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Qrange County Page 7 <br />Needs Assessment Project <br />III. RECOMMENDED COURSE OF ACTION <br />It is our recommendation that the County pursue replacing its current business systems <br />with an integrated systems solution, utilizing open architecture that encompasses each of <br />the applications within the scope of this project. In conjunction with the County's IT <br />Plan, this integrated solution must focus on eliminating unnecessary manual processes, <br />increasing departmental efficiency and enhancing the communication of information to <br />internal and external users. <br />Due to the antiquated software applications, current and future needs cannot be <br />addressed, through enhancement or customization of the applications, in acost-effective <br />manner. Therefore, to meet existing and fixture requirements, these systems must be <br />replaced. Given the common fimctionality of these systems, we recommend purchasing <br />an integrated, packaged solution(s) to replace these outdated applications. Many <br />software vendors focus on providing business applications for local governments. We <br />recommend evaluating these "government" software vendors to determine the optimal <br />solution for the County. This approach will provide the County with applications that <br />have been designed for, and tested by, other County governments. Our recommended <br />guidelines for the County's IT infrastructure are included in Appendix B. <br />To facilitate this system replacement we recommend following the project approach <br />listed below. These. steps should be pursued immediately to insure the continued support <br />of the County personnel that were involved in this needs assessment. For project <br />continuity and efficiency the County should commit to this schedule as phases of one <br />project and not five independent projects. Separating the project into several subprojects <br />would require downtime between these projects and eliminate the opportunity for <br />simultaneously performing tasks in more than one phase. Both instances would likely <br />increase the overall cost of the project and would make implementation significantly <br />more. cumbersome and inefficient. Our recommended approach is: <br />Phase I: Development of RFP <br />Develop Procurement Strategy <br />Develop and Publish RFP <br />Phase II: Systems Evaluation <br />Analyze Options/Responses/Life Cycle Costs <br />Vendor Selection/Recommendation <br />Analyze Cast, Benefits and Risks for Each System <br />