MMSVP Migration Wizard

Questions? From within BS&A, go to Help>Contact Customer Support and select Request Support Phone Call or Email Support. Or, you may call us at (855) 272-7638 and

ask for the appropriate support team. Questions for our I.T. team may be submitted by phone (same number), or by emailing itsupport@bsasoftware.com.

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What is MMSVP?

MMSVP is an acronym for Michigan Marshall & Swift Valuation Platform. Formerly called MVP, this is a software program created

and maintained by Core Logic’s subsidiary company, Marshall & Swift. Marshall & Swift is the leading provider of building cost

data throughout the USA.

MMSVP is designed to be integrated into CAMA (Computer Automated Mass Appraisal) systems like BS&A’s Equalizer Assessing

System.

What does MMSVP do? MMSVP is a software tool that is in charge of calculating the value of a building. BS&A’s Assessing application collects and stores

the various building characteristics for residential, agricultural, and commercial properties. Assessing then passes the building

characteristics on to the MMSVP software tool so it can calculate the value of the building. In most cases, BS&A is no longer in

charge of the calculation process.

How is this different from previous cost manual upgrades?

In the past, BS&A was completely in charge of calculating the values for all buildings. We typed/scanned in the rates from the

residential, agricultural, and commercial cost manuals. We then used those rates to calculate each of the building values using

our software.

With the latest cost manual and the use of MMSVP, we now collect each of the building characteristics and provide those

characteristics to the MMSVP software tool. It then provides the value of each of the buildings back to BS&A, and we display the

information through our interface and various reports.

Why did you make this change?

The State Tax Commission has mandated that all assessing software vendors in the state of Michigan use the MMSVP software

tool when integrating with the latest 2014 cost manual developed by Marshall & Swift. The 2014 cost manual and the MMSVP

tool are required for all assessors for the 2019 assessment year (as well as future years).

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IMPORTANT

The Web Service required to implement MMSVP will be installed by BS&A I.T. staff, but only after you have registered online with

us. A link to complete this registration is provided in the Message Center…

…or you may visit https://www.bsasoftware.com/mmsvpregistration/.

Following registration, a member of BS&A’s I.T. team will contact you to begin.

THE MIGRATION WIZARD CANNOT BE RUN UNTIL THE MMSVP WEB SERVICE HAS BEEN INSTALLED

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Before Beginning

o This process can only be performed by an Assessing user with Admin rights.

o Please make sure you are in your 2019 database. The Migration Wizard is only available in 2019 databases and beyond.

o If you are a county or township with multiple 2019 databases, this process needs to be run in all of them.

o It is highly recommended that you have a good, recent backup of your 2019 database prior to running the wizard.

Warning Messages

Following installation of the Web Service by BS&A’s I.T. staff, the first time you open your 2019 database, you will see this

warning:

A user with Admin rights will need to go into Program Setup and toggle the use of MMSVP (instructions follow). Until that is done,

you will continue to receive this warning.

Following activation in Program Setup, you are encouraged to run the utility as soon as possible (instructions follow). Until that

utility has been run (again, requires Admin rights), you will see THIS warning:

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Instructions

1. Go to Program Setup>Program Settings>MMSVP Valuation Settings. The URLs will have auto filled following the Web

Service install by BS&A’s I.T. staff. Your only input here is to check the Use MMSVP Valuation Platform box.

You will receive the warning about the migration not having been performed. Click Ok to clear it.

Click Close. A test is run:

Click Ok to clear the success prompt and continue with the instructions.

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2. Go to Utilities>MMSVP Migration Wizard. The wizard appears. Click Next.

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3. Be sure to select the correct County in order to apply the correct cost factors.

Above is a picture of a single-unit database. Below are examples of multi-unit databases.

On the left is an example of a county; each “County” will need to be selected in order to apply the correct cost factors. If

all units are in the same county, click the Set County For All Units command link. On the right is an example of a

township with a village. Note that you do not need to select the county for the village unit (the Set County For All Units

command link here is irrelevant).

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4. Click Next. The wizard recalculates every building.

