1.Before You Begin: Notice Processing
Before beginning notice processing:
- Ensure that you have a good back up
- All PACS Mobile clients shall notify support before continuing with the process. Please note that client should NOT MOVE FORWARD with completing your process until this step is fully completed.
At a minimum, the following must occur:
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- Pending Changes Marked as Complete: These must be QC ‘Approved’ OR, if the changes are not wanted in PACS, ‘Reject’ the accounts individually or in bulk.
- CAUTION: Pending Changes 24 + Hrs: These Must be ‘Marked as Complete’ and QC ‘Approved’, OR they may be set as ‘Reviewed’ in Bulk and then ‘Rejected’ if none of the changes are wanted in PACS.
- CAUTION: Unsynced Changes (Approved): If accounts are in this list, please notify Support in order to help sync these accounts to PACS.
- Sync Failed = Yes: If there are any results returned in this filter, please enter a ticket with the title ‘TRIM-Sync Failed account(s)’.
Important: If there are any Sync Failed accounts, notify support. You ABSOLUTELY SHOULD NOT begin this procedure with sync failed properties.
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- If you’ve been transferred to DCS Support to support the mobile application, please open a FreshDesk with Data Cloud Solutions.
- If you have not been transferred to DCS Support to suppor the mobile application, please open a TeamSupport ticket with Harris Govern.
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Assign Appropriate User Rights
- Assessment Notice Forms Maintenance
- Assessment Notice Process – Required for all activities in the Activities > Assessment Notices menu
- Appeal Capture Value
2.Notifying Harris Govern
Inform Harris Govern Client Services that your office is starting notice processing. The staff will monitor progress to help you achieve successful results. Please open a TeamSupport ticket with the title: Starting Notice of Value Procedure.
3.Preliminary Procedures for Notice Processing
You must complete the following preliminary procedures prior to beginning notice processing activities.
3.1.Verifying the PACS Appraisal Version
To verify that the newest version of PACS is loaded on each workstation, click the PACS application button and choose Help > About.
3.2.PACS Mobile
All QC Work should be completed in PACS Mobile to ensure all changes have been pushed to PACS. There should be NO Sync Fails before you begin Assessment Notice processing. If you find there are, STOP and notify support so that we may assist in correcting these. Creating Notices before Sync errors are cleared may result in sending incorrect notices to your taxpayers.
3.3.Completing all Pending Splits and Merges
Complete all pending splits and merges. If necessary, move the properties to an active supplement group prior to performing the next preliminary procedure, Verifying Supplement Acceptance. You can do this by choosing Activities > Split/Merge > Pending Split/Merges.
If a split or merge is not complete, the current or prior year’s improvement details, land details, and associated values will not be correct. Also, notices will not accurately represent any properties created or deleted as a result of a split or merge.
For information about processing splits or merges, see Splits & Merges User Guide.
3.4.Verifying Supplement Acceptance
Verify that all supplements have been accepted (Activities > Roll Correction> Roll Correction Group Maintenance).
If you have a roll correction that is not accepted, the prior year notice values will not be correct.
3.5.Recalculating Properties
Choose Activities > Mass Maintenance (Property) > Mass Recalculation to recalculate all properties. For more information, see Recalculating Values for Multiple Properties.
Resolve any recalculation errors before continuing. You can use the Recalculation Error report (Reports > Recalculation Errors Report) as a reference.
Note: You may need to complete this step multiple times. Recalculating properties should be completed after making any value changes in your roll.
3.6.Running Comparison and Verification Reports
To verify data prior to creating the notices, we recommend using the reports listed below. You may find other reports useful as well.
Note If you make any corrections as a result of analyzing data on the reports, recalculate each property involved in a correction.
- The Property Value Comparison report (Reports > Property > Property Value Comparison by Year). Look for and investigate any major disparities in a property’s value from year to year.
- The Exception reports (Reports > Data Verification > Exception Reports). Look for assessed values that are outside the normal range of values for real properties, improvements, land, mobile homes, and personal properties.
- The Conversion Gain/Loss report (Reports > Conversion Gain/Loss) and the Standard Gain/Loss report (Reports> Standard Gain/Loss). Look for and verify any unusual gains or losses in a property’s value.
- The Land Acreage report (Reports > Data Verification > Land Acreage Verification). Account for properties on which the total acreage and legal acreage do not match. You can correct values in the Property view Legal Description tab or on the property’s Land Detail from the Land panel.
