MEMO TO: Members of the City Council
FROM: Mayor John Marchione
SUBJECT:
title
Approval of Contract Amendment with Tyler Technologies in the Amount of $50,000 for Custom Report Building in the 2019 - 2020 Budget Process
I. RECOMMENDED ACTION
recommendation
Approve a contract amendment with Tyler Technologies for $50,000 to build customized reports for the new Dynamics Budget Planning Tool being implemented for the 2019-2020 budget process.
body
II. DEPARTMENT CONTACTS
Malisa Files, Finance Director 425-556-2166
Kelley Cochran, Financial Planning Manager 425-556-2748
Dawn Johnson, Business Systems Analyst 425-556-2179
III. DESCRIPTION/BACKGROUND
Background
In March, the Council approved a contract with Tyler Technologies for $150,000 to add Budget Planning to the City’s Dynamics ERP environment. For the past 10 years, the City has used an in-house developed Budget Tool to prepare its biennial budgets. The tool gathers narrative and financial information from each of the various offer writers and, through reports, publishes the budget documents. The system is also essential balancing budgeted funds. The current tool was developed on a sequel server platform that is now out-of-date and in danger of failing.
Since March, a cross-departmental team has been working on implementing the new tool in conjunction with Microsoft and Tyler Technologies. The partnership between the City and its technology partners is essential due to the unique nature of the City’s process. The new tool is also being deployed in the Microsoft Dynamics 365 for Operations (D365) which is a “software as a service” environment.
Budget Reporting
There are currently twelve reports developed as a part of the Budget Planning Tool. However, staff has identified the need for six customized reports unique to the City of Redmond. The reports include the narrative reports directly published in the budget, FTE accounting reports used to audit the number of authorized FTEs and detailed reports for one-time and ongoing costs. These reports are essential in publishing the budget and accounting for staffing and funding related to budgeted programs. With the Council’s approval the contract with Tyler Technologies will be increased by $50,000 to develop customized reports unique to the City of Redmond.
The funding for the increased cost will come for the Financial Business Solutions offer approved in the budget to support technology initiatives in the Finance and Human Resources functions.
IV. PREVIOUS DISCUSSIONS HELD
The Finance, Administration and Communications Committee discussed the amendment on November 28, 2017.
V. IMPACT
A. Service/Delivery:
Approval of the contract amendment will fund the necessary custom reports for publishing the budget document and accounting for budgeted funds. Without the reports, staff will spend time building word templates or building spreadsheets outside of the system to accomplish budget tasks. Such a practice opens up the budget to errors in the development process.
B. Fiscal Note:
The Council action will increase the contract with Tyler Technologies for Budget Planning implementation from approximately $150,000 to $200,000. The additional $50,000 will not be paid to the vendor until the Budget Planning Tool has been deployed successfully.
VI. ALTERNATIVES TO STAFF RECOMMENDATION
The Council could choose not to approve the amendment. Staff would spend time creating Word templates and Excel spreadsheets to aid in reporting and publishing the budget. Creating mechanisms outside the budget system opens up the budget for errors and mistakes when copying and pasting numbers and narrative into other systems.
VII. TIME CONSTRAINTS
Financial Planning staff anticipate implementing the new Budget Planning Tool by the end of the year in preparation for the 2019-2020 budget cycle. Delays in the timeline will push Budget Planning training of other City staff beyond what is comfortable for creating a budget in time for Council review and approval.
VIII. LIST OF ATTACHMENTS
Attachment A: Amended Agreement
Attachment B: Original Tyler Technology Agreement