Agenda

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City Council Regular Meeting

Meeting Date:

02/07/2023

BACKGROUND

The City of Schertz currently uses Tyler Technologies ERP Pro 9, formerly known as Incode 9. Staff has used some version of this software since 2002 for all of its financial and accounting needs including: general ledger, accounts payable, accounts receivable, fixed asset tracking, project tracking, and bank reconciliation. This software is also used for Utility Billing and Municipal Court to track payments and amount owed.

Previously, ERP Pro 9 was used for Building Permits, Licensing, time keeping, human resources, and payroll.

This software has many features to help day-to-day financial processes and was tailored for small to medium local governments. Over the 21 year history of City use, limitations started showing up. Due to how ERP Pro 9 was coded, it made it difficult to work with modern servers and to run reports with usable data. Over the past 20 years, transparency demands on local governments has grown and staff recognizes the importance of data driven decisions. Staff determined it was time to find a new software that to meet these needs.

Staff was approved $500,000 in FY 2021-22 to select and implement a new financial software. Once the funding was approved, Finance staff gathered information and recommendations on liked or required features for the new software. In the Spring, a Request for Proposal (RFP) was released to get and review a list of software that would meet staff's needs and wants while staying in budget.

Staff received 3 responses: Tyler Technologies Munis, Tyler Technologies ERP Pro 10, and Edmonds. In order to let another vendor submit, staff delayed until December to hold product demonstrations and added Oracle Netsuite in the running.

Based on the scores, Tyler Technologies ERP Pro 10 came in the highest and staff on the selection committee approved of that outcome.

The upgrade to ERP Pro 10 is covered under the existing contract. No new contract or terms is required to be entered to make the transition. Annual maintenance costs would remain the same as well. Additional costs that will be incurred by the City include data migration and training.

Due to the cost of migration and the same pricing structure, staff can also implement the ERP Pro 10 Utility Billing and Court modules that were not originally planned and stay within budget. This move will also save the City $21,695.99 annual when specific support services related to ERP Pro 9 go offline. These additional server maintenance services will no longer be required. However the savings can only be realized if the Utility Billing and Court modules are converted as well. Their migration services are $47,760, meaning the payback period for that expenditure is 2.2 years.

Staff recommends including Utility Billing and Municipal Court in the implementation.

GOAL

To upgrade and replace the City's financial software to increase efficiency and effectiveness in the financial processes.

COMMUNITY BENEFIT

The software improvements will allow for better data gathering and reporting increasing the level of fiscal transparency available to the citizens.

SUMMARY OF RECOMMENDED ACTION

Approval of Resolution 23-R-11 authorizing staff to implement ERP Pro 10 as the City's financial software.

FISCAL IMPACT

As this upgrade falls into the City's current contract for financial software, there is no increase in annual fees for ERP Pro 10 for all existing services.

However, ERP Pro 9 has additional services to ensure it works properly on the city's servers. If the city also upgrades the Utility Billing and Court modules to ERP Pro 10, these functions will go away and save the city about $21,600 annually.

Staff is recommending to add the document management function for ERP Pro 10 to help reduce paper usage and digitalized additional processes. This module will add $6,250 annually.

The migration and training services for the Financial, Utiliity Billing, and Court modules are $121,270.

RECOMMENDATION

Approval of Resolution 23-R-11authorizing staff to move forward implementing Tyler Technologies ERP Pro 10 software.

Attachments
Resolution 23-R-11
Migration Services
After Implementation Training