Title
AUTHORIZATION FOR THE EXPENDITURE OF FUNDS AND TO ENTER INTO A LINKING AGREEMENT WITH DOCUNITED IMAGING, LLC., FOR THE PURCHASE OF LASERFICHE ENTERPRISE CONTENT MANAGEMENT SYSTEM
Staff Contact: Julie K. Bower, City Clerk
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Purpose and Recommended Action
Recommendation [enter the recommendation here]
This is a request for City Council to authorize the City Manager to enter into a Linking Agreement with DocUnited Imaging, LLC for a term commencing upon approval of the agreement and ending on May 31, 2018. Through an RFP process by the National Cooperative Purchasing Alliance (NCPA)/Region 14 Education Service Center, Laserfiche has been awarded a contract, through its Vendor Authorized Reseller, DocUnited, to distribute its software. This request also includes approval of expenditure authority in an amount not to exceed $380,000 from the FY2017-2018 budget over the life of the agreement.
Please note that the linking agreement expires in 11 months. Pursuant to the Cooperative Purchasing Agreement, purchases can be made by governmental entities from the date of award, which was May 1, 2013, until the date the contract expires on May 31, 2018, unless the term of the Cooperative Purchasing Agreement is extended by the mutual agreement of the original contracting parties. Except for ongoing maintenance, the Clerk’s Office intends to have all purchases completed by May 31, 2018. Laserfiche will be participating in the NCPA RFP process to be awarded another contract but cannot do so until closer to the expiration date of the current agreement. Once a new agreement has been awarded, the Clerk’s Office will present a new Linking Agreement with DocUnited for Council approval.
Background
Cooperative purchasing allows counties, municipalities, schools, colleges and universities in Arizona to use a contract that was competitively procured by another governmental entity or purchasing cooperative. Such purchasing helps reduce the cost of procurement, allows access to a multitude of competitively bid contracts, and provides the opportunity to take advantage of volume pricing. The Glendale City Code authorizes cooperative purchases when the solicitation process utilized complies with the intent of Glendale’s procurement processes. This cooperative purchase is compliant with Chapter 2, Article V, Division 2, Section 2 -149 of the Glendale City Code, per review by Materials Management.
Analysis
The City will be replacing its existing document imaging application with Laserfiche Enterprise Content Management System. The Laserfiche project is funded in the Technology Projects Fund (FY2017-2018 budget) and the price includes:
• Software & software support
• Installation, documentation & training
• Project management services
• Conversion of existing 3.5 million records
Laserfiche will increase efficiency and allow existing documents, such as Word documents, emails, PDFs and spreadsheets, to be easily archived. The search capabilities are much more robust than the City’s current document imaging application, allowing every word in the document to be searched instead of just the title, as is the case with our current application.
One of the most important features is the public portal. This allows the public to go to one place on our website to find public records. It will support the Open Data Project and help make more types of records available online which will reduce public records requests and enhance transparency.
Other features include scalability, portability, workflow, integration with other systems and the ability to create electronic forms. The workflow and electronic forms features would give us the ability to automate our public records request process. There is also a mobile app that would allow someone, such as an inspector, to send or receive electronic reports, forms and pictures, while out in the field.
There will be time and cost savings. Currently, additional work is required by staff in the Clerks’ Office and the Digital Content Program Manager, to make the documents such as ordinances, resolutions, contracts, etc., available on the website. The new system would eliminate this extra work, saving approximately 832 hours of staff time annually, which translates to almost $34,000 in salary and benefits. The nearly 208 hours of staff time saved in the Clerk’s Office, could be used to make additional records available online to the public.
Another area that would provide significant efficiencies would be to switch to electronic contracts. The workflow feature could be used to route the contracts to obtain electronic signatures. This would save approximately 244 hours of staff time annually which is nearly $6,900 in salary and benefits. Those regained hours could be used, for example, to develop training programs for board and commission members and staff liaisons.
These are just a few examples that illustrate what a powerful tool Laserfiche is and how it can be used to increase efficiency and improve transparency.
Community Benefit/Public Involvement
Laserfiche will provide greater transparency to the public with regard to public records. Records will be consolidated in one place on the website and search capabilities will be greatly improved. Currently, the public must look in different locations on the website to retrieve information on contracts, minutes, ordinances, election records, etc. Laserfiche will provide a public portal where citizens can search for all of the documents in one location. The entire document will be searchable instead of just the document title, which is the case now. It will support the Open Data Project, which will make more types of records available online, reducing the number of public records requests and increasing transparency.
Budget and Financial Impacts
Council approved funding for Laserfiche is included in the FY2017-2018 budget.
|
Cost |
Fund-Department-Account |
|
$380,000 |
2592-18500-522700, Technology Projects |
Capital Expense? No
Budgeted? Yes
Requesting Budget or Appropriation Transfer? No
If yes, where will the transfer be taken from?