Olmsted Falls updates its financial department with the purchase of 21st century software

OLMSTED FALLS, Ohio — CFO Cory Swaisgood promises new software operations will bring his department into the 21st century.

Olmsted Falls City Council recently approved a deal with Software Solutions to upgrade the finance department’s accounting software for $37,950 along with $16,013 in annual software maintenance updates.

“The accounting software was last updated over 20 years ago,” Swaisgood said. “The software we use now is outdated and obsolete. The reason for purchasing the new software is simply to modernize our accounting processes and save a lot of time on our end.

“It’s just about automating a lot of our processes and making the city’s finance department more efficient with accounting transactions, purchase requisitions, and purchase orders.”

In addition to eliminating the use of paper, the new software improves financial reporting through department heads and the board.

“A lot of reports in the new software we can generate electronically,” Swaisgood said. “Many of the reports that we presently give to heads of departments and the board are now done manually.

“Obviously there is room for error.”

Updating the operation of the finance department will also result in estimated savings of $1,000 to $2,000 in annual paper costs.

“Although there will be an annual maintenance cost of $16,000 going forward, we currently pay around $13,000 to $14,000 per year for our current software,” Swaisgood said. “So it’s really just another $2,000 to $3,000 cost to us.”

In a related move and at a cost of $5,000 each, the city council also approved a three-year agreement with GovInvest for the labor cost and financial forecasting modules.

“I like to explain GovInvest as being financial projection modules that will help immensely during fiscal season, which we are starting now,” Swaisgood said. “This will now not only help us more accurately project the city’s labor and financial costs into the future, but it will also help presentation to council and the public rather than just using paper like we currently do and excel spreadsheets.

“It will also help us tremendously as we go through various scenarios with the unions, so there are a lot of benefits to that.”

As part of the three-year deal with GovInvest, the company is waiving its one-time $10,000 implementation fee. However, there will be a combined annual subscription cost of $10,000.

“In my experience, $10,000 is very cheap for these types of modules for the next three years,” Swaisgood said. “We took advantage of a good rate at the start. We’ll see how it goes and hopefully it works out and we can keep moving forward with it. The plan is to start using it for our 2023 budget preparations with union negotiations starting next year.

As for the new accounting software, Swaisgood said the change is expected to go live on January 1.

“It’s going to be a huge benefit for the administration, council and community to allow the finance department to focus on areas that are more important to residents rather than having to deal with outdated systems and manual processes. “said Swaisgood.

Olmsted Falls Mayor James Graven added, “My goal is to modernize our financial programs. We will save money over the next few years. This also contributes to financial transparency for residents.

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