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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2002 04 08 Informational C Utility Billing Computer Conversion COMMISSION AGENDA ITEM C ICONSENT INFORMA TIONAL X PUBLIC HEARING REGULAR April 8,2002 Meeting MGR IV- /DEPT.~ A llthorization REQUEST: The Finance Department is requesting the City Commission review information regarding the status of the utility billing computer conversion. PURPOSE: To update the City Commission on the status of the utility billing computer conversion. CONSIDERATIONS: Generally, the utility bill processing (processing, printing and mailing) and the cash application of payments has been much smoother the past couple of months. However, not all of our prior issues are resolved yet. We are still waiting on the Munis version update that was supposed to be here in March. Once that is here we will load it up and test it for any new problems in the test environment before we roll it out as well as test it to make sure it corrects the previous issues we had. We sent our City Controller to a seminar that went over all the new features of the update. He will be providing that information to the rest of the staff prior to going live. Unfortunately, we continue to find various new issues as we perform clean-up procedures and research customer complaints. Finance is reviewing the 12,000 accounts in the Utility Billing Aging Report and having any amounts that look odd researched by our staff prior to opening cases with Munis. In addition, Finance is comparing account balances for a given customer per one report to another report and researching the ones that are different and then handing them over to Munis. Munis either fixes the problems themselves or instructs us how to fix it. The problems seem to stem from transactions such as credits or the misapplication of a payment that occurred at various points earlier in the year when we struggled on how to enter the transaction so it would properly show up, as well as some carryover transactions from the prior system. We are handling these on a case by case basis. I believe once we identify them and clean them up they will not be an on-going problem. In addition, we have had some difficulty with our fixes or patches solving one problem and creating another. We have requested that Munis test their fix or patch more thoroughly before providing it to us. We have also requested that Munis provide us with notification regarding any problems that other customers are having with the package so we don't have to discover it for ourselves. We were recently inputting credits into Cycle 4 for the unscheduled extended meter reading days and then when we printed out bills they did not show up. Seems the point at which we were supposed to enter the credits had changed as the result of a change Munis made to the system. Another customer had notified Munis that there was a problem but Munis did not tell us. We had to discover it for ourselves. In addition to our request that they notify us of any problems, we requested reimbursement of the moneys spent for two days worth of our temporary employees pay. We currently (3/27 & 3/28) have a representative from Munis here at City Hall working with our City Controller on Utility Billing General Ledger issues. Our reports are not matching up - detail to the general ledger. He is trying to figure out why and help get us straightened it out. In addition, we have this same representative coming to City Hall for two days in April. He will be providing additional training to our Utility Billing Staff. This representative is putting on a Utility Billing Seminar in Orlando another day that week, we have two personnel scheduled to attend. In general, the basic processes related to the billing and collections appear to be working. There are a number of kinks that still need to be worked out on an individual basis and as we find them we are addressing them with Munis through cases opened via telephone support as well as additional on-site training. RECOMMENDATION: N/A - for infornlation only. ATTACHMENTS: None COMMISSION ACTION: The Financial Report and Budget Amendment will not be available due to last minute information regarding a Florida Power rate reduction and its affect on Franchise Fees. A presentation will be made at the Commission Meeting on both the Financial Report and Budget Amendment.