TO:
Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council
THROUGH:
Bruce Moe, City Manager
FROM:
Patrick Griffin, Interim Information Technology Director
SUBJECT:Title
Enterprise Project Implementation Quarterly Update of 1) Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) and 2) Land Management System (LMS) Solutions (Interim Information Technology Director Griffin).
RECEIVE REPORT
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Recommended Action
RECOMMENDATION:
Staff recommends that the City Council receive the quarterly status report regarding implementation of the two enterprise solutions.
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FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
There are no fiscal implications associated with the recommended action. However, this report discusses projects with fiscal implications previously approved by the City Council.
BACKGROUND:
On July 17, 2018, the City Council approved the purchase of two major software enterprise solutions: 1) Tyler Munis Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system, supporting all financial, human resources, and payroll activities; and 2) Tyler EnerGov Land Management System (LMS) supporting planning, permitting, inspection, and code enforcement activities. During that meeting, the City Council requested quarterly updates on the implementation of both projects to ensure they remain on target and within budget. Prior project updates were provided to the City Council on January 2, 2019, May 7, 2019, November 19, 2019, and February 18, 2020.
DISCUSSION:
The worldwide COVID-19 pandemic had significant impacts on the City’s routine operations, including the implementation activities associated with the City’s new financial and land management systems. In addition, the response to the pandemic resulted in serious negative impacts to the City’s budget, requiring significant focused efforts by the Finance Department to develop revised revenue projections and work with Departments to reduce expenditures in the current year and the upcoming FY2021 budget. All of these factors led staff to conclude that the existing project implementation schedule could not be met.
As a result, the project teams for both the Munis ERP and the EnerGov LMS projects reviewed the current implementation schedules in order to consider revised go-live dates for upcoming modules in each system. Subsequent to identifying revised go-live dates, staff approached Tyler to discuss the proposed delays to the existing schedule. Tyler has been very amenable to modifying the City’s current schedule and has committed to working with the City to meet our needs for a new schedule. Provided below is additional information on each of the two enterprise systems, including the new go-live dates.
Munis Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) Software
The original implementation dates for the Munis ERP software included a go-live of July 2020 for the Financials module, with the Payroll / Human Resources modules to follow in January 2021. The new schedule proposes the Financials go-live in January 2021 with Payroll / Human Resources to follow in June 2021. The Business Licensing Tax module will go-live in July 2021, followed by the Utility Billing module which is scheduled to go-live in July 2022. The City’s Munis project team will be re-starting the project in early August.
It should be noted that, as a result of staff working remotely for the past three months, the City team has identified a number of process improvements that have increased efficiencies. Many of these process improvements have been implemented, including providing direct access to cellular telephone billings to user Departments, electronic signatures for contracts and agreements, and electronic workflow processing via the City’s existing email system. These and other efficiencies are positive outcomes from an otherwise difficult and challenging time for City staff, and should be celebrated as wins.
EnerGov Permitting Solution
In January 2020 the project team completed the successful launch of the EnerGov online permitting, field mobility, and Customer Self Service (CSS) components of the overall system, and in February launched the implementation of “special” permitting electronically (Special Event, Banner, Sound, Block Party, and Fire One Time Use permits). In early March, the project team completed development of a detailed implementation calendar for future phase implementations (Planning module and electronic plan review), which included onsite training of staff throughout the organization.
The EnerGov project team’s progress was disrupted in late March after the COVID-19 pandemic stay-at-home orders were initiated. The project team redirected their resources to support remote work capabilities as well as reconfiguring the system to enhance remote business transactions for customers, such as enhancement of on-line plan submittal capabilities. Because of the need for Community Development Department staff to respond to significant COVID-19 issues, and the inability to conduct onsite training, the project team made the determination to delay the implementation of the final phases (Planning module and electronic plan review) to February 2021.
On a positive note, the Community Development Department is making great progress on several aspects of the final phases of implementation, including configuration of the Planning module and testing and training of the electronic plan review system. The goal of the project team is to continue working regularly on these items, with the goal that implementation of the final phase can occur prior to the February 2021 date.
Finally, I am pleased to report that the project team has made significant progress on implementing the online payment system that supports the EnerGov CSS system. Earlier this month, the Community Development and Finance Departments completed testing and implementation of the system, thus providing a true online experience to our customers.
While the project timelines for both the Munis and EnerGov projects have been modified as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, staff is confident that we will meet the revised schedules as outlined above. Tyler Technologies is supportive of this approach and is honoring the existing contracts and agreements in place; thus both projects remain within budget.
CONCLUSION:
Staff recommends that the City Council receive the quarterly status report regarding implementation of the two enterprise solutions.
PUBLIC OUTREACH:
Staff determined that public outreach was not required for this item.
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 City Attorney has reviewed this report and determined that no additional legal analysis is necessary.