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Oakwood finance director outlines multi-year modernization: employee portal, digital budget book and ERP cloud migration
Summary
Finance Director Maril Lee Leonard outlined a modernization plan including an employee portal, digitized accounts payable, municipal tax e-filing, an interactive digital budget book and a planned ERP cloud migration; rollout questions focused on public-works time entry and public education for the budget book.
Maril Lee Leonard, Oakwood's finance director, gave an extended presentation on March 2 about the department's modernization efforts, describing software upgrades and process changes intended to improve transparency, efficiency and long-term forecasting.
Leonard said modernization is not only an upgrade of software but a transformation of work: "Finance is evolving from a transactional processor to a strategic adviser." Current projects she outlined include an employee portal (about half the city's employees are now using it for time entry and payroll access), digitized accounts payable with electronic invoice submission and automated approvals, an improved municipal tax system with electronic filing and online payments, and a searchable, interactive digital budget book planned as the final 2025 modernization deliverable.
Looking ahead, Leonard explained the city plans to migrate its ERP (enterprise resource planning) system to the cloud to gain improved security, scalability, disaster recovery and remote access. She said the budgeting and analytics module would be implemented after the cloud migration to support long-term forecasting, scenario modeling and position-based budgeting.
Council members asked about the employee-portal rollout. Leonard said the portal began rolling out in late December and reactions have been positive, but public-works time entry remains delayed while the city works with the vendor "easy clocking" to get the export coded correctly; she estimated that issue could be worked through in about two months. On public outreach for the digital budget book, Leonard said the city plans usual channels (city website, Oakwood Register, Oakwood Scene) and will consider partnering with the library and other community groups for education when the product is ready.
Leonard summarized expected benefits as increased efficiency, improved accuracy and internal controls, faster decision-making through real-time data, and greater capacity for staff to perform strategic work.