5. You are prompted to print a report. This report will identify each parcel that was affected by the utility. Some parcels

may require attention (an example is given in these instructions). Save or print this report for reference.

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You may notice a notification of calculation errors in your Windows Taskbar. It is just a notice; it has no functionality.

6. The migration process adds a caution button to your Status Bar, with a count of the calculation errors. You are required

to visit the parcels and make the changes. As changes are made/calculation issues resolved, the list is reduced.

You can sort the Parcel Calculation Errors screen by either Parcel or Building Type by double-clicking the column

heading.

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7. Double-click a parcel to go to its Edit Parcel screen; you will first see its error.* In this example, we need to fix a

Commercial Basement area. Click Ok.**

*A list of possible errors is provided at the end of this document.

**The Parcel Calculation Errors screen remains open as a convenience; you are not required to repeatedly click the hazard sign

in your Status Bar.

8. Go to the area specified in the Error prompt.* In this example, a Commercial Building has no basement rates selected

for its occupancy type. We’ve clicked the Commercial/Industrial button, then the Calculator Cost Total button. We need

to select the appropriate basement type that has a rate for that occupancy. This is done in the Type dropdown.

*If for some reason you need to leave the building before you’ve been able to correct the calculation error, the program will

warn you that you still need make the correction, but you are given the option to leave the building.

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9. We’ve selected the proper basement type and clicked Close. We’ve closed out of the Commercial building screen. The

program recalculates the building.

10. Page up or down to leave the parcel. This refreshes the Parcel Calculation Errors list (if it doesn’t appear to be

refreshing, you may click the Refresh button). Notice that earlier in our example, there were 42 errors on 17 parcels.

There are now 41 errors on 16 parcels. Also note that a record is found for each building on a parcel.

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A word about the Calculate All button: This is optional. You may click this button to spin through the affected parcels

and get a detailed report of what each parcel’s calculation error is. This version shows more detail than the report

illustrated in step 5.

See the next page for a list of common calculation errors.

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Common Calculation Errors

Common Calculation errors that need to be addressed after the MMSVP Migration has been run:

Error Detail

Commercial Building – No basement Type

Selected

A basement area was entered for the commercial building but no Basement

Type was entered

Commercial Building – No basement rates for

selected type

The basement type that was selected for the commercial building does not

have a rate in the 2014 STC Cost Manual

Commercial Building – Basement height

over/under the maximum/minimum allowed

Each Occupancy type has a maximum/minimum basement height allowed

per STC guidelines

Commercial Building – Story Height outside

of allowed range

Depending on the occupancy type selected the MMSVP Tool has a limit to the

allowed Story Height

Commercial Building – Heat type ‘Heaters,

Vented’ and ‘Heaters, Gravity Furnace’ has

been removed and is no longer a valid option

In the 2003 STC Cost manual this heat type was an option. In the 2014 STC

Cost Manual this is no longer a valid option. User must select a new option

OR setup something within the Local or UIP cost sections

Commercial Building – User-Defined rates

are no longer used for valuation

The MMSVP Calculation engine does not allow User Defined rates to be used.

For parcels that return this error, the user will have to select a different

Occupancy type for that building OR will have to use the UIP or Local Cost

Items section to value that building.

Residential Building – No Rates for Log

Homes, 1+/1.25/1.75/Bi-Level and Tri-Level

Story Heights

Per the STC Cost Manual Log Homes only have rates for 1 Story- 1 ½ Story

and 2 – 2 ½ - 3 – 3 ½ Story

Residential Building – No rates for Town

Home/Duplex, 1+ - 1 ¼ - 1 ¾ - Story Heights

Per the STC Cost Manual Townhome and Duplex only have rates for Story

Heights of 1 – 1 ½ - 2 - 2 ½ - 3 – 3 1/2 – Bi Level and Tri-Level Story heights

Residential Building – No Rates for Log

Home, Class A/D

Per the STC Cost Manual Log Homes only have rates for classes B/BC/C and

CD

Residential Building – Brick/Stone Veneer

over the maximum of 10,000

The MMSVP tool has a strict limit within the Residential Building section of

Exterior for both Brick and Stone Veneer of 1 to 10,000 sq. ft.

