Sample Only
City of Port Angeles
Request for Information (RFI) for Integrated Financial Software
and Related Hardware for Local Government
June 15, 2001
The City of Port Angeles is evaluating potential solutions to compare with our existing Financial software systems. Responses to this request will be utilized to identify budget requirements for replacement of computer software and hardware systems. Responses will also be evaluated for technical, functional, and procedural innovations that may be incorporated into a future Request for Proposal. Respondents should evaluate this request and identify all costs associated with a replacement project, including but not limited to, software licensing, hardware, operating system licensing, RDBMS licensing, software maintenance, third party software, third party software maintenance, implementation, conversion, and training. The responding vendor is requested to provide an estimate of all costs associated with the project with the understanding that this is not an actual bid to provide software to the City of Port Angeles.
The City of Port Angeles's Finance System team will evaluate the responses to determine which vendor products meet the City's functional needs. The price range of the products from this RFI, which meet the City's needs, may be used for creating a request in the City's 2002 Budget. If the budget request is approved the City will proceed with the issue of a request for proposal (RFP).
All proposals must provide complete solutions to the City's needs. Seamless integration and one-time entry solutions are preferred. Two or more different vendors may provide a joint response to cover the City's requirements, as long as the proposed systems have complete integration and meet the City's product use requirements in the proposed joint configuration.
Our request includes a description of our key functional requirements and needs for such a system. We will evaluate any additional functionality included in responses for possible inclusion in any eventual request for proposal.
SUBMISSION OF INFORMATION PACKETS
Due Date: July 24, 2001
Submit two copies of your response to:
Finance Director
City of Port Angeles
P.O. Box 1150
Port Angeles, Washington 98362
(360) 417-4600
Label the package: Finance System RFI Response
All expenses for the preparation of information packets are the responsibility of the vendor. All information must be submitted in writing to the office listed. No telegraphic or telephone information will be accepted.
PRODUCT USE REQUIREMENT
Software products shall be currently in use by other customers for a period of at least twelve months. Products shall be in use by at least five municipal or county governments. Products in use by municipal or county governments in the state of Washington shall be preferred.
INFORMATION PACKET COMPONENTS
Include in the packet:
_ A company profile.
_ Brochures and functional specifications.
_ A narrative describing how the product meets the City's functional needs as summarized in the Functional Needs section of this document.
_ Design and Technical Requirements
_ A sample implementation plan including; a schedule of key dates, a recommended training plan, conversion, testing, and installation support.
_ A list of customer references and sites where software is installed. Washington State or Northwestern U.S. sites with electric utility are preferred.
_ A list of any user groups for your software.
_ A description of support services. Do you offer toll-free numbers, dial-in diagnostics, Internet support? Do you provide professional quality documentation?
_ A cost quote for all required and optional components of your software. Please indicate what is required to meet the needs we have specified and what is optional.
_ A description of how often the products are updated and how updates are distributed to clients.
_ Identify all additional expenses required to complete implementation that are not shown in the cost quote.
_ Identify all software modules and options that are part of your system but not included in the cost quote.
_ A statement or response to each of the sections that follow in this document excluding the Functional Needs section, which was addressed earlier. This statement should describe the system's compliance with the identified requirement.
_ A description by module of all current E-government capabilities within the software. If future enhancements are included, the projected release dates should also be provided.
SYSTEM PLATFORM REQUIREMENTS
The software shall be compatible a server on a TCP/IP wide area network. All user interfaces to the application must be GUI enabled and have a common look and feel. Please indicate all hardware requirements including disk storage, server and desktop configuration. The City's desktop computers run the Microsoft Windows NT 4.0 workstation operating system. The City utilizes Hewlett Packard Laserjet printers for print production. Please provide a full description of the application's system architecture requirements.
INTERFACE WITH RELATED CITY APPLICATION SYSTEMS
The City of Port Angeles requires that the financial systems applications interface with non-integrated applications utilized by the City in order to eliminate the duplication of data entry. If a replacement system is selected, the vendor shall be required to work with the City and any application vendor or data services vendor the City continues to utilize to design and implement these interfaces.
Please identify the type of interfacing and integration currently in use by your customers with your proposed system. Identify the type of module (e.g. Foreign Inventory system to our Accounts Payable), the type of interface (e.g. Flat ASCII file exchange, or an Oracle trigger and table, etc.), the purpose of the interface (e.g. the business function), and who developed the interface.
NETWORK O/S
The system must be fully compatible with Windows NT 4.0 workstations.
The system must allow multi-user access and share files without corruption.
The system must allow a minimum of 50 simultaneous users.
The system must provide locking to at least the record level.
SECURITY
The system shall provide access and operational privileges for at least three levels. "Administrator Level" shall allow full functionality of the system, including the ability to administer security. "User Level" shall allow access for input, editing, deletion, and inquiry of data. The "Inquiry Level" shall allow read only access to data via lookup or inquiry tools. The City requires the ability to assign access at the screen (function) level by each user's logon id. The system should display only those functions to which the user has access.
The system should allow the administrator to assign access for each user by function.
PC CONFIGURATION
The software must run on the following workstation environment: Workstations will be IBM compatible, Pentium III 800 Mhz CPU or better PC with a minimum of 256 MB DIMM of RAM, 10 GB hard drive, CDROM Drive 24x, and color VGA monitor. Each workstation will be running Windows NT 4.0 or greater.
