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1 <br /> <br /> STAFF REPORT <br />DATE: February 18, 2025 <br /> <br /> <br /> <br />TO: Mayor & Council <br />FROM: Clarissa Hadler, Finance Director <br /> Nina Kraemer, Finance Coordinator <br />AGENDA ITEM: New Financial Software <br /> <br /> <br />BACKGROUND: <br />Currently the city’s finance software is composed of separate general accounting software, utility billing <br />software, permit software, and various excel spreadsheets for items such as escrow billing, accounts <br />receivable, fixed assets, etc., creating numerous opportunities for fraud and unintentional oversights. The <br />city’s auditors recommended a couple of years ago to explore a more fully integrated financial solution to <br />help with data centralization and compliance updates. In addition to the above, the new software would <br />allow for numerous enhancements as outlined below. <br /> <br />Some of the processes that we know we can improve upon by moving to a different software include: <br />• Accounts Payable – Other software programs allow a fully electronic A/P process where invoices <br />are delivered to and approved electronically by department heads, who can review and approve <br />on any device. Invoices are stored electronically and linked directly to the transaction in the <br />software, making future research much easier. <br />• Bank Reconciliation – Our current software fails to allow for proper bank reconciliation due to <br />the disconnect between our utility billing, financial software, and credit card billing companies. <br />Bank recs are all completed in Excel to improve the accuracy of such, but this adds time and lack <br />of clear processes. <br />• Annual Budgeting – The new software will allow for in-software budgeting wherein department <br />heads will enter their requests, including supporting documents and detail, into the software for <br />review by the City Administrator and Finance Director, and eventually City Council. The <br />software tracks multiple stages of the budgeting process from initial drafts through the final <br />Council adoption. <br />• Escrow Billing – The level of development activity in the city means we have quite a few escrow <br />accounts wherein a developer reimburses the city for expenses related to their application, <br />construction of roads, etc. This process is also currently handled in Excel due to a lack of good <br />project accounting and intuitive accounts receivable module in our current software. <br />• Special Assessments – This is another area where we have quite a few items to manage and there <br />is not a great solution in our current software, therefore everything is done in Excel and then <br />transferred to the financial software via journal entries. <br />• Fixed Assets – This is yet another area that is currently managed in Excel and transferred via <br />journal entry to the current software. <br />• Human Resources – While not a primary driver of the new financial software it was found that <br />this module could replace plans to purchase separate HR software moving forward. <br />• Information Accessibility – <br />o Global Search - a single search field finds data in any module and multiple fields. <br />o Integrated Document Management – related documents are easily stored and retrieved via <br />links in the transactions.