Software Company helps make public record keeping easier
Shreveport Times article of Saturday, March 3, 2001

By Michelle Pinkard
The Times

A local company has developed new software to help state and local agencies meet government requirements and make property record keeping easier.

Software & Services, incorporated in 1980, already counts among its clients more than 200 assessors, clerks of court, parish and municipal governments, district attorneys, school boards and sheriffs, mostly in Louisiana.

Their latest products - Assessor Information System and AssetTech - should expand the company's reach nationwide.

The two programs are out of pilot phase and will be available this year. "To file the level of legal documents that our agencies use, you have to have a high level of integrity and accuracy," said Greg Teeters, chief executive office of Software& Services. "And, basically, these systems will be a dream come true. For year these agencies have been wishing for a product that would help them meet the latest technology and business requirements."

Assessor Information System makes it easier to manage information about property ownership and parcel value, for the generation of tax roll and other documents.

The upgraded software is Windows-compatible and written in the latest versions of Visual Basic.

It incorporates imaging to provide photos of the property, area maps, deeds, manuals, and other related documents to property along with assessor information.

"It was a change that took some getting used to, but we love it," said Choppy Smith, chief deputy assessor for the Acadia Parish assessor's office. He said one of the big perks about the new system is that citizens with more that one piece of property within a parish can get one comprehensive tax bill upon request. Also people who share ownership of a property can be billed separately, he said.

The Acadia office has been on the system for about two months. "It is much better than the old system. In some cases our process time is cut in half," Smith said.

AssetTech is a property inventory management system created to help local and state agencies meet new federal requirements. The government rules, beginning this year, are centered on a new interpretation of accountability. Along with documenting new purchases, these agencies must also report the "depreciation expense" - cost of deterioration - of previously owned property. This helps local governments better manage expenses year to year, rather than record low expenses one year and high the next when old property is replaced.

Plans are under way to market both new product outside of Louisiana.