RPVCCA_CC_SR_2015_01_20_F_Replace_Financial_Acct_SysCITY OF
RANCHO PALOS VERDES
MEMORANDUM
TO: HONORABLE MAYOR AND MEMBERS OFT E CITY COUNCIL
FROM: DENNIS McLEAN, DIRECTOR OF FINANCE
DATE: JANUARY 20, 2015
SUBJECT: REPLACEMENT OF FINANCIAL ACCOUNTING SYSTEM
REVIEWED: CAROLYNN PETRO, ACTING CITY MANAGE
Staff Coordinators: Kathryn Downs, Deputy Director of Finance
Dan Landon, Information Technology Manager
RECOMMENDATION
1) Approve the replacement of the City's financial accounting system with a software as
a service solution to be provided by Tyler Technologies, Inc. (Tyler) at a cost not to
exceed $75,000 annually for licensing and $182,600 for implementation;
2) Direct Staff to secure pricing for an optional Phase 2 to replace the City's permitting
and business license system to be provided by Tyler at a cost not to exceed $26,000
annually and $50,000 for implementation; and
3) Direct Staff to complete negotiations with Tyler, and return to City Council with a
proposed agreement for consideration and approval.
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Certain core service software systems within the City (e.g. financials and permitting):
• Are beyond their useful life or functioning on legacy hardware;
• Are not compatible for integration with each other, or other systems;
• Are near the end of support from vendors; and
• Do not have a desired level of functionality, such as advanced reporting tools and
online payment processing to satisfy current City Council goals.
If the Tyler "Munis" system is implemented for both financials and permitting, Staff
believes the system will significantly improve efficiency within and between departments
by using a shared data set, helping to eliminate redundant input (e.g. customer files),
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centralized security profiles, and make information accessible across departments
improving efficiency and system controls.
In 2008, Management Partners included a recommendation to replace the financials
system in its Organizational Assessment. In 2013, Matrix conducted an update to the
organization review and also recommended the implementation of online purchasing,
electronic vendor payments, improved user reporting and better analytics.
In consideration of the City's limited resources and experience in the selection of
Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) systems, the City contracted with the Government
Finance Officers' Association (GFOA) to prepare the Request for Proposal (RFP), assist
with evaluation of proposals, and negotiate an agreement between the proposed vendor
and the City. GFOA is a non-profit organization with a stated purpose to enhance and
promote the professional management of governments for the public benefit by identifying
and developing financial policies and best practices. GFOA staff has the necessary
expertise and years of experience in providing software selection and contract negotiation
services to other government organizations.
The recommendation that resulted from the GFOA sponsored RFP is to contract with
Tyler Technologies Inc. to provide the City with software as a service ("SaaS") for the
City's financial system, including general ledger, annual financial reporting, purchasing,
accounts payable and electronic banking processing (Phase I of the project). Staff
recommends moving forward with finalizing negotiations of the SaaS agreement,
including the statement of work ("SOW") and other related documents leading to
implementation of the Munis system. Staff proposes to continue to evaluate and assess
the functionality of the Munis permitting and land management system (Phase 2 of the
project) while implementing the financial solution. The proposed agreement would secure
pricing for the optional Phase 2.
The GFOA consultant and Staff have conducted negotiations with Tyler Technologies
regarding the agreement, especially the SOW that will serve as a roadmap during
implementation, testing, go -live and support for the SaaS financial system. The 2014
Five -Year Information Technology Plan, approved by the City Council on August 19,
2014, included approximately $1.3 million over five years to implement and license
financial, permitting, and work order enterprise systems. The negotiated pricing for Tyler
financials and permitting fits within the Five -Year IT Plan.
BACKGROUND
The City's Sungard HTE financial software system (Naviline) was originally implemented
in 1999, and underwent an upgrade in 2004. Naviline is used for accounting functions
and business licensing within the Finance department, as well as for purchasing and to
maintain budgetary compliance by all departments in the City. Naviline is a low-cost
solution with limited functionality residing on a legacy AS400 server at the end of its
development cycle.
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The City's Accela Tidemark permitting software system (Tidemark) was originally
implemented in 2000, and the server software was upgraded in 2007. Tidemark is used
for Community Development permitting functions in both Planning and Building & Safety.
Tidemark is nearing the end of its support from Accela.
DISCUSSION
With the help of GFOA, the City conducted an RFP process that began in August 2011.
An internal Evaluation Team was formed with employees from each department. The
selection process included the following steps:
1) Identification of the City's requirements for each department;
2) Preparation of a comprehensive functionality based RFP;
3) Evaluation of the proposals received;
4) Vendor software demonstrations for all City Staff;
5) Issuance of Requests for Clarification (RFC's);
6) Further evaluation in consideration of the demonstrations; and
7) Development of recommendations.
During the evaluation process, the Evaluation Team determined that a "hosted by vendor"
or SaaS system, (more common referred to as a cloud system) was preferential to a self -
hosted system for a variety of reasons including reduced maintenance and hardware
costs.
