MUNICIPALITY OF THAMES CENTRE TREASURY FINANCE. Mary Ellen Weatherhead, Director of Financial Services/ Treasurer

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1 MUNICIPALITY OF THAMES CENTRE TREASURY FINANCE REPORT NO. F TO: Mayor and Members of Council FROM: Mary Ellen Weatherhead, Director of Financial Services/ Treasurer DATE: November 11, 2013 SUBJECT: Asset Management Software RECOMMENDATION: It is recommended that: 1. Council approves acquisition of Public Sector Digest CityWide Tangible Assets ( TA) and CityWide Capital Planning & Analysis (CPA) software at a total cost of$ 35,750 (plus HST) as part of the corporate strategy in achieving financial sustainability. PURPOSE: The purpose of this report is to obtain Council approval to acquire CityWide Tangible Asset (TA) and CityWide Capital Planning and Analysis ( CPA) software solutions, electronic web based databases intended to replace existing excel spreadsheets, which were always intended to be temporary electronic tools to meet new financial reporting measures introduced under PSAB3150 in BACKGROUND: In 2008 the Municipality of Thames Centre, similar to all municipalities across Ontario, was required, under financial reporting standards referred to as PSAB3150, to: Develop and adopt an Asset Policy, Identify, assess, cost and maintain an inventory of all municipal assets per this municipal policy. In compliance with Thames Centre Asset Policy, a very detailed listing of all assets was created in various excel spreadsheets. On an annual basis Watson & Associates was provided information regarding asset additions, betterments, and dispositions. Watson & Associates maintained these highly complex excel spreadsheets and provided the annual journal entry to be recorded in municipal financial records. Maintenance of excel spreadsheets was intended to ensure that Thames Centre met the new financial reporting requirements under PSAB3150. The annual fee for this service by Watson & Associates was approximately$ 10,000.

2 Report No. F Date: November 11, 2013 Page 2 In June 2011 the Ministry of Infrastructure issued the guide: Building Together Guide for Municipal Asset Management Plans. Asset Management Plans are intended to set out a strategic framework that will guide future investments in ways that support economic growth, are fiscally responsible, and respond to changing needs. To be eligible for future infrastructure funding, all municipalities within the province of Ontario must develop and maintain Asset Management Plans. Thames Centre embraced this mandate to develop an effective Asset Management Plan by: Adopting the Asset Management Plan Scoping Study Summary Report issued by BluePlan Engineering Consultants Limited in April 2013, Allocating a total of$ 75, 000 within the 2013 capital budget for Asset Management Planning, Issuing an RFP, in August 2013, for the development of an Asset Management Plan and awarding this tender to Public Sector Digest Inc. COMMENTS: Public Sector Digest has developed the following four software modules to assist municipalities in effectively and efficiently managing their municipal assets: CityWide Tangible Assets ( TA) CityWide Capital Planning& Analysis ( CPA) CityWide GIS CityWide Works CityWide Tangible Asset (TA) software is the tool utilized by Public Sector Digest to analyze municipal asset data in the development of the Asset Management Plan for Thames Centre. CityWide Capital Planning & Analysis ( CPA) is a financial modeling application for asset management and lifecycle costing. A brief description of each software module is provided on page 3 of the attached quote from The Public Sector Digest Inc. BluePlan Engineering Consultants Limited scoping study stated the following on page 7: As part of overall infrastructure planning and implementation of the Asset Management Plan, Thames Centre will require continued use of planning and modeling tools. The current practices of Thames Centre include use of Excel Spreadsheet based tools. This is effective and can be managed due to the size of the systems. However, it is recommended to undertake a software and tool evaluation and selection process to confirm the overall asset management process is managed effectively and leverages available tools.

3 Report No. F Date: November 11, 2013 Page 3 Discussions with Watson & Associates confirm that the use of excel spreadsheets was intended to be a temporary versus long term solution. I would suggest that the excel spreadsheets storing asset data have become too cumbersome to maintain going forward. Excel spreadsheets can implode in time. If this were to occur, Thames Centre would be at risk of losing critical asset data required to manage municipal assets and remain PSAB compliant. Thames Centre asset data has been reconfigured and uploaded to TA software to facilitate the development of the Asset Management Plan by Public Sector Digest. The municipality has been provided temporary access to the TA module, at no cost, to perform this function. Comparison of reporting from the TA module to excel spreadsheets has confirmed that material errors in financial reporting resulted from the use of excel spreadsheets. It is critical for this municipality to acquire electronic tools to assist in the process of: Effectively managing municipal assets, Producing accurate financial reports, and Efficiently providing unlimited scenarios and long-term recommendations for council to consider in achieving financial sustainability. Acquisition of both the TA and CPA modules will achieve these three objectives. The TA module, as discussed above, provides the municipality with a complete asset registry for all asset types and produces accurate financial reporting. The CPA module can best be described as a state of the art capital planning tool. This module enables municipalities to effectively produce short, medium, and long term capital plan scenarios based upon data stored within TA. CONSULTATION: Greg Borduas, Stewart Findlater, Mike LeBlanc, Paddy MacCallum, Diane Gallinger. Public Sector Digest Gabe Metron ( software demonstration November 11th council meeting)

