TO:
Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council
THROUGH:
Mark Danaj, City Manager
FROM:
Sanford Taylor, Information Technology Director
Bruce Moe, Finance Director
Teresia Zadroga-Haase, Human Resources Director
Leilani Emnace, Information Technology Manager
SUBJECT:Title
Award of Contract to NexLevel Information Technology, Inc. for Enterprise Resource Planning Software Consulting Services in the amount of $61,415 (Information Technology Director Taylor).
CONTINUED FROM THE JULY 5, 2016 CITY COUNCIL MEETING
APPROVE;APPROPRIATE
Line
_________________________________________________________
Recommended Action
RECOMMENDATION:
Staff recommends that the City Council: a) award RFP #1053-16 to NexLevel Information Technology, Inc. to provide Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software consulting services in the amount of $61,415, and b) appropriate $61,415 from unreserved General Fund moneys.
Body
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
This item was originally scheduled for the June 21st City Council meeting. At that time, funds were budgeted in Fiscal Year 2015-2016 for this service. However, when the agenda item was moved to July 5th, which is in the new fiscal year (2016-2017), the appropriation in FY 15-16 lapsed, with the unspent funds being returned to the unreserved General Fund as of June 30, 2016. As a result, if the contract is approved, $61,415 will need to be appropriated in FY 16-17 since funds were not budgeted, nor were they encumbered (and therefore carried forward) prior to June 30, 2016.
BACKGROUND:
The City of Manhattan Beach currently utilizes Tyler Technologies/Eden Financial, Human Resources, and Payroll Software. This solution was first implemented in 1997, almost 20 years ago. Throughout the years, several enhancements and modules have been added including the recent implementation of Tyler Technologies Cashiering solution. Current Eden Financial modules include:
• Payroll
• Budgeting
• General Ledger
• Accounts Payable
• Accounts Receivable
• Cash Receipts
• Purchasing
• Financial Reporting
• Utility Billing (Water, Refuse) Billing Systems
• Business Licensing
The Human Resources solution includes critical personnel modules such as:
• Employment dates
• Personal identification
• Addresses
• Dependent(s)
• Terminations
• Training records
• Salary history
Maintaining and enhancing these systems is of vital importance. Upgrades and new modules which improve the functionality and the efficiencies are reviewed as they become available. Staff has determined that additional investments in these systems for project accounting, procurement, fixed assets, inventory, applicant tracking and others are needed. However, before committing to these investments of financial and human resources, staff determined an evaluation of the existing platform (Tyler-Eden) was necessary as well as a review of alternative solutions. As a result, staff issued a Request for Proposal to select a technology consultant to assist and guide in the evaluation and selection process.
Subsequently, it became apparent to staff that Tyler Technologies will not be investing in the Eden product line for the long term. In fact, during the Tyler Technologies conference in May 2016, that position was confirmed. While Tyler has not announced a phase-out date, at which point Eden clients will have five years of lead time to transition to another solution, it is now apparent that the Tyler/Eden platform will be phased out at some point in the future. As a result, staff will begin the process of a new ERP solution, which has been budgeted in FY17/18.
DISCUSSION:
Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)
The use of technology is necessary to enhance resources in support of City functions resulting in higher level of staff productivity, more cost-effective service delivery and efficient business processes. Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solution brings numerous benefits to the organization. It provides a holistic approach used to collect, store, manage and interpret data from various City business processes. The system gives an integrated and centralized management of multiple business functions to streamline business processes, workflows, and information across the organization. ERP delivers more efficient and effective method of handling/manipulating City’s data facilitating informed decisions. Thus, the Information System Master Plan identifies the upgrade or replacement of Tyler Eden Enterprise Resource Planning system as a major project leading to increased productivity and streamlined enterprise processes for the organization.
ERP Professional Services Technology Consulting Services
To assist with this large investment, Industry Best Practice strongly suggest that an independent resource is needed to provide a broad and fresh perspective to augment that of City staff in identifying an ERP solution. Project planning and design are of utmost importance for the replacement of large, complex software systems such as the ERP solution, thus, consultant services will assist in ensuring that the chosen system meets the current and future needs of the City.
Staff issued Request for Proposal #1053-16 to obtain professional technology consulting services in order to assess and make recommendations regarding the City’s integrated Financial and Human Resources management software needs. The scope of work includes reviewing the organization’s existing business processes and making recommendations to streamline where appropriate (i.e. automating paper processes and streamlining business operations to offer effective solutions and increase efficiencies in workflow processes). The consultant will assist with initial system evaluation and system selection services needed to acquire the replacement Financial and Human Resources systems. Further, the services will include not only review of current business processes supported by the existing systems (to help determine what can be streamlined and what the new system should do), but also an analysis of replacement options including business process outsourcing.
In addition, the consultant is to consider integration with existing mission critical applications such as Accela Automation, Progressive Solution (Police Department Alarms), ActiveNet (Parks and Recreation registration), ESRI Geographical Information Systems and Hyland OnBase Document Management as well as modules currently not part of the contracted Tyler/Eden suite. An ERP integration with mission critical applications will cost-effectively improve the quality, accessibility and convenience of the services the City offers our citizens and businesses each day. All solutions will maintain advanced security features in the offered services and, where applicable, provide constituents with online 24-hour access to information and services.
Eleven proposals were received. Consultants were evaluated upon the following criteria: knowledge and experience with similar projects, their approach and understanding of the scope of services, references, cost and availability. The consultants’ comparison in Attachment 1 shows the valuation of services.
Staff reviewed all proposals and interviewed five of the eleven firms. Two of the five (Nexlevel and SoftResources) consultants were selected to move forward with reference checks. Upon completion, staff selected NexLevel as the firm best positioned to successfully facilitate and guide the process. The assessment was based on NexLevel’s comprehensive response to the request for proposal, their strong understanding of the required scope of services, project team, strong references and experience in performing these assessments for 87 public agencies in California. The company is independent of software providers with substantial municipal financial/human resources systems and IT strategic planning experience. A significant number of NexLevel’s client projects are of similar scope, system needs and size to Manhattan Beach. References reported NexLevel to have successfully completed past projects on-time and within budget.
As the result of the proposal, research and interviews, staff recommends that the City Council award a contract to NexLevel Information Technology, Inc. to provide ERP software consulting services in the amount of $61,415.
POLICY ALTERNATIVES:
There are no policy alternatives for this recommendation given the current staffing and resources in place.
PUBLIC OUTREACH/INTEREST:
The Request for Proposal was posted on the City’s website, sent to known vendors and an e-notification was issued to those subscribing to the bid list.
ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW
The City has reviewed the proposed activity for compliance with the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) and has determined that there is no possibility that the activity may have a significant effect on the environment; therefore, pursuant to Section 15061(b)(3) of the State CEQA Guidelines the activity is not subject to CEQA. Thus, no environmental review is necessary.
LEGAL REVIEW
The contract has been signed by the contractor and has been approved as to form by the City Attorney.
Attachments:
1. RFP #1053-16 ERP Software Consulting Services Comparison
2. Professional Services Agreement with NexLevel Information Technology, Inc.
3. ERP Software Consulting Services Presentation