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Council questions value, cost and alternatives for proposed city dashboard; motion to table
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Summary
The city manager presented a proposed Inviso dashboard priced at $23,275 in year one and ~$14,000 annually thereafter. Council members questioned the value versus existing Microsoft tools, integration, confidentiality, and possible staff/contractor reductions; a motion to table was made and the item will return to a future agenda.
The city manager presented a proposal to adopt the Inviso project-dashboard platform to provide real-time visibility into capital and strategic projects, tie project milestones to the budget and improve public transparency.
The manager said the vendor’s implementation year cost is $23,275 and that annual costs thereafter would be lower (about $14,000). "For this year, it's 23, and then it would drop, for the following years," the city manager said. The manager described use cases including tracking the Goodwin Park Cultural Hub project (grant tracking, milestones and budget linkage) and noted Rockville as a peer who had adopted the tool.
Council members pressed for concrete comparisons to existing Microsoft solutions (Power BI, SharePoint) and asked whether the city had fully used or trained staff on Microsoft tools before buying a new contract. One council member raised confidentiality and automation concerns about building a similar solution in-house or relying on AI: the manager said confidentiality and real-time integration are distinguishing features of the purchased product. Another council member asked whether adoption could reduce contractor costs; the manager acknowledged the possibility that one high-dollar contract could be trimmed but emphasized staff and training needs.
After extended questions about cost, features, training and potential savings, a motion to table the dashboard for further discussion was made and seconded. The meeting experienced some technical/voting confusion and the moderator concluded the body was not prepared to finalize the purchase and asked counsel to place the item on the next agenda for additional review.
Why it matters: the purchase would commit recurring funds and affect how the city tracks and publishes project information, with implications for transparency, staff workload and vendor contracting.
What happens next: the council tabled the item for further discussion and asked staff to return with additional justification, cost comparisons and implementation details at a future meeting.
