Columbus, Ohio, the Nation's 15th-largest City, Selects Tyler Technologies for Microsoft Dynamics® AX 2012 for the Public Sector
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Columbus chooses Tyler for its deep public-sector experience, history of successful implementations, and ability to deliver Dynamics AX as a cloud-based solution
DALLAS – 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 RD 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.
Columbus, Ohio, the Nation’s 15th-largest City, Selects Tyler Technologies for Microsoft Dynamics® AX 2012 for the Public Sector July 23, 2013 Page 2 “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. Â
Contact:
Tony Katsulos
Jetstream PR for Tyler Technologies
972-788-9456, ext. 301
katsulos@jetstreampr.com
