Previous Board Actions/Updates
On April 8, 2014, the Board approved a contract with Infor Public Sector for the acquisition and installation of a new human resources and financial information system for the County. On June 9, 2015, staff provided a first year project status update to the Board of Supervisors ("Board"). On February 9, 2016, staff provided a second status report on the progress of the project. On September 13, 2016, the Board approved a contract with Kinsey & Kinsey, Inc. (Kinsey) for professional services, including system reviews of the County’s Infor implementations. On December 16, 2016, staff provided a status update including an initial review of the findings and recommendations from system reviews conducted by Kinsey & Kinsey Inc. On April 25, 2017, staff provided an update on the progress of the Kinsey recommendations and improvement efforts. On May 9, 2017, and July 18, 2017, the Board approved amendments 1 and 2 to the Kinsey contract allowing for continued professional services through June 30, 2018.
Current Status
All principal modules (finance, procurement, payroll, and human resources) within the system are implemented and functioning. The system is currently proceeding through an upgrade project. This upgrade includes migration to new servers, as well as updates to our software versions. The upgrade represents a significant amount of work, and the project plan extends through March 2019. The cost associated with this upgrade is included in the County's annual maintenance fees for the system.
Since the last update, Kinsey consultants and staff have continued work on targeted improvements to the system. The system improvements have proceeded well overall, and those remaining tasks are under reconsideration or are currently on hold due to the upgrade project discussed above.
Human Resources and Payroll systems (HR/Payroll) improvements are 55% complete. The remaining recommendations are related to automation of processes or configuration changes. The larger configuration changes should be addressed through timekeeping implementation (further discussed below). The automated processes issues may also be resolved with timekeeping implementation and will be evaluated after that.
The recommended improvements to the Financial system are 79% complete including the two most significant recommendations: the modification of the General Ledger Hierarchy (accounting units), and the redesign of the Project Accounting Ledger (activities). The work to redesign existing workflows (automation) and the design of new workflows continues. One of the targeted workflows is complete and in use with fine tuning occurring as necessary. The other two workflows are currently in testing.
Procurement system improvements are 65% complete. The outstanding changes hinge on the activation of Requisition Center (RQC), a sub-module that allows for a unified approach to purchasing. This activation awaits the completion of the upgrade process described above. The updated version of RQC includes functionality crucial to the recommended improvements. The plan is to engage this effort following the completion of the upgrade in the Spring of 2019.
Status of non-Implemented Systems
Talent Management (employee development) remains on hold. The HR Division accomplished much of the planning and research necessary for the implementation of this module. However, this module and the planned use will also benefit from the new versions included in the upgrade discussed previously. Additionally, HR’s continues to coordinate efforts with the YES team as well as the County’s bargaining units.
Workforce Management (WFM), the timekeeping module, resumed implementation in September and carries a targeted go-live date of February 2019.
Implementation of Dynamic Enterprise Performance Management (dEPM – budgeting), the budgeting module, encountered significant difficulties resulting in the decision to postpone the implementation indefinitely and seek alternative solutions. Ultimately the software suffered a series of underlying deficiencies as well as functional inadequacies. Though Infor is addressing these issues, their timeline is not compatible with the County’s business needs. Therefore alternate software solutions, possibly interim or long-term, have been reviewed and will result in a future staff recommendation for the Board's consideration of how best to proceed. See the section on Budget Management System (below) for further information.
User Experience
Initial 2018 survey data shows that end-user experience with the system has improved with 63% of survey respondents indicating that they know how to use the Infor system to accomplish their job, as compared with 36% in 2016. Nonetheless, while the survey suggests an improvement in end-users feeling that they receive adequate support, further improvement is needed. In other words, training remains an ongoing need for both human resources and finance.
Project Budget
The table in Att. A - Infor Commitments & Payments summarizes the cost information to-date. The Infor Project started in April 2014 with $3.4 million contracted cost approved by the Board. In the ensuing two years, additional work was necessitated, and several change orders totaling $1.6 million were processed and approved by the Board on 2/9/16. Two additional change orders totaling approximately $48,000 were approved by the board on 4/25/17.
