Section 50IAC26-18-3. System and integration demonstrations

   (a) Property tax management systems subject to certification under section 1 of this rule that utilize assessment and tax and billing systems that have been software certified by the department must initially be tested and integration validated under this section. The systems will be tested by the department or its designee on a stand-alone PC or a larger system. Combinations of vendors or data processing departments shall schedule a testing date with the department at least thirty (30) days before submitting the property tax management system for test. The test shall include, but will not be limited to, the following:

(1) Demonstration of the system's ability to export all state specified data in the format required under this article.

(2) Validation that the system incorporates all general system requirements.

(3) Demonstration of the system's user-defined reporting capability.

(4) Generation of required reports.

(5) Demonstration of the system's ability to perform the following scenarios:

(A) A complete walkthrough of:

(i) a real property parcel; and

(ii) a personal property record;

from recalculation of gross assessed value to settlement.

(B) Calculation of a sales ratio study and generation of its output in the format required under this article.

(C) Entering information indicating a real property parcel transferred ownership, handling of exemptions, deductions, and credits that were assigned to the transferred property, and update of associated tax billing information.

(D) Adjusting a real property parcel's assessed value resulting from the following:

(i) A correction of error and the subsequent recalculation of taxes from the change in value.

(ii) A successful appeal determination and the subsequent recalculation of taxes from the change in value.

(iii) An additional assessment and the subsequent recalculation of taxes from the change in value.

(E) Adjusting a personal property assessed value resulting from a correction of error and the subsequent recalculation of taxes from the change in value.

(F) Application of annual adjustment factors to properties.

(G) A property split resulting in inactivation of existing parcel records and creation of new parcel records in the property tax management system.

(H) A property combination.

(I) Separating gross assessed value of a parcel eligible for the standard deduction for homestead through calculation of the tax statement.

(J) Handling a real property parcel of which only a portion of the property can be abated.

(K) Accepting state assessed utility and railroad values.

  (b) For each property tax management system, vendors or data processing departments whose assessments or tax and billing systems are included in the property tax management system shall provide a list of the software versions currently installed in each county. For any software versions older than the version used in the system and integration demonstration, the vendor or data processing department shall also include a workplan for upgrading to the tested version for each county using an older version. For any software versions newer than the version used in the system and integration demonstration, the vendor or data processing department shall provide the release notes associated with the newer version so the department can verify that updates to the software have not impacted the tested functionality. If the department determines that updates in the newer version have impacted tested functionality, the department may require that the system and integration demonstration be conducted on the newer version of the software as well.

  (c) At least thirty (30) days before the test, each vendor shall submit for review any technical documentation specific to the system. This may include any system architecture schematics. All documentation that includes proprietary information or trade secrets must be so identified on its cover.

  (d) At least thirty (30) days before the test, each data processing department that has developed a unique assessment or tax and billing system shall submit for review all technical documentation. All documents that include proprietary information or trade secrets must be so identified on its cover.

  (e) The department or its designee shall observe the demonstration and document the tests and scenarios accomplished by the system. The department shall notify the vendors or data processing department of the results within thirty (30) days of the submission date, including the specific tests and scenarios achieved by the system and those that were not. The vendors or data processing department may do the following:

(1) Make the required correction or corrections.

(2) Schedule an additional testing date.

(3) Again perform system and integration demonstrations following the schedule in subsections (a) through (d).

  (f) The department or its designee shall record the results from testing under subsection (e) and publish them for vendor and county access. Published results shall include the following:

(1) Vendors involved in demonstration.

(2) Packages and package version used in demonstration.

(3) Reports successfully generated by the system or systems.

(4) Reports unsuccessfully generated by the system or systems.

(5) Scenarios successfully demonstrated by the system or systems.

(6) Scenarios unsuccessfully demonstrated by the system or systems.

(Department of Local Government Finance; 50 IAC 26-18-3; filed Jan 28, 2011, 3:07 p.m.: 20110223-IR-050100165FRA; errata filed Sep 17, 2012, 3:42 p.m.: 20121003-IR-050120546ACA)