HomeMy WebLinkAbout1996-12-10; City Council; 13954; STATUS REPORT ON FINANCIAL INFORMATION SYSTEM AND ESTABLISHMENT OF A SYSTEMS ANALYST POSITION IN INFORMATION SYSTEMSI
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INFORMATION SYSTEM AND ESTABLISHMENT
OF A SYSTEMS ANALYST POSITION IN
RECOMMENDED ACTION:
Accept and file report.
Adopt Resolution No. 96-426 approving a Systems Analyst position to support the lnformatil
Systems staff during the Financial Information System implementation and appropriating $1 O!
from the General Fund balance.
ITEM EXPLANATION:
Project Background
The Financial Information Systems project officially began in March 1994, when the Council
authorized staff to proceed with the replacement of the City’s current system.
The project comprises the following seven phases:
Status
Completf
Complett
Complett
Complett
In Proce$
Sept 97
July 98
Analyze needs and develop 3 to 5 year plan.
Issue RFP to vendors for hardware and software.
Evaluate the proposals, select vendors.
Upgrade microcomputer hardware and software, train
employees.
Implement core Financial system.
Implement HR, Payroll, Permits and Fixed Assets.
Select and implement other system needs not met by Bi-Tech.
We are in the midst of Phase 5, the implementation of the core financial system. This include
general ledger, purchasing, accounts payable, accounts receivable and budgeting modules. I
members from Finance, Information System and Purchasing have attended setup and user t
the general ledger, job ledger (project costing), accounts payable, budget and purchasing m(
this time, the setup of the modules is essentially complete, and our next task is to begin train
in all City departments on how to use the new system.
Current Status
The simplest way to look at the implementation of the Financial Information System is by mo
There are four primary modules for Phase 5: 1) General Ledger and Reporting, 2) Budgetin1
issues and decisions that affect the outcome of the project and the way in which the City doc
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General Ledger
The General Ledger is the basis for all financial transactions. It contains the foundation
which account numbers are created, budgets are formed, transactions are charged anc
for, and reports are generated. The Finance staff has formulated the core Chart of Accc
which creates the account numbering system for the City's financial transactions. The L
Ledger, which is a tracking system for projects, is linked to the General Ledger. This is
job costing component of the financial system that the City has not had in the past.
With the new Bi-Tech system, some departmental budget transfers and day-to-day trar
will be performed electronically. Currently, all of these transactions are done manually.
inputs between 300 and 400 budget transfers annually, and almost 1,000 journal entrie
record other financial activities in the City. The departments now must complete papen
have these actions recorded, and then Finance enters them from the paper documents
entry takes an average of five minutes for a Finance staff person to read, sort, record a
the elimination of this duplicate task could save over 100 hours of time. This is only onc
of many that will be realized by the City once the new system is in place.
Purchasing/Accounts Payable
Staff attended the Purchasing and Accounts Payable modules training in September a
October, and the set up is essentially complete. As part of the implementation of these
modules, a business process redesign (BPR) was performed. The purpose of a redesi!
evaluate the current business processes, challenge the value of each step, and design
set of procedures to streamline and simplify the system.
Six employees representing various departments and levels of the organization formec
BPR team and participated in the redesign. This team took the current process of purc
and paying for goods and services, dissected and analyzed it, and interviewed people
throughout the City who buy things on a regular basis. The team realized that the currc
system does not meet all the needs of the departments. The majority of the complaint:
centered around iong processing time, too much paperwork, and unclear procedures.
The team worked twice a week, four hours at a time, for a period of six weeks to addre
issues that surfaced from their analysis. They developed a new purchasing and accoul
payable process that is greatly streamlined and simplified. The basic premise of the m
process is to give departments more flexibility and control over the purchasing proces!
eliminating unnecessary steps and redundant paperwork. It also pushes approval autk
responsibility to a lower level in the organization. The resulting benefits will be evident
shortened processing time and work flows, as well as instant access to the status of p
and payments. For example, there is currently an average of 30 steps and 17 handofi
(departmental approvals, interoffice mail deliveries, etc.) for a basic $500 purchase. TI
redesign reduces the number of steps to 15 and the number of handoffs to 2. Paper d
are virtually eliminated by use of on-line purchase requisitions, check requests, and
departmental approvals.
Budgeting
The budgeting module has been defined, and Finance staff has attended training. The
many features of the budgeting module that will allow the City to reassess how the bui
prepared. This process may benefit from a Business Process Redesign project to heir
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implement procedures such as on-line entering of budgets by departments as opposed
duplicate data entry by departments and Finance staff. Budget transfers and tracking c
be accomplished on-line, giving departments the ability to access up-to-date informatio
and quickly. This will be a good management tool, allowing departments to know at an)
moment what has been allocated and spent in a specific budget and line item account.
are checks and balances in the software that will help departments manage their indivic
budgets and help Finance manage the City’s budget as a whole.
Security
Bi-Tech Software has an extremely flexible but complex security system. The security i
needed to give different levels of users corresponding access to information contained
software. Because the system gives users the ability to perform more functions on line,
approving payments and purchases, and creating budgets and purchase requisitions, I
access becomes an issue when considering who should be able to do what. The secur
system gives the City the ability to define users on an individual basis, if necessary, gi\
specific access to and control in the system.
