4c) Discussion and Possible Direction to Staff Regarding a Presentation on Mendocino County's Preliminary Fiscal Year (FY) 2023-24 Budget
(Sponsor: Executive Office)
This afternoon, I watched with sadness the eruption of anger and frustration directed at Auditor-Controller Chamise Cubbison by the Board of Supervisors during their budget hearings.
It was towards the end of the meeting at approximately 4:30pm.
Their feelings were understandable.
My question is this: Why doesn't each county department have something like an advanced version of a QuickBooks set-up?
Why?
My other question is: Why doesn't the county use ERP software?
Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software is widely available. A lot of it is cloud computing.
Off the shelf ERP is available at SAP S/4HANA Cloud, Vena, DELMIAWorks, Tipalti, Phocas Software, Multiview, DataSnipper, Budgyt, Spreadsheet Server, and other vendors.
The Board of Supervisors needs to direct the county's IT department build out a "future-proof" platform that is a single data model with flexible deployments and streamlined integrations.
Shared data and cross-team workflows should make collaboration seamless. AI-powered automation should drive efficiency.
It's 2023, for God's sakes. This platform is possible.
The platform also needs to have the capacity for real-time insights built into it. The Board of Supervisors and the CEO both the information they need anytime, anywhere, on any device.
The platform will help improve day-to-day operations with 24/7 access to government business tools and functions.
Come on, guys! It's time for county accounting to come into the 21st century.
Attaching this for visual representation of my expectation of the level of information that I need to make informed decisions about the County budget. These numbers may not be exact but are used to reference potential Department requests. The County of Mendocino has a tight fiscal budget. We need to weigh community expectations vs mandated services and staying within our means, we can do this if we roll up our sleeves and work on efficiencies and revenue enhancement.
To the Board:
This afternoon, I watched with sadness the eruption of anger and frustration directed at Auditor-Controller Chamise Cubbison by the Board of Supervisors during their budget hearings.
It was towards the end of the meeting at approximately 4:30pm.
Their feelings were understandable.
My question is this: Why doesn't each county department have something like an advanced version of a QuickBooks set-up?
Why?
My other question is: Why doesn't the county use ERP software?
Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) software is widely available. A lot of it is cloud computing.
Off the shelf ERP is available at SAP S/4HANA Cloud, Vena, DELMIAWorks, Tipalti, Phocas Software, Multiview, DataSnipper, Budgyt, Spreadsheet Server, and other vendors.
The Board of Supervisors needs to direct the county's IT department build out a "future-proof" platform that is a single data model with flexible deployments and streamlined integrations.
Shared data and cross-team workflows should make collaboration seamless. AI-powered automation should drive efficiency.
It's 2023, for God's sakes. This platform is possible.
The platform also needs to have the capacity for real-time insights built into it. The Board of Supervisors and the CEO both the information they need anytime, anywhere, on any device.
The platform will help improve day-to-day operations with 24/7 access to government business tools and functions.
Come on, guys! It's time for county accounting to come into the 21st century.
John Sakowicz
Ukiah
Attaching this for visual representation of my expectation of the level of information that I need to make informed decisions about the County budget. These numbers may not be exact but are used to reference potential Department requests. The County of Mendocino has a tight fiscal budget. We need to weigh community expectations vs mandated services and staying within our means, we can do this if we roll up our sleeves and work on efficiencies and revenue enhancement.