Cleanup
Manufacturer : Eliminate all duplicates and correct misspelled
manufacturers Map all assets to the correct manufacturer
HEWLETT PACKARD HEWLETT-PACKARDHP HEWLETT
PACKERDHEWLET PAC HPCHPACKARD HEWLETT
PACKHARD
Asset Catalog
Asset Catalog Cleanup
Model Number/Name: Eliminate all duplicate entries specific to each
manufacturer Correct inaccurate entries to follow the
naming convention
Asset Catalog
Asset Catalog Cleanup
Model Number/Name cont.: Decide if the model number column or field
should include the model name (e.g. Latitude E4310 or E4310)
Model name can be included in a additional field or column
Map all assets reflecting eliminated models to the correct models
Asset Catalog
Asset Catalog Cleanup Description:
Eliminate all duplicates, misspellings and “like” entries
Decide if the common denominator should be labeled first
Map assets to the correct description
Federal Supply Classification (FSC) Correct all FSC discrepancies In general, the same descriptions should have
the same FSCs
Maintain
Lessons learned
Knowledge transfer
Continue to train system users
Continue to educate and enforce naming conventions
Consider list of value data fields
Continue to host weekly meetings
Run queries on an annual basis (for example)
Summary
Understand the BIG pictureBalance structure, flexibility and usability of the system
Property data should be… Descriptive Standard Reportable
Review Address the Challenge Create a Plan Execute and Manage Maintain
Questions/Comments
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