Agenda Packets - 1997/04/07 - Laserfiche WebLink

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City of Mounds View Staff Report April 2, 1997 Page 2 even though in our case, it was not installed until four months later, and was not • anticipated to be used until eight months later. Based upon my review of software at New Ulm, most vendors did not charge for support for the first three months after the software was installed, and some did not charge for one to two years. • It has been my experience that a conversion such as this always has problems. Especially with governmental contracts, some form of security is normally required, such as a bond and/or retainage, to insure successful implementation. I was concerned that we did not appear to have any such security. In July, I meet with representatives of Tauges Redpath to discuss the City's audit contract and also the above concerns. (It should be noted that relating to the City's audit contract, a new contract was negotiated with a reduction in the audit fee from$7,800.) I expressed my concerns relating to the above and was basically told that since the contract had been signed, that nothing could nor should be done about any of these concerns. During the discussions, I was told that they were working on upgrading their product to Windows, and as such,I requested that I would at least like some formal agreement relating to the cost for such an upgrade. I was initially told that we would be treated fairly, however, as is good business practice, I felt that it should be in writing. It wasn't until December and several additional meetings and discussions that this was received. It was still my intent to proceed with the implementation of the software and as such, the • software was installed and training began. During this time several other items came to light. • Training was being charged based upon who conducted the training. For example, if a partner conducted the training,the rate was $100 verses $70 for a staff person. • Support was charged for nine months in 1996 even though the contract was not signed until late in April. • The main person in the company that dealt with developing, installing and training for the software left the firm. I still had some concerns about not having any security (retainage/bond), and was not receiving any response to my request for a written agreement for upgrading the software to a windows product and as such, I made the decision to delay paying the invoices relating to the training. My initial goal was to insure that I received a written agreement for the upgrade. It was not until November 25th that we were questioned as to the none payment, and then the questions were directed to Kitty verses myself. Around this time, I again met with Rob Tauges about some of my concerns and at the conclusion of this meeting, we had came to an understanding as to how to resolve these issues, which was basically support would not be charged from no earlier than when it was installed, and possibly as late as October 1st, and a written price would be established for an upgrade to a windows product. I did not receive any communication from Rob for several weeks and then it was a written response (December 6th memo) that was contrary to what had been agreed upon. I tried • to contact Mr. Tauges but he was not in and as such, I left several voice mail messages.