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HomeMy WebLinkAboutORD-2024-033 Purchase of Budget and Strategic Planning Software and Approval of Budget Amendment #2-C 1 ORD-2024-033 ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS ACTION AGENDA ITEM ABSTRACT Meeting Date: October 15, 2024 Action Agenda Item No. 8-d SUBJECT: Purchase of Budget and Strategic Planning Software and Approval of Budget Amendment #2-C DEPARTMENT: County Manager ATTACHMENT(S): INFORMATION CONTACT: Kirk Vaughn, 245-2153 1. ClearGov Contract Kelly Guadalupe, 245-2156 2. Year to Date Budget Summary PURPOSE: To approve the purchase of Budget and Strategic Plan Software from ClearGov, Inc. and approve Budget Amendment #2-C. BACKGROUND: The County budget office has reviewed its annual budget process and identified several significant weaknesses. These weaknesses cost significant staff time, diminish the accessibility of the budget document, and limit the ability to integrate performance management into the budget process. The County uses the Tyler MUNIS Enterprise Resource Planning software as its primary business system which integrates financial, human resources, payroll, purchasing, and processing of budget requests. This software is well-suited towards annual budgeting, but does not efficiently project personnel costs, nor does it accurately capture multi- year capital budgets. The County also does not currently have a software that creates the annual budget book, nor does it have a software to track and report on performance measures. The budget and strategic planning offices, along with representatives from Human Resources, Information Technologies, Asset Management Services, and Finance and Administrative Services departments reviewed budgeting products from three (3) different vendors. After thorough review, staff recommends ClearGov, Inc. to provide the budgeting and strategic planning software for the County through a four-year contract. ClearGov met all of the significant needs, was the most affordable of the three (3) vendors, and is well represented in North Carolina local governments, including neighboring Chatham County. The County would manage four (4) modules of the Cleargov. Inc. software. This software would be procured under the Buyboard group purchase program. 2 • Personnel Budgeting Module — Allows the budget office to project personnel and benefit costs, as well as manage new personnel requests. Personnel impacts are currrently calculated through cumbersome Excel databases. • Capital Budgeting Module — Allows departments to submit all materials for capital budget requests directly into a secure data system. The departments currently submit materials to the budget office through Excel tables, which are manually entered into an Excel database, creating double or triple entry for budget staff. • ClearPlans Strategic Planning Module — Creates a database where departments can enter performance data directly, and then those performance updates can be hosted digitally on a routine basis. The County currently does not have a software for the new strategic plan, but has used Excel charts for prior performance management efforts like SMART Goals. • Digital Budget Book — Creates an online budget book that is hosted directly on the web for the Operating and Capital budgets. This book will be fed information directly from financial software, automating significant portions of the process. The current budget document is created page by page by the budget office through combining dozens of Microsoft Word and Excel documents. The new software will also improve the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) accessibility of the online document, and will allow for automatic Google translation of text into other languages. The budget book would still be available in print or via portable document format (PDF). FINANCIAL IMPACT: The County would enter into a four-year contract with ClearGov for the budgeting and strategic planning solutions, from November 1, 2024, through June 30, 2028. The four-year total cost is $276,562.40. The FY 2024-2025 cost would be $60,616.67 based on a prorated annual cost, along with some implementation startup costs. The annual cost of the software would be $69,865, with a 3% inflationary adjustment each year. Budget Amendment#2- C appropriates $60,617 from the County Capital Reserve Fund and transfers to the General Fund. This will increase the appropriation in both funds by $60,617. ALIGNMENT WITH STRATEGIC PLAN: This item supports the management and implementation of the Strategic Plan as a whole. RECOMMENDATION(S): The Manager recommends that the Board approve and authorize the Chair to sign the contract for the purchase of the ClearGov Budget Software, authorize the County Manager to execute any renewals, amendments, extensions and other associated legal documents related to the agreement as necessary, and approve Budget Amendment #2-C.