100% MS WINDOWS COMPLIANT
Application software should be 100% compliant with MS Windows NT 4.0 workstations. The vendor must supply a statement guaranteeing its compliance with this platform.
The system should be able to allow simultaneous application sessions in Windows NT from the same workstation.
A scroll bar must always be displayed and functioning when the window can not display all of the data on the screen within the current display setting of the user workstation.
REQUIRED SYSTEM TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS
The City requests vendors to provide a detailed description of the system's technical platform by specifying:
1. Programming Language and version
2. Relational Data Base Engine and version
3. Server architecture
FUNCTIONAL NEEDS
The City is looking at replacing an integrated modular system. The primary financial modules the City is looking at include:
General Ledger, Payroll, Accounts Payable, Purchase Order, Accounts Receivable, Cash Receipting, Utility Billing, Budget Tracking, Job/Project Costing, Equipment Management, and Inventory.
In addition the City would be interested in the following functional areas:
Budget Preparation, Human Resource Information System (HRIS), Business Licensing, Fixed Assets, Grant Tracking, Work Order/Maintenance Management, Local Improvement Districts (LID), and Conservation Loan Programs.
The following is a brief description of our current primary financial system modules and a list of our basic needs from each of these modules.
Please describe how your system will meet the business functions described. Respond to each item in the basic needs lists individually. Please provide enough detail in your response so that we will have an understanding of how your system functions in the area described.
System Operations
The system must have a Windows style GUI interface that maintains a consistent and logical look and feel throughout. An administrator should be able to individually assign user security to all menu functions within the system.
System Operations Needs List
1. Does the system provide user level security to the process function level?
2. Does the system provide individual and template style user security settings for read, write, edit, approval, and delete for all process and entry functions?
3. Will the system log all transactions to an audit log that can be used to determine exactly what has occurred on the system?
4. Does the system have a consistent Windows style graphical user interface throughout the system?
5. Does the system license allow for backup of the entire system?
6. Does the system license allow for set up and use of a test system?
7. Will the City have the ability to customize user menus by user and template?
8. Can the City set up an unlimited number of security templates?
9. Can the City customize screens and tool bars?
10. Can the City add external applications or procedures to screens and tool bars?
11. Does the system have the ability to sort and filter inquiries and reports on all data fields for each screen and module? Does the system allow for wild cards?
12. Does the system offer gateways to other systems and products, such as ODBC?
General Ledger
The City currently utilizes an account code structure with both foreground and background coding. There are almost four thousand codes in use. The City uses fund accounting (over 70 funds) with various fund categories. The foreground account code is currently a maximum 17-byte code with four basic account code types. Background coding is tied to the foreground codes in order to facilitate reporting requirements. These requirements include the need to report to the State of Washington using the state's prescribed Budgeting, Accounting & Reporting System (BARS), the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC), Washington State Department of Transportation (DOT), and reporting requirements mandated by GASB 34. The system should be designed for fund accounting, not a modified commercial application.
Posting is done through foreground codes via direct interface with the Purchasing, Accounts Payable, Accounts Receivable, Cash Receipting, Utility Billing, and Payroll systems, as well as direct entry. Transactions are also posted to Job Cost codes that are used by departments as a customizable sub-ledger to the GL. These Job Cost codes are linked to GL account codes via a cross-reference table.
The system must allow posting to all periods until closed. There must be at least 13 periods in a year. The system must accommodate multiple years and allow posting to two open years. Inquiry should be flexible, with drill-down capabilities. The system must be GASB 34 compliant.
1. Is the system designed specifically for fund accounting?
2. Is there a limit on the number of accounts or funds in the system?
3. Does the system link background coding to foreground account codes?
4. What is the maximum foreground account size?
5. Describe the system's background code structure and limits.
6. Is the system currently used by any Washington State local government entities? Which ones?
7. Does the system tie to sub-ledger modules such as Job Cost and Grant Tracking?
8. Describe the direct integration of other modules.
9. Describe the available posting options. (recurring journal entries, automatic reversals, etc.)
10. How many periods are allowed for each fiscal year?
11. How many periods may be open for posting at one time?
12. Does the system allow inquiry and reporting across years?
13. Is the system GASB 34 compliant?
14. Describe any additional features of the General Ledger module.
15. What reporting capabilities are available for the module?
16. Describe the systems year-end processing.
Payroll
The City of Port Angeles is interested in exploring payroll system options that provide integration with General Ledger, HRIS, Job/Project Costing, Budget Preparation, and Time and Attendance systems. Payroll options will need to support multiple payroll types and cycles for approximately 250 regular, seasonal, and special project employees. These include monthly, semi-monthly, bi-weekly, hourly, and "on demand" or "special" payrolls. Suitable options must support both exception reporting and bi-weekly pay where actual time worked is reported. It will need to support multiple bargaining units, including fire and police, as well as a non-represented group.
The payroll system must support standard Federal, State, and retirement reporting requirements including, but not limited to, W-2's, 1099-R's, 941's, 945's, "FastTax" UI reporting for Washington State Unemployment Insurance, new hire reporting, and Washington State Department of Retirement Systems (PERS and LEOFF) electronic reporting. The system will need to process a variety of other employee and employer deductions including such things as IRS section 457 deferred compensation with multiple vendors, IRS section 125 flexible spending accounts, group life insurance, garnishments, union/association dues and fees, and fixed rate, percentage, and combination deductions.
