DPA Meeting Notes - October 2002

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DPA MEETING NOTES
October 2002

TOPICS

BI-ANNUAL RESPONSIBLE PERSON UPDATE
SOME DIVISIONS EXEMPT FROM THE UPDATE
"NOTIFY DPA BEFORE DISPOSAL" LABELS
INVENTORY UPDATE
NO MEETING NOVEMBER & DECEMBER 2002
JANUARY 2003 DPA MEETING
AUDIT UPDATE
FY03 FADB CHANGES
FY03 DEPRECIATION
FRAUD AWARENESS SEMINAR
ALTERNATING MEETING LOCATIONS
ISSUING TAGS
"EXCESS" VS "DISPOSE"
EMPLOYEE EQUIPMENT LOANS

UCAR BI-ANNUAL RESPONSIBLE PERSON PROPERTY UPDATE

Because some assets could not be produced in the 2001 external audit, the auditors asked that UCAR take additional measures to ensure the same problem does not occur again. When the auditors began the 2002 audit, one of their first communications was to verify that we are continuing to perform this bi-annual update. (See September 2001 Meeting Notes on the Web for more detail.)

The next Responsible Person Property Update will be conducted during the month of December. Lists, sorted by Responsible Person, will be distributed to all individuals assigned property by a division through inter office mail on , Wednesday, 27 November, 2002, and must be returned to their respective DPAs on or before December 31, verified, updated and signed by the Responsible Person. DPAs will receive a copy of what has been sent to their division so they know what to track.

The Property Office will do a sampling after reports are returned from a division to verify accuracy. It was discovered through the inventories that several Responsible Persons signed and returned their forms but did not review it for accuracy as requested.

Copies of the Update reports should be returned to the Property Office throughout the month, as soon as they are submitted to the DPA. All reports must be in the Property Office by 9:00 AM, Thursday, January 2nd. At 10AM, we will begin calling DPAs on late reports to ensure they will arrive that day. It is the DPA's responsibility to follow up throughout the month to make sure the 31 December 2002 deadline is met.

Please note that this is not a Physical Inventory, nor is it anything new. Responsible Persons have always been required to know where their assets are. This action documents that knowledge. In most cases, they should be able to review and correct the list at their desk in 5-30 minutes. Of course, if they don't know where their assets are they must find out. They are responsible for knowing where their assets are at all times.

Make sure that all Responsible Person fields in your division's FADB records are correct on or before Friday, November 22nd. Remember that, as DPA, your name will automatically appear as Responsible Person when new records are created and must be changed by you, or the Property Office as directed by you. We will begin preparing the reports the following Monday and if this information is not correct the reports will be distributed to the wrong people.

Returned forms must be:

Signed by the Responsible Person or someone acting for them to verify the accuracy of the list and provide updated information. Unsigned forms will be returned for signature.
Returned to the DPA on or before December 31, 2002. (You may make a copy for your records.)
In the Property Office no later than 9AM, Thursday, January 2nd. We will begin follow up on late forms at about 10AM.

Since staff may take vacations around the holidays, remind them to return these forms to you early if they won't be around later in the month.

Chris and I are available to help you so please call at anytime with questions or concerns. We will do all we can to assist. Thank you for your efforts!

DIVISIONS EXEMPT FROM THIS UPDATE - As explained in previous meetings, some divisions will be exempt from the December 2002 update. Those who recently performed an inventory or whose inventory showed that their FADB records were accurate, including location, will not be required to complete this update. An e-mail will be sent listing those that will perform the update this time around. [Sent 22 Nov 2002.]

"NOTIFY DPA BEFORE DISPOSAL" LABELS - We are designing labels to be placed on all equipment (mandatory for fixed assets but available for non-fixed assets too) reminding division staff to notify their DPA before disposal. In September, Kathy Sharpe of JOSS suggested that such labels would remind staff to notify their DPA before disposal to ensure appropriate steps are followed. Sample label formats were presented at the October meeting and a yellow background with black print was chosen.

