HomeMy WebLinkAboutINS-18-004 - Mobile Workforce Management System - Purchase Order ExtensionREPORT TO: Finance and Corporate Services
DATE OF MEETING: 2018-02-05
SUBMITTED BY: Greg St. Louis, P. Eng., Director, Utilities
PREPARED BY: Les Jones, P. Eng., Utilities Engineer (Gas)
WARD(S) INVOLVED: ALL
DATE OF REPORT: 2018-01-24
REPORT NO.: INS-18-004
SUBJECT: Mobile Workforce Management System Purchase Order
Extension
___________________________________________________________________________
RECOMMENDATION:
That an extension of the purchase order be issued to Clevest Solutions Inc. for
the mobile workforce management system in the amount of $221,055, plus H.S.T.
of $28,737.15, for a total of $249,792.15
BACKGROUND:
Through a request for proposal process, the City awarded the development and
implementation of a mobile workforce management system for the three (3) Kitchener
Utilities business areas: water meter, gas meter, and the rental water heater
program/gas service to Clevest Solutions Inc. for $587,540.11 including H.S.T.
The Clevest mobile workforce management system is asoftwareinterface to SAP and
will replace the current manual intensive paper based system used to manage gas and
water and rental water heater activities.With this software,SAP service orders will be
scheduled and dispatched to becompleted by a Utilities technician using a mobile
device in the field.The automation will increase efficiency and provide a seamless
integration with other systems within the City.
*** This information is available in accessible formats upon request. ***
Please call 519-741-2345 or TTY 1-866-969-9994 for assistance.
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REPORT:
This report is being brought to council for approval in accordance with the Purchasing
By-Law 2017-106, as the additional funding request is greater than $100,000 or 10% of
the original contract price.
Within the request for proposal process, staff looked for vendors to propose various
systems which would provide a solution which would include varying levels of
configuration and integration with our existing financial system SAP. The request for
proposal process focused on obtaining the solution which provided the best value and
staff wanted to enable the potential vendors to provide a creative solution to the
resourcing constraint.
During the initial stages of working with Clevest through the solution design document, it
was identified that a significant amount of dedicated staff time would be required under
their plan.Clevest had proposed a twelve (12) month project, from start-up to project
completion in the Request For Proposal. This plan required blended project tasks so
that all Utilities business areas would be engaged at the same time.Although this
approach may be efficient for an aggressive project timeline, it was soon realized that
staff could not devote the proposed amount of time on the development of the software,
without affecting their day to day duties. This approach would likely impede or stop work
groups within Utilities from completing their daily work and could ultimately prohibit
customers receiving gas, water or rental water services in a timely fashion.
Staff considered backfilling the positions however, itwas estimated that in order for City
staff to accommodate the timeline, up to five (5) City staff would have to be dedicated to
the project essentially full time during this twelve (12) month span. Based on the cost
and learning curve required for these positions, this was not pursued.
Working together, Clevest and the City identified that changing the approach to be
multi-phased and extending it over an eighteen (18) month period will allow City staff to
concentrate on the implementation of the software that affects their specific business
area. Essentially, staff will be required to be engaged on project tasks that only affect
their business area for shorter periods of time, with longer breaks to allow them to
complete their regular duties, and minimize delays in delivering core services.This will
also allow for any adjustments to the implementation/ training approach from lessons
learned, for subsequent rollout to the other business areas.
To accommodate this change Clevest will need their configuration and implementation
teams to be dedicated to the project longer and to be engaged in three separate testing
ort the three City workgroups. From the Clevest
viewpoint, this will be aless efficient process requiring them to dedicate more
resources. As an example, during the later stages of the project as one team is
engaged in user acceptance testing for City business area, another team is working on
configuration and implementation for the other two City business areas.
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The extended implementation schedule will also require greater onsite presence by
Clevest. Clevest has increased the number of onsite visits to ensure thorough
requirements gathering, proper training of City staff as trainers and support during the
separate rollout. Increased onsite visits will ensure better
communication between our teams, lower the chances of unexpected project delays
due to misinterpretations or missing information thereby reducing the likelihood of
change requests and additional costs.
The extension of the purchase order also incorporates the purchase (including
maintenance and support for a ten year period) of two software tools.
The first software is a routing tool called Nokia HERE which assists the scheduling
engine to provide optimal routing and therefore sequencing of appointments within the
Clevest solution. The alternative to utilizing the Nokia HERE software tool is to create
the module.Using the ESRI software would
require enabling the Network Analyst module within the Citys ESRI licencing agreement
with an associated cost greater than using Nokia HERE software.
The second software is a configuration tool called Genesis. With the purchase of the
Genesis configuration tool, the City will be able to make any future modifications to the
system without requiring the procurement of services from Clevest and will enable
emerging end user business requirements to be completed in a timely manner. This
ability to implement any modifications in a short period of time will provide City field
technicians to see visible response to their feedback leading to greater ownership and
adoption of the technology. Often these modification projects can have a cost between
$15,000 to $45,000 depending on the scope of the requested changes and based on
the cost benefit analysis, the purchase of this software configuration tool would be
justified in the event the City has three modification projects within a 10 year period.
ALIGNMENT WITH CITY OF KITCHENER STRATEGIC PLAN:
vision through the delivery of core service.
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FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS:
The net cost for this tender (A), is fair and reasonable for a purchase of this scope and the upset limit is within the
budget allowance (B) provided within the budget. The Operating costs are for 10 years annual maintenance. The
estimated surplus (D) will remain in the account to fund similar work conducted by the City.
P16-055
Mobile Workforce Management System
as at Jan. 24, 2018
Original PO Extension
Estimated Cost TenderRequestedNew Total
Proposal P16-055 costs, including HST587,540.11 249,792.15 837,332.26
less: HST rebate(67,593.11)(28,737.15)(96,330.26)
Net Cost Being Awarded519,947.00 221,055.00 741,002.00 A
Projected Costs:
Hardware purchases -tablets273,179.71
Staff Time -data conversion100,000.00 100,000.00
Total Estimated Cost for this Phase of Work619,947.00 221,055.00 1,114,181.71 C
Funding Available
Operating Costs134,947.00 60,825.00 195,772.00
Capital Costs493,409.71 425,000.00 918,409.71
Total Budget for this Phase of Work628,356.71 485,825.00 1,114,181.71 B
Estimated Surplus/(Deficit) forthis Phase of Work (B -C)8,409.71 -D
This project has been in the capital budget since 2015. With this proposed increase,
which is funded by the 2018 approved budget, the Clevest software solution is still
significantly lower cost than the other proposals which had been received for this
project, and provides the best value to theCity
COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT:
INFORM with the agenda in
advance of the council / committee meeting.
PREVIOUS CONSIDERATION OF THIS MATTER:
FCS-17-116 Award of the Mobile Workforce Management System June 5,
2017 Committee of the Whole
ACKNOWLEDGED BY: Cynthia Fletcher,Executive Director,Infrastructure Services
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