The Payroll system must be able to process a variety of earnings including such things as continuing and one-time special pay, longevity pay, workers' compensation supplemental pay and time bank re-credit, and various contractual overtime and compensatory time entitlements. It will need to process retroactive salary adjustments, possibly cross-year. The system will need to process FLSA entitlements for various groups, including fire and police, where FLSA periods may be triggered by date and, possibly, by hour. The system must support direct deposit processing. It must maintain and increment various non-worked time banks such as vacation, sick leave, holidays, bonus hours, and special vacation days.
The Payroll system must maintain a historical record of all changes made and support ad hoc and routine reporting of this data. It will also need to provide on-screen inquiry to payroll data with multilevel security checks.
1. Will the system support both exception and positive time reporting for payroll?
2. Does the system have monthly, semi-monthly, bi-weekly, hourly, and on-demand payroll capability?
3. Does the system have the reporting and deductions capabilities identified above?
4. Does the system have the ability to set up custom earning codes?
5. Describe the system's time bank processing capabilities.
6. Describe the system's retroactive payroll adjustment process.
7. Describe how the system handles FLSA entitlements.
8. Can the system process direct deposits to multiple accounts per employee?
9. Does the system provide for direct deposit file transmission?
10. Can the system produce payroll checks and check stubs that detail time bank and deduction information? Are these forms modifiable by the system administrator?
11. Does the system allow for electronic automated bank reconciliation and positive pay formatting?
12. Describe the Payroll system's reporting capabilities.
13. Does the system allow the importation of data from foreign time tracking systems?
14. Describe how the Payroll system is integrated with Job Cost.
15. Describe how the Payroll posts to the General Ledger.
16. Describe how the Payroll system is integrated with Accounts Payable.
Time and Attendance
The City of Port Angeles has nearly 250 employees, including part time and temporary employees. These employees are spread through multiple bargaining units. Employees are paid on a variety of bases including hourly, salaried, longevity, out of class, shift differential, and education pay.
The City of Port Angeles is interested in exploring Time & Attendance Administration options that allow for centralized and decentralized, secure time entry. The system must have the ability to interface with Payroll, HRIS, General Ledger, Job/Project Costing, Equipment Management, and Work Order/Maintenance Management, on a detailed and/or summarized basis, as the City chooses. This system must provide physical or electronic signatures to indicate approval of time submitted. It must allow corrections to time entry with the ability of locking out changes after approval is received on each level of submission (e.g. employee, supervisor, and payroll levels). It must maintain and enforce proper non-worked time usage, or properly interface with the module that would maintain non-worked time information. The system must support a variety of overtime and compensatory time entitlements required by law or bargaining unit agreements, and a variety of special pays which are calculated on hours worked (e.g. shift differential, and higher classification pay). The system must be able to track absenteeism, both individually and as an aggregate, by reason and pay status during absences.
The Time & Attendance system would be required to support tracking of the Family Medical Leave Act (FMLA) entitlements. It would also be required to support collection of data to facilitate Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) payments, retirement reporting, and proper payment of late time documents. This will require both daily and, at times, hourly recognition of time, on an individual level, in order to identify the appropriate FLSA pay period.
The system must support the import of time and attendance data from foreign systems. The system must also support ad hoc and routine reporting on a centralized and decentralized basis.
An additional feature the City is interested in is a scheduling system. Worked and non-worked time could be planned, scheduled, and edited as necessary, then automatically rolled into a time document ready to submit for the pay period.
1. Does the Time and Attendance system allow both centralized and decentralized time entry simultaneously?
2. Describe the entry process including the security features.
3. Does the system integrate with Payroll, HRIS, General Ledger, Job/Project Costing, Work Order/Maintenance Management, and Equipment Management? Indicate if the integration is on a summary or detail level, or if both options are allowed.
4. Describe the system's signature authorization.
5. Describe how the system would process overtime, special compensatory time entitlements, and special pays.
6. Does the system track FMLA entitlements?
7. Does the system track FLSA payments?
8. How does the system handle missing time documents?
9. Describe the system's reporting features and standard reports.
10. Does the system offer a scheduling feature? Describe.
11. Does the system allow the import of time and attendance data from foreign systems? Describe.
Accounts Payable
The City of Port Angeles has approximately 10,000 vendor records on file. In 2000, the City issued over 8,000 checks through the AP system and paid over 15,000 invoices. These totals include invoices and checks paid to payroll vendors.
The Accounts Payable system should be fully integrated with other financial modules such as General Ledger, Purchase Order, Inventory/Warehouse Management, Accounts Receivable, Utility Billing, Payroll, Job/Project Costing and Fixed Assets. The system should handle high transaction volumes, and allow for batch processing that include edit and approval functions. The system should provide standard search capabilities to prevent duplicate vendors. The system should allow for selective purging and archiving of data and vendors based on transaction date range or status parameters.
The AP system should provide vendor management functionality that includes the data attributes of each vendor such as discount, payment terms, etc., and default to these attributes during invoice processing. The system should track 1099 information for vendors and be able to produce 1099 reports, forms and files for transmission. The AP system should also include multiple vendor addresses, contacts, parent-child vendor relationship links, one-time vendors, and user-defined codes for grouping vendors.
The AP invoice processing functionality should include the ability to check for duplicate transaction numbers on invoices, checks, etc. and allow for cancellation of invoices. The system should have the ability to automatically decrease commitments from purchase orders in part or in full and allow for direct entry of invoices and entry of recurring invoices. The system must include the ability to automatically calculate sales tax and/or use tax paid to a separate vendor. The system should be able to process electronic invoices, support electronic invoice approvals based on company-defined business rules, and route invoices for approval with a full audit trail.
