The launch in July of the city’s new integrated and automated financial system catapulted Westmount into the 21st century and opens the door for new internet services for residents already offered by a number of other municipalities.
The new system provides the platform base for the city to go to the next step in providing software modules that would enable residents to pay bills online, apply for building permits and obtain real-time status of their progress, director general Duncan Campbell said last week.
“It’s the backbone of how the city operates,” he said of the new system.
Hidden from public view like a sewer system, the financial system operates day and night. “The management of money heavily depends on it. What we’ve had was not up to snuff.”
As Finance director Annette Dupré puts it: “As a citizen, I wouldn’t want to think my city was managed on a 1998 system that was discontinued, had no realtime information, had to be operated manually and was not integrated with the various city departments.
“When you don’t have the information,” she said, “you don’t have the proper control. Now, with the click of a mouse, we can see exactly where we stand in real time.”
The overall cost of the project by the end of 2015 is expected to reach $700,000, Dupré said. This includes the purchase of the UniCité system from ACCEO as well as management and labour costs into next year in order to “capture all the system’s benefits.”
Under way in 2012
In May 2012, the city council made the project a priority, spearheaded by the Finance commissioner at the time, Tim Price, and current commissioner Victor Drury, Dupré said. “Neither could believe in this day and age the city was running on such an outmoded system.”
A professional project manager was subsequently hired. Planning, programming and testing followed.
“We have been working closely with Beaconsfield, which implemented the system three years ago, and they recommended a learn-as-you-go approach.” This means, for example, that Westmount, now in the throes of budget preparation, is learning the budget module. A special training that took place October 15.
The modules implemented so far now allow city departments to verify what funds they have available at a particular moment for the ordering of goods and services. This expedites approvals, purchases and invoicing, and tracks the entire process.
As part of the demerger with Montreal, Westmount was forced to acquire a new taxation module but it was not compatible with Westmount’s outdated Hexagon system and so had to be operated manually as a stand-alone function. It is now is fully integrated.
The 1998 Hexagon system did not have the capability of permitting city officials to view the city-wide bottom line without sometimes day-long delays and the printout of “pages and pages” of information, Dupré said.
“The new system is aligned with sustainability priorities because just printing paper cost over $11,000 a year. Previously, everything had to be printed every time we wanted information. Most of this will now be saved with the automated UniCité.”
Laureen Sweeney – Westmount Independent