Saratoga News

Some call city's new computer system too elaborate for needs

By Sarah Lombardo

The city's new computer system is meeting with mixed reviews from employees. The system--which in hardware, software and on-site training at the computer company's headquarters in Orlando, Fla., cost the city more than $250,000--seems to be more than the city needs, some staffers say.

City officials are currently working with HTE Inc., the company from which it bought the system, to try to customize it to the city's needs.

Purchase of the system was approved by the City Council last year as part of the implementation of the city's technology master plan. The plan, completed in 1996, was designed to outline the city's current and future technology needs. The HTE system replaced the city's outdated system, which not only used parts no longer available for replacement but also often crashed, risking the loss of data. The new system links previously isolated departments and "allows departments to talk to each other and share information," former Finance Director Thomas Fil said in 1997.

But many of the system's features just aren't used in some departments.

Community Development Manager James Walgren said the system's data retrieval feature will be used at that department's front counter, but most of the department's work consists of staff reports and other word-processing tasks.

City Manager Larry Perlin admitted the system has some features the city doesn't need, and said they plan to work with HTE to "turn off" such features.

"It's designed for cities much larger than ours," he said.

He said the staff has had mixed reactions to the new system but attributed those to the system's complexity.

"There's a learning curve that people have to deal with that's pretty steep," he said. "As far as ease of use goes, I think the jury is still out on that one."

Saratoga resident Jeff Schwartz, who attended several City Council meetings last year during which the council discussed purchasing the computer system, said he didn't know about the system now, but that he was unhappy about the selection process used to approve the system.

"It seemed to me at the time that the city was making a choice that was a foregone conclusion," he said. "This was a system that Fil had worked with before, and he was locked in."

But Vice Mayor Jim Shaw, who admits he voted to approve the system reluctantly, pointed out that the city was in dire need of a new, more reliable system. "The system they were working with was staggering, and clearly they had to do something," he said. "When you buy a package, sometimes it's not a perfect fit."

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