The system's payment processing functionality should include a wide range of selection criteria for payment generation such as by vendor, due date, discount date, regular AP versus payroll AP, and include the ability to flag invoices to prevent them from being paid and allow holdbacks. The AP system should have a selection of check printing options such as laser, line printer, stubs, and include the ability to process manual checks. The system should include the ability to pay by direct deposit, support a variety of electronic funds transfer formats and e-mail remittance advices. The system must have the ability to void and completely reverse out a payment and reopen an invoice for future payment. The system must allow for electronic automated bank reconciliation and positive pay formatting.
Report and analysis functionality should include a variety of report options such as aging analysis, cash requirement analysis, 1099 activity and forms and electronic or magnetic media files, manual checks, system generated checks and direct deposit registers, void check registers, invoice cancellation registers, GL posting and reconciliation listings, vendor activity summaries, and sales/use tax reports.
1. Is the Accounts Payable system fully integrated with General Ledger, Purchase Order, Inventory/Warehouse Management, Payroll, Job/Project Costing, Fixed Assets, and Accounts Receivable? Describe the integrations of each module.
2. Describe the data fields kept for each vendor within the system.
3. Does the system have the option for one-time vendors? Describe.
4. Describe the system's 1099 tracking and processing capabilities.
5. How does the system avoid duplicate entry of invoices and vendors?
6. Describe the system's invoice entry process and how it affects Purchase Order data.
7. Can the system set up and process recurring invoices with one time entry of the invoice?
8. Describe the system's invoice approval options.
9. Will the system calculate and distribute sales tax for individual vendors?
10. Describe the system's ability to select invoices for payment and to process partial payments.
11. Can the system be used to enter paperless transactions such as wires?
12. Describe the system's check printing capabilities.
13. Does the system have the ability to process direct deposits and electronic funds transfers?
14. Does the system allow automated check reconciliation and positive pay?
15. Describe the system's invoice cancellation, void check, and payment reversal processes.
16. Describe the standard report and inquiry functionality for the system.
17. Describe how transaction history is maintained in the system.
Purchase Order
The City of Port Angeles produces an average of 200 Purchase Orders each year. These Purchase orders are a combination of open PO's and regular PO's.
The Purchase Order (PO) module should be a fully integrated module with the Accounts Payable, Job/Project Costing, Budget Tracking, Bid Tracking, General Ledger, Inventory/Warehouse Management, Equipment Management and Work Order/Maintenance Management modules.
The Purchase Order system should have the ability to encumber funds and issue purchase orders either by line item or total project with the ability to liquidate partial or full amounts. The system should be configurable to perform budget checking at entry, including an option to turn off budget checking. It should accept credits. The system should have the ability to fax or e-mail Purchase Orders with a single command, the ability to issue annual or open purchase orders with multiple draws and the ability to be quantity driven. The system should automatically calculate sales tax, where applicable. It should be able to handle decentralized or centralized Purchasing and requisition entry. It should allow creation of consolidated Purchase Orders from approved requisitions. The system should have security to allow approval controls at a minimum of three levels, with the levels being dollar level, individual or department driven. It should provide a full range of inquiry functions including shipping details, expense details, comments and description, vendors, purchase order numbers and dates. It should have the ability to edit and adjust purchase orders using appropriate security. It should have the option to enter and track various types of taxes, such as sales tax or special taxes.
1. Is the Purchase Order module fully integrated with Accounts Payable, Inventory/Warehouse Management, Bid Tracking, Work Order/Maintenance Management, Job/Project Costing, Equipment Management and General Ledger?
2. Does the PO module encumber funds?
3. Can the system track credits? Describe.
4. Describe the options for delivery of a Purchase Order.
5. Does the system allow open purchase orders with multiple draws and adjustments?
6. Will the system calculate sales tax on purchases where applicable?
7. Does the system allow both centralized and decentralized entry of purchase requests?
8. Will the system consolidate multiple purchase requests into purchase orders?
9. Describe the system's approval control options.
10. Describe the system's data fields and lookup options.
11. Describe the system's ability to include additional tax and fee information.
Accounts Receivable
The City currently has an integrated AR system. The City's Landfill generates approximately 2,400 invoices each year. Other departments generate approximately 4,000 invoices for various services, including Fire's Medic One Ambulance services, Police services, Parking and Business Improvement Assessments (PBIA), and leases.
The AR module should allow decentralized operations and cover the needs of a number of departments. Security should be by area (Fund/Department) and by type (Payments/Credit Memos).
The module must have the following features:
Create invoices, delinquency notices, statements, etc.,
Calculate finance charges (multiple methods),
Allow write-down/write-offs,
Allow partial payments,
Provide customer transaction history,
Provide a variety of Aging Reports,
Allow for different Net terms,
Provide an audit trail report,
Provide daily cash receivable posting reports,
Provide open invoice snapshot report,
Provide sales journals by revenue and AR code,
Provide departmental billing summaries and detail reports.
The module should also allow the user to specify a detail or summary interface to the GL. It should provide a centralized tracking function.