Residential Building – Story Height outside of

allowed range

The MMSVP tool has a strict range.

Residential Building – Abnormal/Physical-

Functional-Ext. Obs. % Good set to 100%

The MMSVP tool treats depreciation as depreciation only and not

appreciation so any of these Depreciation types % good cannot exceed 100%.

During the migration process any of these depreciation % that exceeded

100% got set to 100% automatically

Residential Building – For Town Homes or

Duplexes Total floor area under the allowed

minimum of 300 sq. ft.

The MMSVP Tool has a minimum sq. ft. allowed for Residential buildings of

300 sq. ft.

Residential Building - – Total floor is over the

allowed maximum of 20,000 sq. ft.

The MMSVP Tool has a maximum sq. ft. allowed for Residential buildings of

20,000 sq. ft.

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Residential Building – Building Area cannot

be less than 0

The MMSVP Tool doesn’t allow a sq. ft. to be less than 0

Residential Building – Mobile Homes are not

able to calculate a Redwood/Cedar Deck

The MMSVP Calculation engine does not allow Redwood/Cedar decks to be

calculated on Mobile Homes. For parcels that return this error, the user will

have to select a different deck type or to use the Local Cost/Unit in Place or

Lump Sum section to value that deck.

Ag Building – Building width/length/height

under the minimum/maximum allowed

The MMSVP tool has a strict range for each Ag building type for an allowable

width/length and height. There are some width/length/height and

diameter/height combination for which rates are no longer available.

Ag Building – User-Defined rates are no

longer used for valuation

The MMSVP Calculation engine does not allow User Defined rates to be used.

For parcels that return this error, the user will have to select a different

building type for that building OR will have to use the UIP or Local Cost Items

section to value that building

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Additional notes of importance

Due to changes in the manual and the way MMSVP calculates certain areas, it was necessary for us to establish guidelines when

migrating data that was no longer viable in the new manual. Although these cases will not create errors through the migration

process, we felt it important to notify our users of how we handled each case.

o The MMSVP currently has rates for ½ Story, ¾ Story and 1 Story Overhangs. All Overhang Story Heights above 1 Story

will calculate using the 1 Story rate. It is our recommendation to set this field to the actual Story Height in order to

maintain consistency with Apex sketches and other printouts.

o The MMSVP does not currently calculate Siding/Brick Exteriors on Overhangs. All Overhang Exteriors set to Siding/Brick

will calculate using the Siding rate. It is our recommendation to set this field to the actual Exterior type in order to

maintain consistency with Apex sketches and other printouts.

o The MMSVP does not currently calculate Siding/Brick Exteriors on Garages. All Garage Exteriors set to Siding/Brick will

calculate using the Siding rate. It is our recommendation to set this field to the actual Exterior type in order to maintain

consistency with Apex sketches and other printouts.

Changes in the behavior of the program

For the end user, there will be little that changes in the look and feel of the program itself. The exception to this is the addition of

a Calculate button.

The Calculate button will appear on all building and land improvement screens, and will only be available when attributes on

those screens change. The user will now click the Calculate button to return the value of all building characteristics that have

been entered. The calculation of that building may also be invoked by using the keyboard shortcut ALT-C or by simply exiting

that window.

Why have we implemented this Calculate button? In most cases, we are no longer calculating building values ourselves. We are

instead storing those building attributes in our software, and passing them to the MMSVP tool for calculation. Because this

method is somewhat slower than when we calculated values internally, it became apparent that calculating each building

characteristic as it was entered would be too slow for day-to-day use.

The Calculate button allows the user to calculate at any point during the data entry process or to simply wait until they are

finished.

What about our historical databases?

The 2003 Cost Manual is still being stored in our program. This means that your 2018 database and all years prior will not be

affected by the migration to the 2014 Cost Manual. This also means that you will still be able to price out buildings using the 2003

rates in the event of omitted property (211.154) or similar scenarios.