Agenda - 02-29-2000-9c - Laserfiche WebLink

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Orange County. This will increase the efFciency of County financial processing and reporting, increase the flexibility to prepare reports for staff, Commissioners, and the public, and enhance our ability to make financial and- personnel management information more readily available through electronic means. It will also enhance the County's movement towards "paperless" operations in areas such as requisitioning and vendor payment. Staff and the Orange County IT Committee recommend that the Board approve an agreement with RSM McGladrey to conduct the first phase of this process, a needs assessment. This will involve interviews with staff of business system departments and other users to identify capabilities that must be provided in any software package selected. The product of this assessment will be a detailed statement of system requirements that will became the basis of a request for proposals (RFP) that will be sent to potential business system software vendors. The needs assessment is expected to be completed within the next 3-4 months, with an RFP to be circulated during the summer, and software evaluation and selection to take place next fall and winter. RSM McGladrey is a large national consulting firm with extensive background in financial software selection. They have worked with many other North Carolina local governments on software selection and come highly recommended. RSM McGladrey also served as the County's consultant in Y2K preparations in 1999 and provided highly satisfactory service. FINANCIAL IMPACT: The estimated cost of this technical assistance is in the range of $23,000 to $27,000, with reimbursables such as travel expenses to be added at cast. At a later date, there will be a need for additional technical assistance with evaluation, selection, and . implementation of the replacement business system software. Although the cast to purchase and install business system software cannot be determined until the entire evaluation and selection process is carried out, it is reasonable to expect that it will be measured in hundreds of thousands of dollars. Funding for the technical assistance contracts is available in the 1999- 2000 Capital Investment Plan. Funding for business system legacy software replacement has been programmed over a period of several years in the 1999-2009 CIP. RECOMMENDATION(S): The Manager recommends that the Board approve the technical assistance agreement in an amount not to exceed $27,000, subject to final review by staff and the County Attorney, and authorize the Chair to sign it.