Board briefed on ERP replacement; staff favor a more robust but costlier vendor

Ryan, the district's manager of finance and administration, updated the board on a multi-phase effort to replace the district's 26-year-old Springbrook financial system with a modern cloud-based ERP. He said seven proposals were received, three vendors moved to demonstrations, and two advanced through discovery sessions.

"We're replacing our 26 year old, Springbrook financial system," Ryan said, explaining the current system's limits and the benefits of consolidation, automation and improved customer and staff self-service. Staff described two contrasting vendor approaches: an all-in-one ecosystem with a template-based implementation and a best-of-breed consultant approach that configures multiple modules under a single contract. Evaluation criteria include implementation approach, project-team dedication, security, scalability and total cost of ownership. Staff noted $865,000 already budgeted toward implementation in 2026 and described amortization of capitalized implementation costs over a three-year initial contract.

Board members probed staffing impacts and training; staff cautioned that some implementation phases will require substantial staff time and change-management work. Staff expect to present a recommended vendor and negotiated contract at the August board meeting and, if approved, to begin implementation in September with a core go-live target in April and full additional modules by late 2027.