Memorandum No. 03-104
Date: June 18, 2003June 16, 2003
To: Mayor and City Council
Thru: Walt Wrede, City Manager
From: Dean W. Baugh, Finance Director
RE: Financial Software
After review with the Finance Department staff, I have compiled
reasons why Caselle software would facilitate greater efficiency of operations
in the Finance Department for the greater good of the “City that works!”
General
Corbin Willits Systems Inc and their financial software, Multiple
Operations Manager (MOM) is a small company that appears not to be keeping up
with the times. MOM’s has only two
customers in Alaska. Caselle has been
around since 1980 in the west, has nearly 700 clients and is moving into
Alaska. Over the past year Caselle has
signed the Cities of North Pole, Bethel a private business and the City of Kenai
just signed on. Caselle was written by
accountants and is supported by accountants. We feel comfortable that Caselle
will be on top of any future changes/requirements required by GASB.
Reports
MOM’s is not TRUE windows-based software. Caselle was built with an open architecture
and is a true 32 bit windows application allowing the user to have multiple
applications such as Word and Excel open at the same time as Caselle. In MOM’s, many reports are hard to read and
create and when special reports are requested we have to call MOM’s and ask them
to create it. With Caselle, data is easily
transferred into and out of Excel/Word with the simple click of the mouse. Caselle
allows for easy distribution of financial data to department heads, council,
etc. so they can get reports whenever they want, whenever they need them –
24/7. Currently we maintain many
spreadsheets to keep the history we need readily available or to prepare the
many grant or other reports we need.
With Caselle you can scroll down to find the information you need easily
and drill back to the originating source transactions. An example of this is looking at an account
in the General Ledger (GL) and then drilling back to the source document
information in the originating module (such as an A/P invoice or PO). When in MOM’s, it is hard to get what you
need. Often, you have to “reset” i.e.
go completely out of MOM’s and sign in again, because the reports “lock up.” Caselle
has many canned reports already written.
MOM’s has a few canned reports, but they are meaningless. The reports we use in MOM’s are hard to
write and we’re unable to change the format of any reports, so some are hard to
read which make them useless. In Caselle
you can turn canned reports off if no one uses them and save paper. You can also reprint any reports at anytime
in the future. In MOM’s, we print
hundreds of pages and then throw them away because we can’t shut off.
System Security
Steve does not like how the MOM’s software company takes over our
system to make repairs, which happens often.
Having a program written in Visual Basic will allow Steve to tie all of
our storable programs together.
Utilities
We’ve had many incidents of information dropping from Customer
Account. If you own more than one
property, you can’t get consolidated bills, with Caselle you can. When
reviewing an account in MOM’s, you can’t just type a name in and get everything
that person owes, in Caselle we can.
Miscellaneous Accounts Receivable (A/R)
MOM’s AR system is JUNK!!!
It is based on an Accounts Payable system. You can’t send reminder second bills; you have to manually keep
track of delinquencies off the system. The bill created is in bad form, hard to read and only gives one
line for the billing description. Caselle
AR system allows you to do everything a bill system should do, rebilling,
reminders, collection notices, reprint a statement, etc. In their 2001 Letter to Management, the auditors
noted a “systems weakness” in the A/R module, and would like to see a new
program. Having a better A/R module
should help expedite billings and reduce accounts receivable.
Port/Harbor-Marina Software
MOM’s has many problems interacting with our Marina software. They are written in different languages, so
every time either of these programs is changed, we have problems with the
interactive process. With Caselle this
should be easier as they are written in the same language.
Accounts Payable
Even if we don’t change software we will need to purchase the MOM’s
PO system. With Caselle purchase orders
can be filled out and signed on-line.
This will make it easier for anyone to look up purchase orders instead
of having to find the “most recent” copy.
Project Management
Caselle has a project management system that will eliminate the
need to keep track of the projects and grants on separate spreadsheets. MOM’s
also has a project management system however we are reluctant to purchase and
install it due to the problems in the other modules. Even if we don’t change
software we will need to look at purchasing the MOM’s project management
system.