Summary of Proposals
The RFP was written with a preference for full -scope Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)
systems, but did not exclude single -purpose systems from submitting a proposal. The
RFP included three scope options: 1) core financial system; 2) permitting and land
management; and 3) work order management. The proposals received are summarized
below.
Scope of Proposals
The City's GFOA consultant compared the functionality of each system to the
specifications in the RFP and developed the following functionality ratios for the scope
proposed by each vendor (e.g. CRW had 100% functionality for the permitting/land
management scope proposed, but CRW did not propose financial or work order
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Vendor
Vendor
Software Proposed
Scope Option
Hosting?
CRW
TRAKiT
permitting/land mgt only
No
Eclipse Consulting Inc.
Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012
core financials only
No
EnerGov Solutions
EnerGov.NET
permitting/land mgt only
No
MS Govern
Innoprise Software
full scope
No
SunGard
ONESolution
full scope
Yes
Tyler Technologies Inc.
Munis Solution
full scope
Yes
The City's GFOA consultant compared the functionality of each system to the
specifications in the RFP and developed the following functionality ratios for the scope
proposed by each vendor (e.g. CRW had 100% functionality for the permitting/land
management scope proposed, but CRW did not propose financial or work order
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management solutions).
Software Functionality for Scope of Services Proposed
Standard
Functionality
Vendor
Functionality
Customization
not in Scope
CRW
100%
0%
0%
Eclipse Consulting Inc.
65%
11%
24%
EnerGov Solutions
96%
4%
1%
MS Govern
67%
17%
15%
SunGard
92%
2%
7%
Tyler Technologies Inc.
96%
1 %
3%
Of the original cost proposals, Tyler was the lowest cost solution, and more closely met
the City's functionality requirements. Original cost proposals were subject to refinement
with clarification of the scope and assumptions, as well as negotiation of prices.
Three vendors were invited to demonstrate software to City Staff: CRW, SunGard, and
Tyler Technologies Inc.
General Staff Observations
CRW — although this software is limited to permitting and land management, Staff was
very impressed with the functionality of the system; but felt that the cost was too high for
the limited scope.
SunGard — although the software appeared to satisfy the City's functional needs, Staff
agreed that the interface was clunky and antiquated.
Tyler Technologies Inc. — most Staff agreed that the interface was intuitive, and that the
system satisfied functional needs. However, Community Development Staff did not
initially favor the permitting and land management modules; and preferred either CRW or
retention of the current Tidemark software. As Tidemark was subsequently acquired by
Accela and is expected to be retired soon in favor of an alternative Accela system,
retention of Tidemark is not a long-term option. The alternative Accela system has a
known high cost of implementation and support. Based upon additional demonstrations
provided by Tyler during the last two years, Community Development Staff has approved
moving forward with inclusion of permitting and licensing in the Tyler agreement as an
optional Phase 2. Tyler has agreed to lock -in the SaaS rates for the permitting and land
management modules.
Other Evaluation Team Recommendations for Enterprise and Business Svstems
Recreation and Parks Facility Reservation System
Based on evaluation of the proposals and software demonstrations, there was a
consensus among all Staff that the systems proposed did not have the functionality
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required for facility rentals and gift shop operations and a more specialized system was
recommended.
After it became clear that no integrated system serving the government sector would
satisfy the Recreation functional requirements, a second RFP was issued for a separate
Recreation software system. The Evaluation Team and the City's GFOA consultant
evaluated proposals, and recommended two vendors to provide software demonstrations
to Recreation Staff. The clear choice of Staff was "Active Network" based on functionality,
ease of use, technology compatibility and cost. The software services were purchased
with annual service fees of less than $25,000 (based on the City's activity levels) using
the City Manager's purchasing authority. Both the public and Staff access the new
Recreation system via the Internet.
Public Works Asset Management and Work Order System
Public Works and IT Staff have conducted preliminary conversations with Cityworks for
Public Work's project management needs. Public Works staff expects to integrate the
acquisition of its project management software into and a part of the Infrastructure
Management Plan, and CityWorks is a GIS centric system that can leverage the special
mapping and decision support capabilities of our current GIS system. With preliminary
cost estimates, it appears that the cost of implementing and maintaining Cityworks will fit
within the Five -Year IT Plan.
Modification of the SaaS Proposal with Tyler
Staff and the GFOA consultant have spent considerable time negotiating modules and
rates, reducing the overall annual system fees, but the scope of project implementation
has increased due to two vacant positions in the Finance department. When the RFP
was developed and proposals received, it was planned that both the Senior Accountant
and Deputy Director would dedicate nearly one (1) FTE combined to assist in system
implementation tasks. The Senior Accountant position is currently vacant and the
Finance Director position will become vacant at the end of this month. Regardless of the
timing of filling vacancies, it has been agreed that additional implementation project
management support and historical data transfer will be necessary. The not to exceed
costs outlined above, include estimates for Tyler to provide the additional implementation
support.
FISCAL IMPACT
As noted above, the Five -Year IT Plan includes funding estimates that are sufficient for
implementation and maintenance of Tyler Munis for both financials and permitting, as well
as implementation and support for Cityworks. Therefore, no current -year budget
adjustment or modification to the Five -Year IT Plan is requested.
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