To: Honorable Mayor and Members of City Council
From: Steve Potter, City Manager
Prepared By: Liz Habkirk, Assistant City Manager
TITLE:
Title
Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Software Implementation
LABEL
RECOMMENDED ACTION:
Recommendation
Receive a Project Spotlight report from staff on the status of the Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Software Implementation project.
Body
DISCUSSION:
As a part of the new monthly “Spotlight” series, members of the Enterprise Resource Planning (“ERP”) implementation team will provide the City Council with an update on efforts to update the City’s financial software.
In early 2020, City staff began the ERP software program from Tyler Technologies. Once fully implemented the new ERP system, MUNIS, will replace three core enterprise systems to manage financial and human resources (IFAS), utility billing (AS 400) and point of sale purchasing transactions (One Step). IFAS was implemented over 12 years ago, while AS400 was built in-house in the late 1990s. There have been significant concerns with these systems in recent years including issues around integration, cost of maintenance and potential for system failure, difficulty of adaptation to City needs, and the inefficiencies caused by these issues.
Over the last two years, a cross departmental team has been working on implementing MUNIS in three phases:
1. Human Capital Management - Human Resources and Payroll functions
2. Utility Billing and Cashiering
3. Financials - Budget, Purchasing and Accounting functions
In November, the first phase - Human Capital Management - went live and City staff began using the new payroll and human resources functions. Staff throughout the organization were trained on the new Executime and Employee Self-Serve systems allowing them to enter their time, manage leave banks, and have access to more robust information on their pay, deductions, taxes and more. Additionally, the new system allows for more automation with Personnel Actions such as new hires or promotions being routed for approval in the system and automatically populating staff records. During the presentation, Project team members will highlight some of the new functionality and challenges that the implementation has faced.
The second phase of the implementation project, Utility Billing is set to go live in mid-February. The new system integrates the cashiering, billing, and accounting functions previously housed in three different systems. It also allows staff in the Utilities Department to send and receive service work order information electronically from the Revenue Division of the Finance Department and auto-populate customer accounts with updates from their field work. Customers of the City’s water system will have access to their accounts through the Citizen Self-Serve portal where they will be able to see their usage history, make payments, and update their customer information. The new system also will allow for more efficient processes within the Revenue Division, reducing duplicate entry of items and streamlining tasks.
Finally, the Financials phase which includes the City’s budgeting, purchasing, and accounting system has a planned go-live in July of 2022 to coincide with the start of the 2022-2023 fiscal year. Improved financial controls, more robust reporting capability, and redesigned business processes are among the planned benefits of the new system.
During the presentation, Project team members will provide an update on the implementation status for each phase and highlight some of the benefits that staff and the public can expect, as well as the successes and challenges the project has faced.
FINANCIAL IMPACTS:
None
CEQA:
The City Manager has determined that the Recommended Action described in this Staff report is not subject to CEQA, pursuant to CEQA Guidelines Section 15060(c).
DOCUMENTS ATTACHED:
None
NOTIFICATION:
None