1. Does the system allow multiple statement and invoice formats?
2. How would the system handle different groups of customers for different City Departments?
3. Would the system allow different customer number ranges for each Department?
4. Can system access security be set on AR groupings for different types of services being billed?
5. List the terms the system allows.
6. Does the system allow late fees and finance charges to be customized by customer group or service type?
7. Describe the standard reports the system provides.
8. Does the system allow partial payments, write-downs, and write-offs?
9. Can the system post transactions to the GL in summary by account or detail format?
10. Describe any additional features of the Accounts Receivable module.
Cash Receipting
The City of Port Angeles currently has a Cash Receipting system that interfaces with General Ledger, Accounts Receivable, and Utility Billing. The system must run on a standard PC connected to a Receipt printer and Cash Drawers. The system must be able to control the functionality of this equipment.
Security must be able to be assigned by cashier. Transactions must be categorized with customizable transaction codes. The system transactions must be able to be reconciled by day, cashier, and payment type to actual receipt balances. Cash Receipting must be able to post summary and detail level transactions to Utility Billing, and Accounts Receivable, and the General Ledger. Transaction codes that post to the General Ledger must be able to post to multiple GL account codes with generated cash code offset transaction that can be assigned or defaulted to that affected fund's cash account.
The system must be able to void transactions with reversing entries rather than deletions. All activity must be tracked in a log.
1. Will the Cash Receipting system integrate with General Ledger, Utility Billing, and Accounts Receivable?
2. What other modules does this system integrate with?
3. Will the system process with and control standard receipt printers and cash drawers?
4. What methods of payment does the system support?
5. Describe the fields available for transaction codes.
6. Describe the reconciliation process of the system.
7. Can the system post to other modules at both summary and detail levels?
8. Will the system divide individual transactions to multiple GL codes by dollar or percent?
9. Can the system calculate, apply, and split Sales Tax to a separate GL account code?
10. Can the system apply custom GL account codes for the transaction offset?
11. Can the system apply Utility and/or Accounts Receivable payments to those systems based on outstanding amounts per account code?
12. Describe the reports available from the system.
13. Describe the system's audit and fraud prevention capabilities.
14. Does the system allow for entry via optical or bar code devices?
Utility Billing
The City currently processes bills for approximately 10,000 customers for Electric, Water, Waste Water, Solid Waste, and Medic One. The City may add a Storm Water Utility in the future. The City has both metered and non-metered services. Each of the individual utilities, Electric, Water, Waste Water, Solid Waste and Storm Water has their own General Ledger funds.
The Utility Billing module must be integrated with Cash Receipting, General Ledger, and Work Order/Maintenance Management. The system must also integrate with meter reading management systems, and optical or bar code devices for payment entry.
The City charges late fees, disconnect fees, and connection fees and has some manually billed accounts. The City also bills itself for utilities and requires payments for its own accounts to be made through General Ledger transactions. The City has direct withdrawal payment options from customer bank accounts for bill payment. The City is investigating Internet based payment and bill presentment alternatives.
The system is required to manage routes for meter reading. Meters that cannot be read need to be estimated. These reads may eventually be done using radiometers or automatic meter reading.
Currently, the City produces 8 ½ X 11 sized bills and shut off notices on a laser printer. These bills have bar codes indicating the account number and the amount of the bill on the City's portion of the stub.
1. Does the system have a Utility Billing module that is integrated with Cash Receipting, General Ledger, and Work Order/Maintenance Management?
2. Does the system integrate with meter reading management systems, and optical or bar code reading equipment?
3. Will the system accept an external file for payment posting?
4. Can the system charge a late fee based on a percentage of the amount due with a minimum?
5. Can the system charge preset connect and disconnect fees?
6. Can the system identify the City's own utility accounts and generate appropriate payment/revenue transactions to the General Ledger, without requiring check processing?
7. Does the system have an auto withdrawal feature for automatic bill payment from customer bank accounts?
8. What methods of payment does the system support?
9. Describe the system's Internet bill presentment and payment features.
10. Describe the system's meter reading route management capabilities.
11. Describe the system's consumption estimate options.
12. What bill formats does the system support? Are the formats modifiable by the system administrator?
13. Describe the reports that the system provides.
14. Does the system account for each service separately?
15. How does the system handle unapplied cash due to an overpayment?
16. Describe the systems budget billing functions.
17. How many electric utility customers use your software?
18. Describe the systems audit features.
Budget Tracking
The General Ledger system provides budget tracking to the account code level. The City currently estimates annual budget amounts for Revenue and Expense account codes. The system provides the option to ignore, issue warnings, or stop processing when the budget for a code is exceeded. The system also allows for allocations of the annual budget to accounting periods. The City currently develops the budget in an external application and then inputs it to the Budget System.
Reporting must be available for adopted, revised or both budgets at the requested level. Amendment of the revised budget must be allowed. It must also allow budget transfers between departments and funds, and budget carry-forward to ensuing years.
1. Does the system perform budget tracking?
2. Describe the available budget periods (i.e. annual, quarterly, monthly, per accounting period, etc.)
3. Can the system track multiple budgets for a single budget period, such as an original adopted budget, and a revised budget?
4. What options are available to link and limit actual expenditures to budget?
5. Describe the methods by which a budget may be loaded to the system.
6. Describe the procedures to amend a budget on the system.
7. Describe the options to inquire and report on budget to actual comparisons.
8. Can the system report on budget history across multiple years?
9. Are there real time budget to actual inquiry functions? Please describe.
10. Describe any additional features of the Budget Tracking module.
11. Can the system track Grant budgets?
Job/Project Costing
The Job/Project Costing module should be fully integrated with the Time and Attendance, Payroll, HRIS, General Ledger, Accounts Payable, Cash Receipting and Purchase Order modules. If installed, the other modules with which it should be integrated are Inventory/Warehouse Management, Work Order/Maintenance Management and Equipment Management.
