HomeMy WebLinkAboutFCS-12-075 -Corporate Telephone System Upgrade Strategy - Remai (2)REPORT TO:Finance and Corporate Services Committee
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DATE OF MEETING:
May 7, 2012
SUBMITTED BY: Dan Murray, Interim Director of Information Technology,
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PREPARED BY:
Dan Murray, Interim Director of Information Technology,
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WARD(S) INVOLVED: N/A
DATE OF REPORT: May 1st, 2012
REPORT NO.: FCS-12-075
SUBJECT:
Corporate Telephone System Upgrade Strategy -
Remaining Phases
RECOMMENDATION:
That staff be directed to proceed with the two remaining phases of the telephone system
upgrades using the established Vendor of Record for this project, Softchoice Corporation
(formerly Unis Lumin, Inc.), provided expenditures do not exceed an upset limit of $1,368,720
plus H.S.T.; and,
That the Mayor and Clerk be authorized to execute a contract with Softchoice Corporation
(formerly Unis Lumin Inc.) to allow the City to purchase annual maintenance for the
telecommunication system as needed and that said contract be for a term matching the Vendor
of Record arrangement and that said contract be subject to the satisfaction of the City solicitor;
and further,
That the Director of Information Technology be delegated authority to determine what
maintenance the City will purchase for the telecommunications system pursuant to the contract,
provided such expenditures do not exceed $223,000 plus H.S.T. annually.
BACKGROUND:
In 2008, Information Technology was directed to begin investigating options for the replacement
of our existing ROLM telecommunications system. While the existing system has been reliable
and has met basic needs for many years, it does not allow the integration required to meet
current customer service needs. Also, ROLM systems have not been made for many years and
both spare parts and knowledgeable service and support are getting increasingly difficult to find.
In August of 2010, a corporate telephone system upgrade strategy (CRPS-10-133) that outlined
a three phase upgrade approach was approved by Council. This strategy established a
Vendor of Record for the City to work with for all future phases of the upgrade as well as for
providing future maintenance of the new system. A comprehensive Request for Proposal
process was completed and the Vendor of Record was awarded to Unis Lumin Inc. as detailed
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in staff report FIN-10-133. The approved three phase implementation approach was to address
the facility upgrades as follows: 1.) Kitchener Operations Facility; 2.) Remote Sites; 3) City Hall.
The initial phase of this upgrade project included the provisioning of the data,
telecommunications and wireless networks at the Kitchener Operations Facility as well as the
integration with the City’s existing ROLM telephone system. The second phase of the upgrade
strategy is to upgrade all the City’s remote sites to the new system. Upgrading these sites prior
to City Hall offers the most benefit to the City both in terms of cost and service improvement as
we can eliminate a number of dedicated telephone circuits and the related monthly fees. The
City Hall telephone upgrades would be the last phase.
Staff were directed to return to Council with a report outlining the costs and timelines for the
future phases of the upgrades prior to proceeding. That is the purpose of this report.
REPORT:
Remaining Phases of the Telecommunications Upgrade Project
Through a comprehensive Request for Proposal process in 2010, the city invited proposals for a
Corporate Integrated Communications Network. The intent of this proposal was to leverage our
existing network connectivity through our Waterloo Region Education and Public Network
(WREPNet) partnership and to build a converged communications network capable of
provisioning our telecommunications, data and wireless networking needs. Through this
process, the city selected Unis Lumin Inc. (now Softchoice Corporation) as the Vendor of
Record to work with the City to replace our existing aging ROLM telephone system with a new
Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) telecommunication system.
During construction of the Kitchener Operations Facility, staff worked with the vendor to
successfully integrate the new phone system with the existing ROLM system. In April 2011, just
prior to staff moving to the new Kitchener Operations Facility, the system was installed and
tested. The cost to perform the initial phase was $978,728.84. The new telecommunication
and network system has been a great success and Information Technology staff are eager to
complete the remaining phases of the upgrades.
