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HomeMy WebLinkAbout081208 TECHNOLOGY UPDATE Iii I 'I Technologv Update City Council Liaison Report: August 12, 2008 Submitted by Council Member Ron Villanueva TopicS: Fire Department Telestaff Upqrade City Treasurer - Check 21 InSITE - Human Resources/Payroll System - CIP 3.280 . Fire Department Telestaff Uparade ($66.000) Description The Fire Department utilizes the TeleStaff staffing application to schedule, track and record staff hours of work, vacation requests, and sick time. TeleStaff also accommodates online requests for shift rotations and is used in shift management in order to meet minimum staffing requirements, and to produce management reports such as leave reports and FLSA reports. The project included new hardware, new hardware operating system and database management system. Present Status The project has been successfully completed. The Fire Department is actively using Telestaff v2.3. The benefits derived from the TeleStaff Upgrade are: · Due to customization, upgrades were not practical. The new version makes upgrading possible. · The upgraded version of TeleStaff provides improved server reliability. In the earlier version of TeleStaff the server was very unreliable and experienced frequent outages · The upgraded version of TeleStaff utilizes more current technology as opposed to the older version making it easier to support. · The upgraded version of TeleStaff uses "telephonic" features to automatically dial available personnel to substitute for staff who have called in sick. This is functionality that was not in the earlier version. Backaround The Fire Department was utilizing TeleStaff version 1.4.1. That version was customized by Fire to the extent that routine upgrades to newer releases could not be cost effectively done. The customizations were done to align the product's functionality to Fire's internal procedures. The Telestaff vendor, PDSI, has since evolved TeleStaff to the point that the product's functionality is a much closer fit to the needs of Fire. With the implementation of the latest release of TeleStaff (version 2.3) Fire chose to discontinue the practice of modifying the system. Where Fire's internal procedures did not align with the standard TeleStaff configuration, Fire reengineered its procedures to align with TeleStaff processing. "II I . City Treasurer - Check 21 ($30.000) Description The Check 21 project expands the capability of the City Treasurer's Remittance Processing System to allow electronic transmission of check images to the Bank of America and eliminate the handling of physical paper checks. Present Status The Treasurer stopped transporting paper checks and began transmitting the electronic check images to the Bank of America on April 5. During the peak tax payment processing time in May and early June, they found that the process reduced the efforts of their remittance processing group by almost 50%. Now, when the Treasurer receives checks and payment coupons, they are fed though the high-speed processor which captures images of the front and back of the check and information on the check's MICR line. The Quick Modules application creates the image cash letter files that are transmitted to the Bank of America. The bank validates the files and returns an acknowledgement to the Treasurer. This streamlined deposit process reduces the staffs work and shortens the time from when a payment is received to when the deposit is posted by the bank. Future Related Activities . Hardware upgrade for remittance processing server Backaround "Check Clearing for the 21st Century" (Check 21) is a federal law designed to enable financial institutions to handle checks electronically, making check processing faster and more efficient. Previously, the original paper checks had to move between banks and the City Treasurer had to transport these checks to the Bank of America. Under Check 21, a picture of the front and back of the check along with the associated payment information replaces the physical checks. Since the Treasurer's remittance processing system already captured images of checks, the Treasurer and ComlT initiated discussions with Fairfax Imaging, the vendor for the remittance processing system, and Bank of America to take advantage of the changes in the federal law. Fairfax Imaging developed a new software module for their Quick Modules application to provide the special tracking and reports required under Check 21. . InSITE - Human Resources/Pavroll System - CIP 3.280 ($10.223.061) Description The purpose of this project is to consolidate multiple aging Human Resources and Payroll systems into one centralized, integrated system, streamline business processes, improye reporting and data access capabilities, and meet the demands of the City's changing workforce. I,ll Present Status The second "Proof of Concept" session was held on June 25. The session demonstrated End to End Business Processes to the primary department process owners so that final confirmation and acceptance of the process flow and content could be attained. The following processes were reviewed: Extended Leave . Leave without Pay (LWOP) - Discontinue benefits - Continue benefits while on extended leave period - Continue benefits but are in default of payment - Family Medical Leave (FML) - Retrospective administrative salary adjustment - Retrospective Stipend - Prior pay period adjustments to timesheets (missed time, correction to time) Future Related Activities . Phase 1 o July: Testing of individual components of the new system will be done in July and all business requirements will be frozen. o Aug - Sept: System integration and Payroll testing (testing how the system interacts with other systems that receive data from the new system and payroll processing) o Oct - Nov: Training o January 1, 2009: New system launch . Phase 2 o Jan 2009 - July 2009 Employee training /Iearning management, online candidate recruitment, and member self service modules implemented Backaround The business processes supported by the new system are complex, cross-departmental, and impact each City member and members of the Consolidated Benefits Office. As part of the implementation, Human Resource (HR) and Payroll (PR) processes are being refined where appropriate, documented, and implemented. Approximately 850 business requirements for the new system have been documented and test cases created. Configuration of the Oracle Commercial Off the Shelf (COTS) application, code development for City-specific formulas, reports, and interfaces are underway. Initial training has been provided to approximately 300 members on changes to policies and procedures, and hands-on system training was provided in 28 different training sessions.