Agenda - 12-10-2002-8f - Laserfiche WebLink

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2 Selection Process A selection team comprised of the aforementioned department heads and Assistant County Manager Rod Visser, in tandem with the County's consultants from Summit Business Solutions, analyzed the proposals from their specific business interest and recommended interviews with three firms. The interviews were held in March 2002 wit selected stoftwarrerrto carry outs theie daily tasks and Jane Sparks, staff members that would be using the a member and representative of the IT Committee. Based on the Needs Assessment, two firms emerged as clear contenders to best meet the County's needs. The selection team conducted a second round of demonstrations as well as visited sites where each of the firms were either fully implHowevetl, the sele cionrteam ~s ecompmendingtthe fi maof MUN S top two firms has excellent products to supply the business system package based on the following factors: The knowledge gained from the site visits regarding the implementation process and general software capabilities; In-depth comparison of each system's capabilities specifically in relation to Orange County's operation; Number of successful installations for local governments in North Carolina; Ease of implementation and resources needed to complete; and Cost. Advantages of New System The MUNIS package will support General Ledger applications, fixed assets, the purchasing process, expanded human resources capabilities and will allow the County's budget to be prepared through the mainframe system rather than through a series of Excel spreadsheets as has previously been the case. The system will provide further efficiencies by allowing: Purchasing functions to be carried out in an almost paperless environment; • The complete procurement process to be documented, providing helpful information in areas including, but not limited to the following: o Historical information regarding vendor performance; o Accumulated data regarding specific purchases or groups of purchases for all departments forming a basis for trend analysis, volume purchasing opportunities, etc. County departments to better manage their financial data through user-friendly access of day-to- day analysis. In addition, the MUNIS system will provide interaction between the system and desktop computers for generation of departmental revenue and expenditure reports that cannot be generated with the current system. Web-based accessibility of functions such as employee self-service benefits management • Flexibility and ease of use in creating ad hoc reports and analyses • Dynamic accessibility of budget and expenditure information for quick-response use in Board meetings and work sessions • Ease of data integration with other applications such as revenue operations Implementation Process The implementation time for the software package is estimated to be approximately six months. Although this is an aggressive timeline, with the help of the internal project manager assigned to the project, the timetable appears realistic. The financial applications, including General Ledger, Purchasing, and Budget will be implemented first and are estimated to be completed within 90-120 days. Assuming a notice to proceed on the project is issued no later than December 13, 2002, the implementation can be completed while permitting the 2003-04 Budget/CIP preparation process to remain on schedule. This is critically important since the department heads responsible for leading that process will also be required to dedicate significant time to the implementation of the new software narkaae.