We had originally envisioned the project taking place in three distinct phases. With our
increased knowledge of the work that is required, we are now proposing to complete portions of
the remaining phases concurrently in order to shorten the length of the overall project. The
proposed timelines for the remaining phases are as follows:
Phase 2 – Upgrade Remote Sites – Jun to Dec 2012
Phase 3a – Upgrade City Hall network to support VoIP – Jun to Sept 2012
Phase 3b – Replace City Hall telephone system – Dec to May 2013
Upgrading the City Hall network ahead of performing the actual telephone system replacement
also allows the full deployment of Wi-Fi networking within City Hall and supports the
provisioning of a public Wi-Fi Internet service.
Information Technology staff have worked closely with Softchoice to define the specific
equipment requirements for the remaining phases. Softchoice has provided us with costing
based on the discounts established in the original Request for Proposal process.
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Annual Maintenance and Support
In order to ensure that the new telecommunications and network systems are properly
supported and maintained, the City requires a maintenance contract for the equipment with the
Vendor of Record, Softchoice Corporation (formerly Unis Lumin Inc.) At the time of awarding
the KOF phase of the project, staff were not clear what the appropriate minimum level of
maintenance coverage was for the new system. Notwithstanding, Information Technology staff
examined the appropriate minimum level of maintenance for each component required to
complete the KOF phase of the project and the vendor provided maintenance coverage for 2011
at a total cost of $126,273.
While some system components are critical to the operation of the system offering no tolerance
for failure, other component failures may go completely unnoticed by end users of the telephone
system. The approach we are taking to determine maintenance levels strikes the proper
balance of ensuring system reliability while being financially prudent. As Information
Technology staff gain more expertise with the system, we are expecting that we will be able to
take on more of the support role internally and reduce our reliance on the vendor, thereby
reducing our annual maintenance costs further. It is our intent to review the maintenance
agreement on an annual basis, establishing an appropriate support level with the Vendor of
Record based on our expertise level and our overall experience with the entire system.
Acquisition of Unis Lumin Inc by Softchoice Corporation
On December 1, 2011, the acquisition of Unis Lumin Inc. was completed by Softchoice
Corporation. Softchoice will be working with their customers to assume all of the existing
contracts from Unis Lumin.
The business operations of the former Unis Lumin Inc. have largely remained intact and this
acquisition does not cause us concern in the company’s ability to deliver the required goods and
services for the duration of the Vendor of Record period.
ALIGNMENT WITH CITY OF KITCHENER STRATEGIC PLAN:
The telecommunications upgrade strategy and transition to Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP)
has been identified in the business plan as supporting two of the city’s strategic directions under
the Effective and Efficient Government foundation;
Capitalize on Existing Investments
Enhance Customer Service
The resulting communications network will also serve as a critical foundation technology for
future initiatives in support of strategic directions such as Internal Collaboration and Mobile
Technology.
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FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS:
The costs to complete the remaining phases of the telecommunications upgrade project are as
follows. These costs include the required network upgrades, phone sets, licensing and
implementation costs.
Remote Sites $471,441
City Hall $897,279
Total $1,368,720 (+ H.S.T.)
The budget allocated for the remaining phases of the telecommunications system upgrade is
$1,490,000 ($1,100,000 from Telephone Reserve Fund (2012); $140,000 from Telephone
Reserve Fund (2013); $250,000 from Computer Reserve Fund).
The annual maintenance costs projected at this time are expected to be $223,000 + HST/year.
This maintenance fee covers failed hardware replacements, vendor support, issue resolution
and proactive monitoring of the telecommunications system. Staff have selected the minimum
level of support that is appropriate and will continue to assess the support levels on an annual
basis as our comfort level with the system increases over time and reduce the need for vendor
support. System maintenance was budgeted at $255,000 total/year ($180,000 from Telephone
Reserve Fund; $75,000 from Computer Reserve Fund).
COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT:
N/A
ACKNOWLEDGED BY:
Dan Chapman, Deputy CAO, Finance and Corporate Services
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