A "job" could have a single activity or many activities, may be urgent or routine, may be a one-time job or a repetitive job. It may be of short or long duration and could span years. The module should capture expense and revenue to a very detailed level. Some jobs may require little detail, others a great deal of detail. The system must allow ad hoc reporting on this data.
The Job Costing module should have the capability of recording all job-related data using a single source document/data entry point. The system should provide on-line inquiries and reports at summary and detail levels. The Job Costing module should categorize by revenues and expenses, and show comparisons of actual transactions to estimates.
The City of Port Angeles currently uses a Job Costing module to track grant expenditures. Similar capability, either in a Job Costing module or a Grant Tracking module, is required.
1. Describe the integration of Job Costing to the other modules in the system.
2. Describe the linkage of Job Cost identifiers to GL account codes.
3. Will the system track a job across years?
4. Will the system track jobs across multiple accounting funds?
5. Describe the allowable levels of job coding in the system.
6. Does the system allow ad hoc reporting on Job Cost data?
7. Does the system have a single point of entry for all Job Cost data?
8. Describe the data entry process.
9. Does the system allow inquiry and reporting at summary and detail levels?
10. Does the system track estimated revenues and expenses for a job at all levels?
11. Does the system track actual revenues and expenses of a job at all levels?
12. Will the system show comparisons of actual to estimated data?
13. Describe any additional features of the Job Cost module.
14. Does the system allow for overhead to be calculated on Payroll?
Equipment Management
The Equipment module should be fully integrated to Job Costing and Inventory as well as other applicable modules.
This module should handle the use of equipment in jobs, recording costs and usage to the job. Inquiries and reports on equipment costs and usage should be available.
1. Does the system have an Equipment module?
2. Describe the integration of the Equipment Module to other modules.
3. Does the module track equipment costs and usage, including fuel?
4. Describe any additional features of the Equipment module.
Inventory/Warehouse Management
The City of Port Angeles processes inventory requests through our Inventory system. The City runs a parts room and a municipal warehouse. Most of the inventory requests come from the City's Public Works Department.
The Inventory/Warehouse module should be fully integrated with Purchase Orders, Accounts Payable, General Ledger, Job/Project Costing, Equipment Management, Accounts Receivable, and Work Order/Maintenance Management.
The system should be able to cycle count and utilize barcode technology for data entry of sales, purchases, inventory control, and issues. The system should be able to track history of all parts including vendor, bid, manufacturer, to whom the part is issued, departmental use, and equipment information. It should have an easy to use report writer for Inventory/Warehouse Management information. It should have the ability to issue a part without cost and then cost out the part through the invoice entry process. It should have the ability to sell parts to multiple GL codes, Jobs, and Work Order numbers. It should have the ability to sell to an outside customer such as another government agency.
1. Is the Inventory system integrated with Purchase Orders, Accounts Payable, Bid Tracking, General Ledger, Job/Project Costing, Equipment Management, Accounts Receivable, and Work Order/Maintenance Management?
2. Describe the system's ability to utilize bar code technology.
3. Describe the system's data structure and key fields.
4. Describe how the system tracks the cost of a part.
5. Can the system sell a part to an outside agency?
6. Describe the system's standard reports.
Budget Preparation
The City of Port Angeles currently prepares an annual budget in a system that is external to the City's General Ledger and Budget Tracking modules. Budgets are prepared at the account level for revenues and expenses. The system tracks a five-year history and a six-year projection of Budgets within the preparation system. The budget is divided into a sublevel of the Department area in the accounting system called group. People working on the budget are assigned access to individual groups. Budget reporting may be done by group or across several groups.
The City develops salary and benefit expense budgets for each group in a separate area from the other budget items. The salary and benefit expenses are summarized and rolled into the group budgets where they can only be read. The system must integrate with the General Ledger to collect actual expense and revenue history and with the HRIS and Payroll systems for position, salary, and benefit data.
The system must be able to generate reports and graphics for a budget in process and a final budget document. There must be at least three phases in the budget development process with fields to hold the budget from each phase. There must be standard and custom reporting capabilities. There must be comment fields for History, Current, and Projected budget information. There must be fields for the previous year's budget; the previous years revised budget, and actual current year to date numbers.
Access to the budgets must be able to be actively controlled by budget administrators.
1. Does the system integrate with General Ledger, Budget Tracking, HRIS, and Payroll?
2. Can budgets for revenues and expenses be developed to the account code level and prepared by account code grouping?
3. Does the system maintain at least five years of actual history?
4. Can the system project at least six years of budget?
5. Is detailed salary and benefit information held in a separate, secure location from the rest of the budget?
6. Describe the system's security and reporting capabilities.
7. Describe the fields that may be tracked for each budget line.
Human Resources Information System (HRIS)
The City is seeking a Human Resource Information System (HRIS) that is integrated with the Payroll, Time and Attendance, Budget Preparation and General Ledger software functions to reduce or eliminate the need for duplicate data entry. The system needs to maintain demographic information, historical employment and salary information and provide reports on demand. The City has approximately 250 active employees in multiple bargaining units and a variety of classification and compensation programs. This includes tracking enrollment information and cost for both employees and family members in medical, dental, and vision plans. We also desire features that will support the administration of our benefit programs; which are both premium paid, and self-insured and/or administered.
