DATE: November 5, 2012 REPORT NO. CS Chair and Members Committee of the Whole Operations and Administration

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1 DATE: November 5, 2012 REPORT NO. CS TO: FROM: PREPARED BY: Chair and Members Committee of the Whole Operations and Administration Hazel English, Director, Information Technology Services Chris Harrington, Utility IT Project Manager, Business Solutions 1.0 TYPE OF REPORT CONSENT ITEM [ ] ITEM FOR CONSIDERATION [ X ] 2.0 TOPIC Contract for new Customer Information Billing System Water, Wastewater and Rentals. 3.0 RECOMMENDATION A. THAT Report No. CS Entitled Contract for new Customer Information Billing System Water, Wastewater and Rentals BE RECEIVED; and B. THAT City Council APPROVE the award for the Customer Information Billing System Water, Wastewater and Rentals (RFP12-085) to the parent company N. Harris Computer Corporation 1 Antares Drive, Suite 400 Ottawa, Ontario K2E 8C4, for a sum NOT to exceed $718, inclusive of software, fees, expenses, contingency and taxes; and C. THAT the total funding be allocated from existing Information Technology Reserve Fund RF0217 $568, and Customer Service Reserve Fund RF0232 $150,000.00; and

2 Date: November 5, 2012 Page 2 D. THAT the Clerk BE DIRECTED to place the contract with N. Harris Computer Corporation on a Signing By-law for approval by City Council. 4.0 PURPOSE To present to Council the results of the evaluation of the proposals received for Utility Water Wastewater Rental Billing System solution (RFP12-085). 5.0 BACKGROUND The Public Utilities Commission (P.U.C.) of Brantford implemented the Daffron Customer Information System (CIS) billing system in The system was considered a total Enterprise Resource Planning system, which included an integrated transit scheduler, financial information, human resources, asset inventory, water, waste water and electrical billing. With the amalgamation of P.U.C. services the City inherited the Daffron system. Since then, we have produced one consolidated bill combining all City and Brantford Power services. Over the years many of the Daffron modules have been replaced with other software solutions while water, wastewater, rental assets and electrical billing remain within the core of the system. The current software lifecycle plan shows an upgrade/replacement path in 2013 for the Daffron platform. Daffron has evolved into a highly tailored solution used primarily for the electrical markets. Over the years, Daffron and Associates along with City Information Technology resources have patched, upgraded, customized and maintained the software for the City and the Ontario Electricity Market. The system allows Customer Service departments of Brantford Power Inc. and the City to manage daily activities on behalf of both entities. The Ontario Electrical Energy Board has complex requirements for Brantford Power, which also directly affects the City s ability to use this cross functional platform. Implementing new functionality, rate changes and upgrades requires both Brantford Power staff and City of Brantford staff to thoroughly test the system and give approval that each entity s functionality, processes and reporting remains intact and operational as expected. In April 1, 1999, the Ontario Energy Board issued the Affiliate Relationship Code for Electricity Distributors and Transmitters. The current release of the Code, dated March 15, 2010 states there must be a degree of separation between the utilities data and it s respective affiliate. The current Daffron CIS billing system has data for both the City and Brantford Power within the same tables.

3 Date: November 5, 2012 Page CORPORATE POLICY CONTEXT Goal #2 of the Strategic Plan "High quality of life and caring for all citizens". A prominent change in demographics experienced by many Canadian municipalities includes more Internet savvy population, aging population and multi-cultural population. Presenting online 24x7 consumption data for water, wastewater and rental services through the City s website provides improved customer service. Goal #3 of the Strategic Plan "Managed Growth and Environmental Leadership" includes the following long-term desired outcomes: The City of Brantford s IT strategy to standardize our technology infrastructure will identify us as a leader in providing solid municipal services and we will be recognized as a City whose accomplishments will exceed expectations of a city of our size. Paper billing can be reduced with a new system capable of electronic online billing solutions for citizens. Goal #4 of the Strategic Plan "Excellence In Governance and Municipal Management". Integrating the water, wastewater and rental billing systems with corporate applications and the web site help streamline current business applications, thereby eliminating a number of manual processes. In turn this helps the City keep all systems updated and synchronized. 7.0 INPUT FROM OTHER SOURCES The Request for Proposal (RFP) Evaluation team consisted of representatives from the following IT departmental services: Technical Support - Scott Hall and Dale Hagen. Security and Integration - Ben Barnes Utility Conversion specialists - Bob Beauchamp. IT Management and resources - Hazel English, Jan Chalk and Chris Harrington. Representing Finance: Manager of Water Wastewater Customer Services - Daniela Di Francisco Procurement - Soloman Wedderburn Legal Department Assistant City Solicitor Sara Sirouspour