Since then additional work was authorized by the Board related to a contract with Kinsey to provide system and process improvements and implementation support resulting in a current contract total of $1.2 million. Significant portions of the Kinsey contract relate to the need to have implementation support for additional modules of Workforce Management and Talent Management which are expanded functionalities.
Thus far, out of the $6.6 million total spending approved by the Board, the County has incurred contract obligations of $6.3 million and made $5.5 million in payments on these costs. These cost data are within acceptable range, bearing in mind that our consultant from Government Finance Officers Association had advised us at the outset to expect total system costs in the range $5-$8 million.
Internal Audit
The Internal Audit division is performing a review of portions of the contract and implementation of the Infor system. Internal Audit is targeting to release their report and related recommendations in November 2018.
Budget Management System
Yolo County has been operating without a budget management system since November 2015, when the new Infor Financial and Procurement system went live and the legacy GenLed system was retired. When this transition occurred, the new Infor budget module had not yet been released, so an interim spreadsheet-based budget process was developed and used to complete the 2016-17 budget.
This interim process was intended to be used as a one-year stopgap measure until the implementation of the budget module could be completed. However, subsequent delays in the release of the budget system, followed by the unsuccessful implementation in the fall of 2017, have necessitated the use of this spreadsheet-based process for three straight years. Furthermore, recent communication from Infor has indicated that the budget module will not be available in the timeframe needed for the upcoming 2019-20 budget process.
While the interim spreadsheet-based process has been functional for developing the County’s budget over the past three years, it is not a viable long-term option. The manual nature of using spreadsheets to develop the budget is time-intensive and inefficient, and creates a heightened risk of errors and omissions. Furthermore, it does not allow the County to make substantive improvements in the budget process, such as improving the accuracy and control of position budgeting, integrating strategic goals and objectives, and developing enhanced reporting.
Due to the continued unavailability of the Infor budget module staff has determined that implementing an alternative budget management system is the best course of action to meet County needs. After a thorough evaluation of potential options, staff recommends contracting with Sherpa Government Solutions for this purpose. Sherpa has successfully implemented budget systems for several other California counties, including San Luis Obispo, San Mateo, Contra Costa, Riverside, and Humboldt. In addition, Sherpa is currently working with Sacramento County on implementation of their budget management system. Staff contacted several of these counties during the evaluation process and received highly positive feedback from each.
Some of the key features of the Sherpa budget system (known as Budget Formulation & Management, or BFM) include:
- A sophisticated workforce budgeting module that allows for precise budgeting for employee salary and benefits
- Versatile and customized budget forms for any type of budget process, such as base budgets, new funding requests, decision packages, cost allocations, etc.
- Ability to create multiple budget scenarios at the departmental or countywide level to evaluate different assumptions or proposals
- A dynamic workflow that allows for different review and approval steps depending on the type of request or departmental requirements
- Sophisticated reporting that will enable data to be quickly and easily summarized and presented in numerous ways
- Intuitive and easy-to-use data entry screens, including download and upload from Microsoft Excel
- Ability to integrate budget monitoring and long-range forecasting
- Capability to link the budget to County strategic goals and performance measures.
Additionally, Sherpa has received the contract to be a budget solution for Infor which will lead to enhanced coordination between Infor and Sherpa. Implementation of the Sherpa BFM budget system will allow the County to complete one of the core outstanding elements of a modern financial system, as envisioned in the County’s Long-Term Financial Plan. Upon approval, staff will begin immediately working with Sherpa to implement the budget system for use in the 2019-20 budget process.
Competitive Bid Process
As part of the process for evaluating different budget systems, staff conducted online research, surveyed other California counties on systems currently being used, visited several neighboring counties to see their systems in action, and held on-site demonstrations from four potential vendors. A panel consisting of staff from the Department of Financial Services, the County Administrator’s Office, Information Technology, District Attorney and Health & Human Services was convened to participate in evaluating the budget systems.
Sherpa’s budget software system is being purchased in accordance with the County’s procurement policy. The County of Sacramento recently selected Sherpa after conducting a competitive solicitation for budget software systems. Sacramento County’s competitive solicitation process is in alignment with how Yolo County would conduct a similar competitive solicitation. Sacramento County’s contract language with Sherpa allows other counties to "piggyback on" their contract. It is the Procurement Division’s opinion that procuring a budget software system in this manner is in the best interests of the County. |