DENNIS McLEAN, DIRECTOR OF FINANCE JANUARY 20, 2015 REPLACEMENT OF FINANCIAL ACCOUNTING SYSTEM CAROLYNN PETRU, ACTING CITY MANAGEiii' lwj

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1 MEMORANDUM CrrYOF RANCHO PALOS VERDES TO: FROM: DATE: SUBJECT: REVIEWED: HONORABLE MAYOR AND MEMBERS OF COUNCIL DENNIS McLEAN, DIRECTOR OF FINANCE JANUARY 20, 2015 CAROLYNN PETRU, ACTING CITY MANAGEiii' lwj 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), F-1

2 Page 2 of 5 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 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. F-2

3 Page 3 of 5 The City's Accela Tidemark permitting software system (Tidemark) was originally implemented in 2000, and the server software was upgraded in 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 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) 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 selfhosted 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 SoftYIS:(e Proposed,. Scope Option CRW TRAKiT permitting/land mgt only Eclipse Consulting Inc. Microsoft Dynamics AX 2012 core financials only EnerGov Solutions EnerGov.NET permitting/land mgt only MS Govern lnnoprise Software SunGard ONESolution Tyler Technologies Inc. Munis Solution Hosting:? Yes 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 F-3

4 Page 4 of 5 management solutions). Software Functionality for Scope of Services Proposed... Standard., Functionality '. Functionality Customization not in S.cope 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 Systems 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 F-4

5 Page 5 of 5 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. F-5