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Consent 5.
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| Brentwood City Commission Agenda |
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| Information |
| Subject |
| Resolution 2023-43 - Authorization to Approve a multi-year software agreement with IGM Technology Corp for Gravity Software |
| Background |
The City's current budget, capital budget, and financial statement preparation process is all primarily MS Excel based. Each of these processes includes dozens of linked spreadsheets, increasingly complex macros and programming language understood by only one or two staff members, and the potential for one user to make a change in a single spreadsheet that crashes the whole process.
Previously, the City Commission authorized a multi-year software support agreement with Insight Software for two Microsoft Excel add-ins, Budget Accelerator, and Spreadsheet Server to enable importation of data from the City’s Enterprise Resource Management (ERP) software into Excel spreadsheets. Budget Accelerator ceased working for the City last spring, and Insight could not provide any resolution. Effective 12/31/22, Insight formally discontinued supporting Budget Accelerator. While these add-ins had previously helped to partially automate certain budgeting and financial reporting functions, City staff is now limited with what can be accomplished with Spreadsheet Server alone, and there continues to be a need for greater automation, resiliency, and accuracy. As the City continues to grow and governmental accounting standards and the Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA) requirements become more voluminous and complex, the process is becoming increasingly unmanageable requiring an inordinate amount of staff time. Additional automation will also help minimize redundant data entry, copying and pasting, excessive reliance on one or two key personnel and help to ensure data integrity. It’s advantageous to the City that certain processes be automated through a software system so that multiple staff can perform certain duties. This aligns with the City’s succession planning goals.
To that end, staff began researching budget and financial reporting software packages in anticipation of their FY 2024 non-routine work plan. While researching various software options, staff became aware of the Gravity software platform offered by IGM Technology Corp (IGM). Gravity software offers modules for budget planning and budget book preparation, including a CIP budget process and CIP budget book, Annual Comprehensive Financial Report (ACFR), and component unit reporting.
Staff evaluated a number of software platforms and participated in several software demonstrations, but only Gravity offered an integrated comprehensive solution for the Operating Budget, CIP Budget, ACFR, and ECD annual financial report. The Budget modules will allow departments to enter operating and capital budget requests directly into the software. Use of the software will provide improved accuracy and efficiency and allow staff to prepare and publish professional documents with a quality that exceeds that of the City’s current reports. Other platforms provide similar functionality, but no others produce a hyperlinked .pdf budget document similar to what the City currently creates using multiple software systems.
If desired, the software can also provide multiple versions of a budget: proposed, final adopted, and a separate budget document version used to apply for the GFOA Distinguished Budget Award. The ACFR module will allow Finance staff to prepare and update drafts of the City’s annual financial statements in conjunction with the annual audit minimizing delays associated with communicating back and forth when either the audit team or City staff are unavailable. This same benefit can be realized with the Component Unit module by allowing staff to prepare and update drafts of the ECD’s annual financial statements. ECD will bear the cost of implementing the additional module and the annual fees for that module.
Staff conducted reference checks by communicating with four Gravity government clients and reviewed additional governments' documents created using Gravity software. Staff is satisfied with the references and the published documents reviewed.
IGM currently participates in the OMNIA Partners Public Sector Cooperative Purchasing Program for the Gravity software through a partnership with Insight Public Sector. However, the initial quote received from IGM was about $5,000 less than the one offered by Insight through OMNIA. In order to realize this cost savings, the City Manager is requesting a waiver of competitive selection for this purchase so that the City can purchase directly from IGM.
See the attached proposal from IGM. |
| Staff Recommendation |
| Staff recommends approval of the attached resolution authorizing a multi-year software support agreement with IGM Technology Corp. |
| Previous Commission Action |
| 1/25/21 City Commission approved a multi-year software support agreement with Insight Software via Resolution 2021-07.
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| Fiscal Impact |
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| Fiscal Impact: |
The total cost for the first-year is $75,500, comprised of two components:
- One-time implementation fees for all modules of $38,000 to be paid for from the Capital Projects Fund. A 2023 FYE transfer will reimburse the Capital Projects Fund this amount.
- Year 1 annual software subscription fees of $37,500 (30 named users across all modules and technical support) to be paid for from the General Fund operating budget and ECD ($32,935 and $4,565, respectively). A 2023 FYE budget amendement will be proposed as necessary to cover any operating overages in those accounts.
The renewal cost for subsequent years reflects a 5% annual increase as follows:
Year 2 = $39,375 (General Fund and ECD Fund)
Year 3 = $41,344 (General Fund and ECD Fund)
Future annual costs will be included in the appropriate proposed fiscal year's budget. |
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