- The Recalculation Error report (Reports > Recalculation Errors Report). Open properties with errors, recalculate, then click the Error button in the fixed panel menu bar. This opens the Errors grid at the bottom of the Property view. Review any error details and make changes or add missing data to property elements as needed.
4.Generating a Preliminary Totals Report
Purpose
Use this report to review an estimate of the total value of property prior to creating notices. You access this report from the Print Preliminary Totals dialog box, in which you enter criteria for the report, choose sorting, grouping and filtering options, perform recalculation prior to generating output, and set the type of output to generate.
Some offices might choose to print multiple versions of this report. For example, (a) print totals by tax district, (b) print totals by tax area, (c) print summary only.
Prerequisites
- In order to perform this procedure, the following user rights are required:
- Reports > Totals/Rolls > Preliminary Totals
Procedure
- Choose hoose Reports > Totals/Rolls > Preliminary Totals.
- In the Year and Supplement Selection section of the Print Preliminary Totals dialog box, verify the selections in following fields:
- Year
- As of Supp #
- In the Data Selection Options section, choose one the following fields. This selection determines the method by which properties will be selected for inclusion in the Totals report and affects the contents of the Selection Filtering section.
- Use Selection Options
- Use Query
- In the Data Preparation Options section, if you want the property records for the report to be recalculated prior to generating the report, select the Recalculate All Properties check box.
- In the Report Selection Options, select reports desired
- In the Grouping and Sorting Options section, select an option in the Print Totals By field, which determines how the totals data will be aggregated in the generated output, and modifies other selection options in the dialog box according to the value chosen. Then select the sort order.
- In the Selection Filtering section, select the following:
- Tax areas – move over desired tax areas to Selected column
- Include Only Selected Property Types – choose Real or Personal
- Include Only Property Sub Type – select options from drop down
- Include Only Properties Appraised by – select options from drop down
- Exclude State Assessed Utilities – this will exclude properties coded as State Assessed Utilities
- Include EX Properties – include total exemptions
- Include Chapter 100 Abatement
- In the Additional Output Options section, choose at least one of the following Print Total Pages for options. These check boxes control the properties that are included in the Preliminary Totals Report based on their status with the BOE.
- Properties Not Under Review
- Sum of Properties Not Under Review and Properties Under Review
- Under Appeals Review Properties
- To set the output settings, complete the following fields in the Output Settings section:
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In the
Format drop-down list, select the report output format.
- In the Filename field, enter the report file name.
- In the Description field, enter a report description.
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- Click Preview to preview the report. Click Post to generate the report.
5.Capturing Values
Purpose
This procedure is optional in carrying out notice processing.
After your office send out notices, some taxpayers will inquire about and protest their values. These protests could result in changes to their assessed values. Use this procedure only if you want to determine if assessment values changed after notices were mailed, that is, whether value was gained or lost during the preliminary hearings and the Appeals process to come.
The values captured with this procedure can then be used at a later time to produce totals.
Procedures
- Chose Activities > Assessment Notices > Capture Appeals Submission Values > Capture Values.
- In the Appraisal Notice Capture Values dialog box, select one of the following options with which to select the properties to have their values captured:
- All Properties
- Query
- Complete the following based on your selection:
- If you selected All Properties, choose which property types should have their values captured:
- Real
- Personal
- Mobile
- Mineral
- If you selected Query:
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- Enter a query with which to select the properties that should have their values captured.
- Click Count to validate the query and view the number of properties that will be selected.
- If you selected All Properties, choose which property types should have their values captured:
- Click Capture.
Result
You can now compare values before and after the Appeal process in order to track the gains and losses during the Appeal process.
6.Undo Capture Values
Purpose
This procedure is optional in carrying out notice processing.
Use this procedure if you need to undo the captured values because values were captured incorrectly and need to be changed.
Undoing the values captures enables you to capture values again.
Prerequisites
- In order to perform this procedure, the following user right is required:
- Activities > Assessment Notice Process
Procedure
- Choose Activities > AssessmentNotices > Capture Appeals Submission Values > Undo Capture Values.
- Depending on the option used to capture values, select one of the following:
- Undo by Property Type, and then select the individual property types.
- Undo by Query, and then click Count to validate the query and determine how many properties the query will select.
- Click Undo Capture.
7.Printing Appeals Submission Values
Purpose
This procedure is optional in carrying out notice processing.
Use this procedure to generate a report of values at the time Appeals Values were captured.
You can use the report as a reference at a later time.
Procedure
- Choose Activities > Assessment Notices > Capture Appeals Submission Values > Print Appeals Submission Totals.
