Tyler Technologies, Inc. (NYSE: TYL) has signed an agreement with the
City of Columbus, Ohio, to implement Microsoft
Dynamics® AX as the core financial application to replace
the city's aging financial management system. Dynamics AX is an enterprise
resource planning (ERP) solution with public sector functionality
that Tyler Technologies jointly developed with Microsoft®.
The contract, valued at approximately $5 million, includes software
licenses, implementation, hosting services and support.
The City chose Tyler after a multi-year search for a new financial
management system to replace its nearly 15-year-old system that was no
longer being meaningfully updated by its provider and was nearing the
end of its product life.
The City will access the Dynamics AX platform as a cloud-based solution
through hosting facilities managed entirely by experienced Tyler
professionals. Tyler's facilities provide highly scalable infrastructure
and applications. The cloud environment also delivers a lower total cost
of ownership and predictable costs compared with the high costs of
buying hardware and hiring dedicated resources to manage an on-premise
deployment.
In addition to reviewing system capabilities, the City Auditor's office
heavily weighted suppliers' public sector knowledge and experience.
"Our process was as much about finding a partner as it was the system
itself. We viewed it as not just acquiring software, but finding a
service provider that was willing to invest time and resources to learn
how we work, and show us commitment beyond the standard RFP response,"
said Tom Noorkah, financial systems administrator for the City of
Columbus. "The depth of Tyler's proposal showed their detailed
understanding of the City, our needs and our processes. That, coupled
with the robust Dynamics AX platform, is why Tyler was the best fit."
In addition to Tyler's deep domain expertise, the City of Columbus liked
that Dynamics AX is intuitive, up to date, and would be easy for the
city's more than 700 core users to adopt.
"A lot of R&D has gone into Microsoft's Dynamics platform, so it's a
very fresh and up-to-date application. It looks like Outlook®
and interacts with Excel®, both of which are very familiar to
our users. This familiarity should reduce the learning curve when
navigating a new application and help increase user adoption as we roll
it out," Noorkah said. "With the Dynamics platform, the City can
leverage its existing investment in the Microsoft technology stack, and
Microsoft's Technology Adopter Program gives the City a voice in ongoing
product design by letting us participate in usability studies and
feature design, as well as help influence product direction."
During the City's review process, the auditor's staff reviewed details
on each supplier's implementation history.
"We compared original and final project budgets, and especially focused
on timelines because when you're working on a project of this size, you
want to have a partner with a positive track record of estimating the
level of effort truly needed to implement its product and a history of
finishing projects in the amount of time originally proposed and within
the original budget," said Darlene Wildes, senior accountant and project
manager for the City of Columbus. "During the review process, we
developed a real trust in Tyler that they are upfront and accurate in
the amount of time and resources it will take to deliver a successful
implementation."
Columbus is Ohio's capital, and with approximately 800,000 residents it
is the state's largest city and home to several Fortune 500 companies as
well as The Ohio State University. Columbus, the 15th-largest city in
the U.S. by population, has a $770 million general fund operating budget
for 2013, and is the only U.S. city of its size to have an AAA credit
rating from all three national rating agencies. For 33 consecutive
years, the City has achieved a Certificate of Achievement for Excellence
in Financial Reporting for its Comprehensive
Annual Financial Report (CAFR) from the Government Finance Officers
Association of the United States and Canada (GFOA).
"Columbus City Auditor Hugh Dorrian leads a progressive and innovative
auditing department that is well-respected and known for its financial
reporting excellence," said John S. Marr Jr., Tyler's president and CEO.
"We are proud to partner with the City of Columbus in transforming its
core financial operations by combining Tyler's municipal expertise with
the scalable architecture and deep functionality of Microsoft Dynamics
AX for the public sector."
About Tyler Technologies, Inc.
Tyler Technologies (NYSE: TYL) is a leading provider of end-to-end
information management solutions and services for local governments.
Tyler partners with clients to empower the public sector - cities,
counties, schools and other government entities - to become more
efficient, more accessible and more responsive to the needs of citizens.
Tyler's client base includes more than 11,000 local government offices
in all 50 states, Canada, the Caribbean, the United Kingdom and other
international locations. Forbes has named Tyler one of "America's Best
Small Companies" five times in the last six years. More information
about Dallas-based Tyler Technologies can be found at www.tylertech.com.
Jetstream PR for Tyler Technologies
Tony Katsulos, 972-788-9456,
ext. 301
katsulos@jetstreampr.com