HomeMy WebLinkAboutINFORMATION COMMITTEE - 04/19/2013 - INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY PLAN (IT) INFORMATION COMMITTEE
April 19, 2013
10:00 a.m.
MINUTES
Present: C. Prochno, Village Trustee— Information Committee Chair
J. Franke, Village Trustee
S. Lissner, Village Trustee
Staff: R. Rummel, Village Manager
M. Roan, Deputy Village Manager
E. May, Deputy Director of Information Technology
S. Ferguson, Consultant for Progressive Intelligence Technologies
Undated Lone Ranee IT Plan:
In 2007, the Village conducted its first Long Range Information Technology (IT) Plan. Over the course of the
past five (5) years, the Village has implemented a number of improvements to our system to enhance customer
service, improve operating efficiencies, and where possible reduce costs.
With technology advancements occurring so rapidly today, staff felt the need to review and update the Village's
Long Range IT Plan.
After several months of meetings, document reviews, questionnaire analysis, and multiple on-site interviews,
the Village's consultant—Progressive Intelligence Technologies—completed their analysis.
The previously distributed Municipal Technology Execution Plan (mTEP) presents a review of the activities
and status of major projects still in progress from the existing Village IT Plan. Furthermore, the plan presents
several new IT initiatives and projects. The mTEP was developed to help set organizational priorities and bring
focus to any challenges and changes that should be considered as the Village moves to implement the new plan.
It was noted by the consultants that the Village's Information Technology function scored very well with "break
fix" support, IT infrastructure, system design, reliability and replacement, as well as the overall quality of
systems and communications.
Some areas where the consultants noted that the Village did not obtain high marks were the age of the existing
Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) system, the organizational position of IT within the Finance Department,
and incomplete implementation and use of existing systems.
Within the consultants 5 year plan, they placed the highest priority emphasis on the replacement of the Village's
ERP system, with a recommendation to start the process of replacing it this year. It was explained that the
Village's ERP system is the database system that handles the Village's financial system, including budgeting,
accounts payable/receivable, utility billing, payroll, and a number of other software systems.
R. Rummel noted that the changes involved in adopting a new ERP system will be significant, and will likely
encounter a number of organizational challenges.
The anticipated replacement schedule of the ERP is 3-5 years.
It was also recommended by the consultants that a requirement for the ERP replacement be developed only after
all the Village processes have been reviewed/re-engineered. The consultants also explained that some vendors
focus solely on serving municipalities and that the Village's efforts should be to work with one of those
vendors.
E. May noted that that once the Village's HTE software is replaced we will still have a few remaining programs
running on the old AS/400. Most of these programs pertain to the Police Department so eventually the Police
Department will need to also look at obtaining replacement systems for them.
R. Rummel advised the Committee that some of the other benefits for the replacement of the ERP software
would be significant productivity gains and additional collaboration opportunities.
As an example, M. Roan noted that the current budgeting process is extremely inefficient and that the new ERP
system would provide immediate productivity enhancement. Employee timesheets were also mentioned.
The consultants noted that once the efficiencies of the new ERP system were realized the Village may be able to
reallocate certain staff to different functions. He also noted that some employees may feel uncomfortable
during the process re-engineering phase of the project and recommended that management encourage
employees to accept change. It was acknowledged by all that the overall workload would likely get worse
before it got better during the conversion.
It was noted that adequate funds have been budgeted to conduct the initial needs assessment.
The next significant recommendation within the report was to reassign the management duties of the IT
function from the Finance Department to the Village Manager's Office. It was emphasized by the consultants
that even if the same service is provided by the IT staff, the perception would be modified and the view would
be that the IT staff's purpose is to serve the entire Village.
The Committee agreed with re-organization of the IT function as suggested by the consultants. R. Rummel
stated that this would be discussed further with the Village Board at a later date.
A question was raised as to the total cost to fully implement the mTEP. It was noted that the cost estimates
range from $1,500,000 to $2,000,000 over the next five (5)years. A majority of that cost- $1,000,000 to
$1,300,000—is the result of the ERP.
R. Rummel closed by noting that staff would like to proceed by obtaining proposals to re-engineer Village
processes, develop and distribute an RFP, and evaluate the RPP responses. The Committee agreed with this
approach.
It was the consensus of the Information Committee to have staff move forward with the implementation of the
mTEP as presented.
The meeting adjourned at 11:00 a.m.
C: Mayor and Board of Trustees, Village Manager, Deputy Village Manager, Assistant to Village Manager,
Village Clerk, Department Heads, Village Attorney