4 Date: November 5, 2012 Page ANALYSIS Why We Need A New System: Current Technology Is Old The Daffron system was developed in the late 80 s and billing software systems have advanced significantly in the 24 years since Daffron s non windows based technology was first introduced. Integration Desired integration of Daffron to Avantis, the City s corporate Asset Management and Work Order system, has significant technical challenges, not present with newer technologies. These technical challenges between Avantis and Daffron have prevented us from moving forward with complete implementation for water distribution. The new software recommended, will allow us to synchronize work orders between the two systems, providing greater visibility for the Customer Services representatives who are corresponding with citizens. Addressing inefficiencies in how we manage meter location, property and customer information is an IT Services goal. The implementation of a Water, Wastewater, and Rental billing system provides an opportunity for IT Services to address the gaps in our property and client management processes. o These changes will provide more flexibility in how data is shared between systems while ensuring data integrity through defined data sources, creation and maintenance procedures. Moving forward, these changes will better position the City for integration with future software solutions requiring property and/or client information. o We need one definitive data source to maintain all the relationships for properties, including meter locations, and customers. Each system has its own identifier and storage tables for this information. A central data store provides the ability to keep it organized. It ensures that the same location address, owner name, and mailing address, for instance, is consistent across all systems. o Once fully implemented, we will be able to better serve citizens by having easy access to all of their interactions with the City. It also positions us to move to a single card system for accessing City services and facilities. Simplification The complexity in the current Daffon Utility billing system is driven by the heavily regulated electrical market. Rate changes, features and customization require costly programming changes through external Daffron programmers with no benefit to the City s water, wastewater or rentals management.

5 Date: November 5, 2012 Page 5 With a combined system, each entity must thoroughly test to give approval on functionality when changes to rate structure or system software are updated. With a new Water, Wastewater, and Rental billing system, future upgrades and enhancements will be specific to these business functions. Why Now? Since the Daffron system is scheduled for replacement in 2013, we are in reality moving the water, wastewater and rental implementation project slightly ahead of schedule. The current initiative to separate the Water, Wastewater, and Rental bill from the Power bill, gives us the opportunity to implement a separate system for each. This sets the stage for two independent and distinct projects for the City and Brantford Power to provide long-term modern Utility management solutions. This will enable the resources in IT Services and Customer Services to handle consecutive projects with focus specific to each industry s unique issues. RFP This Request for Proposal utilized a three-stage competitive bid process, including a Stage I Technical and Functional evaluation, a Stage II Demonstration and Interview evaluation and a Stage III Price Evaluation. The three-stage process resulted in Advanced Utility Systems as the highest scoring proponent. Advanced Utility Systems is wholly owned by N. Harris Computer Corporation (Harris). Advanced is recognized as its own entity with the organization. Harris in turn is governed by Constellation Software Inc. a publicly traded company on the Toronto Stock Exchange. Recommended Solution The Advanced Utility water, wastewater, and rental billing system provides improved access to customer data, increased flexibility for users and follows the best of breed approach adopted by the City. Key improvements to integration, reporting, customer service and administration efficiency comprise: The Customer Information System chosen provides out-of-the-box interface options to support integration with existing technologies and corporate applications for which the city has already invested. This flexibility provides options to satisfy both our current and future requirements as the needs of our users and/or processes and procedures change e.g. streamlined meter location

6 Date: November 5, 2012 Page 6 management. Work order location and details can be displayed on a map within the software and viewed by the Customer Service representatives in a single screen versus the current solution which requires accessing multiple applications. The new software will allow users to quickly enter key pieces of information and generate reports as needed. Reports can be exported and ed to various customers, departmental users and management. Bill consolidation for large commercial customers can be supported, easily exported and delivered to customers on time. The system will allow a more timely and efficient response to customers and improved workflow between City departments. It provides easier access to historical customer billing data, and is an opportunity to revise, standardize and upgrade several business processes incorporating today s modern best practices. Rate changes are configured by users with elevated security clearance, thereby eliminating costly vendor changes each time a rate change is required. Role based security for users is an available option in the Advanced system solution. Bill print changes can be customized by lead users, eliminating the reliance on the Information Technology department. The recommended solution for Utility Water, Wastewater and Rental billing system supports a complete separation of customer data. Data will be extracted from Daffron and imported into the new Customer Billing Information system for city services, thereby satisfying the Affiliate Relationship Code. Implementing the new Customer Billing Information system will require internal resources currently on staff within the City of Brantford s Information Technology Department and the Finance Department. The Finance department s Customer Service representatives will be fully engaged during several phases of the project, from discovery of processes to training and data conversion confirmation. The project implementation timeframe is 11 months from contract signing to go live. 9.0 FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS There have been annual contributions to reserve funds in anticipation of this new system. The total funding will be allocated from existing Information Technology Reserve Fund RF0217 ($568,025.00) and Customer Service Reserve Fund RF0232 ($150,000.00). The amount of $718, allocated to the PROJECT (RFP12-085) is inclusive of consulting, fees, expenses, contingency and taxes. There will be no change in support staff requirements for the ongoing maintenance and operation of the upgraded platform and software. Current IT Services staff will perform

7 Date: November 5, 2012 Page 7 all support requirements. Yearly maintenance fees are $38,000 and will commence in 2014 as an increase to the Water and Sewer Budgets CONCLUSION All conditions set forth in the City s Purchasing Policy pertaining to the award of the Contract resulting from RFP have been met. It is the opinion of the IT Services and Purchasing Departments that the proposal received from Advanced Utility Systems represents the best value to the City of Brantford. We recommend proceeding with the contract for a new Customer Information Billing System, Water Wastewater and Rentals implementation project. Hazel English Director, Information Technology Services Darryl Lee, General Manager, Corporate Services Attachments (if applicable) Copy to: (if applicable) In adopting this report, is a by-law or agreement required? If so, it should be referenced in the recommendation section. By-law required [ ] yes [ ] no Agreement(s) or other documents to be signed by Mayor and/or City Clerk [ ] yes [ ] no Is the necessary by-law or agreement being sent concurrently to Council? [ ] yes [ ] no