The system should be capable of producing EEO reports, attendance/absenteeism reports, tickler reports on performance reviews, and termination reports that allow analysis of turnover by location, department, classification, length of service, reason for leaving, EEO codes, etc. We need the software to assist in the administration of position control, job classifications and wage administration. Additionally, we are interested in features that support the tracking and monitoring of renewals for training, certifications, and performance reviews.
It is important that any system support single point data entry of employee, position, payroll, and personnel information. It is also important that multiple users have access to HRIS and payroll information, with multi-level protections provided for privacy and security. The system should provide easy access to a multitude of reports by other departments.
1. Is the HRIS integrated with Payroll, Time and Attendance, Budget Preparation, and General Ledger?
2. Describe the demographic and historical employment information tracked by the system.
3. Describe the system's standard and custom reporting capabilities.
4. Describe how the system administers benefit enrollment, including report capabilities, and how benefit premiums are paid.
5. Describe the system's position control capabilities.
6. Describe how the system could assist with job classification, wage administration, and benefit administration.
7. Describe the functionality and sub-modules included within the HRIS system.
8. Describe the system's capability to maintain electronic personnel files on employees.
9. Describe employee self-service features, security, and privacy.
10. Describe reporting options within the system.
Business Licensing
The City currently has over 150 active registered businesses. The Business Registration and Tax Collection System is used to administer the City's Business and Occupations taxes. On this system we register businesses operating within the City, send tax statements on a monthly, quarterly, or annual basis depending on the gross receipts of the business, process payments, administer receivable accounts, and provide statistical information on business in the City. The system should allow entry of gross receipts and total deductions by various tax categories and tax rates set up by City Ordinances. The system should calculate taxes due, apply payments, and calculate balance outstanding. The system should assess various late penalties depending on the tax category, track delinquent accounts, and produce various collection letters. Other pertinent customer information including UBI Numbers, SIC Numbers, Neighborhood Codes, various dates, type of business, contacts, etc., require tracking in the system. The system should allow batch entry of taxes paid as well as edit and approval. The system should produce various tax forms, delinquency reports, summary of gross receipts, deductions, taxes due and paid, penalties, and adjustments, as well as detail reports for specific or range of customer accounts. The system should also have an ability to produce various statistical and user-defined reports based on the data within the system.
1. Is the system integrated with General Ledger and Cash Receipting?
2. Can the system calculate taxes due for multiple categories and rates based on gross receipts and deductions?
3. Can the system administer receivable taxes and generate late fees?
4. Can the system track and report on missing and delinquent tax periods for a registered business?
5. Describe the available fields for customer information.
6. Describe the system's reporting capabilities.
Fixed Assets
Our current Fixed Asset system is standalone, tracking over 2000 items. The system should be bar code compatible and scanner readable. It must be capable of tracking project costs, consolidating construction in progress when completed. It must report on projects by year or project life. Funds and sub-funds should be user defined.
Coding of assets must be flexible to cover asset types and locations, including grant purchases. The system must be GASB 34 compliant, having the flexibility to record infrastructure items. In addition to adding assets it must have the ability to transfer, surplus, reassign and make adjustments to assets. It should also allow the integration of improvements to existing assets, including "make-ready, make-sale" changes to fleet assets. Depreciation must be flexible to accommodate asset adjustments and cover a variety of methods.
Reporting and history must be equally thorough and flexible. The following six reports must be included:
Asset listing (all),
Asset listing (by department/location),
Accounting detail and summary by fund, showing transfers, retirements, depreciation, etc.,
Stand-alone depreciation reports,
Capital additions and retirements,
Non-capital additions and retirements.
Structural detail must include: location, building, fund, number identifier, asset description, capital or non-capital designation, serial number, cost, date acquired, depreciation account number, type, class and a comments section.
The system must also provide levels of security, including the administrative ability to change permanent data.
1. Is the fixed asset system integrated with Accounts Payable, Purchase Orders, Inventory/Warehouse Management, Equipment Management, Job Cost, and General Ledger?
2. Is the system capable of producing bar code labels and interfacing with scanners?
3. Will the system consolidate project costs to fixed assets by year and project life?
4. Is the system GASB 34 compliant?
5. Provide a detailed list of the data fields for Fixed Assets including a brief description of each field.
6. Does the system allow for the transfer, surplus, and reassignment of assets?
7. Does the system allow improvements to existing assets?
8. Describe the depreciation options allowed by the system.
9. Provide a brief description of each standard fixed asset report.
10. Describe any additional features of the Fixed Asset module.
Grant Tracking
This application must allow grant budgeting and reporting on a yearly or project basis. It must track grant revenues and expenditures. It must be able to track multiple grants funding a single project, multiple projects for a single grant, commingled grant and non-grant monies, and across fund/departmental lines.
Standard reports should provide established grant reporting formats.
1. Does the application have options for tracking grant funding?
2. Can the system produce a statement of revenues and expenditures for a single grant?
3. Does the system track the use of multiple grants and non-grant monies for a single project?
4. Can a single grant be used on multiple projects?
5. Can a single grant be used in multiple funds and departments?
6. Describe any additional features of the Grant Tracking module.
7. Will the system track a budget for each Grant?
8. Describe how the system integrates with other modules.
Bid Tracking
The City issues bids for items and services as well as requests for information, quotation, and proposal. The City issues between ten and twenty bids per year. The Bid Tracking module is used to track the status of the Bids and requests, to provide information to the vendors who would respond, and to keep track of the results of bids. The Bid module should be fully integrated with the following modules: Purchase Order, Inventory/Warehouse Management, and Accounts Payable.
