Phase 1 of the City of Lloydminster’s plan to replace its aging municipal and financial software is underway.
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“The City’s current financial and municipal software, which is Microsoft Dynamics GP (Great Plains), will reach its end-of-life Dec. 31, 2029,” said Allison Moorhead, director of information technology, City of Lloydminster.
Although the software reaches its end of life at the end of 2029, administration recommends planning efforts begin for the new software immediately. This is due to the growing demand for the replacement systems.
Administration outlined what the consultant will do.
“They will lead requirements gathering, stakeholder engagement activities and support the procurement process for selecting both the software solution and implementation consultants,” said Moorhead, noting work won’t be done by a single consultant.
“Part of the pre-implementation would include a consulting firm that would have depth to support where we don’t have depth within our organization,” she said.
Moorhead says the funding is part of the previously-approved $5.5 million.
“This is part of the $5.5 million that was approved (at a previous council meeting),” she said, noting the cost is expected to be no more than $700,000 for this phase.
Coun. Michele Charles Gustafson explained the importance of hiring a consultant.
“I thought of it like this: if you’re going to build a skyscraper, you’re not going to start with the brick, you start with the architect,” she said.
City manager Dion Pollard says skipping this step in the past led to some challenges.
“We didn’t do this step, or we didn’t fully get into this step last time in 2017. We had a number of challenges over the last five to 10 years that made us move in this direction to make sure we took this step,” he said. “It’s certainly learning from others but also from our own mistakes in the past.”
The city is looking for someone to come in and understand its processes and software needs.
“We’re looking for someone who is software agnostic. Not someone who is driving us to a software product but understanding our processes and integrations,” said Moorhead, adding the consultant who chooses the software cannot bid on it.
“We also have it stipulated that they can’t bid on the software,” she said. “So, if they’re in it for the pre-implementation, helping us define the RFP, helping us define the software, they’re not able to bid themselves.”
The item will return to council at the Feb. 23 meeting for decision.
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