Agenda - Council - 04/25/1995 - Laserfiche WebLink

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ANALYSIS OF ADDENDUM TO CASE #5 / / COMPUTER DEMONSTRATIONS AND PROPOSALS By: Jessie Hart, Finance Officer Background: During the past w.~ek, I sat through extensive demonstrations of several computer systems, all of which could be viable alternatives as a computer solution for the City of Ramsey. While all of the systems demonstr~, ted met certain criteria, there were only four that met most or all of the criteria outlined in the computer request for proposals. A brief overview of each company follows: Therefore Systems. Inc.. Portland. Oregon - Therefore Systems, Inc., established in 1985, manufact~es a full line of fully documented and supported software packages for use on Open Systems hardware. The foundation of the company rests on direct experience in the Financial and Data Processing Departments of local government entities. After using the systems a~ailable on the market, Therefore Systems, Inc. was started to provide packages that incorporated the features and functions truly necessary. While emphasis was placed on integrated imckages that were powerful and elegant in design, Therefore Systems, Inc. also concentrated on making the applications easy to learn and use. The packages are written with state-of-the-art design, including interfaces to third-party products and traditional programmi3g languages. The packages are pre-engineered with Customization Points TM. With Custbmization PointsTM, customers may add new reports, data and calculation requiremefits to the applications that are unique to them. When a new version of an application;is released, the Customization PointsTM are retained automatically, avoiding any need for re,programming and/or conversions. Therefore iSystems, Inc. is geared towards the medium-sized organizations and has hundreds (~f clients across the United States. They serve other customers in the Twin Cities Me~opolitan Area, such as Shoreview, New Brighton, Waseca, Minnesota Public Radio and ]'win Cities Public TV. Pcntamaticm Entemrises. Inc.. Bethlehem. Pennsylvania - Pentamation is a multi-divisional data proc6~sing s-ervices corporation founded in 1969. Meeting the needs of local governmer~t and educational institutions has stimulated Pentamation's growth and expansion~of its capabilities. The Government Services Division of Pentamation Enterprises, Inc. was formed with the charter of providing high quality financial and administrative software to small to mid-sized governmental organizations. With expertise in mainfran~e applications and microcomputer technology, they were determined to develop computer !~ystems, that were previously only available to the largest governmental organizatiogs, for smaller governmental organizations. Continuingito specialize in local government systems, over 1,100 of Pentamations products have been installed by over 180 organizations in 35 states and Canada. All clients utilize the same 0nix/Informix based products proposed for the City of Ramsey. Pentamation does not cuixently serve any customers in the Twin Cities Metropolitan Area. LOGIS. Brboklvn Center. Minnesota - The LOGIS organization is unique with respect to all other ~.end/)rs. LOGIS is a joint powers agency - a consortium or cooperative of Minnesota governmental units owned and operated by the members. The typical vendor's maintenanqe fees cover software enhancements and problem f'zxes. LOGIS provides these services plas support for all other aspects of an information system: application software, hardware, Oonsulting, training, local area network services and related project work.