HomeMy WebLinkAbout15.F.2. Laderfiche Digital Imaging System
CITY OF SHAKOPEE IS: F. ~~
Memorandum
TO: Mayor and City Council
Mark McNeill, City Administrator
FROM: Judith S. Cox, City Clerk
SUBJECT: LaserFiche Digital Imaging System
DATE: April 14, 2005
INTRODUCTION:
City Council is asked to consider authorizing the purchase of a LaserPiche digital
imaging software system.
BACKGROUND:
The City Council authorized a contract with Bradley & Guzzetta, LLC on October 19,
. 2004 to prepare a request for proposals (RFP) and to work with staff on the acquisition
and implementation of a digital imaging system. Attached is a copy of the memorandum
from Ms. Tracy Schaefer, Bradley & Guzzetta, LLC, outlining the steps that have been
taken thus far, the benefits of a digital imaging system, information on the vendors who
responded to the RFP, phases for implementing the system, budgetimpact, and
recommended actions for Council consideration (Action Requested on page 4).
Hand in hand with the acquisition of the imaging system is the recommendation to
increase the part-time Records Clerk position to full-time. The Records Clerk will be the
person who will be scanning and indexing the city's records. See separate memo
regarding the Records Clerk position elsewhere on the April 19, 2005 agenda.
RECOMMENDATION:
It is recommended that City Council hear the presentation by Ms. Schaefer on the
imaging system, obtain answers from her on any questions that might arise, and, if
Council concurs, take action on her recommendations, as outlined in her memo on page 4
under Action Requested.
g:\clerk\judy\digital imaging
City of Shakopee
Memorandum
TO: Telecommunications Commission
Mayor, City Council
Mark McNeill, City Administrator
FROM: Tracy Schaefer, Bradley & Guzzetta, LLC
SUBJECT: Purchase LaserFiche Digital Imaging System
MEETING DATE: April 19, 2005
Introduction
It is recommended that the City Council enter into an agreement with Crabtree
Companies, Inc. ("Crabtree") Twin Cities LaserFiche vendor to implement a digital
imaging scanning system to store and manage city records electronically.
Background
As the City continues to grow, so have the number of City documents. By purchasing a
digital imaging system, rather than relying on paper documents and expensive storage
cabinets, the City will be able to realize workplace efficiencies, cost savings, increased
access to records for the public and city staff and improved document security.
The digital imaging committee (Tracy Schaefer, Bradley & Guzzetta, LLC, Judy Cox,
City Clerk, Lori Hensen, Records Clerk, Bonnie Mauritz, Building Department Secretary
and Kim Henke, MIS Coordinator) reviewed and interview numerous vendors and digital
imaging software providers before determining it was in the City's best interest to send
RFPs to LaserFiche vendors.
A few city benefits realized from purchasing a new LaserFiche digital imaging system:
1. Increased records security. Protect record integrity with comprehensive security
measures.
2. Disaster recovery features. Unlike paper documents that can be destroyed in a
natural disaster, LaserFiche imaging software will allow for disaster recovery and
off-site backup protection.
3. Ensure long-term records preservation with digital archiving. LaserFiche is a
non-proprietary file storage format that maintains future accessibility.
4. Open architectures. This simplifies integration with standard municipal
applications such as GIS and other municipal software.
5. Decreased time-consuming document searches. Currently, city staff must
navigate between multiple floors and buildings to gain access to a document for
internal or external needs.
6. Decrease storage space costs. The City has been spending thousands ,of dollars
annually purchasing storage cabinets and is running out of space at City Hall for
more document storage.
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7. Improved public and staff access to information. After the launch of the new city
website, the city will have the capability (Phase II) to make documents such as
plats available online for public viewing.
8. Decrease expensive document reproduction and distribution methods.
9. Reduce or eliminate misfiling.
10. Scalability. LaserFiche allows the City to budget for future installations and
expand organization wide, minimizing implementation risks.
Vendor Background
After City Council approved sending out the digital imaging RFP to LaserFiche vendors,
the RFPs were sent to five (5) LaserFiche providers in the Twin Cities. Three (3)
proposals were received; however, one proposal was received after the deadline. After
consulting with the City's legal counsel, the decision was made to reject that proposal
and to only open the two (2) remaining on-time proposals, Crabtree Companies, Inc. and
TBS Automations.
Although both proposals were of high quality, Crabtree's proposal a) had a lower overall
price b) was much more experienced in deploying LaserFiche systems than the other
proposer. Crabtree has successfully installed LaserFiche systems into over 50
organizations and over 1000 workstations within those organizations. A few city clients
include the cities of Savage, Prior Lake.and Apple Valley c) Crabtree also worked with
Savage to be the first LaserFiche vendor in the country to integrate GIS and LaserFiche
applications d) Crabtree has a thorough knowledge and working relationship with staff at
LOGIS.
After B&G completed a thorough review of the proposals, price and reference checks, the
digital imaging committee met to review the information and felt very comfortable
recommending Crabtree to the City Council to implement and maintain Shakopee's
digital imaging system.
