CASE STUDIES
CASE STUDY: TOWNSHIP IT DEPARTMENT LEADS ERP IMPLEMENTATION AND INTEGRATION
Introduction
In early 2008, the Township of Centre Wellington acquired the full suite of WorkTech work, asset and service management applications in conjunction with the Microsoft Dynamics GP financial system and the Diamond Municipal Software line of municipal Revenue Management applications. In partnership with WorkTech consultants, the township’s IT department spearheaded the implementation and collaborated on all facets of the project including business process optimization and system configuration. By 2009, the township was ready to embark on an exciting journey to incorporate integrated road patrolling and global positioning technologies (GPS) into its overall ERP environment. To help accomplish this goal the township partnered with Burnside and chose to implement its Route Patrol Manager software.
Challenge
Now equipped with a fleet of world class software applications supported by multiple vendors offering best of breed solutions, the township faced the daunting task of devising systems integrations and associated business process workflows that would best leverage the capabilities of each system and deliver real efficiencies for its end user community. The considerations inherent with such system interactions are numerous:
- Which system would house the core data?
- How will data validation and integrity be performed?
- What integration technologies will be used and what is the associated overhead?
Analysis of Alternatives
The township engaged WorkTech Inc. in an assessment of possible alternatives. A number of discovery sessions were held to clearly establish the desired objectives and benefits sought by the integration project. A key objective identified was that data currently housed in each respective system continue to be leveraged for mutual consumption amongst all systems involved in the various business process workflows. Amongst the possible alternatives explored were:
- That the township would deploy technical resources to build integration applets between the various systems
- That the township would manually enter redundant data in as many applications as required to achieve the objective of the business process
- That the township would enlist the services of one of its current system vendors to provide an out-of-the box technology solution to the integration challenge
Recommended Solution
Having thoroughly assessed the implications and return on investment of each available option, the township confidently opted to employ WorkTech’s Integration Extender robust systems integration enablement tool. Integration Extender offers a collection of utilities all designed with the purpose of transferring data from or to the WorkTech and Source/Destination databases. These utilities are mainly intended to be used with repeatable integrations but can be used for one time data imports and exports from or to third party applications. Following are just some of the many functional advantages sought by municipal information technology professionals who employ Integration Extender:
- Improved Visibility: users have visibility to integrations currently active. Parameters, configuration settings and other technical details are also easily accessible.
- Increased User Accessibility: the ability for users to add/enable/disable integrations simply by completing easy point-and-click setup screens
- Increased Flexibility: Integrations should not be rigid. New integrations can be created simply using configuration tools while existing integrations are easily modified.
- Manageability: easy to deploy and maintain as specific functions are only coded once and programming code is re-usable for future integration touch points
Implementation
Having deployed the Integration Extender ‘s capabilities, the township achieved its objectives of devising seamless end-to-end business processes making maximum use of each system’s functionality and data set. A prime example of this achievement is seen in the township’s road patrolling process which utilizes many of the town’s core business applications including:
- WorkTech Inc. Work Manager
- WorkTech Inc. Asset Manager
- WorkTech Inc. Service Manager
- Dynamics GP Financials
- Diamond Municipal Software
- Burnside Route Patrol Manager
Integration Extender acts as a service conveying data and transactions from and to various applications in the process chain.
- A road inspector travels through the township’s roads in a vehicle equipped with GPS unit loaded with Burnside’s Route Patrol Manager application
- The Burnside Route Patrol Manager application stores the location and nature of road deficiencies
- Via Integration Extender data collected by the Burnside Route Patrol Manager application is seamlessly synchronized to WorkTech’s Service Manager module from which work orders are automatically created to address the road deficiencies
- Work orders in Service Manager contain the unique road segment identifier, the type of deficiency and action required etc.
