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08/02/2016 02:00 PMSavings on town payroll operations is just one reason that the Board of Selectmen last week voted to support conversion to a new accounting system over the next two years. The selectmen approved an appropriation of up to $170,000 to buy the new software and the services to migrate town data from the old to the new system.
The selected software firm, SunGard K-12, supplies both the town’s current Phoenix accounting system and the new upgraded eFinancePLUS
system the town plans to install over the next two years.
“SunGard K-12 offered an enticing offer for the new software. It will provide an integrated government financial management and accounting system that brings payroll in-house and will include the BOE-side,” said First Selectman Carl Fortuna, Jr. “SunGard also will do the conversion from the old to the new systems. We hope the return on investment is less than five years on the finance side.”
Fortuna said his goal is to phase in the new accounting system over a two- to three-year period. Initially, the town would buy the new software now and use this fall to plan the system conversion and to migrate financial data from the old to the new system. While he admits it is an aggressive goal, he hopes the town can start using the new accounting software system as of Jan. 1, 2017.
Finance Director Lee Ann Palladino said that her focus this fall will be to work with the town employees and SunGard K-12 to ensure the conversion of the town’s ledger accounting system to eFinancePLUS
goes smoothly.
After the new town accounting system is working well, Palladino hopes to activate some of the system’s other software modules like those that will automatically track grants, town assets, and purchase orders.
Just moving to in-house town payroll operations will yield savings to the town of about $25,000 per year, according to Fortuna. Other savings the town expects to see after the conversion is complete are tied to the automation of some tasks now performed manually by town employees. These include the tracking and manual data entry of certain human resource information.
Another time savings will be the new system’s capability to prepare budget scenarios. Currently, Palladino must rely on using Excel spreadsheets to prepare new budget proposals for town boards to consider.
Conversion of the Board of Education’s current Phoenix accounting system to the new eFinancePLUS
would follow after the town completes the conversion and testing of the new system.
“We’re really excited to be pursuing this accounting system upgrade in concert with the Board of Education,” said Palladino. “The firm [SunGard K-12] really worked with us to make sure both groups’ needs are met.”
The selectmen-approved appropriation was up for review by the Board of Finance earlier this week (after press time). If approved by finance, the funding request would go before a town meeting for final approval. Funding would come from the town’s capital and non-recurring account.