4 Report No. F Date: November 11, 2013 Page 4 FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS: 2013 Capital Budget included $ 75, 000 for Asset Management Planning ($24,237 of this capital allocation to come from the Provincial MIII Grant). BluePlan Engineering Consultants Inc. scoping study and Public Sector Digest development of Thames Centre Asset Management Plan will total $25, 283. Asset Management Plan Capital Source of Funds 2013 Capital Budget 75, 000 Total Source of Funds $ 75, 000 Application of Funds BluePlan Engineering Consultants Inc. 5, 083 Public Sector Digest Asset Management Plan document 20, 500 CityWide Tangible Assets 19, 750 CityWide Capital Planning & Analysis 16, 000 Total Proposed Application of Funds $ 61, 333 Project Surplus 13, 667 An amount of$ 10,000 has been included in the 2013 and prior year operating budgets for services to be provided by Watson & Associates to update asset excel spreadsheets and provide back the journal entry to record amortization and capitalization of assets. If the TA module is acquired in 2013, services provided by Watson & Associates will not be required; which will result in an operating surplus of$ 10,000. A total surplus of$ 23,667 (capital surplus of$ 13, 667 and an operating surplus of$ 10,000) is anticipated with the acquisition of TA and CPA in Going forward, Public Sector Digest annual support/ annuity fee for TA and CPA will be $ 8,000 plus HST. This amount is $ 2, 000 less than the annual budget for services provided by Watson & Associates. Source of Application Asset Management Plan Operating 2014 and forward Funds Operating Budget ( Watson & Associates annual fee) 10, 000 Total Source of Funds $ 10,000 of Funds CityWide Tangible Assets annuity 4, 500 CityWide Capital Planning& Analysis annuity 3, 500 Total Proposed Application of Funds 8, 000 Operating Surplus 2, 000

5 Report No. F Date: November 11, 2013 Page 5 During 2014 budget deliberations the Director of Operations and the Director of Environmental Services will put forth a proposal for the acquisition of the CityWide Works module. This module is valued at$ 25, 750 with an annual support/ annuity fee of$ 5, 000. At this point in time, it is not felt that the CityWide GIS module will be necessary as the municipality currently has effective GIS capabilities. REFERENCES/ ATTACHMENTS: Public Sector Digest Inc. Asset Management Software Quote October 15, 2013 Prepared by: Reviewed by: d\n\ CSN- Mary Ell n Weatherhead, CGA, ' ipl. M.A., C. M. T. P. G. J. ( Greg) Borduas, EcD. ( F), CMO Director of Financial Services/ Treasurer Chief Administrative Officer

6 THE PUBLIC SECTOR DIGEST INC. 250 YORK STREET, SUITE 310, LONDON, ONTARIO N6A 6K2 PHONE: ( 519) FAX: ( 519) Asset Management Software Municipality of Thames Centre October 15, 2013

7 The Public Sector Digest Inc. October 15, Contact List: Municipality of Thames Centre (" Client") Name Title Tel E- mail Mary Weatherhead Financial Ext. 228 Ellen Director of ca Services Contact List: Public Sector Digest (" PSD") Name Title Tel E- mail Gabe Metron Regional gmetron a,publicsectordigest.corn Director Ext. 248 Matt Dawe Dir. Business mdawea,publicsectordigest.com Development Ext. 230 Document Revision History: October 15, 2013 Version Statement of Confidentiality: This document has been prepared specifically for the Client. The PSD shall treat as confidential all information obtained by PSD for and from the Client as well as all information compiled by PSD under this Agreement for the Client, including without limitation: business and marketing information, technical data, programs, source codes and other software, plans and projections. This proposal and all of its associated pricing shall remain valid for 30 calendar days from the date of issue indicated below. Date of Issue: Tuesday, October 15, 2013 Asset Management Software 2 Municipality of Thames Centre

8 The Public Sector Digest Inc. October 15, 2013 PROFESSIONAL SERVICES & SOFTWARE SERVICE TOTAL ANNUITY CITYWIDE TANGIBLE ASSETS 19, , CITYWIDE CAPITAL PLANNING& ANALYSIS 16, , CITYWIDE GIS 13, , CITYWIDE WORKS 25, , CityWide Tangible Assets( CityWide TA) Is a web based, industry leading TCA compliance and Asset Management module. This application provides municipalities with a complete asset registry for all asset types. All TCA financial reporting is easily handled through our default reporting engines. Key asset management features include lifecycle planning, condition assessment, risk analysis, levels of service and project prioritization. CityWide Capital Planning and Analysis( CityWide CPA) Is a web based, financial modeling application for asset management and lifecycle costing. The application enables public sector organizations to capture data from their Tangible Capital Asset inventory, analyze and consolidate it, then develop unlimited scenarios in real- time, generating a series of options and long- term recommendations. CityWide GIS Is designed to assist public sector organizations with the integration of their GIS data and financial data on an enterprise- wide basis. CityWide GIS links to existing financial software and includes a strategic timetable to implement additional functionality, i. e. emergency services, economic development, historical mapping. CityWide Works Is a web based, work order/work flow application designed to enable public works departments to prioritize, schedule and track projects. In addition CityWide Works calculates resources utilized, inventory consumed, as well as direct and indirect labour. The application integrates with CityWide and other TCA financial applications. Asset Management Software 3 Municipality of Thames Centre