Lake County approves $6.56 million Workday contract for finance and HR systems

Lake County approved a $6,563,772 agreement with Workday Incorporated for enterprise resource planning (ERP) software covering finance and human capital management, and authorized the board chair to sign the contract covering January 2025 through January 2035.

The contract is intended to replace the county’s legacy systems (including an AS/400), centralize financial reporting and human resources functions, and move all county finance/HR operations onto a single modern platform. County staff and a selection committee recommended Workday after a multi-stage procurement because, they said, Workday was the only vendor willing to perform full data extraction and conversion.

County staff said the deal includes a one-time implementation phase and multi-year subscription/payments. Genevieve Harrington, the staff presenter, told the board that “one of them, is that Workday will completely own the data extraction and conversion.” Harrington and the selection committee — which she said included Patrick Sullivan, Stephen Carter and Shane French — said that vendor-led conversion reduced the county’s need to hire scarce, short-term internal IT staff to perform the migration.

Discussion at the meeting focused on the contract term and cost details. Harrington described the first year as the implementation year and identified about $2.37 million in initial professional services for implementation work. She said the remaining subscription and service payments are spread across the rest of the 10-year term. Several board members asked for clarification about differing numbers in the paperwork; Harrington acknowledged the multiple line-item figures in the appendices and said the total being proposed for approval was $6,563,772 for January 2025 to January 2035. Harrington also said Workday had offered a discount tied to an early signing window; staff described a discount figure discussed earlier in the meeting as roughly $200,000 spread over the contract term.

Patrick Sullivan, the county treasurer/tax collector and a member of the selection group, said the county intends to change some internal practices rather than keep work-arounds created for the legacy system. “Anything that might require some sort of outside software based on our current practices, it's our intent to change our current practices,” Sullivan said, adding that the new system should reduce manual work and streamline operations.

Board members asked about training and post-implementation support. One board member urged clear training deliverables and tracking before vendor staff leave, noting training quality is often the key to a successful rollout. Harrington said training and change management were discussed at length and that training is included in the implementation cost, though the board requested more detailed, written roles-and-responsibilities on training and post-implementation support before or after contract execution.

Betsy Khan, representing the Essential Public Information Center, asked for a plain-language explanation of the product and how the county will use it. Harrington replied that the system will be “the finance system that the entire county uses to post journal transactions, request checks, we track assets, all financial reporting” and that the contract also adds a human capital management (HR) module the county currently lacks.

On funding, a county official said the payment will come from the technology reserve fund the board previously set aside; that fund currently holds about $4 million and staff said remaining needs would be covered as Behavioral Health repays outstanding amounts to the reserve. Board members asked whether the action item’s dollar amount matched the detailed schedules in the appendices; staff confirmed the motion before the board reflected the full 10-year total proposed: $6,563,772.

The board voted on a motion to approve the agreement and to authorize the board chair to sign. A board member moved the motion and another seconded; the chair called for the vote and the motion carried on a voice vote with five members voting in favor.

The board action authorizes staff to finalize and sign the contract. Staff said implementation work is expected to begin with the contract start in January 2025 and that the county will monitor the installation, training and early months of operation. Board members requested a follow-up document specifying training responsibilities, post-implementation support, and a clearer appendix that reconciles line-item figures cited during the discussion.