Phases
Due to the cost, staffing resources and the time to implement the numerous products that
LaserFiche has to offer, it is recommended that the City not purchase all applications
during Phase I, but to implement the full system in phases.
Phase I
I. Work with Crabtree to install and setup software and configure the LaserFiche
server and workstations.
2. Purchase "base" LaserFiche software with licenses for four full viewers. This
will allow the City to implement the system in the Building and City Clerk's
Departments. As additional departments are added, the City can purchase more
licenses to add more users.
3. City will purchase one 11 x 17 scanner and one desktop scanner to begin scanning
backlog and current city 11 x 17 and 8 Yz x II documents. (The scanners do not
have the capability to scan large format documents.)
4. Crabtree will provide end user and following up training.
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5. Purchase.a one-year Crabtree support/maintenance service agreement. The
agreement will give the City 10 hours of prepaid on-site support and on-going
maintenance of the software, upgrades and patches for the LaserFiche system.
6. City will purchase digital imaging server and appropriate Microsoft Sequel Server
software. The City will install and set-up the Microsoft Sequel Server.
7. Work with Crabtree to determine the best option for scanning backlogged large
format documents such as plats, maps, etc.
Phase II
1. Purchase Weblink Plug-in, $7995 one time cost plus $1590 annual support
costs. This option allows users to view stored image files over the Internet.
This will allow more city staff to view selected documents over the Internet,
without having to purchase additional licenses. This needs to be completed,
after the City's new website is launched.
2. Purchase Agenda Manager, $15,000 one time cost plus $3,000 annual support
costs. The cities of Chanhassen and Savage are currently using the Agenda
Manager to help post their city meeting packets online for the public to view.
This needs to be completed, after the City's new website is launched.
3; Purchase additional user licenses, $1, I OO/work station, to allow more city
staff to access the system.
Phase III
I. Deploy to other city departments. Deployment will be contingent on internal
and external resources and department needs. Most communities deploy their
police departments as the last department, due to the sensitive and unique
nature of their documents.
2. Purchase Workflow Plug-in from LaserFiche, $15,000 one time cost and on-
going costs, which are included in the annual support agreement. Workflow is
a power tool that is setup to emulate a path of records, so that they can be sent
for distribution or approval to a set group of users.
Budget Impact
Although the City Council budgeted $100,000 for this project, due to the recommended
department budget cuts the project budget has been "reduced" to the requested Finance
Department amount of $80,000 from the General Fund. It is recommended to enter into
an agreement with Crabtree for an amount not to exceed $32,738, allocate roughly
$26,300 for the City to purchase needed hardware/software and use the remaining
$20,962 to scan backlogged documents. The City will need to budget roughly $5,434
annually for the annual support agreement ($3934) and server software ($1,500).
Phase I Costs (Recommended 2005 Purchases)
Crabtree Provide:
1. Implementation of the LaserFiche software - $6,500
2. LaswerFiche Software - $16,804
3. Training - $5,500
4. I-year Maintenance Support Contract - $3,934
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TOTAL $32,738
City of Shakopee Purchase:
1. Digital Imaging Server - $15,000
2. Microsoft Sequel Server Software - $1,500
3. 11 x 17 Scanner - $6,500
4. Desktop Scanner - $3,500
TOTAL $26,300
Optional Phase I Purchase:
It is recommended to use the remaining $20,962 to outsource the scanning of large
format documents. The City currently has thousands of backlogged documents such
as plat maps that need to be scanned and entered into the system. Currently, the
Community Development and Engineering Departments have been paying for the
scanning of such documents out of their operational budgets, as funds are available.
It is highly recommended that the City Council authorize funds to allow city staff to
work with Crabtree to select a scanning vendor that can assist Shakopee with its large
format document scanning needs.
B&G did research the cost of purchasing a plat scanner for scanning large format
documents and the costs were upwards of $20,000. The scanners normally need to be
replaced every few years, require costly maintenance agreements and need additional
staff to scan the documents. Outsourcing such documents, at this time, is most cost
effective method.
On-Going Support Costs of Phase I
I. . SupportlMaintenance Service - $3,934
2. Microsoft Sequel Server Software - $1,500
TOTAL $5,434
Phase II Costs
To deploy the additional LaserFiche functions of Phase II, as outlined above, the City
needs to budget roughly $28,685 (2005 prices) for the additional functions. The
deployment of these functions is contingent upon available city resources and readiness
of the city departments to utilize the new tools.
Phase III Costs
The City should budget at least $ I 5',000 for Phase III and potentially more, depending on
the new resources that have been developed by LaserFiche or the City's desire to deploy
high level functions to work with other city software like GIS.
Action Requested
With the assistance of the City's consultant, Bradley & Guzzetta, LLC:
I) authorize the appropriate city staff to enter into an agreement with
Crabtree Companies, Inc ("Crabtree") to purchase, implement, install,
and train users on a LaserPiche digital imaging software system
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2) enter into a separate a one-year software service maintenance
agreement
3) authorize the appropriate city staff to purchase the necessary hardware
and software to complete the digital imaging system
4) work with Crabtree to find an appropriate method to scan backlog city
documents
5) the total project should not exceed $80,000.
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