Information Systems staff is currently in the process of creating basic user profiles that
departments can use for various members of their staff. For example, Department He2
be able to approve purchase requisitions and payments generated by selected staff wi
departments. Other employees will have access to the budget module so that they car
and compile their annual department budgets. Information Systems will assign system
to employees based on the needs of departments and the composition of their staff.
Future Implementation and Issues
There are three main modules that comprise Phase 6 of the Financial Information System: Ht
Resources, Payroll and Permits. Implementation of these modules is scheduled to begin in Fe
1997 and be complete by October 1997.
Due to the flexible nature of Bi-Tech’s human resources module, City staff will be designing th
and screens almost from scratch. It will be a very customized module, unlike the modules in P
but the customization will come at a price: staff time. The software has the ability to track a v8
items related to an employee, beginning with the applicant tracking and following through to e
demographics, job details, benefits and salary history. There are several areas related to hur
resources that could profit from a business process redesign, such as the recruitment proces:
tracking and payroll time keeping and input.
The permit system is an integrated development permit tracking and issuing software progran
used primarily by Community Development Staff. Although it is not included as one of the mc
purchased from Bi-Tech Software, the permit system is scheduled for an upgrade in Phase 6
Financiai information System project. Staff from Community Development and Information Sy
evaluated several permit software programs and selected Sierra Permits Plus, an upgrade pn
the current Sierra permits system used now. Sierra Permits Plus is similar to Bi-Tech’s humar
resources module because it requires staff to “build” the screens from scratch. Thus, it will be
system, and will demand a significant amount of staff time up front during implementation to F
for City-wide use. The permit implementation will be on a scale similar to the human resource
and will take six to nine months to complete. A business process redesign could be a valuablc
of the implementation of the permit system.
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Information Systems Resources
Converting the data on the current system to a format that will work with the new syste
time-consuming process that must be performed several times before the final product
acceptable. Due to the system requirements and the changes from the old system to tl
one, Information Systems has had to designate one staff person to this task. As we mc
Phase 5 into Phase 6, the data conversion will become more complex because of the i
of data in the current payroll system. Additionally, the permits implementation will requi
staff to convert data and manage the systems side of this project. Last, but not least, tt
security module that controls access and rights to various functions in the system is a 1
task in and of itself in order to build the network of users.
As we proceed through this project and learn what is required, we are finding that the I
needed from the Information Systems staff for the implementation of the FIS is greater
originally anticipated. In order to meet the Phase 5 “live” date of January 1997 and the
“live” date of October 1997, we need one Information Systems person dedicated to the
implementation. This is in addition to help from other information Systems staff on a p;
basis. The IS staff is already taxed from current workload and cannot assume this add
burden without outside assistance. We are requesting approval to hire a full-time, limitt
employee, at a Systems Analyst level, to augment the IS staff for the duration of the
implementation. Similar to the FIS Project Manager, this employee will be a temporary
designed to ease the workload of the permanent staff for a period not to exceed eighte
months. The original term will be for a twelve-month period, with an option to extend it
another six months if needed.
FISCAL IMPACT:
The cost of a Systems Analyst for an eighteen-month period, including benefits, is approximat
$185,000. This cost was not included as part of the original cost estimate for the project. In or(
fund this position, it is necessary to appropriate money from the General Fund balance. The c
balance of the General Fund is approximately $14 million; therefore, there are sufficient funds
for this purpose.
EXHIBITS:
I. Resolution No. 96- ‘%%establishing a Systems Analyst position and appropriating $10,
from the General Fund balance.
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* e EXHIBIT 1
RESOLUTION NO. 96-426
RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF
CARLSBAD, CALIFORNIA, ESTABLISHING A SYSTEMS
ANALYST POSITION AND APPROPRIATING $1 05,000
FROM THE GENERAL FUND BALANCE
WHEREAS, in March 1994, the Council authorized staff to proceed with
replacement of the City’s financial information system; and
WHEREAS, the Financial Information System project requires a full-time
analyst to augment the Information Systems staff for the duration of the implen
and
WHEREAS, staff requests the establishment of a Systems Analyst posii
limited term to assist the Information Systems Department; and I
WHEREAS, sufficient funds are available in the General Fund balance 1
accommodate the expense of hiring a full-time Systems Analyst for a period of
eighteen months.
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED by the City Council of the City
i Carlsbad, California, as follows:
1. That the above recitations are true and correct.
2. That a Systems Analyst position shall be established in the Informal
Systems Department.
3. That the amount of $105,000 is appropriated from the General Fun(
Financial Information System project budget.
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PASSED, APPROVED AND ADOPTED at a regular meeting of the City
on the 10th day of December , 1996, by the following vote, to wit:
AYES: Council Members Lewis, Nygaard, Kulchin, Hall and Finni
NOES: None
ABSENT: None
&hfDI?A. LEWlqMayoy v- \ "
ATTEST:
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(SEAL)
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