- For more information regarding Totals selections, please see Print Preliminary Totals
8.Printing Non-Captured Appeals Values
Purpose
This procedure is optional in carrying out notice processing.
Although your office may be generating notices for a large number of properties, values for some property types may not have been fully assessed yet. Therefore, their values would need to remain uncaptured. Use this procedure to generate a report of totals for any properties that do not have an Appeals-captured value.
Note After your office send out notices, some taxpayers will inquire about and protest their values. These protests could result in changes to their assessed values. Therefore, you may want to capture values prior to sending out notices if you want to determine if appraisal values changed after notices were mailed, during the appeals process to come.
You can use this report as a reference at a later time.
Procedures
- Choose Activities > Assessment Notices > Capture Appeals Submission Values > Print Non Captured Appeals Totals
9.Setting the Name and Address for the Assessor's Office
Purpose
Use this procedure to enter or verify the office name and address information to be printed on the notices.
Procedure
- Choose Tools > System Configuration. Select the System category and expand the System Address node.
- Verify or update the address listed in System Address.
Note In order for the name of your office to be printed on the notices, the name of your office must be entered in Address Line 1.
3. Click OK
10.Configuring Notice Print Options
Purpose
Use this procedure to:
- Customize print settings, and customize and/or review the text that is printed with the notices. You can set up different configurations, each controlled by an expiration date, to support different value phases throughout the year.
Configuration Set Up
You can set up configurations in chronological order as needed. Each configuration that is set up must be assigned an expiration date that is later than the last notice run date.
Configuration validation is year-specific so that you can, for example, set up configurations in 2018 while continuing to add configurations in 20017 as needed.
Configuration Changes
You can change the configuration until a notice run has been generated for the specified configuration. If a run exists using the configuration, the text for a specific configuration within the expiration date cannot be modified. If changes need to be made to the configuration, any run using the configuration must be deleted before the configuration is enabled for changes.
- Specify whether the geo ID, ref ID 1 or ref ID 2 prints on the notices
- Include or omit prior year values and/or the appraiser’s names on the notices
Prerequisites
- The following are set in System Configuration in Tools Menu
- Use System Address (Tools > System Configuration > Personal Property Defaults) – If set to
True
, then the address set in System Configuration prints on the Notice of Value for all property types. IfFalse
, then the address entered in the appraisal notice configuration prints on the notice.
- Use System Address (Tools > System Configuration > Personal Property Defaults) – If set to
- In order to perform this procedure, the following user right is required:
- Activities > Assessment Notice Process
Procedure
- Choose Activities > Assessment Notices > Configuration Maintenance.
- In the Assessment Notice Configuration Maintenance List window, click the following to allow PACS to create a new configuration type of that specific type:
- Create Real
- Create Personal
- Create Master Lease
- Note: Master Lease must be enabled in System Configuration in order for this to display (Tools>System Configuration>Master Lease)
- This will allow display configuration options for the Property Type Selected
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- General
- Year – enter year for configuration
- Expiration – enter expiration date for configuration.
- Notice Options
- Print PropertyID – will print Prop_id on the noitce
- Print with Parcel ID
- Print with RefID 1
- Print with RefID 2
- Include Assessment Ratio Breakdown – will provide assessment ratio breakdown on notice
- Include Abated Property Paragraph – setting this flag will cause notices for properties with an abatement to include an abated property section
- Include Prior Year’s Abatement Totals – setting this flag will allow abated property section to print values from prior year instead of current year.
- Print PropertyID – will print Prop_id on the noitce
- Assessment Notice Text
- This section allows user to include customized text in Block A and B
- Reviewed checkbox – this notifies the system the section has been reviewed and approved.
- Print Test – this allows user to print a test notice for review
- Appeal Information
- Print Appeal information on Back of Notice – allows printing on back of notice rather than second page
- Reviewed – this notifies the system the section has been reviewed and approved.
- General
- Click OK to save changes
11.Selecting Notices for Printing
Purpose
Use this procedure to:
- Choose the selection criteria for the notice selection process.
- Create a new notice run.
Recommendation Before printing a full notice run, we highly recommend that you select a small set of notices and print them in order to verify the format and the display of text and data printed on the notices.
Prerequisites
- In order to perform this procedure, the following user right is required:
- Activities > Assessment Notice Process
- Notice print options have been completed.
Procedure
- Choose Activities > Assessment Notices > Assessment Notice Maintenance.
- In the Assessment Notice Run window, click Add.
