Laserfiche WebLink
-Able to store all rental housing license information and can create either a batch email or <br />mailing to send out for the license renewals <br />-Easily create financial reports of payments received <br />-Easily create reports of data needed for required State reporting <br />Staff looked at different companies that offer software for permits and business/rental licensing <br />and received quotes from two: Springbrook and Permitworks. The City currently uses <br />Springbrook financial and utility billing software, and they offer add-on modules for permits and <br />business/rental licensing. Staff considered Springbrook since the City is already using this <br />software, but Springbrook’s modules do not have the capability to offer permits or licenses <br />online. Metro-Inet is only familiar with installing Springbrook’s financial software. <br />Permitworks is a local company that has been around for over 20 years and both the City Clerk <br />and Finance Director are very familiar with them since many cities throughout Minnesota use <br />this software. This system has online capabilities, along with the ability to integrate forms <br />directly into Laserfische (our electronic document management system). They work with <br />another company (OPG-3) who would customize online permit and licensing for our website, <br />and also integrate the online permits and licenses directly into Laserfische. Many of the Metro- <br />Inet cities use Permitworks, so Metro-Inet and Permitworks staff have been working together for <br />many years, and the installation process to the City’s network would be simple. Metro-Inet also <br />currently uses OPG-3 to administer the overall Laserfische system. <br />Staff is proposing to move forward with purchasing three modules from Permitworks for <br />Permits, Business/Rental Licensing and Contractor Licenses. The software costs for <br />Permitworks include training and implementation costs as a “not-to-exceed” amount. Their <br />training and implementation costs are billed at an hourly rate, and staff is anticipating that some <br />data entry work can be done internally and training costs could be lower than proposed. The <br />initial software costs are higher for Permitworks, but since their annual support costs are <br />significantly lower than Springbrook’s, Permitworks is cheaper overall after the second year. <br />The 2020 Budget includes funds to work with OPG-3 to add online services for permits and <br />possibly licensing. <br />BUDGETARY IMPACT <br />Staff is proposing that the funds for the permit and licensing software come from the 2019 <br />building permit revenue since it is over $100,000 higher than budgeted. According to Minnesota <br />Statutes, municipalities must adopt management and accounting procedures to ensure that fees <br />are maintained and used only for the purpose for which they are collected. Permitworks <br />Building Permit, Business/Rental Licensing and Contractor Licensing Software meets this <br />criteria and is an appropriate use for the excess building permit revenue. <br />Software <br />1-time <br />cost <br />Year 1 <br />annual <br />support <br />Year 2 <br />annual <br />support* <br />Year 3 <br />annual <br />support* <br />Year 4 <br />annual <br />support* <br />Year 5 <br />annual <br />support* <br />Total <br />5-year <br />costs <br />Springbrook: <br />2 Modules: Permits <br />Business License <br />$4,800 $7,632 $7,632 $7,632 $7,632 $7,632 $42,960 <br />Permitworks <br />3 Modules: <br />Permits <br />Business License <br />Contractor License <br />$15,485 $2,685 $2,685 $2,685 $2,685 $2,685 $28,910 <br />*The annual support costs stated above are 2020 rates and it is anticipated that both would have annual increases.