The City of Concord, New Hampshire needed new software that would enhance internal processes and provide citizens and employees with easier access to more information. As the state capital, Concord provides a broad range of services to the community such as utilities, licensing, a cemetery, and recreation, including a golf course, ice arena, city community center and auditorium. Their legacy green-screen system, although advanced for its time, was a very cumbersome solution that was often a barrier for city employees.
To find the appropriate system for the capital city, they embarked on a rigorous, detailed process to find a new software vendor.
Searching for New Software
A year before their formal search for a new software vendor began, the City of Concord brought two groups together, their internal users group and an Information Technology Advisory Committee. The internal users group made up of base-level users of the hardware and software in the city, was asked what tools were needed to do be more efficient. The Information Technology Advisory Committee was made up of local private industry experts with technology experience. After a year of identifying needs for better payroll, bill paying and reporting applications, the city determined what they truly needed was a new Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solution.
To prepare for the daunting task of vendor selection, the capital city enlisted help from the Government Finance Officer's Association (GFOA). The city Finance Director, Jim Howard attended GFOA's ERP Needs Assessment and Project Management workshops to help him prepare for the selection process. GFOA’s consultation provided Concord with structure for their process, including needs analysis and formalization and an assessment of several vendors. GFOA was able to translate the needs of the city employees into the functionality needed in a new solution.
GFOA’s involvement during the selection process also provided credibility to the project. The structure and organization GFOA offered assisted the city with internal acceptance, as well as the evaluation of relevant software vendors.
“GFOA is very structured. In this business if you do not have that kind of structure, you leave yourself open to a lot of criticism,” explains Jim Howard, Finance Director for Concord, N.H.
Working with GFOA, the city issued a Request for Proposal (RFP.) Once the responses were evaluated, the city faced a new challenge: only one of the initial group of responding vendors measured near the city’s requirements at the price they required.
New World Systems Solution
The GFOA consultation gave Concord a better understanding of their needs. Taking what the GFOA had offered under advisement, the city decided to make a final vendor decision on their own. They re-opened the RFP process and New World Systems responded.
“I didn't want to leave any stone unturned and the GFOA consulting business worked well for us,” said Howard. Although GFOA had proven to be helpful, the city wanted the responsibility of the final decision. “If you abdicate all your responsibility to a consultant, you may be disappointed with what you get.”
New World Systems’ Logos.NET Public Administration suite of software offered the City of Concord the functionality they were looking for in a growing product. Developed from the ground up using proven Microsoft .Net technology and industry standard Windows server and SQL server, Logos.NET offered the city a significant improvement in data integrity, enhanced functionality and improved flow of information and reporting.
A Unanimous Decision
The Concord users group was invited to each of the vendor demonstrations and were active participants in the evaluation of each system. At the conclusion of the process the users, as well as the steering committee, voted unanimously for the Logos.NET softare solution from New World Systems.
“Throughout this entire process, I think the reason this has been so successful is the energy and drive coming directly from the users,” said Howard. “I didn't make the decision on New World Systems. It came from the people sitting at the desks.”
Positioned for the Future
The City of Concord is confident in their decision to implement Logos.NET. They are looking forward to an enhanced budgeting process and the ability to incorporate capital improvement programs and formal budget presentation documents. They are also looking forward to the improvements in their everyday lives.
“People’s jobs are going to improve because they will be doing more than paper pushing and data entry, they will add more value to the community,” explains Howard.
They are also planning for the future. One of the reasons the city chose New World Systems over the other vendors was the opportunity for continued development, product opportunity and support.