- If you would like to review the configured print options, click View Configuration Information.
- In the Assessment Notice Selection Process Wizard, complete the following options as required for each property type:
- Year
- Include All Properties
- Include Based on Selection Criteria
- Exclude All Properties
- Click Next.
- In the Notice Options dialog box, in the Basic Options section, select one or more of the following options as required:
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- Market Value
Enables selection of properties whose market value went up or down from the previous year based on the values entered in the Value Increase Greater than and/or Value Decrease Greater than fields.
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- Assessed Value
- Value Increase Greater than
For example: If 100 is entered, only properties that have increased more than $100 are included.
- Value Decrease Greater than
For example: If 100 is entered, only properties that have decreased more than $100 are included.
- Include Neighborhood Codes
- Include Last Ownership Change Since
- Include Previously Printed Properties
Include Last Appraisal Year Greater than
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- Include Properties with any of these Group Codes
- Select by Query
- IExclude Options section, select one or more of the following options as required:
- Exclude Properties with “No Notice” Group Code
- Exclude Exempt Properties
- Exclude Local Assessed Utility Properties
- Exclude State Assessed Utility Properties
- Click Finish.
Result
When the system finishes selecting property records based on the criteria you selected, a notification is sent to your PACS inbox.
12.Deleting a Notice Run
Purpose
This procedure is optional in carrying out notice processing.
Use this procedure if you need to delete a notice run.
The deletion process produces the following results:
- Removes notice flags from all properties in the run.
- Removes any events created by the notice selection.
- Restores any property group codes deleted during the run.
- Removes the notice run from the Assessment Notice window.
Procedure
- Choose Activities > Assessment Notices > Assessment Notices Maintenance.
- In the Appraisal Notices window, select the run to be deleted and click Delete.
A message is displayed indicating that the system is undoing the run.
13.Viewing Selection Criteria for Notice Runs
Purpose
Use this procedure to view the selection criteria used for a notice run and other details such as the time the run was created, the time the run was printed, and the user ID of the person who created the run.
Procedure
- Choose Activities > Assessment Notices > Assessment Notice Maintenance.
- Select the run for which you need to view selection criteria and click Details.
- View the selection criteria used for the run.
14.Printing Notices
Purpose
Use this procedure to print or export notices.
Recommendation Before printing a full notice run, we recommend that you select a small set of notices and print them in order to verify the format and the display of text and data printed on the notices.
Prerequisites
- In order to perform this procedure, the following user right is required:
- Activities > AssessmentNotice Process
Procedure
- Choose Activities > Assessment Notices >Assessment Notice Maintenance.
- In the Assessment Notice window, right-click a notice run and select Print Appraisal Notices.
- In the General section, complete the following options:
- Notice Date
- Starting Property ID
- Sort Order
- In the Properties with Agents section, select one of the following:
- Print Copy for Agent and Owner
- Print Copy for Agent only
- Print Copy for Owner only
- In the Undeliverable Mail section, select an option for printing notices for properties to which mail is undeliverable.
- In the Additional Options section, select none, one, or more of the following:
- Insert Event
- Remove Group Codes
- Duplex Printer
- Export Notices to File
NOTE: When entering a path for the Appraisal Notice export file, the path location must be a shared location. Otherwise, the export will fail.
- Print Exemption Codes
- Amended Notice
- Print Legal Description
- Print Appraiser Name
- If the notices should be printed as part of a template, which is a collection of letters and/or forms that can be printed as a group, in the Advanced Print Options section, select Print Template and choose the template.
- To set the output setting, do the following in the Output Settings section:
- In the Format drop-down list, select the report output format.
- In the Filename field, enter the report file name.
- In the Description field, enter a report description.
- In the Location field, specify the location of the notice form.
- Click Preview to preview the report. Click Post to generate the report.
Result
When the system finishes printing or exporting notices according to the criteria that you selected, a notification is sent to your PACS inbox so that you can review or reprint the notices as required.
In addition, each property for which a notice was printed displays the notice print date on the Summary panel as shown below.
The same notice can be reprinted from the associated event at the Property level.
15.Printing the Notice Listing
Purpose
Use this report to review the list of properties included in a notice run and the values associated with the properties.
Prerequisites
- In order to perform this procedure, the following user right is required:
- Activities > Appraisal Notice Process
Procedure
- In PACS 9.0, choose Activities > Appraisal Notices > Appraisal Notice Maintenance.
- In the Appraisal Notices window, right-click a notice run and select Print Appraisal Notice Listing.
- Click Preview or Post.