it's a llli Attention boys and ghouls! As most of you are aware, we are changing enterprise applications from Incode to Munis. Behind the scenes, our Finance and IT departments have been working hard to create a smooth transition for January's Phase One Go-Live date. User Acceptance Training will begin in November where power-users will test Munis with scripted scenarios in preparation for End User Training in December. We are currently in phase one of three, with the Human Resources module set to go live in January 2021 and the Utility Billing module in July 2021. We are excited to stop haunting the past and start living in the future! Munis has cast a spell on us. We are excited to report that "It's Allliiiveee!" and on schedule. It will be a wickedly perfect, all-encompassing enterprise application that exceeds our-end user needs.
iiiii veee ! HAUNTED HARBERGER HILL
Recently Completed Tasks: 1. The City’s Project Management Team (PMT) and Project Manager (PM) met weekly for project status updates. 2. The City’s PMT, PM, and Tyler PM met weekly for Tyler status calls. 3. The City’s Executive Steering Committee (ESC) met October 10th to review the September Status Report and overall project status. 4. The Tyler Munis team conducted Training Review sessions throughout the past month covering the following 5. topics: Accounts Receivable, General Billing, Tyler Cashiering, Capital Assets, General Ledger, Project Accounting 6. The Project Team continued to focus on data input, conversions, interfaces and imports in October. a. Incode Accounts Payable (AP) checks and Invoices were loaded into the Munis train environment and are being reviewed by Finance staff before loading into the production database. b. The PMT made progress with the development of the Incode Court/Munis interface and expect to begin testing the interface in November. c. Payment import templates were developed so that Finance staff can import payment transactions from the Parks Department and Department of Development & Neighborhood Services. Testing will continue prior to end-user training in December. d. P-card statements were imported from JP Morgan Chase and Finance staff will continue to test the process with current purchase records. 7. The Project Team continued to build and test user roles, workflow processes, and business rules. 8. The City’s Project Manager and Project Team finalized User Acceptance Testing (UAT) plan for the Financials phase of the project. UAT is planned for November 5-8 and November 12-15. 9. The PMT developed an End-User Training plan which included training agendas, schedule, and identified 10. appropriate City staff to be involved in training. Calendar invites were sent out the week of October 14th. Please respond to those invites if you have not done so already! a. The PMT is also developing a comprehensive training manual for all modules of Munis. 11. The City PMT also had introductory and planning calls with the Tyler project managers for the Utility Billing and Human Resources/Payroll phases of the project. Some exciting things are being discussed so be on the look out for updates on these phases of the project which will kick off in January.
Upcoming Tasks: 1. The City’s PMT and PM will continue to meet weekly for project status updates. 2. The City’s PMT, PM, and Tyler PM will continue to meet weekly for Tyler status calls. 3. The Tyler Munis team will be onsite the week of October 28th to conduct Training Review sessions covering the following topics: Purchasing, Accounts Payable, Bid Management, Contract Management, Cash Management 4. A crosswalk of the Chart of Accounts will be distributed to all departments the week of October 28th. This document will compare the current Incode accounts with the new accounts that will be used in Munis. 5. The City’s PMT is planning a training session for all City staff responsible for cash collections. The training will take place sometime in mid-November at Harberger Hill and will cover the topic of Tyler Cashiering. Be on the lookout for those calendar invites. 6. User Acceptance Testing will be conducted the weeks of November 4th and 11th. 7. The PMT will continue to plan for the HR/Payroll and Utility Billing phases of the project.
DAWN BROOKS I have worked in government finance for fifteen years. Right out of college, I worked for a CPA firm that specialized in audits of governmental entities. After three years of long hours and lots of traveling as an auditor, I was offered a position with City of Fontana, California. If you’re a NASCAR fan you may have heard of the California Speedway or the Auto Club Speedway which calls Fontana home. I had the privilege of working for the City for twelve years as their Accounting Manager. Some of the duties I was responsible for were: preparation and coordination of all annual audits, preparation of all financial reports, issuance of debt, special district formations, cell tower lease administration, just to name just a few.
MUNIS EXPERIENCE
"I’ve really come to love the system and all that it is capable of."
For the past year and a half of my time at my previous job, I was the project lead for the Finance Department and worked alongside the IT Department to implement the Financials portion of Tyler Munis. The system went live on May 1, 2019. Through the implementation process I learned the ins and outs of the system and I’ve really come to love the system and all that it is capable of. Munis is a powerful system with so many great tools; it is a system that will improve processes and efficiencies within the organization. The interface is very user friendly. The system has many different inquiry and centrals programs for viewing data, giving the users the ability to decide which program they prefer to use. Reporting is easy to modify for the individual users needs and export into various formats. And the workflows…users won’t have to send an email anymore to let others know there are PO’s pending approval or journal entries to post, the system will do all that work for them. The feature that I love most about Munis is the real-time data. There are so many financial systems that process everything as batches and available budget and actual data isn’t updated until those batches are approved and posted, essentially making financial data always outdated. Munis accounts for all those unposted transactions in real-time so the data departments will be looking at is a true snapshot of the current financial state. Coming in at the last few months of implementation is really exciting for me. Since I moved out of state shortly after Go Live at my previous job, I didn’t get to appreciate the fruits of my labor for very long there. I am really looking forward to being able to use the system again and seeing how the City of Weatherford utilizes all the tools available in Munis. I hope that my knowledge and my experience with Munis will help in making the transition to as smooth as possible.
T I M E
L I N E REACH OUT TO US WITH ANY QUESTIONS! As your Change Management Team, we want to be an easy resource for all your questions or concerns as the GROW project moves forward. Feel free to email us at any time at GROW@weatherfordtx.gov. All team members will receive your inquiry and we will answer as quickly as possible to help you get information. We look forward to keeping you informed and growing with you on this project.
MONTHLY UPDATE
303 Palo Pinto St. Weatherford, TX 76086 Email: grow@weatherfordtx.gov Web: www.weatherfordtx.gov