DPAs also requested that the Property Web site DPA list URL be printed on the label for staff that might not recall their DPA's name. These tags will be on equipment for as long as 10 years and the URL is apt to change, therefore, "for DPA list see UCAR Property Web site" will be printed on the label instead of the exact URL.

INVENTORY UPDATE

DIV	INVENTORY SCHEDULE
ATD/DFS (machine shop)	Completed
ATD/RTF	Completed
CGD	Completed
JOSS	Completed
ACD	Completed
UNAVCO	Completed
SCD	In process
RAP	Completed
ASP	Completed
F&A (Valent)	Completed
MMM	Completed
SCD NETS	In process
HAO	In process
ATD/RAF	Begins Dec 7
Library/Archives	Completed
EO	Completed
IDC	Completed
Contracts & SA	Completed
ESIG	Completed

In the FY02/03 inventory cycle, DPAs and Chris are teaming to conduct the inventory. So far, this is a significant improvement over past inventories; faster and more thorough.

The goal is to complete all inventories by December 31, 2002. That will give us a full calendar year before the cycle begins again.

NO MEETING NOVEMBER & DECEMBER 2002 - Because of the holidays, we will not meet for the months of November and December.

JANUARY 2003 DPA MEETING - The January 2003 meeting will be Thursday, January 30, 2003, 9:30-11:00 AM at FL3-2072. This information will be sent by Meeting Maker and an e-mail reminder will be issued a few days before the meeting.

AUDIT UPDATE - The auditors will return mid-November for the final phase of the FYE2002 audit. Usually, the final phase does not require participation from DPAs but if we need any information from your division, we'll be in touch.

FYE03 FADB CHANGES - FY03 acquisitions and disposals will not appear in the FADB until approximately December. At that time we will begin uploading acquisitions from October and November and create disposal records for FY03 dispositions.

FYE03 DEPRECIATION - The first depreciation posting for FY03 will be in early January for the first fiscal quarter. Thereafter, depreciation will be posted monthly. If a division has questions about this, please direct them to Janet Campbell, UCAR Property Administrator (ext. 8858).

FRAUD AWARENESS SEMINAR - A Fraud Awareness Seminar is scheduled for 12 November 2002, 10:00-12:00, FL2-1003.

ALTERNATING MEETING LOCATIONS - Pearl Street F&A staff and HR will move to the Center Green Campus in approximately March 2003. We discussed alternating monthly meetings between the three campuses (ML, FL, and CG). The consensus was that since most DPAs are at either ML or FL we will alternate between those two campuses with a meeting or two each year at the CG Corporate Technical Training Center.

ISSUING PROPERTY TAGS - Property (PPE) tags should be issued to the DPA as soon as a new asset arrives in the division. The DPA should contact the Property Office when an asset is received in their division. To make sure all received assets are tagged, the Property Office runs a receiving report twice weekly and sends tags for PO#s appearing on that report. This step serves as a back up to contacts from DPAs since they are not always notified when new equipment arrives in their division.

EXCESS VS. DISPOSE - DPAs frequently send requests to "excess" unwanted equipment when they really want to dismantle or salvage it. "Excess" is a specific method of disposal used by the U.S. General Services Administration. It involves making the equipment available to other Government Agencies and, if not claimed by an Agency, putting it up for sale. Given the broad misunderstanding of this term, if you request that something be "excessed" we will respond to confirm the particular disposal method you want. Please see the UCAR Property Manual on the Web for more on equipment disposals.

EQUIPMENT LOANS - It is UCAR practice to document all equipment loans, not just fixed asset loans. This is a DPA responsibility. Please see the UCAR Property Manual on the Web for detail on employee equipment loans or loans to other institutions.

DPA MEETING NOTES October 2002

DPA MEETING NOTES
October 2002