The City is in need of an Enterprise Resource Planning Solution (ERP) that allows the organization to use a system of integrated applications to manage the business and automate many back office functions related to Finance, Code Enforcement, Human Resources, Procurement and Community Development.
The City contracted with ClientFirst Consulting to perform a city-wide needs assessment regarding information technology. ClientFirst is a Technology Consulting firm with 10+ years’ experience, over 1,000 projects with over 250 public agencies focusing on government agencies, processes, protocols that ensure an efficient and practical strategic master plan.
ClientFirst spent nearly twelve months reviewing the City’s operations and identifying its technology needs. On June 2015, ClientFirst presented the IT Strategic Master Plan to the Council. The Plan was adopted on July 14, 2015. The Plan recommended a replacement of the multiple departmental solutions with a modern Enterprise Resource Planning Solution.
ClientFirst discovered the need to consolidate applications and research and introduce a system that leverages all their current technology and improves their processes. The procurement of this Enterprise Resource Planning solution includes an extended business analysis that reviews all current workflow processes to ensure best practice is being used and productivity is increased.
The City currently utilizes applications for Code Enforcement and Community Development that are over 20 years of age and no longer have support which causing Departments to duplicate their work, create manual custom made reports, increased manual labor, increased demand on staff which in turns lowers the quality of the City’s productivity.
As part of their needs assessment, ClientFirst identified three ERP providers that best fit the City’s service profile. The City’s IT Department reviewed ClientFirst recommended 3 vendors and introduced the top 2 vendors to the Finance Department, Purchasing Division, Code Enforcement Department, Human Resources Department and Community Development Department. The Departments reviewed a multiple day, in-depth series of demonstrations and surveyed their selections for an ERP Solution. The City staff also consulted with GFOA IT Consultants, attended the vendors User conferences, partnered with the Town of Wellington for review and comparison of systems, discussed implementation with other recent Florida clients and compiled and reviewed other contracts for Service Level Agreements and pricing.
The City staff has reached a consensus that Tyler Munis provides the City with the ERP Solution.
The Purchasing Division went through the process of benchmarking the pricing for an Enterprise Resource Planning Solution providing proper comparison to the market so the City is assured the best pricing.