PURPOSE

Staff is requesting Council approval to amend the fiscal year 2005/2006 budget and enter into a Professional Services Agreement with Edgesoft, Inc. for completion of the Enterprise Permitting and Licensing System (ePALS).

BACKGROUND

As part of the fiscal year 2005/06 budget process, funds were approved to commence work on an enterprise permitting system (now referred to as ePALS) based on the success of the pilot permitting project. 

On November 1, 2005 the pilot project was completed on time and within budget.  The project was very successful as both legacy system information and address data were converted from the mainframe into the new environment.  Furthermore, all of the business objectives of the pilot were met and the system is currently running smoothly in production.

During the pilot project several challenges were faced and overcome and, in the process, many lessons were learned that are now being applied to the planning of the remainder of the project.  Based on the success of the pilot and lessons learned the budget estimates have been adjusted to more accurately reflect the true cost of the project.

ANALYSIS

The implementation of the pilot project (for Code Enforcement activity) has met the objectives of the License and Code Division as defined in the business requirements documentation and has put in place the core functionality required for the system to be utilized for the entire enterprise through expansion and enhancements in subsequent project phases. 

After evaluating the success of the pilot the decision was made to move forward with the remainder of the project.  The first part was to finalize and validate the business requirements for Business Tax, Regulatory Licenses, Building Permits, and the Planning modules.  With the completion of these requirements we now have an accurate scope and project costs for which to move forward with at this time.

FISCAL IMPACT

The total cost to complete the ePALS implementation is $575,000 of which $246,348 has been previously appropriated and is currently available in project 15878.  The total amount includes four major system implementations; Planning, Building Permits, Business Tax, and Regulatory Business License Modules. This amount also includes the standard 15% contingency. 

Staff is requesting Council approval to amend the fiscal year 2005/06 budget by appropriating $115,000  from the development impact fee revenue account 127.ND000.41008.1000 into project 15878.  The remaining $213,652 required to complete the project will be requested through the Fiscal Year 2006-07 budget process.

RECOMMENDATION

Staff recommends that Council approve the resolution amending the fiscal year 2005/06 budget and approve the Professional Services Agreement with Edgesoft, Inc.

Attachments: Edgesoft PSA

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