- Township staff enter the details of the work done on a work order by using any number of financial transactions in Work Manager including: time sheets, stock usage and equipment usage
- Integration Extender funnels these financial transactions to the respective subledgers in the Microsoft Dynamics GP financial system and the Diamond Revenue Management suite. Affected subledgers and systems include:
- Payroll for payment of employees based on time sheets entered on work orders
- General Ledger for journal entries of equipment usage, labour and materials usage expenses
- Purchasing for accounts payable invoices processed affecting work orders and or assets
Specific Benefits
- Seamless Business Processing
- Leveraged Investments
- Maximized System Functionality
- Realized Efficiency Gains
- Internally Facilitated by Township IT Professionals
- Maintained, Managed, & Enhanced by Township IT
WorkTech Software Employed:
Work Manager Foundation
- Timesheets
- Payables
- Inventory
- Fleet
Service Manager Foundation
- Work Orders
- Preventive Maintenance
- Service Standards
Asset Manager Foundation
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Ontario School Board Partners with WorkTech Inc. To Meet Fixed Asset Accounting Requirements
April 29, 2010, Canada, ON, Grimsby – The Greater Essex County District School Board, Windsor, Ontario has chosen WorkTech Inc.’s Fixed Asset Accounting Extender module to fully integrate with its SRB BAS2000 financial system.
Since the Public Sector Accounting Board (PSAB) issued a mandate for public sector entities to account for tangible capital assets, Ontario school boards have faced a daunting challenge. As do other public sector organizations, school boards must now:
• Create an inventory of fixed assets
• Determine initial fixed asset values and historical depreciation
• Develop internal business processes for the financial treatment of fixed assets throughout the asset life-cycle
• Automate the various fixed asset accounting financial transactions in keeping with Generally Accepted Accounting Principles
To comply with this mandate the Greater Essex County District School Board opted to partner with WorkTech Inc. Amongst the many reasons for this selection, the board identified WorktTech’s proven ability to deploy software that will not only perform the necessary tangible capital asset accounting functions but do so with seamless integration to its existing enterprise financial management system, BAS2000, supplied by SRB Education Solutions. By enlisting WorkTech Inc. as a fixed asset solution provider Greater Essex County District School Board therefore leverages its longstanding investment in the BAS2000 system and minimizes the internal business process changes ensuing from the new legislation.
Greater Essex County District School Board purchased the WorkTech Inc. Fixed Asset Accounting Extender, one module within the suite of WorkTech Inc. work, service and asset management software designed to overcome the challenges public sector organizations face!
The County of Lennox and Addington Partners With WorkTech Inc. to Migrate From Legacy Asset Management System
May 19, 2010, Canada, Ontario, Grimsby – The County of Lennox and Addington, Napanee, Ontario has chosen WorkTech Inc’s Asset Manager Foundation to maintain a consolidated inventory of its Asset Inspections and Improvement History, and enable Lifecycle Analysis through Average Annual Costing and Performance Modeling.
The County of Lennox and Addington’s legacy system used by management to organize information relating to Road and Bridge conditions was scheduled to be discontinued and would no longer be supported by the Legacy System Vendor. The County was challenged with finding a database application that could migrate and preserve the historical data while positioning the County with a scalable solution capable of future integration requirements.
Through the use of WorkTech’s Integration Manager Extender, the County was successful with their inventory data migration from the legacy system into WorkTech’s Asset Manager Foundation including a complete history of Capital Improvements and costs. Supported by a software application that is easy to view, edit, and use, the County is better positioned to maintain a database of Historical Inspections and asset attribute changes while reporting on their Asset Lifecycle Needs.
The Township of Woolwich Partners with AECOM and WorkTech Inc. to Consolidated Asset Needs and Leverage Existing GIS Investments
May 25, 2010, Canada, Ontario, Grimsby – The Township of Woolwich, Elmira, Ontario has chosen WorkTech Inc to implement Asset Management Software compatible with the Township’s existing ESRI ArcGIS software. WorkTech’s Asset Manager Foundation was recommended by AECOM to meet the Township’s RFP requirements and was chosen because of its capability of maintaining the Township’s Road Network Mapping, Database, Queries, Performance Prediction, Identification of Needs, Prioritization, Budgeting, and future coordination to other assets such as underground infrastructure.
The Township of Woolwich had adopted a proactive approach to asset management and needed a software solution capable of supporting a 10 year road construction and maintenance program based on criteria such as the pavement / surface condition rating, preventative maintenance, traffic volumes, school bus routes and construction costs. Additionally, the Township needed a scalable, modular based solution that could include future integration with other departments in an effort to consolidate information and promote collaborative planning.
Through the use of WorkTech’s GIS Connector and Integration Manager Extender, the Township will be capable of a dynamic web based integration that will combine WorkTech’s robust querying and database management tools found in Asset Manager Foundation with the Township’s existing GIS mapping investments.