PORT OF SEATTLE 
MEMORANDUM 
COMMISSION AGENDA               Item No.      6a 
ACTION ITEM 
Date of Meeting      June 3, 2014 
DATE:    May 27, 2014 
TO:      Tay Yoshitani, Chief Executive Officer 
FROM:   Ralph Graves, Managing Director, Capital Development 
SUBJECT:  Expense Project Authorization Tracking (CIP #C800694) 
Amount of This Request:         $650,000   Source of Funds:       76.8% Airport
Development Fund 
Est. Total Project Cost:           $650,000 
17.9% General Fund 
5.3% General Fund
Real Estate 
ACTION REQUESTED 
Request Commission authorization for the Chief Executive Officer to (1) execute contract
documents for required vendor services; and (2) authorize Port staff to implement the Expense
Project Authorization Tracking project for a total project cost not to exceed $650,000. 
SYNOPSIS 
Funding authorizations are often comprised of both capital and expense components with a
variety of funding sources that may change over the course of a multi-year program. Tools are in
place through the Port's PeopleSoft Financials system to track capital projects and provide
commitment control for individual work projects but tracking and control over expense projects
as well as the total authorization are managed manually. With the increasing use of multiple
funding sources, this manual effort is inefficient, inconsistent, and has a high risk of error. 
This project will implement an enhancement to the PeopleSoft Financials system to expand
planning, tracking, and commitment control capabilities that will cover an entire authorization
with both capital and expense project components. An existing IDIQ for PeopleSoft resources
will be used to provide system expertise. Total project costs are estimated to be $650,000. 
BACKGROUND 
When large projects are submitted for Commission approval, they may include Capital,
Operating Expense, Governmental Expense, or Environmental Expense components depending
on regulatory, legal, and grantor requirements. This situation has grown as evolving accounting
standards have over time disallowed more categories of costs from capitalization. Prior to 2008,
Port authorization procedures under Resolution No. 3181 only counted project capital costs, but
Resolution No. 3605, as amended by Resolution No. 3628, requires that project authorizations
include all relevant costs, whether capital or expense. The Port has several effective tools within

Template revised May 30, 2013.

COMMISSION AGENDA 
Tay Yoshitani, Chief Executive Officer 
May 27, 2014 
Page 2 of 4 
the PeopleSoft Financials system to manage the Capital portion of these complex projects, but
lacks  correspondingly efficient tools to manage the overall authorization, as well as 
Governmental, Environmental and Operating Expense portions, collectively known as expense
projects. 
Currently, expense and capital projects are tracked using a variety of sources including the Port's
Project Delivery System (PDS) and PeopleSoft. The information is merged together in excel
spreadsheets to analyze overall performance and assess budget needs. This manual approach is
developed independently on an as-needed basis by staff and does not reflect a consistent
methodology across departments or divisions.  PDS is currently used only by project
management personnel within the Capital Development Division  (CDD). The project
authorization tracking functionality proposed in this request  will be particularly useful to
financial managers within the business divisions and Accounting and Financial Reporting (AFR)
to help ensure authorization accountability in a consistent, reliable and efficient manner. 
PROJECT JUSTIFICATION AND DETAILS 
There are three major limitations in the current manual process of managing total authorization
project activity: 
There is no tool available that facilitates the tracking of expense authorization components
similar to capital projects or provides a comprehensive view of the entire authorization. This
limits the availability of information that will allow financial and project managers and
leadership the ability to identify and proactively correct problems. 
There is no commitment control on spending for expense projects, which increases the risk of
overspending an authorization. With this project, commitment control would provide a hard
stop for spending at the authorization level, the CIP project level, and the work project level,
regardless of funding source. 
There are limited options for reporting on expense project spending as a component of a total
authorization. The manual merging of information from disparate sources is inefficient and
produces less reliable results. 
Project Objectives: 
Provide Port Staff the tools to plan, track and control all projects within an
authorization 
Gain efficiencies and reduce risk by eliminating manual consolidation of project cost 
information from disparate sources 
Provide more accurate and timely total project information to Port Leadership for
budget development and spending decisions

COMMISSION AGENDA 
Tay Yoshitani, Chief Executive Officer 
May 27, 2014 
Page 3 of 4 
Scope of Work: 
Enhance the capital tracking and control capabilities within the PeopleSoft Financials
system to cover expense projects 
Schedule 
Commission Approval                                    June 2014 
Procurement Complete                                   August 2014 
Implementation Complete                                    July 2015 

FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS 
Budget/Authorization Summary              Capital     Expense   Total Project 
Original Budget                       $650,000          $0     $650,000 
Previous Authorizations                       $0          $0          $0 
Current request for authorization              $650,000          $0      $650,000 
Total Authorizations, including this request      $650,000          $0      $650,000 
Remaining budget to be authorized               $0          $0          $0 
Total Estimated Project Cost               $650,000          $0     $650,000 
Project Cost Breakdown                     This Request       Total Project 
Vendor Services                             $490,000          $490,000 
Port Labor                                  $98,400           $98,400 
Contingency (~10%)                         $61,600          $61,600 
State & Local Taxes (estimated)                        $0               $0 
Total                                       $650,000           $650,000 
Budget Status and Source of Funds 
Upon Commission Authorization, $300,000 will be transferred from CIP C800392, PeopleSoft
Financials  Upgrade,  and  $350,000  will  be  transferred  from  CIP  C800097,  IT
Renewal/Replacement, to CIP C800694, Expense Tracking Authorization, for a total project cost
of $650,000. Both sourcing projects are in the 2014 and 2015 capital budget and plan of finance.
The source of funds is 76.8% Airport Development Fund, 17.9% General Fund, and 5.3%
General Fund Real Estate.

COMMISSION AGENDA 
Tay Yoshitani, Chief Executive Officer 
May 27, 2014 
Page 4 of 4 
Financial Analysis and Summary 
CIP Category             Renewal/Enhancement 
Project Type              Technology 
Risk adjusted discount rate     N/A 
Key risk factors             N/A 
Project cost for analysis        $650,000 
Business Unit (BU)          Capital Development Division Project Management
Groups 
Effect on business performance  N/A 
IRR/NPV             N/A 
CPE Impact             $.01 in 2016; no change from business plan forecast as
this project is funded from CIPs included in the plan. 
Lifecycle Cost and Savings 
Recurring costs to maintain the system are not expected to change as a result of this project. 
STRATEGIES AND OBJECTIVES 
This project supports the Century Agenda strategy to advance this region as a leading tourism
destination and business gateway. This project ensures the availability of tools to efficiently
manage projects across all Port Divisions. 
ALTERNATIVES AND IMPLICATIONS CONSIDERED 
Alternative 1): Implement the requirements in the Port's Project Delivery System (PDS). PDS 
does not have the commitment control capabilities required to monitor at the authorization level
and does not provide the advanced reporting features currently available within PeopleSoft. This
is not the recommended alternative. 
Alternative 2): Continue to use the current manual procedures. The increasing use of multiple
funding sources adds complexity to project planning, tracking, and control not conducive to
manual processes. This is not the recommended alternative. 
Alternative 3): Implement the PeopleSoft Financials enhancement. The enhancement will
provide Port Staff the tools to efficiently and consistently plan, track, and control all project
components of an authorization. This is the recommended alternative. 
ATTACHMENTS TO THIS REQUEST 
None. 
PREVIOUS COMMISSION ACTIONS OR BRIEFINGS 
None.