One of the Finance Department's FY 2021 non-routine goals and objectives is the implementation of a new integrated Financial and Human Resource Software System, called CitySuite. Since 2005, the City has utilized a Financial Management Solution (FMS) and Human Resource Management Solution (HRMS) called Government e-Management Solutions, Inc. (GEMS).
Harris is the GEMS parent company and offers a program called "Software for Life" to all customers. "Software for Life" allows current customers to migrate over to a new generation of software within the Harris family of software solutions with minimal licensing costs should it be determined to be more suitable for the customer. Remaining with Harris will provide considerable time and monetary savings over transitioning to a completely new platform; therefore, it is staff's opinion that competitive bidding would be entirely impracticable for such a software system.
Technical and operational inefficiencies associated with the City's 15-year old system and the fact Harris will no longer be providing updates to the GEMS system warrant the need for a more up-to-date system. These operational limitations include:
- Lack of integration with desktop applications;
- Lack of online electronic approval and workflow;
- Limited ability to create flexible ad-hoc reports for management and user purposes;
- Limited ability to query databases and have access to online/real-time data;
- Inefficient and time consuming user setup;
- Third party check printing;
- Lack of payroll detail for ease of reconciliation; and
- Lack of employer benefits detail on payroll advices.
The limitations outlined above have led to a proliferation of independent databases (Excel, Access, Word, Spreadsheet Server, etc.) throughout the organization.
The new proposed system will address these deficiencies by offering many advanced features including:
- Ease of export of data to Excel;
- Additional workflows such as electronic purchase order and electronic invoice approval;
- Greater reporting and information analysis capabilities;
- Tracking the receipt of merchandise functionality;
- Inventory controls;
- Ease of user setup;
- No third party check printing requiring constant updates; and
- Cloud hosting and web browser used to access all applications which eliminates costly server hardware.
The software system is funded as part of the City's FY 2021 Capital Projects Fund budget. The total budgeted amount for the project is $450,000, including computer software and associated hardware components.
Work on this project began in FY 2020, with the Finance Department working closely with the Technology and Human Resources Departments to perform a needs assessment, identify alternatives, and perform market research. The needs assessment was necessary because Harris notified the City that GEMS would no longer be enhanced. Harris would continue to support the software, but no improvements were to be made.
In recent years the selection committee had in-house demonstrations on two software platforms, Innoprise/CitySuite and Munis. The selection committee, consisting of Jay Evans, Dan Harrison, Mike Worsham, Julie Wilson, David Lincicome, and Karen Harper, determined CitySuite the most cost effective solution offering a new generation of software that reduces the learning curve with an intuitive interface, increased productivity with workflow integration and familiar support staff. Staff spoke to several cities who migrated from GEMS to CitySuite asking very specific questions on the ease of use of the software and the conversion process from GEMS to CitySuite. The remarks were very positive.
The cost of migration to CitySuite is as follows:
License Costs $ 8,500
Financials and Central Cash Receipts $ 99,400
Human Resources and Payroll $ 82,200
Estimated Travel Costs $ 18,738
$ 208,838*
| Maintenance Costs |
Financials & CCR |
HR & Payroll |
Total |
| Year 1 |
$36,640 |
$33,821 |
$70,461 |
| Year 2 |
$38,472 |
$35,512 |
$73,984 |
| Year 3 |
$40,395 |
$37,288 |
$77,683 |
| Year 4 |
$42,415 |
$39,152 |
$81,567 |
| Year 5 |
$44,536 |
$41,110 |
$85,646 |
*Includes training, two year conversion, and estimated travel costs.
Please note that the software system expense of $279,299 which includes license costs, the first year maintenance cost, two year conversion cost and estimated travel is only part of the $450,000 budgeted for the project. Initially, the Water Services Utility Billing software (with a cost of approximately $150,000) was to be included in this purchase, but due to the complexity of the utility billing software, it has been postponed until FY 2022, and the funds will be reserved. The remaining budget not allocated for Utility Billing will be used for equipment hardware costs, additional conversion costs outside of the scope of this agreement, and contingency funds if needed for additional training and consulting services. |
The staff is requesting approval of the Statement of Work and Master Software License, Services, and Support Agreement with CitySuite, a product of Harris ERP, at the July 27th City Commission meeting. If approved, the implementation kick-off meeting will be scheduled for the first part of August 2020 with the first major module, Financials and Central Cash Receipts, followed by Human Resources and Payroll to start in October 2020. Please note that the staff believes it will take 12-18 months to fully implement the conversions and all software modules.
If you have any questions or need additional information, please contact Karen Harper or Jay Evans.
|