Finance requests cloud upgrade and new ENCODE modules to automate billing, purchasing and HR tasks
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Summary
The finance team requested a move of the ENCODE ERP to cloud (SaaS), an upgrade to version 10, and a package of additional modules (purchasing, contract management, applicant tracking, AP automation) to reduce manual work and enable online receipts, document attachments, and improved security.
Finance staff requested capital to modernize the city's ENCODE enterprise resource planning (ERP) system, proposing a cloud SaaS migration, an upgrade to the current ENCODE release, and several functional modules to automate purchasing, contracts, applicant tracking, accounts receivable and payments.
The finance presentation listed benefits of a SaaS/cloud move: real‑time vendor maintenance, elimination of remote desktop/VPN dependencies, improved remote staff access, and faster deployment of updates. Staff recommended upgrading from the existing version 9 to version 10 to obtain functionality that the present system lacks, including integrated HR/payroll work flows, emailing receipts and bills to customers, online document storage attached to transactions, and better security. Cost figures were provided to council for the version upgrade and additional modules; staff identified purchasing, contract management, AP automation, applicant tracking and enhanced accounts receivable as priorities that would reduce manual PDF and paper processes.
Staff also requested a DebtBook tool to track debt issuances and GASB‑related capital‑lease reporting and asked staff to prioritize cloud migration and the core upgrade over optional items if budget constraints require tradeoffs. No formal procurement decision was taken at the workshop; staff asked council to consider technology modernization requests as part of the upcoming balanced budget.