Payroll
Problem example: Budget Codes
on one employee disappeared on a payroll. The Caselle program is set up to do
many of the quarterly reports we do, 941, workman’s comp, etc. These reports now take several man hours each
to create. With Caselle we could have an electronic time sheet system. Time sheets could be filled out, signed, and
sent to the payroll clerk (all on-line).
Payroll could then pull them into the payroll system.
General Ledger
MOM’s will allow erroneous account codes and once created they cannot
be changed. If you enter an account
code in error, it’s there until the mandated date for it to be dropped from the
system, 3-4 years. The account
structure in MOM’s is very cumbersome to utilize. MOM’s does not provide an avenue to change the account numbering system.
With the Caselle accounting program, if you need to change an account number it
will take all of the history with it to the new account.
MOM’s Bank Reconciliation is very difficult. Caselle has a program that collects all
checks written in all accounts. All
deposits from Harbor, Utilities, etc. would show up in the Bank Reconciliation
module for easy reconciliation, MOM’s does not.
MOM’s can not balance the funds correctly. For example: at the end of 2002, when we
were closing out fund balances MOM’s posted to closed funds and keeping the
funds balanced is part of the basics of fund accounting. In the 2002, Letter to Management the
auditors noted this as a problem and while it can be done manually its more
efficient through the software system.
Fixed Assets
With the upcoming GASB 34 requirement, MOM’s is hard to make the changes
necessary to implement these requirements; right now we are setting up Excel
spreadsheets to keep the required records.
Caselle is set up to keep the required data. The Caselle Fixed Asset
module is connected to the A/P or PO module and begins the FA record at time of
purchase in the A/P or PO module.
Problems/Help
MOM’S does weird things that MOM’S can’t explain. MOM’S technicians fix it but can’t explain
why the problem occurred. Example: We asked MOM’s to set up the Trial Balance
to download into Excel – It now does, but while they were setting it up –
problems started occurring in other modules. With MOM’s any time they change
something in an update, it causes problems for weeks because something else
gets messed up that is applicable in another module in the system.
If asked a question from a customer or staff, we have to clear out
of one place to get into the other.
Then you have to close that to go back to work. This takes a lot of time. In MOM’s, you
can’t have two modules open at once, which we need as multi-tasking is
essential in Finance.
This year alone MOM’S replicated a January 2001, entry causing
reconciliation problems. In addition,
MOM’s duplicated a March 2002, general journal entry during the update
process. These problems took time to
find and fix and MOM’S can’t explain why they occurred.
In MOM’s we have problems with the printers. In finance we have five printers available,
but because of the way MOM’s handles printers we have approximately forty print
drivers set up. Every time you want to
print something you must select the printer driver assigned to that report
and/or station.
MOM’s tech support is in California with some of their staff
located in other states further east and/or in India. This means when we have a problem in the afternoon – we may not
be able to get help until the next day.
Caselle’s support staff is located in Utah however they have technicians
on duty during Alaska work hours. Off
duty staff often carries beepers in the evening and weekend hours if they know
a client is experiencing problems or working on a big project.
Training
MOM’s training is provided once a year during a conference in
California. We do have the option to
schedule special on-site training at approximately $800 per day plus expenses. Caselle offers training throughout the year
in Utah. Training session can also be
scheduled in conjunction with Kenai to reduce cost.
In Conclusion
We’ve been researching other programs over the past few
years. We’ve looked at Great Plains,
Springbrooks and Caselle. We’ve
received proposal from Great Plains and Caselle.
With Caselle we have received positive feedback from other clients
especially in the area of tech support.
We will have a single source of entry for most data and won’t have to
rely on as many spreadsheets. It will take
lot of work and time to make a change but we feel that we could provide better management
reporting and record keeping with an updated program. It will also allow us to be of greater service to the employees
and the citizens of this wonderful City.
Purchasing software that is gaining multiple clients in the State
of Alaska will make it easier for problem solving and troubleshooting in the
future.
Purchasing Caselle in conjunction with the City of Kenai will
allow us to share some training costs which will reduce the training cost.
Recommendation
For
the City of Homer to accept the attached proposal submitted by Caselle to
upgrade the accounting software.