12-18-2012 CC RPT 27 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Purchase of Business Tax Software 'Page 2 enhances customer service, ability of their software to integrate with the City's existing applications and their reasonable pricing. HdL is a familiar name in the municipal finance world, providing sales and property tax consulting services to cities throughout California, including the City of Riverside. Some time ago, HdL diversified their corporate offerings into software and are unique in that they build software specifically designed for the municipal government market. As a result, their business tax/license software exceeds virtually all of the City's requirements and will also improve the Finance Department's customer service and efficiency. There are a number of key benefits to implementing a new business tax software solution, most importantly improving customer service. Currently, the City offers online renewal of business tax registrations via a custom website designed in-house but does not offer online applications for new businesses due to limitations of the software currently in use and the cost that would be required to develop a solution in house. HdL Prime will allow the City to offer online applications for new businesses, which will make it easier for new businesses to complete the steps required to do business in the City. Additionally, renewal documents and other correspondence can be emailed from the HdL software to those businesses that opt in to receiving electronic communications. This will both improve customer service and has the potential to significantly reduce postage and printing costs as businesses gradually opt in to paperless communications. Lastly, the system allows the user to multi task and access with multiple business tax accounts simultaneously, which will greatly improve staff's ability to dynamically interact with customers on the phone and at the counter, thereby reducing wait times. Equally important are anticipated increases in efficiency and reporting capabilities. These include: 1. Integrated task/reminder/workflow capability; 2. The ability for transient occupancy tax, business improvement district, food cart, and other off line tracking to be handled directly in the software rather than in separate spreadsheets; 3. US Postal Service address verification integration to reduce returned mail; 4. Integrated delinquency/collections tracking to eliminate the need for separate collections software; 5. The ability to scan documents into the system, thereby reducing paper and expediting research; 6. Custom reports that can be written by front-line finance staff instead of IT staff; and 7. The elimination of multiple separate software programs and custom programs to be replaced by this single application. The Purchasing Services Manager and Interim Chief Innovation Officer agree with the recommendation above. FISCAL IMPACT: The total cost to purchase and implement the HdL software is $60,350, with annual recurring maintenance costs of$10,650. Sufficient funds are available in the existing Finance Department budget. Additional maintenance costs will be budgeted in future years' budget. Prospectively, it is anticipated that the annual cost to the Finance Department will be less than under Permits Plus due to the pricing of annual maintenance fees and the reduced staff time required to maintain the software. 27-2