The bid module should have the ability to post bids on the City's web site and deliver information via that web site. The bid module should have the ability to receive and maintain information about vendors that register for bids from the web site.
The bid module should have a single point of data entry for bid award pricing. When a bid is awarded, the pricing and vendor information should flow back to the Inventory/Warehouse Management, and Purchase Order modules. The bid module should track the following information; bid items, bid specification holders, award vendor, contract length and terms, and bid specifications. Each individual bid item should be able to be tracked back to a stocked or non-stocked item in the Inventory/Warehouse Management module.
1. Does the system bid tracking module integrate with Purchase Orders, Inventory/Warehouse Management, and Accounts Payable?
2. Can registered vendor information post from a web site to the Bid Tracking module?
3. Can the module track what registered vendors have downloaded bid specifications from the web site?
4. When a bid is awarded in Bid Tracking, will the system update the cost and vendor information to a, Purchase Order and to Inventory/Warehouse Management?
5. Describe the data fields the system has in Bid Tracking.
6. List the standard reports the system generates from Bid Tracking.
Work Order/Maintenance Management
The City's Public Works division currently utilizes a Work Management, Time Entry, and Equipment Management software package to manage Street, Traffic, Water Distribution System, Waste Water Collection System, Storm Drainage, Waste Water Treatment Plant, and Water Treatment Plant assets and personnel. This includes, but it not limited to the following functions:
Citizen service requests (drainage problems, traffic light outage, potholes, missed garbage pickup, etc.)
Work orders, work scheduling and tracking. (Labor, Equipment, and materials)
Inventory of infrastructure/equipment data and history.
Job control and costing, including detailed data (labor, equipment & parts costs).
Inventory of Public Works assets for Water Distribution Systems, Sewer and Storm Collection Systems, Street and Traffic, and Water and Wastewater Plants, including history of asset.
Equipment/Asset reliability analysis.
Create, update and view information from remote sites or via Internet/wireless connection.
Preventative and predictive maintenance scheduling.
Inspections and tests such as sewer TV Inspections, smoke tests, line and manhole inspections.
Labor/Leave time entry for timesheets.
Vehicle and equipment usage.
Parts usage and costs.
Contractors and other invoice costs.
GIS integration.
Describe the system's capabilities with regard to the functions listed above.
Local Improvement District Administration (LID)
LID's are neighborhood capital improvement projects that are funded, in whole or in part, by property owners (participants) that benefit from the improvement. The City will finance the project and administer receivable accounts for the participants. The participants are billed annually at an interest rate determined at the time the LID project is set up. The system is required to track the funding of each project in total and by individual participant. The City currently has 1 LID with over 20 participants.
When a project is entered, the estimated cost of the project is allocated to the participant accounts based on a participant percentage. This percentage is entered manually at the time the account is set up and may be adjusted until final actual costs for the project are allocated to the participant accounts. The participants have the option to pay the principle amount at the time the final costs are posted or they can pay annually with finance charges based on the interest rate assigned to the LID. Participants may pay off their principle at anytime. If a participant is late for a payment the system should be able to assess a late charge under the terms of the LID.
The system must be able to produce amortization schedules, bills, statements, payment reports, transaction reports, billing reports, delinquency letters, delinquency reports, and trial balances. The system should integrate with the General Ledger and the Cash Receipting modules.
1. Does the system integrate with Cash Receipting and General Ledger?
2. Can the system allocate preliminary and final costs to participant accounts based on a percentage for each account within the project?
3. Will the system provide bills, statements, and reports as described above?
4. Can the system provide reporting at both the participant and project levels?
5. Can the system process different interest rates and terms by project?
Conservation Loan Programs
The City has a conservation loan program in conjunction with our electric power provider that allows for homeowners to update various items on their home in order to conserve more energy. These loans work very similar to a home mortgage loan. Currently the program we use is built in Microsoft Access.
1. Describe any functions that your system has that would accommodate loan repayment.
2. How does this module integrate with other modules, such as Cash Receipting?
COST ESTIMATE
To assist with the preparation of your cost estimate we have provided the following basic format for this information. Please utilize the format in order to provide us with the ability to analyze this data consistently. Assume the City will have a minimum of 50 simultaneous users and 200 total users on the financial system. Please provide a detailed narrative of all assumptions made in order to produce this estimate including the level of additional labor and material commitments that the City should provide during all phases of the process. Identify references that the City may contact that are of a similar size and who have recently gone through a similar implementation of your software.
FINANCIAL SYSTEM RFI COST SHEET
1. Client Software Products:
__________________________________ $
__________________________________
__________________________________
Reporting Module
Total Client Software Products $
2. Server Software Products:
__________________________________ $
__________________________________
Indicate Business Functions Provided By Each Module
Total Server Software Products $
3. Professional Services and Fees:
System Installation $
Training
Annual Service and Maintenance
Project Management
System Set-Up Consultation
System Support Fees
Total Professional Services and Fees: $
4. File/Data Conversion $
5. Recommended Itemized Hardware Cost $
Implementation
Annual Maintenance
Total Hardware Services and Fees: $
6. RDBMS Cost $
Implementation
Annual Maintenance
Total RDBMS Services and Fees: $
7. Custom programming rate per hour $
8. Optional Software Products:
__________________________________ $
__________________________________
__________________________________
Total Optional Software Products $